Happy 36th to Erik!

Back in April while making a quick stop in Walgreens, the kids were looking at the giant birthday cards that make sounds.  They found the jackpot when they saw a giant Star Wars birthday card that played the theme song when it opened.  They were so excited to get it for Daddy, even though his birthday was not until the end of September.  So the challenge for me was to find a good hiding spot for the next 5 months and also to not forget about it when his birthday finally rolled around!  Well, luckily, both things went off without a hitch and the kids were about to combust waiting to see Erik's reaction when he opened the card.  The photo below captures the moment pretty well.  It was fun!  And since we now have 2 birthdays back-to-back in our family, with Erik on 9/30 and Tyler on 10/1, we decided to get Daddy a pie for his birthday this year instead of having cake 2 days in a row.  He loves lemon meringue, so we lit a candle in his slice of pie and sang him happy birthday!

September birthdays

Each September we find ourselves in Clarendon Hills celebrating all of our family's September and early October birthdays (Mary, Mel, Erik, Aaron & Tyler!).  We spend a relaxing day catching up with everyone and usually enjoy a meal and some birthday cake.  This year, we spent some time in the backyard taking some casual family pictures, too.  The kids also got to open and take home their special annual ornament gift from Grammy Brown.  She is very sweet to give it to them in advance of Christmas each year so they can hang it right on the tree the day it goes up.  (Oh, and Erik still gets his beloved annual Star Wars ornament, too!)

Apple Holler Orchard 2013

We spent a beautiful fall day with the Vlach family at Apple Holler Apple Orchard!  We started the day right with the always-amazing cider donuts, then moved right along to the hayride that took us to the orchards to pick our bagfuls of apples.  We picked as many honeycrisp apples as we could, since those are our favorite!  The kids had fun running through the orchard rows and biting into apples left and right.  After apple-picking, we grabbed a quick lunch at the food stand and played at the playground area to wrap up the day.  I think we left with 3 full bags of apples, so we had plenty to go around for days (weeks!) afterward.  So fun!

A Visit with Friends!

We had the most fun visitors in for a day trip!  3 of my sorority sisters, Tara, Susanne & Meg, and their families stopped over to spend the day.  We made lunch on the grill and had pizzas for dinner.  The 9 kids had so much fun running around the backyard together and the girls and I got to step out for a little afternoon shopping excursion to a row of cute boutiques in Evanston.  I'm so glad we were all able to coordinate such a fun day together!  I just love the photos we snapped- here are a few...

2013-2014 School Year Begins!

We have an official 1st grader and Junior Kindergartener!  The first days of school are always exciting and fun - with a little dose of anxiety as the kids transition back to spending their weekdays away from home.  Our first week back included tears at drop-off, but big smiles at pick-up and both kids are really enjoying their teachers and classmates.  Cheers to another great school year.

Mommy and my big kids!

We take a photo each year by this stone sign...getting bigger already

Off to 1st grade!

Cassidy with her teacher Mrs. Cobia

Our 4-year old Jr. Kindergartener - he goes to school 4 mornings a week and stays through lunch

Gavin and his cubby

His first assignment!

Writing his name and drawing a picture of us together

Now it's just this little rascal keeping me company at home!  :)