Monday, September 24, 2012

June 2012

IMG_3488 by tracyg00
IMG_3488, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

June was another month that was filled with activity - all good stuff. Our Jake continued to play well on his baseball team. And he got out of school a week earlier than Megan, so I took him out golfing. He had a great time on the course - it wasn't crowded at all in the middle of the day on a Monday.

IMG_3503

I think the highlight of his day may have been when he drove the golf cart. He sat in the driver's seat for a photo and then was pleasantly surprised when he pressed on the pedal.

IMG_3505

I had a lady in the parking lot take a photo of us as we were packing up.

IMG_3508

On Megan's last day of school (which was exactly one hour), a bunch of families headed to Loyola Park Beach for an end of the school year celebration. It was pretty fun to have so many of their friends there. Check out the size of this crowd:

IMG_3578

Here's my little slugger looking serious at another ballgame:

IMG_3584

Since our summer started out so nice and hot, we were able to spend lots of time at fun Aunt Jenny's pool. This is Jake "surfing" on one of the rafts. It's a little harder than it looks (at least for me).

IMG_3614

And here's Megan with a BIG jump!

IMG_3620

Megan and Francesca were feeling a little entrepreneurial one day and set up a lemonade stand in the front yard. Their best customer was the Fed Ex guy who bought a cup and gave them $1.00. They thought that was pretty cool.

IMG_3642

Papa came into town for Darin's annual Pleasant Lake Golf Outing with the guys. They got in a little front yard baseball before the weekend.

IMG_3646

Jake celebrated his 6th birthday on June 13. This is what he woke up to:

IMG_3655

He opened his gift before breakfast. It was the Lego Black Pearl Pirate Ship. Fortunately, he had Megan to put it together for him.

IMG_3660

For his special breakfast, he had homemade waffles with a scoop of ice cream.

IMG_3663

We had his birthday part at LegoLand since Legos are a big favorite right now.

IMG_3672

Here's the whole group:

IMG_3677

Papa snapped a family photo of the 4 of us after the party:

IMG_3757

We spent Father's Day at Jenny & Flip's house. They made Frogmore Stew (also known as "The butter dipping dinner" to the kids).

IMG_3779

My little fish:

IMG_3834

We made it up to the cottage a few times in June. This was taken by the beach on Pleasant Lake (although it looks more tropical in the photo!)

IMG_3922

And here are the cousins exploring a "secret beach".

IMG_3924

IMG_3944

We ended the month with the Balmoral Ave. Inaugural block party. I'd say it was a success for a first-year event!

IMG_3968

The kids sure liked being able to help themselves to lemonade and water (which ended up as a water fight as evening approached).

IMG_3984

Our DJ got all of the kids dancing!

IMG_4005

All in all a fun month!

Friday, September 14, 2012

May 2012

IMG_0684 by tracyg00
IMG_0684, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

I seem to have a common theme here. Busy. I don't really feel frazzled all the time, but I look back at all of our activities over the past few months and it seems that we do a lot. I guess it's pretty telling since I am 4 months behind in updating this blog.

May started out with a bang. We started the month with a First Communion practice. Here's a photo of Megan with the banner that she made. My Wisconsin Marathon happened to be on the same day as First Communion. I left on Friday morning for Wisconsin and Darin handled the homefront. Jenny was kind enough to come over and take Megan to Salon Blonde for a fancy updo. Megan loved Irene (she's really funny) and decided that's where she'd like to get her hair done all the time.

I made it back from Kenosha in time to get myself ready. Darin took Megan to the church to get her set up while the rest of us trailed behind. Here's the beauty:

IMG_3001

I was able to snag a photo with her afterward:

IMG_3018

May 5th also happened to be the running of the Kentucky Derby. We had a little gathering at our house to celebrate her First Communion and randomly drew numbers for a little wager on the derby. Jake was the winner for the day and I believe he cleared around $80.00. Oh, and you'll notice that he's in his baseball uniform. That was also the day of Jake's first ballgame of the season. So Darin left straight from church and took Jake to his game. I told you it was busy!

IMG_3031

On the following Wednesday, Kathleen Brennan hosted a Mother/Daughter tea for the First Communicants. It was a beautiful day and her yard was perfect for this.

IMG_3246

It also gave the girls a chance to wear their fancy dresses again! Here's another pic of me and Megan (a little squinty)!

IMG_3275

All of the activity for the first part of the month, caused this family to get some great sleep. I happen to like this photo of Darin and his mini-me. :-)

IMG_0703

I was able to make it to Jake's next ballgame. He now plays "Coach Pitch" baseball. If they can't hit the ball after 6 or 7 pitches, then they hit off of the tee. We've got ourselves a good, little hitter here.

IMG_3283

Fielding can be kind of boring sometimes, but every now and then a little action comes his way.

IMG_3304

On May 20, it was warm enough to swim at Jenny's house. It's always a good time there.

IMG_0712

And, tiring as well. This is on the way home!

IMG_0715

We spent the last weekend of the month at the cottage. Megan caught her first fish of the season and Irena helped to take it off the hook.

IMG_3328

We ended the month with Jake's Junior Kindergarten graduation. He was a great performer (he sang a song with all 50 states!). He knew all of the moves, too. Here he is with his buddy, Joe, in the background.

IMG_3412

And it looks like I was able to sneak myself into quite a few photos this month. Here's my last one:

IMG_3448