Chicago and a few other cute pictures :)

This past Thursday and Friday, we went to Chicago with Amos, Jess, Jenn, John, and Jessica. Matt and I went up early on Thursday to walk around Wrigleyville and check out the stores and restaurants. It just so happend to be 90 some degrees and humid, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway and it was reinforced about how cheap I am. But really...would you pay $25-$35 for a Cubs tank top? Because I just couldn't do it!So here I am... without anything Cubs to wear. :( But the Cubs won (12-6) and it was an exciting game with many home runs. And we got to sing "Go Cubs, Go!"The next day was cooler, thankfully, and we walked around downtown. Shopped a little, ate a little, and tried to "refrain" from taking pictures of the "Transformers 3" set that invaded Michigan Avenue for a few blocks. We didn't get to see any stars or any of the Transformer cars, but it was pretty cool anyway. Hopefully these scenes don't get cut out of the movie! :)

And then, we've taken a few other pictures to share:

Landon is getting much better at "Cheesh" for the camera! He almost smiles as much for that as he does when he talks about "Chate" (cake).
Steven and Kristina drove up for a surprise visit and Matt was really excited about getting some of Steven's Army gear. The kids seem to like it as well (neither one could stand up with the jacket on :)).
Emerson loves to dress up in hats, shoes, "necklaces" (anything long enough to wrap around her shoulders), and apparently Mommy's shirts!
Landon loves his "ta-tahrs". We went to help Great Grandpa with some things around the house and Landon got to drive the lawnmower! :)
Having a great summer so far and looking forward to more to come! :)

A Week without Daddy...

...is an exhausting week for everybody!

We made it! Matt made it safely back from Boundary Waters today around 12:30. EVERYBODY was glad to see him (especially Mommy :))

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. A week without Daddy is hard work. I'd give a standing ovation to any single mom with 2 little ones. It is exhausting. But the kids did really well. I think it helped that we had playdates every day last week. We got to play with the Frye's on Monday, Grandma & Grandpa H on Tuesday, the Davis' on Wednesday, Grandpa and Grandma B. on Thursday, the Smith's on Friday, and had our 4th of July party at the Frye's on Saturday. We were busy, but I will say that by Friday in our down time, I was at a loss for ideas of what to do to keep these two kiddos entertained! :) They played well with their friends and got along pretty well with each other. It definitely wasn't a week of all smiles and giggles; there was some crying and falling too. But with a lot of prayer for patience, everybody made it though the week! Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

There's nothing cuter than 2 kids in just their diapers!

Emerson LOVES floating in the lake! She looked so relaxed floating around with her eyes closed.
All of the kids loved the water. Grace is turning into quite a little swimmer!
What a beautiful day for a cookout! We had a wonderful time at the Frye's: going for a boat ride, swimming, playing in the backyard, eating supper, putting the kids to bed just to get them up about an hour later to go watch fireworks, then sitting on the boat for about an hour until they started (who knows what time "dusk" is anyway??), enjoying watching the kids reactions more than the fireworks, and coming home exhausted about midnight. I do have to say a big Thank You to everybody for helping out with the kids so much at the party. It was awesome to know that they were being well taken care of when I couldn't hold both! :) So thanks to Amos, Jess, Jenn, John, and Jessica!!
Hope your week went well and you enjoy the 4th of July!