Family Weekend 2014

Every summer my extended family on my dad's side gets together somewhere for a fun filled family reunion weekend! This year, we were stationed in the Chicago suburbs, which worked out great! Here are some pictures and highlights from our weekend!

 

On Saturday, we started the day with breakfast at Walker Bros Original Pancake house. Afterward my sister, my oldest cousin and I took all our kids to a really fun park in Deerfield! The weather was perfect and all the kids had a blast playing with each other! Next, we had lunch at Panera and then headed back to the hotel for naps, swimming and pizza for dinner! Here are a few pictures from the day! I can't believe between the 3 of us, we have 6 kids under the age of 6, and 2 more on the way! Such fun! :)

 

Jade and Grampy waiting for breakfast!

Cousin love!

 

Jade and her cousin Cruz! These two have a blast playing together! 

 If you look closely, you will see all 6 kids on the train!

My number one girl!

 

On Sunday we all had breakfast at the hotel and attended church at my Grandma's church! After church, we all enjoyed lunch at Culvers followed by naps for the young kids!

 

 My cousin Kelly and I! Pregnant together for the 2nd time!

The whole group! We missed you Uncle Gary, Aunt Karol and Kendall!! 

Colton, Cora, Summer, Rowan, Cruz and Jade!

 

A big thanks to the grandparents who watched the kids for us so the 4 cousins and our husbands could enjoy a night out! We enjoyed seeing the Blue Man Group and had a delicious Mexican dinner!

 

The boys! 

The Girls!

 

We ended the weekend with lunch at Giordano's!



 

I think it is safe to say a fun weekend was had by all! Can't wait for next year!!

Spring has sprung!

Spring/Summer weather is finally here and looks to be here to stay! Jade is absolutely loving being outside!

She has already spent hours in her sandbox!

It's all fun and games until we have to go inside! :)

Road trip to Missouri

This past weekend we headed down to Missouri to watch a dear family friend get married! It's so hard to believe that someone my sister and I used to babysit for is married! This was Jade's longest road trip to date. She sure had a blast traveling with her Grammy, Grampy, Aunty Alison, big cousin Rowan and mommy!

We left after work on Friday and made our way to Springfield, IL where we stopped for the night! This was Jade's first time sleeping in a hotel without a crib! We shared a bed and she did amazing!

Cousins ready for bed, and still smiley at 10:45 p.m.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way, and made it just in time for the wedding just outside Branson. 

Quick stop for lunch at Steak N Shake!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and totally worth the drive! Jade had a blast blowing bubbles, eating, running around and dancing while I had a blast catching up with old friends and chasing her around! :)

My perfect date!

Having a blast on the rocking chairs!

Grammy and Grampy! <3

Dancing Machine, couldn't tear her off the dance floor!

Alison and I with the gorgeous bride!

 We drove the whole way home on Sunday (8 hours without stops)! I'm so proud of how well Jade did in the car! Thank goodness for snacks, naps and technology! :)

Big Girl Bed!

About 2.5 weeks ago, we decided it was time to get Jade's big girl bed set up! We let Jade be a part of the whole process so she could best understand what was happening! She loved helping daddy put the bed together and was very helpful with handing him the screwdriver!

Everything was all ready to go (bed setup and bedding washed) and then...the guardrail happened. Turns out that the guardrail we purchased, or probably any non Pottery Barn Kids guardrail we could purchase would not work with this particular bed without a box spring (which we do not have)! Grr.

So, unfortunately Jade was unable to sleep in her bed that night, or for the next 2 weeks for that matter while we got the guardrail situation figured out. The good news is, Pottery Barn sells a guardrail that would work with this bed, the bad news, they no longer sell it in the color of Jade's furniture!!! Luckily, the Baum family came to the rescue, and mailed us their old guardrail from Cruz's bed! Nate was able to sand it down and paint it, and I think it turned out pretty great! So grateful!!

The room decor is not yet complete, so more pictures to come! Jade has had three successful days of naps and two overnight sleeps in her bed so far! She is still sleeping in her sleepsack (like she was in the crib to prevent her from escaping) and so far, it's having the same impact in the big girl bed!