Fathers Day Weekend in Chicago!

Saturday morning we left for Chicago to see friends and family and watch Hailey (our niece) play in a softball tournament.... We stopped at the hotel first and hung out a little with Rob and Ty (Drew's brother and nephew) and then drove to Dan and Renee's house (Dan is a friend of Drew's from Taylor University) for lunch. I got to snuggle their 3-month old daughter, Taylor, and they fixed a delicious lunch for us. It was great catching up with friends and laughing together... We only wish we were able to see each other more often!! Then we headed back to the hotel so Evan could take a nap-I stayed with Evan and Drew left to see Hailey's first game. After her game, everyone came back to the hotel for a couple hours before we left again for another game in the evening. After the second game, we came back to the hotel and ate a delicious Maggiano's meal and spent more time together. Then Sunday morning, Drew, Evan and I ate breakfast at Einstein Bagels before everyone else woke up. When we got back to the hotel, the kids swam a little bit before we left for the Riverwalk in downtown Naperville... Brad and Cal surprised everyone by meeting us for the day.. We ate lunch and then headed back to the ball diamonds.. Hailey had another 2 games on Sunday and her team won the tournament!! It was so much fun spending time with everyone and Evan had a blast playing with his cousins... Here are some pictures from our weekend....

Sitting with Hailey :)

Walking into the hotel with Hailey...

Running around the ball diamonds with Ty.... He was so hot and sweaty from running! We had no issues with him sleeping well- he was so worn out he just crashed!

Chasing Ty- they had so much fun chasing each other....

Can you tell Evan looks up to Ty?? He imitated EVERYTHING Ty did this weekend!Father's Day breakfast at Einstein Bagels...Evan eating breakfast in his jammies :)

Playing by the pool with CARS- what else??

This boy is spoiled- he got so many new cars this weekend thanks to Dan and Renee and Aunt Laura!

Swimming with Daddy and Hailey at the hotel...Walking on the riverwalk in Naperville.... It was sooo beautiful!

Feeding the ducks...

Rob, Hailey and Ty on Father's Day!Group picture at the Riverwalk.... What a wonderful weekend!!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!

Drew took Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off work last week so we had 5 days to spend together as a family. It was sooo much fun!! We did lots of fun things, but also managed to get lots of things done around the house too... It was hard to get back into the swing of things this morning- Evan did NOT want Daddy to leave for work!! We ripped out all the landscaping in our front yard and basically started over... We are pretty much done with the exception of hauling another 4-5 truckloads of stone... Lots of hard work, but we're happy with the way it has turned out!! Then it's time to tackle the backyard- but that may have to wait until next summer!!
Playing with the hose..

Daddy and Evan taking a break in landscaping to play a little bit!!

Drew hard at work on the landscaping! I'll post some pictures of the finished product when we're all done...

Evan playing at his water table while we were landscaping.. Notice his wheelbarrow and tools- he was "helping"!!
Our first Chuck-E-Cheese experience... Evan loved the pizza, but was a little timid about trying any of the rides... I think we'll have to wait awhile before we try that again... Talk about sensory overload (for both Evan and us)!!

My boys being goofy at Chuck-E-Cheese...

Evan and I went over to Jaren and Addie's house this afternoon and hung out at the pool and took a walk.... This is Evan eating a snack beside the pool this afternoon....

Isn't he so handsome???

My little man standing by the pool....

ABC's, Counting, and my new Scrapping Space!!

This post is going to be a little random, but I wanted to share all of the things we've been up to in the past week....

Evan Update: Along with lots of trips to the park and a couple trips to the zoo, Evan has been learning to count to 10 and sing his ABC's... Although we still have some work to do on the ABC's, I thought you would enjoy it anyways :)

This first video is Evan counting and reading his book- You may need to turn up the volume a little- he talks pretty softly :)

This video is Evan counting and singing the ABC's.. Notice how he is pushing his cars around the whole time.... This is what we do ALL day now... This boy LOVES matchbox cars!!

Trip to the zoo last Friday with Aunt Laura and Ma...

Trying on the hats with Aunt War-Wa...

Playing at the mall playground in between shopping with Mommy...

All by himself! Now he always pushes my hand away whenever I try to help him do anything and says "I do it Mommy"....

Drew Update: Drew's CFA Level III test is over for this year!! I can't tell you what a relief this is, not only for him, but for Evan and I too... We were definitely missing Drew and Evan was really realizing that Daddy wasn't around as much as he usually is... For those of you who have been asking me, Drew felt pretty good about it, but he won't get the results for about 3 months... So now it's just a waiting game. But Drew is definitely enjoying playing some golf and relaxing with Evan and I in his FREE time!!!

Ashley Update: I have also been working on getting my new scrapbooking corner of our office organized and decorated. I found this table at a garage sale last weekend and was so excited.... My dad also painted and gave me 2 storage cabinets that he was using in his garage and didn't want anymore so I filled one up with my scrapbook supplies and now they're hidden and not sitting out all over. Then I took a magnetic board that we bought from IKEA right after we were married and dressed it up a little with some pretty blue and green paisley fabric... I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.... Now I just need to find some time to catch up on all my pages... I'm about 9 months behind!!!

Happy 24th Birthday Laura!!

My sister's birthday was yesterday... We drove down to Indy (all of us except Drew- he was studying) and met Laura and John at the zoo to spend the morning and afternoon there... Then we went back to Laura's apartment and relaxed while Evan took a nap... Then we ate Panera and came home... Evan did wonderfully (thanks to Ma for entertaining him during the 6 hours in the car) and we had a great time with lots of laughs. I only wish Drew could have been there.... Hopefully next year we can do it again with Drew... Here are a few of the MANY pictures we took...

At the zoo and waiting on John and Laura... As you can tell, Evan wasn't too thrilled yet... We were right by the sea lions and he wasn't too sure about the noises they were making...

So excited about the stuffed lion Papa bought him :)
Squeezing his lion... He hardly let go of him the whole day...

Laura and John in front of the elephants...

Petting the goats...Making eyes at Aunt Laura across the table....

Posing with Aunt Laura and John- there was a park that Evan was intent on watching while we were trying to get him to smile...

Looking at the monkeys....

Feeding the giraffes... That's Laura's back, and she's holding Evan even though you can't see him... The giraffe stuck out his long tongue and they put food on it... Evan has been pretending he's a giraffe and sticking out his tongue ever since :)

Mommy and Evan!!

Riding the carousel with the birthday girl....

This boy loves his aunt "Warwa" :)

Watching the tigers with John- I think he was a little excited :)

At the shark exhibit....

Running down the hall at Laura's apartment with his animals... Laura got him a frog backpack.. He loves filling it with his cars and carrying it around :)