Sea Lion?

What sea lion?

Oh, that sea lion.

Get me down.

Ben's birthday

Ben is 2!! His birthday was on a Wed., so we met some friends at the El Segundo pool for some swimming and a picnic. We all had a great time, but we still don't think Ben gets it. When we ask him if he's two, he says no. He was very excited about all of the new trucks though. (so was Matt)

Ava, Kai, Maddie, Lily, Bella and 2 year old Ben

I love that he falls asleep mid bite. How does that even happen?! He's a narcoleptic like Grandpa George.

Summer Days

Having a great summer over here!! Hope everyone else is too!

We have been swimming almost every day. The kids took swim lessons, which got us to the pool and we just never got out!

Bella gave Lily this Play-doh ice cream shop which is a big hit with both kids. Gracie likes it too. She has eaten a large amount of Play-doh this summer.

Howdy

Auntie Molly and Jimmy sent some crazy singing cards for our birthdays. The kids LOVE them and carry them around. Thanks guys, thanks.

Lily's Birthday

Lily turned 4 on July 11. FOUR!! I just can't believe it. When she woke up, she came running out of her room yelling "I'm FOUR, I'm FOUR!!!" She found me and said, "Mommy, look (pointing at herself) I'm FOUR!!" I could see a huge difference from the day before. :) Since we had just gotten back from Chicago, we threw together a last minute party in the park. Surprisingly, a bunch of school friends were free and WPNS took over the park. Lily keeps telling us, "I'm still 4!!" Imagine that.

Grace, Mallie, 4 year old Lil, Alex and Robert

Delaney was pushing Lily and Isabella. She's so strong!

Return Flight

So Matt went back to LA a few days before us to teach a nerd camp. (JK, I love you baby!) I had been pretty scared to fly back with both kids on my own. Ok, with Ben on my own. The kids were AWESOME! I seriously thought Ben might be sick. I asked the flight attendant for a barf bag. Perhaps they were drugged. They did talk to some kids from Dayton during our delay, who knows. Perhaps it was the fact that an old man dropped his suitcase on my head while trying to put it in the overhead. I dropped the F Bomb in front of my kids for the first time ever and they behaved like angels for the entire flight. I think I found my parenting secret! Swearing! :)

Ben stood like this for about an hour, in front of me, just chillin'.

I couldn't get the DVD player to work and they were fine with it!

Lily read her Tag books for most of the flight. Thank you batteries, for holding out.

Finally passed out, standing up, mouth full of animal crackers.

Last day in Chicago

On our last day of Chicago, we met Papa Mustache at the funeral home for lunch. Myrt was out buying food to feed the impending army (a family member of hers had passed away). While she was out...........

She had these pictures of us on her fridge, side by side.

Lil and Cate

My Dad, Pat, the oldest of 7 is holding Colleen, the youngest.

The same people, some 40 years later. (Dad in the glasses this time)

Stories w/ uncle Brian on our last night at Nana's

My favorite childhood climbing tree

Little Fishies

So I am getting way out of order, but I wanted to post about Lily's AMAZING swimming skills. One day, she was hanging out in the pool, the next, she was full on swimming. We are so proud!

Ben is a crazy man, as usual! He is just as wild and dangerous in the water as he is on dry land!

Granny

As soon as we got back to Chicago from Michigan, my Mom took my Grandma to the hospital. She hadn't been able to hold down food for a few days and was very confused. We thought she would get an i.v. and come home, boy were we wrong. She went in late Thursday night, by Friday, they had found a mass in her brain. On Saturday (the 4th of July), we found out that there were several masses in her brain as well as her lungs. Matt's parents took the kids overnight so that we could be with my Mom when she found out (she had been working all day) and then go with her to the hospital. We actually had a great night visiting with Grandma. She was so sweet and completely knew who we were, but she was so confused and said the most hilarious things. She was laughing with us, which was nice to see. I know it sounds so bad that we were laughing so hard our stomachs hurt the next day, but what are you going to do, sit there and cry? If these are our last memories with her, I'd rather they be laughing than crying. We spent a lot of time at the hospital and it was really nice to be able to do something rather than sit on the phone and cry. I brought Lily to see her one day. Kids are not usually allowed on the oncology floor, but the nurses said they would make an exception since we were flying home the next day. We had a great day there. We washed Granny's hair and got her all cleaned up. She felt like a million bucks. Lily was OBSESSED with her teeth. "Why are they in a cup? How did they fall out? Will they grow back? When?? Where do pretend teeth come from? Can I get some?" It was crazy. They had a volunteer playing piano and Lily did ballet throughout the hallway. I think she should be a hospital volunteer and spread her Lily joy. My great uncle Jim (Grandma's brother) came to visit too. He and Lily colored together and he helped her stay in the lines.

When Granny's hair dried, I curled it for her. The only thing she wanted then was to go home. Aunt Barbara brought Grandpa up and they were happy to see each other. Granny finally got solid food that day. She was so happy, but ended up feeding half of it to Grandpa.

She got a biopsy of her lung and got to go home the following Friday. Sadly, she has stage 4 lung cancer that has spread to her brain. All she can do is have radiation treatments to shrink the tumors in her brain and hopefully keep her comfortable. She's at home, which is where she wants to be. I pray for my family because I know this is so hard on them. I hope they can get through this together. My uncle David and his wife Samantha had Granny's 15th grandchild in the same hospital on the day she got out. She got to see her new grandson before she was discharged. So, I guess the moral is that life goes on, right?

Some of the funny things she said that I want to remember:

Calling a bunch of people Marty (we have no one named Marty in our family)

Saying that there were parties in the hallway during the night. "There are some drinks in the fridge. They're left over from the party."

Mid-sentence, she shouted, "CHICKEN OF THE SEA!!"

Telling the nurse that she should watch out for Matt. "He's going to try to smuggle that dvd player on the plane" (he was flying to LA the next day).

Bumble Dee

Upon landing in Chicago, Ben started saying no less than 10 new words. It must have been the change in scenery, but his vocabulary suddenly expanded. No, none of the words were bad ones. Our favorite, by far is bumble dee. So cute!

Ben is also singing a lot. There is one song "Cha Chee Ro Ro" that we hear often. We kind of think it's his version of Ring Around the Rosie .........but we're not sure.

Nana's house

Nana borrowed the toys I used to play with from my Grandma's house. He played with the car garage for days.

Who needs pants?

Nana gave Lil he first Oreo. I think she liked it. :)

Street sweeper

Sleepy babies.

This bed sucks you in. It's impossible to stay awake watching a movie in there.

4th of July

In the morning, we said goodbye to the Mann's.

Lily loves Ella and had to get matching hair. :)

This was sweet. Part snuggle...........

......Part tackle.

The we were off to Blue Island for their parade. We got there just in time and saw the Allen's on one float and the Peloquin's on another.

We met Uncle Joey and Grandpa there. It was rainy, but the kids loved it. Rosemary was there with freezepops (Ben:"GEEEEEEN"), there were dancing horses, trucks and people throwing candy.....what rain?!

More Mann's

Ben

Jared

There was a perfectly fun (safe) swingset and this is where they chose to play.

Ella hung on the bar all by herself!

Jared, Kooper, Ben, Lily and Krista eating smores. SUGAR!!

The Mann's

One of my dearest friends, Dawn, and her family came to visit us in Chicago. Dawn and I were room-mates at Eastern and have remained close for many....many years. Sadly, we haven't seen each other in so long that I had never seen her 3rd baby. Kooper, and she'd never seen Ben. The boys are a few weeks apart and eerily similar. Even though it's been so long, we talk so often, I feel like I see them. Dawn and Tom's older two, Jared and Ella are just amazing kids. They are so patient with the little kids and so helpful. We had such a good time with them and just wish we could hang out more often. I know if we lived near them, we'd have barbecues every weekend.

We went to the Orland water park and this is what the boys did while we stopped at Chipotle.

Ben

Kooper

Kooper gets out of the pool, wraps up and goes into hibernation. Not asleep, just chillin'. He had the wrinkliest feet ever!

Sandy Feet

I got this kit from a website called glammatoys and I would highly recommend it. The kit comes with everything you need to make a mold of a pair of feet. Great souvenir to have from a beach trip!

Ben and Lil

Lily and Ben hung out with aunt Mary Ellen a lot and were, like the rest of us, in awe of her energy. She had play-doh, paint and crafts at her fingertips. The kids were very entertained and we were free to go wake surfing w/ David O! :)

Lily taught her the princess clap.