My Parents Visit and Addy's First Day of Kindergarten

My parents came to see us when Finn was 6 days old. I was so excited for them to meet my little guy. I was really starting to feel great and back to myself again. We got out walking everyday which really helped me heal quicker. On Saturday we decided to get the kids out of the house and headed to downtown Naperville. We walked the river-walk and my dad and Christian took the kids on a paddle boat ride. It was such a beautiful day! We stopped off at the Naper Sweets and Twisted Olive to pick up some treasures. 

My mom and I did a little shopping in the evenings once Chris was home so we could leave the baby with him. We were on the hunt to find Benson some more sports gear. His obsession that week was about getting a shirt or sports jersey that had a name and numbers on the back. He could not function until he had one. He seriously cracks me up! My mom surprised him with a baseball jersey that he absolutely loves and wore for 3 days straight.  

Here are some pictures of Finn at 1 week old. He is such a good baby! He gave me 2- 5 hour stretches in between feedings at 6 days old. It was the best feeling ever! I needed some catch up on sleep. Starting at 1 week old, he has been sleeping 8 hours at night. I put him to bed around 10 pm and he hasn't been waking up to eat until about 6 am. He goes right back to sleep until around 8 am. Such a good little sleeper. I hope it continues!

Finn is 10 days old in these pictures. Addy and Benson have been so sweet with Finn. I was prepared for some serious meltdowns once I brought him home. They have adjusted so great! Benson kisses him non stop. It's hard to keep his lips of the little guy. Such an amazing brother! He has done really well sharing all of his stuff and luckily isn't jealous of him. Addy has been so sweet and very helpful. She loves to hold and snuggle him. 

These pictures are of the day my parents left. It has been so nice having company to help me with my kids. I know they have loved all the attention!

My baby started kindergarten! This was such an exciting/sad day at our house. Addy has been waiting for this day for about a year. She couldn't wait to get to school and meet new friends. She got right up and ready without me even having to ask her. She had a hard time eating because she was so excited. It was really hard for me to let her go. I have really loved having her home with me and having her gone all day is going to be an adjustment for Benson and I. Having her in someone else's care for 6.5 hours a day is nerve wracking! The girl hardly is away from me at all. It was hard for me to send her also because of her nut allergy. I talked with the nurse and her teacher and I know she is in great hands, but it still doesn't ease my fears for her. Hopefully it will get easier for me as the school year goes by.

Her first day of school was more of a meet the teacher and orientation for the parents. I took her pictures right before we loaded in the van and it started pouring. It was the craziest storm! The wind was blowing the rain sideways so even though we had our umbrellas we both were drenched from head to toe. Addy didn't mind one bit!

Addy's teachers name is Mrs. Straughn. She is such a friendly smiley teacher. Addy was very shy and quiet while we were there but talked my ear off on the drive home. She loved Mrs. Straughn's pink shoes and her dress. 

Addy's first full day of school was a success! She loved it so much and gave me the thumbs up when I came to pick her up. She couldn't believe all the things they were able to do. Her favorite part of the day was art class and recess. It was spirit day so she wore navy and white and I thought she looked so cute! Addy wasn't able to eat her lunch because she said she had "nerves in her tummy".  She didn't even drink her juice or her water.  Luckily there was another little girl for her to sit by at the nut table. Addy said she didn't talk to her though. I am just grateful she didn't sit alone! I am sure Addy will warm up in no time. 

My friend Chelsea was so awesome and came over to help us take a family picture. Not bad considering we aren't photographers!  Finn turned two weeks old the day we did them. The kids were great and let me take a few of each of them. Of course I take way too many pictures, but I just can't resist! My kids are at such a fun stage and I love capturing how cute they are! 

Benson 3.5 years old

Addilyn 5 3/4 ( that is how old she tells everyone she is :)) 

Finn 2 weeks old

 Love my family!

Addy's 5th Birthday

Addy turned 5 in October! It seriously is crazy how fast she is growing up. She is such a fun little girl to have around. These pictures were on the day after her birthday right before school.  She had snack for pre-school that day and we made a fun little birthday treat for her class. She was so excited to take these treat pouches to all her friends.

Some things to remember about Addy at 5.....

- She weighs 38 lbs and is 43 in tall

- She is wearing 5T in clothes and 8 1/2 in shoes

-She just got her bangs cut short after having them grown out for 2 yrs.

- She loves jewelry and all things girly

- Her favorite restaurant is Olive garden where she always orders Zuppa Toscana

- She loves school

-She is very good at writing all her letters and tries to write words

-She loves arts and crafts

-She is a very sweet friend

-She loves to play dolls and role play

-She enjoys playing in her sports class, t-ball being her favorite

- She loves primary and singing time 

- She is still loving her singing group and has become a great singer

-  She is obsessed with dogs and also is very fearful of them

- Her favorite places to go are the pet store with her dad and downtown Naperville with the family

- She is such a great help to me and is good about doing chores

- Her best little friend is her brother

We celebrated Addy's birthday this year with my parent and my sister Allyson. We love when we have visitors for Holidays! Benson slept through half her party so she got plenty of extra special attention. Here are some pictures of the birthday girl, party decor, and her guests.

Benson woke up in time for presents and cupcakes. After we sang to Addy and she blew out her candle, Benson wanted a turn. He loves to blow out the "fire".

I was really excited for Addy to open her presents. Christian and I surprised her with her first "big girl" bike. I took her randomly to a local bike shop to see how she would do on the bigger bikes. She rode all over the store and was so proud of herself. She liked the black bike in the store best. I was kinda surprised but was excited for that choice. It will be perfect to pass down to Benson. Addy had no idea we were going to get the bike for her so it was really fun to see her reaction.

 Allyson made Addy a quilt for her gift. Quilted in the top is a sweet message for Addy. It is her very favorite quilt to snuggle with. Since she has had it, she sleeps with it every night. She calls the quilt her "special blanket". We love it! Both of our families gave Addy very nice gifts. We are so lucky to have so many people that love her! 

December 2011

At the beginning of December we went to our ward Christmas party. They had a yummy breakfast and the primary sang a few songs. When it was time to go up, Addy and Madelyn walked up holding hands. They were being so brave together. The girls were so cute and held hands threw the whole program. 

Grandpa Dave drove back from Utah with Christian and stayed for a night with us. My kids loved seeing him. He helped us get a few projects done and even made time to build some shelves with me. The guys pulled out the Christmas tree and the kids went to town "decorating" it with their toys. It took me awhile to take down all the toys that ended up on the tree that weekend!

Addy's preschool had a Christmas sing-a -long with all the morning classes. She did a great job singing.

Addy really loved decorating the Christmas tree again this year. She remembered all the ornaments she picked out from last year. I did really good and let her decorate it how she wanted. I only had to help in a couple ares where the ornaments got a little too clustered. Benson wasn't too interested in helping. He did however enjoy throwing all the "ball" ornaments at the tree. Not many of my ornaments survived this year, but they sure entertained Benson all month long!

I turned 28 in December but unfortunately had to pass on celebrating because my family was hit with the flu. It was BAD! Poor Benson had it the worst. My girl friends had a fun party for me that I had to miss and we had to cancel on what was going to be our very first babysitter ever. I seriously was looking forward to a fun night out with Christian. It was an awful week and a half! So we will scratch this birthday and hope next year is better!

We had our first visitors for Christmas this year! My parents flew here on Christmas Eve. We picked them up and went for an early dinner at Shinto. We all ordered the Hibachi grill and some yummy appetizers and sushi to share. We spent the rest of our evening at home playing games and watching movies. Addy couldn't get in enough card games the whole weekend! She has become quiet the card shark.

The kids opened their jammies and a book before bed. It was fun to see how excited Benson was this year. They both loved their new jammies and looked adorable in them.

Christmas morning was really exciting for us! I loved having my parents here to share all the fun and excitement with my kids. I am not sure if Benson knew what to expect coming down stairs, but as soon as he saw his basketball hoop he took off running! Addy was so happy Santa brought her the hair chair she had been wanting. She couldn't wait to give her dollies their first "hair do" in the chair.

Opening presents always makes me laugh. My kids want to play with whatever they open right then. We had to keep convincing Benny to open more presents. A few treats were given to him to finish the task.

I surprised Christian this year with an Ipad. My mom and I thought we were being so funny by pretending the huge box I was carrying up the stairs to wrap for him was so heavy! We were laughing the whole night and being silly. I filled the box with towels and a few other things with his wrapped gift in the bottom. He seriously thought I was so lame! He wasn't expecting an Ipad but he knew it wasn't something heavy. I loved surprising him! He definitely deserved an extra special present this year.

We enjoyed every minute my parents were here. We had a lot of down time spent at home with them. We all needed the slow paced weekend. My mom and I made lots of yummy food and even got in a little sewing. Of course we went shopping too! Christmas went by super fast, but we sure enjoyed our company this year!

My parents visit

We had a great visit with my parents. This was my dads first time coming to Chicago. It was a short but fun weekend! They arrived late Friday night. Addy was so happy to see them both. Of course it was so cold the entire weekend! We braved the zoo Saturday anyways. It was nice to sit inside for the dolphin show and warm up. My kids love the dolphins the most! We ate in downtown Naperville for dinner and made our 1st stop to the candy shoppe.

We celebrated Benson's birthday Sunday. My mom and I cooked all morning. It was so fun trying a new recipe out with my mom. I knew I wouldn't fail with her help! We all ate way too much! ( the taquitos were even better the 2ND and 3rd time) That night we relaxed and watched Despicable Me.



Monday, Christian and my Dad spent the whole morning changing the brakes on my Jeep. As soon as they were finished the girls headed out Shopping. Addy sweet talked Grandma into getting her a dress from the Disney store and me some new clothes. Gotta love that! We took my parents back downtown to Giordano's for dinner. We ordered some deep dish Chicago pizza! Then it was back for our 2ND round to the candy shoppe.

Tuesday we went into Chicago to the Science and Industry Museum. None of us had been there yet. A lot of things made Addy nervous there. Lucky for her, we all took turns carrying her. But she mostly wanted her papa. We didn't make it through the whole museum but we all really enjoyed it there. We went to lunch and then dropped my parents off at the airport. It was sad to see them go! It was so fun having visitors and I loved how much time they got to spend with my kids.

Thanks again for everything papa and nanny! We love you very much and can't wait to see you guys again soon.

Bensons 1st Birthday Party

Our family was so lucky to have my parents come for Benson's 1st Birthday! We were so happy to have them here for four days. While they were here, we had a little party for my birthday boy! My mom and I cooked my friends delicious taquitos recipe, home made re-fried beans, green sauce, and salsa. It was definitely a hit, thanks Jami! After we had cake and ice cream and opened presents.

(thanks Jami for the yummy cake!)

Benson loved his cake! It was so cute watching him lick the frosting off his fingers.

I started with a theme of robots, but I didn't get very far with it! It still turned out pretty cute though.



Benson really enjoyed all the gifts he opened. Addy helped with every single one! It was like it was her birthday! She is really enjoying all his new toys and books.

It was really fun to watch Benson play with his new toys. The farm house and tractor are both the kids favorite! They also love the new books. Of course I love all his cute new summer clothes! Thanks to our families for all the wonderful gifts. Benson is one lucky boy!