July 2011

We moved into our new place in July. Addy is still trying to adjust to having her own bedroom and being on a different level through out the day than I am. She doesn't like to go upstairs alone and came into our bedroom just about ever night in July to sleep with us. She is slowly liking this place more and more. It kinda breaks my heart when she says she misses her old house and that she wants it back. Benson has done really well here. He mastered going up and down the stairs the first day and can sleep so much better now that bedtime is not playtime with Addy anymore.

Addy chose out a new pair of scissors to practice cutting paper for school and a pair of goggles for swimming. Funny that they go hand in hand with her art project! She makes me laugh! Benson is a busy handful and loves to get into everything! I have a hard time keeping him off the dishwasher while I am doing dishes. He is my little helper!

We had a great 4th of July spent with our friends! Delicious BBQ and great company. The kids had a blast playing together and blowing bubbles. Afterwards we went to Naperville fireworks. My kids were so good and sat in awe the entire time. Benson was so excited every time a firework would go off. He would point them out to his daddy.

At the end of July, I went with my ward to girls camp as the asst. craft director. The camp was in Wisconsin on Lake Geneva at a Methodist Bible Camp. Our theme this year was " The Holy Land". We had such a great time and I had a blast getting to know the girls better.

Trishia and I were in charge of all crafts for 170 girls and decorating the craft cabin. We made big tutorials that we hung on the walls that had step by step directions and pictures of each craft. We decorated with real pictures of Jerusalem, paper lanterns, and I made six pillows for the couches. We weren't able to do much decorating, but it was all we had time for in the end.

The crafts we had for the girls were: jersey knit bracelets, necklaces, beaded scripture bookmarks, fabric rosette rings, spray painted t-shirts, friendship bracelets, and chocolate dipping.

Girls camp was a lot of work to prepare for, but so worth it!

Addy gave here very first talk in primary on Temples. It was such a sweet talk. She was so excited that she had just been to the Hawaii temple. We asked her why she liked it so much there and she said " because it has beautiful flowers and fun bumpity bumps". Haha! Christian cruised her around on the speed bumps in the parking lot and it really made a lasting impression I guess. She has been announcing to anyone that will listen that she will be marrying her friend Jackson in the Hawaii temple. I better start saving now! Addy loves primary so much! She has a hard time waiting through the week to go again. She really enjoys singing time and learning in class. I can't believe she is growing up so fast!

I am Back!.....June 2011

Now that summer is long gone and fall is on it's way out the door, I thought I would catch my blog up to date. I have wanted to for awhile but all those months of not posting have been hanging over my head! I could just start from today but I have a hard time leaving out our summer and any pictures of my kids. :)

So here is a re-cap of the month of June.......

Shanda came to visit me! It was so fun having her here. We filled our weekend with lots of shopping, swimming with the kids, White Sox game, boat tour of Chicago, sushi, deep dish pizza, staying up way too late, and treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate. It went by too fast but we sure had fun!

We celebrated Father's Day with a yummy Japanese dinner and a trip to the park. Unfortunately the only picture I took of Christian and the kids all together is the one on the slide. My kids were at their most favorite place to be with their dad.... the park!

Benson started taking his first steps on 6/15/11. My kids and I were at Humanitarian that morning and he just stood up and took about 6 steps. The pictures below are from one evening the next week playing with a baseball. Christian would throw the ball and he would walk to it. I love how he toddled! Now he runs everywhere he goes.

We moved out of our townhouse the last week of June. I have really mixed emotions about it! I never really loved that house but I must say that I really miss it. Our life in Chicago started in that house and it's the only place Addy remembers. It's where we brought Benson home to and spent the last 3 years of our lives. There aren't a ton of things I loved about living there, but I have all the memories we made together as a family. I did love how open it was, the wood floors, all one level, and my appliances. That's about it! The rooms were kinda awkward in the main area, I hated the huge flight of stairs, and I really hated the yellow paint in the kitchen. There were 3 shades of yellow on the walls when we moved in. All the tan paint covered the worst shade. I planned on painting the kitchen but never got around to it. We moved for more space, a third bedroom, and a place for me to do hair. I just don't feel at home in our new place yet. It's hard to be so picky when it's just a rental and it's temporary. I am being picky though! I am worried we made a mistake moving... time will tell I guess. I have a huge list of projects that will make it feel more like me, hopefully.

Here are pictures of the house a day or two before we moved out. Remember.... my house never was this empty or clean! ( Thanks to two kids and all my hobbies!) I had pretty much everything packed up and the landlord asked if I would take pictures for the realtor. I am so glad I did! It isn't much, but it was my house and I will always remember living there!

P.S. That is not my window scarf! :)

Moving is the pits!!!
Warning: Super long post

We finally moved! It seems like we have been talking about going forever. Getting here was something else! We flew out Sunday night and that's where our crazy adventure began. I didn't take any pictures of us on Sunday because my eyes were so swollen from crying the whole day. That was honestly the hardest thing I have ever done. It was so hard to leave our family and friends.

We flew out Sunday night hoping to fly standby on Delta. There were 18 seats available when we left the house 2 hours prior. Chris and I were 6 and 7 of the 18. We could definitely get on. WRONG! We missed the flight by one seat. So we had to fly Southwest instead an hour later. I was fine with that except for the fact that our luggage went to one airport and we flew into the other. By the time we landed and rented a car the baggage claim were our luggage had ended up was closed. I had no clothes, no toothbrush, and no car seat for the baby. Luckily we were able to rent a car seat with our car.Too bad it had to be back by 8:00 in the a.m.

We crashed as soon as we got to our hotel. I was so emotionally drained. Chris had to take the car back early the next morning and head into work. That night I knew I would be stranded but it didn't click in until Monday morning when I woke up. Luckily for Jellybean I packed her jammies and an outfit in her diaper bag. I had on the same thing I wore on Sunday. Well I had to get us checked out of the hotel because we couldn't stay there another night. We had a different hotel in a different city for Monday night. I had a car but no car seat to get us anywhere. I was so bugged. It wasn't until i talked to my mom that I started to cry. I had no clue what to do or where anything was in this new place.

I decided to go ask the front desk if they had a car seat on hand ( I figured they didn't but it was worth a try). Of course they didn't! So I had to break the law. I had the shuttle van drive us to Target which was a little over 2 miles down the road. I strapped Jellybean to my lap in the back of the van and prayed we wouldn't get in a wreck or get a ticket. The man waited for me to run in and purchase a car seat. I hurried and looked them over. I wanted the cuter brown and green one but it didn't go all the way up to a booster. So I decided to get the black seat. It seemed to hit all the criteria. I hurried p to the front and out to the van.

The driver dropped me off at my car so I could put it in the back. I ran in to get the rest of or things so I could check out. I came back out to hook in the new car seat and it was the wrong one! I was so mad. The seats were both made by the same company. I didn't even look at the picture. Luckily it's a great car seat and it was the cutest one!

This is a very scary picture. Bed head and no make up hanging out in the parking lot of my hotel :)

It took me over an hour to figure out the car seat. During all this I hit my pearl ring, that I just had sized, on something and busted the pearl off. I almost lost it in the parking lot. This day was horrible! I drove around and looked at stores until Chris got off work. Luckily we were able to get our luggage Monday night.

We made it to our hotel. I was so happy to not be hanging out in the car anymore! I got up Tuesday morning early so I could get ready. The baby didn't sleep in so I was trying to get ready while she played on the floor. I thought I had her far enough away from me, but next thing I knew she had lunged forward onto her belly and grabbed the cord to my curling iron. It happened all so fast. The iron landed on the top of her left hand. I watched it fall and tried to grab it as fast as I could. It was only on her hand for a few seconds but made the biggest burn. I hurried and put her hand under cold water and called my Dr. The nurse said she had to be seen. I called Chris crying my eyes out. I needed him to look up on the Internet somewhere I could take her.

Luckily her burn was mostly 1st degree with some 2nd degree in the center. I feel so awful! She only cried for a minute and it hasn't bothered her since. She wont leave the dressing around it alone. She keeps picking it all apart. My poor little baby!!!

This is some pictures of her after I took her to the Dr on Tuesday. Her poor little hand. It breaks my heart!

Tuesday we rented a Uhaul and started packing up all our stuff from the storage shed to take to our new house. Poor Chris has done all the work himself. The boxes and furniture are so heavy. Jellybean and I sat outside with Chris as he unloaded. I helped with what I could. My job is unpacking. YUCK!!

I had to take Jellybean back to the doctor today for a follow up visit. Everything is healing really good. It rained today and I was so happy about that. Long sleeves to keep her from picking! Here are some pictures before we left.

This is the front of our town house. I will take more pics after we get settled. The inside is so YELLOW! I like some of it but 4 different shades? Are you kidding me?

And last but not least, family pictures. We took pictures with both sides of our family before we left. For some reason I can't get my side of the family pictures to pull up. Help Alice!

Thanks for everyones help with our move. We love you and miss you all!

Good Bye Daddy...

( These are a few pics today before we took Christian to the airport)

Christian left today to Chicago for the week. To make a long story short... he still has a job and will be commuting back and forth every week. Who knows what is going on, so I decided not to say anything about it until it's final. We are moving then we are not, he has a job then he doesn't.... CRAZY!

We will be making our final decision this next week if we are staying or going.

It's so hard having him gone. We miss him so much! Jellybean loves playing with him and is so excited when he gets home. It's so precious to see the two of them together. Christian is such a great daddy! We will just have to sacrifice for the time being.

Have good week babe! We love and miss you!

Chicago here we come...

Christian and I are leaving for Chicago early tomorrow morning. We are going back there to check out a job and a little get-a-way for our Anniversary. We are leaving Jellybean for the second time. She is going to stay with her grandma Jamie.

If we take this job we won't be moving for awhile, but I am all ready FREAKING out! Chicago is so far away! I guess I can't get myself worked up about it until it's time.

What do you think about the move? Any good places you know about close to Chicago?