June Fun!

We had quite a few fun events in June!  At the end of the school year we had a little celebration at Chuck E Cheese!  The kids had so much fun playing games, riding rides, and collecting tickets!  Caleb was really cute picking out a few prizes for Mila!

The kids got to celebrate their friend Maddy's 4th birthday party!  They had a water fight and had fun playing with they're close friends Liam and Maddie and their cousins!

I had a fun girls dinner with Michelle and Marissa! It's always so nice to get to catch up with them whenever we have a chance! 

Caleb got to celebrate his friend Brianna's birthday at Goldfish Swim School! It seemed like the entire first grade was invited to the indoor swimming facility. He had a blast seeing his friends from school and swimming around for 2 hours! 

We visited my friend Lindsay and got to meet her new daughter Lyla. The kids had fun playing with big sister Aria, and it was so nice to be able to spend some time catching up with Lindsay! 

Mila had a fun playdate with her preschool friend Camille! Camille also has a peanut and tree nut allergy, so I knew I could feel comfortable with Mila going on a playdate without me at their house!  The girls had so much fun swimming and playing together!

Caleb had his first friend sleepover with Liam! He was so excited when I told him that Liam could spend the night! They had fun playing on the iPad, watching Zootopia, catching fireflies, and eating s'mores! They were so well behaved and went to bed around 10:30! In the morning, Erik made everyone pancakes for breakfast, and the kiddos had fun playing outside! 

And a bunch of other summer fun we had in June!

made potions!

made a fort!

building with Babtcha

made necklaces for each other!

made pink slime

My 36th Birthday

On my birthday, Erik and the kids put up some decorations for me. When I came downstairs I got to open my presents. They bought me some water balloons and a slingshot for the water balloons!  Then Erik said we're going to get a pool pass for the family so we can all enjoy the pool for the rest of the summer!

Joy offered to take the kids to the movies so that Erik and I could have some time for just the two of us to celebrate my birthday. We enjoyed being lazy, had breakfast together, and sat on the couch watching The Office! That seriously never happens! When they came home from the movies, we ended up testing out my new presents and had a water fight. I had fun catching up with Natalie on the phone, and then we took the kids for a pedal boat ride on a Fox River!
I told the kids I remember doing that once or twice with my parents and Natalie, and I didn't know why we hadn't done it more times than that. Well when we got on the pedal boat, I realized why! Not only is it exhausting pedaling, but it's difficult to keep two little ones seated the whole time when they're so excited! At one point I asked Erik if he felt nauseous, and he did. We both realized we felt a little seasick, and that made us feel really old! I'm still glad that we went, and enjoyed a new experience together!  Then we came home and had dinner and cupcakes with my parents. It was a quiet birthday, but it was fun and I got to be with the people that I love the most! 

From the Mouths of my Babes

One might while snuggling with Caleb, I told him how I love that he still snuggles with me!  He told me, "Mom, when I'm married, and my wife's at work, and my kids are in school, and I don't have anything to do, I'll still come over and snuggle you!"  He cracks me up!!  I'm sure that will not be the case, but I will take a few more years of snuggles if he'll allow it!!

When asking the kids what activities they'd like to try this summer, Mila responded with gymnastics, basketball, and soccer!  I then asked Caleb, and he responded with, "I want to learn how to sew!"  I asked him why, and he told me so he can make himself a Jimmy Neutron Halloween costume, and some shirts for Mila!  Then I asked him if there was anything else he'd like to do.  He responded with a magic class!  I actually did find a Mom and me sewing class and a magic class through our park district!  Each are a one night thing!  He then lastly said he'd like to try basketball.  So this summer, we are doing park district swim lessons, basketball and gymnastics!

Caleb had his end of the school year picnic at a park.  Mila had an allergy appointment that day, and we weren't able to meet up with him.  However Erik went, and they played mini-golf together with his 2 best friends, Cole and William.  Mila and I got out of her appointment early, and went straight to the park to try to play for the last 30 minutes.  He was so happy when we got there! He told Mila, "I saw a dandelion and thought of you.  Then I started to sing the song, Life is Better with You!"  I adore their close bond!!

While getting Mila ready for bed, a music award show was on.  A group was accepting their award and said they want to thank the Lord for allowing them to do what they do.  Without missing a beat, Mila said, "Amen...amen!"

Goodbye Auntie Ann

I had to say goodbye to my Auntie Ann. She had a serious heart surgery about six weeks ago, and was in the ICU since. My mom had been going to visit her, and helped me realize that her condition was worsening. It's always hard to lose someone, especially when you still feel that they are young for their age, but being hooked up to tubes and oxygen is not really a way to live.
I'm so grateful for the time we spent together.  To my surprise, she interacted really well with me, and we were able to have a good conversation! However my mom told me that in the morning she seemed more incoherent. When I came in she told me that I looked beautiful :-) I just hugged her and told her that Erik, the kids, and I have been praying for her. She asked me to make sure that Christopher would be okay, and I told her that we all would make sure of that! I then called Natalie on video chat so that she could say hi and goodbye. Sadly Auntie Ann knew that we were all saying goodbye. I showed her pictures of Caleb and Mila, and she said that she was happy to get to see them grow up as much as she did. When I was leaving, she pointed to her own eyes and then to me and said that she was going to keep an eye on us.  I told her that she better!

My mom walked me downstairs when I was leaving, and told me that they were going to stop all of the medication and tubes later that day. I thought that meant that she would still live another week or so, but then my mom told me that she would be passing away that day. I was taken aback by that! For the rest of the day I went home and spent it with Erik and the kids.  My mom called me that evening to tell me that Auntie Ann had peacefully passed away.

We had the funeral later that week.  My cousin, Jennifer gave a really nice speech, that talked about her mom becoming a monarch butterfly. Now every time I see one I think of her!   I will never forget that when I was saying goodbye to Jen, she pointed to her eyes and then to the kids saying that she's keeping an eye on them! I got a big smile on my face!  I told her that Auntie Ann said the exact same thing to me!

I'll miss my Auntie Ann.  It's sad to think that so many of our relatives have passed away in the last several years.

Caleb gets glasses!

Caleb, Mila, and I all had our eyes checked.  It was Mila's first eye exam, and she did great!  Caleb had his eyes checked before Kindergarten, and had better than 20/20 vision!  One day he told me he couldn't see the board clearly, so I figured we better get his eyes rechecked!  Erik and I feel like it's inevitable our kids will need glasses with both of our eye genes!

So turns out Caleb is slightly near sighted.  Only -0.75!  Not bad considering I'm -3.25, and Erik is -6!  He was so excited when he found out he got to pick out glasses!  It only took us about an hour to try on every pair of blue ones!  He looks so cute!

The winning pair! 

Caleb's Last Day of School

Last day of 1st grade!!  Whoo Hoo!!  This year had its ups and downs.  Caleb learned so much: double digit math, how to tell time, reading at a 4th grade level (wow!), and new things in religion, science, and social studies.  He had to deal with some teasing, and not always seeing eye to eye with his teacher, but he made it!  So proud of our little boy!

1st & last days of 1st Grade!  He grew so much!!

Welcome to Summer!!

Mila's Peanut Allergy

Mila had an allergy appointment with a new allergist.  We really liked her, and feel more prepared with our allergy plan.  She also helped me understand the peanut allergy more, and answered questions very thoroughly.  Mila had to have a blood test, and she was amazing!  She didn't even flinch!

The blood test showed us that she is definitely severely allergic to peanuts :(  She will not outgrow it. If she eats anything with peanuts, she has a 95% chance of anaphylaxis :(  That scares me so much!  I was really hoping that we would find out the opposite, that she's barely allergic, but that was not the case! I guess it's better that we know, and we will continue being extra vigilant with her! 

Happy Birthday Erik

Mila and Caleb had a little disagreement about Daddy's party theme this year. She wanted to do a football party, and Caleb wanted to do a Voltron party! Voltron won as I thought it would be easier for the decorating!  Caleb helped pick out plates and napkins in the 5 main colors of the Voltron characters.

Being a Monday, we had work and Caleb still had school!  However we were able to sing Happy Birthday, enjoy the Oreo brownies we made, and give Daddy his presents!  Love you big Erik!