Starting Summer - June

 Kicked off June with a fun birthday dinner (for me) at Jackson Ave Pub, our favorite spot in downtown Naperville for burgers! Ice cream and cookie cake were on the menu at home for dessert!

Jade wrapped up her spring soccer season with a team lunch at McDonalds after their last game.

Little Miss Jemma has been enjoying her basketball hoop and summer skills class! 

We went Strawberry picking with Grammy at our usual spot, Heider's Berry Farm. We had the perfect weather day, and the berries were delicious!

We also got to see my Dad/Grampy and give him his Father's Day gift!

We celebrated Nate and his Dad on Father's Day with a fun dinner at Wooden Paddle Pizza in downtown Lemont.

My parents have been helping us out quite a bit with the girls this month when our work schedules have conflicted! They purchased a summer pass for Chuck E. Cheese so we (mostly Jemma) have taken full advantage of it so far! :)

I had my 20 Year High School Reunion which included a tour of CLC, which the whole family joined me on! I attended the actual reunion part in the evening solo!

We spent some time in Lake Geneva with my mom and Aunt Mar doing a boat tour and having lunch! We had such a fun day!

May

Nate took on a new role as a detective at work! Definitely ask him questions about it next time you see him, he'll be able to tell you much more than me! But what I can tell you is that he now works M-F and is off every weekend! New dress code for work warrants a "First Day" picture! :)

Jemma has been diligently working on her back handspring and finally got it down on the trampoline!

Jade kept busy with spring soccer and another volleyball league with her friend Ellie. 

Jade had her last band concert of the school year which was held at the Naperville Community Concert Center. This was such a cool venue for the kids to get to play at.

Jemma wrapped up 4th grade with a fun ice cream social and year book signing night!

Jade received the 6th Grade Madisonian award. This is awarded to students who exhibit behaviors consistent with the school's pillars of expectation (Responsibility, Respectfulness, Inclusiveness and Engagement). We had a received a letter in the mail letting us know she would be receiving this award and inviting us to the ceremony. She was surprised not only to receive this award, but to see us there, too! We're so proud of our girl!

Last day of 4th grade for Jemma!

Last day of 6th grade for Jade!

We got to squeeze in a quick visit with my Grandma while we were in Crystal Lake over Memorial Day weekend!

Meet in the Middle

Meet in the Middle this year was in Northern Illinois/Wisconsin over Mother's Day weekend! A big thanks to my parents for coordinating everything so all we had to do was show up! :)

We kicked off the weekend on Friday with lunch at the Fire Pitt in Trevor, WI followed by the Logic Puzzle Museum in Burlington, WI. Everyone had so much fun at the museum getting to try to solve dozens of mind puzzles. Picking out a puzzle or two from the gift shop to try at home was a lot of fun, too!

From here we headed to our rental house for the weekend, Pineapple Ridge, in McHenry! We had a relaxing evening at the house eating sandwiches from Subway, relaxing in the hot tub and a campfire complete with s'mores.

The next day we made a coffee stop at the cutest shop, Perkup, in Elkhorn, WI. From here we went food pantry donation shopping at the Piggly Wiggly in Lake Geneva! We had a list of the most needed items and then broke up into groups to shop!

Once our shopping was complete we had lunch at Gino's East before heading over to the Lake Geneva Food Pantry to deliver our donations.

We picked up dinner from Tommy's and spent the rest of the evening back at the house playing games, relaxing in the hot tub and enjoying another campfire and s'mores!

The next day was Mother's Day! We spent the morning together at the house opening gifts and celebrating all the moms! From here we headed to the Brat Haus in Richmond, IL for lunch followed by ice cream at Hanen's Ice Cream Parlor in Wilmot, WI. Both of which were SO good.

Thank you, mom and dad, for another super special and fun filled weekend together!