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! :)

Little Berkly Is Here!!!

I wanted to let everyone know that Shanda and Berkly are doing great! She is so adorable! She has the cutest chubby cheeks! I can't wait to see that little baby in person. I would love to give all the details, but I will save it for Shanda to tell.

Congrats Shanda you did awesome! I can't wait to come see you guys.

Overload Update

July has been a crazy month for our family. I have been in Chicago the last 2 weeks looking for a place to live. We have to be out of our house by the end of July. It's coming so fast! Now that it's down to the end I really don't want to leave. We have such great family and friends here. We love you all so much!!

Hopefully some of you will come visit! There is a ton to do in Chicago. Dirty Dancing starts on Broadway the end of Sep. I can't wait. The shopping is fabulous! My mother in law came last week for 4 days to help me with Jellybean. We hit some good sales! It's so fun because you can walk around for a couple miles and the stores never end!

I have walked so much the last 2 weeks. We rode the trains and walked everywhere we went. My aching feet! It has been so hot and humid there. I don't have hair that works with any of that!

We still are not sure where exactly we are going to live. We want to move out to the suburbs but we haven't found the right house. It is really hard not knowing the areas. It's a big culture shock for us and I want to feel safe. We had a Realtor show us around and that was super helpful.

Hopefully when Chris goes back this next week he will find something.

Here are a couple pictures of us waiting for and riding the train in down town Chicago.

I sold my living room furniture and decided to bring in the patio set. I know it's crazy but what else are we going to sit on? The swing is great indoors. I love to swing and watch t.v.

Who needs a rocking chair when you have this?

This is a picture of the guys hauling away the love seat. That was the first set of furniture
Christian and I purchased together.

I also sold our office furniture. Thanks for your help Alice and Rookie!

We have played many hours of Rock Band at my parents house. I love this game!

Fireworks

We spent the fourth of July with Alice and Rookie. We got some take out from Cafe Rio and headed to watch fireworks. Jellybean was more interested in playing with the grass than anything else. She would pick a handful of grass and then pull each blade one by one. Right before fireworks started the sprinklers turned on. Luckily only the corner of the blanket got wet.

Jellybean and I went swimming with Charlotte & Texi. It has been so hot so we loved cooling off in the water. We also went another time with Shanda, MaLia and Daddy. It was so much fun to see how much Jellybean loves the pool. She would scream and splash and scream some more.

Hope everyone is having a fun summer!