Another Birthday Gone By

It's time for more pictures of Zane & Braden!
I've been trying to pose them for my Christmas card photo but they prefer to make funny faces instead of pose. Here's one result.


Zane just turned 6! We had a great party for him at a tumbling studio in Crystal Lake. The kids had a lot of fun jumping on all the trampolines. They even got to use a harness and fly thru the air. Zane was doing flips wearing the harness. I got lots of pictures but many were out of focus since everyone was constantly moving & jumping. We had a treasure hunter themed party and I made the cake - it was delicious!










Tomorrow is Thanksgiving already! We are staying home this year and hosting Joe's family. We are so glad to have lots of room for everyone to stay in our house!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Trunk or Treat

On Saturday we decorated our SUV in the style of 1950s and I dressed up in authentic clothes. My grandma had made the skirt for my aunt back in the 50s. We participated in Trunk or Treat at church and handed out over 500 pieces of candy. I think the best part of our trunk decor was the music from the 50s that I checked out from the library. It was a good time and Zane & Braden enjoyed walking around to all the cars dressed as a dinosaur & a giraffe.




I love this adorable picture of Braden playing with his little friend Meredith at Tom's Pumpkin Playland last week.

Soccer Saturday

I guess it's now offcial that I'm a soccer mom. Zane just had his first soccer game in the Crystal Lake Soccer Federation. We thought he would balk at wearing the shin guards and knee high socks but what really set him off was the uniform- it was quite an argument to get him to wear it. No arguing at all about the socks & shin guards.
He did great in his first game, he even scored a goal. His strategy seemed to be to wait around until the ball came near him and then make a move.
Here's a photo of his team and a few shots from his first game.

The Unofficial End of Summer

Today was Zane's first day of Kindergarten. I snapped a shot of him just before he got on the bus. He described a little of his day and he had a great time.


Yesterday was our last day of fun before school started. We went over to a friend's pool and my boys had fun playing with Josh & Peter.



We went to Brookfield Zoo a couple weeks ago and here are some pictures from that day.

Biker Boys

Our summer is almost over and school is about to start. Zane will be in Kindergarten! We are so excited!
We have had a lot of funthis summer. Recently we went to Six Flags Great America which also includes Hurricane Harbor water park. We also went to Magic Waters water park in Rockford. The boys loved swimming, playing & water slides. I don't have any pictures of those days though.
Zane also learned how to ride a bike this summer. Below is a picture of him learning and Joe running alongside to help out.



Braden also learned how to ride his tricyle very well this summer.




We're sad to see summer go but we're excited about the start of school!

Renaissance Faire

Yesterday we ventured forth to the Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, WI. We enjoyed it all, especially the delicious food. The kids liked some parts of it but were also bored part of the time. The boys loved the butterfly ride, Zane had to have the pink butterfly.

Braden is fascinated with the elephants.

Joe & Braden in a cage

Missouri Fun

We had a fun week long getaway to Missouri. First we went to my Uncle Bob's lake house & had so much fun swimming off the dock & riding the Sea Doos.

We spent a few days in Kansas City and I got to eat at my favorite restaurant with my best girls!

Weedend in San Antonio

Joe & I were in San Antonio over the weekend at Josh Johnson's wedding and we had a great time. We left Zane & Braden at home with my parents. It was nice to see some old friends like Dan Craycraft & Joe's college friends & to make some new ones. We even had time to go to Sea World on Sunday before we went to the airport. It was especially nice to not have kids along during our delayed flight & missed connection & our unexpected night in Dallas. Instead of getting home Sunday night as we had planned we arrived home Monday morning instead.
Here is our table- we were just about the last to arrive at the reception so we got a table in the back- but we were close to the food & bar!

Towards the end of the reception we realized no one was decorating Josh's truck so our table took up the challenge! We got a bag of soda cans from the bar & some extra frosting (for writing "Just Married") from the cake. Joe found some orange cones in the parking lot and put them on top of the truck.

Here are Josh & Joanna during the toast.

Summer Fun

We have been busy this week. Yesterday we went to Pirate's Cove Children's Amusement Park and the boys had lots of fun on the rides. They are so cute in the little boats.


They rode the carosel the most.

Today we went to Crystal Lake Main Beach and played in the sand & sun. Summer is so fun!

PreSchool's Out

It's now officially summer for us because school is out! Here are some photos from Zane's year end class picnic. Families were invited to attend and Braden & I went with them.

We walked from deLacey to Carpenter Park.



Zane loves Mrs. H so I had to get a picture of them together.

Zane insisted on pushing Braden on the swings



Of course the children would NOT pose for a class picture!


Next up is 12 weeks of summer fun & then on to Kindergarten!

Memorial Weekend

We had Joe's parents and Josh & April & their girls visiting with us for the holiday weekend. Here are some photo highlights from their trip to Crystal Lake.

We spent an afternoon at Crystal Lake beach and we rented a paddle boat. Everyone got a turn boating on the lake.


The kids had fun playing UNO.

Everyone played games!

We even went miniture golfing.

Settling In

It feels like the year so far has been all about our move. I hope the summer will just be about having fun & settling in. We ended up moving out of our Lake in the Hills home on a very snowy day in April. We have the picture to prove it!

We are loving the new house. The backyard has been a delight for us as we enjoy the beautiful landscaping. Joe has been hard at work on a wooden playset for the boys and it is now complete. Here are a few photos of the yard and house.

I love the new flat panel tv in the family room.

The boys love running in the big fenced backyard.

We're Moving on Up!

Here's a little update on our efforts to move.
We listed our house with a realtor on Thursday, March 8th and it sold in 3 days! The market is slow and the average time on the market is over 90 days. We ended up selling far sooner than we planned. Click here to see the virtual tour. We are feeling nostalgic about leaving our first house, we've been here since 2000.

We went house hunting yesterday and found our new house! Our offer was accepted last night! It is in the Crystal Lake South area within walking distance of Woodscreek Park. It is a 4 bedroom, blue colonial with lots of room and a beautiful, fenced backyard. Zane's requirements were to have "an upstairs, downstairs & a fireplace" and we found it. I like most of the colors so I won't have a lot of painting to do. Our buyer wanted to move up their closing so we will be closing on both houses on April 12th. We have less than 4 weeks to pack up and get everything ready to go. We also have to figure out transferring Zane into the school district and registering him for kindergarten. We will be very busy for the next month. Click here to see pictures of our new house.

We feel so blessed that this has been such a quick & easy process so far.
We are excited!

It's a Cold Winter!

We've stayed indoors a lot these last cold weeks. The boys love to build elaborate train setups with Joe, I don't have the patience for it. I caught Braden reorganizing the refrigerator and was again reminded I can't take my eyes off either of my boys for long! Joe finally took Zane sledding last weekend and Zane loved it. He has said he didn't want to go sledding and he refused to wear his snow pants or boots but once Joe finally got him out there they had a great time.

Yes, Braden is pantless. We don't know why he does it but he's always taking off his pants!

Joe had a great birthday despite the blizzard. He got a snowboard which he is very excited to try out.

Our house is now FSBO and you can check it out at Zillow I've posted it on every free site I can find. We plan to officially list it at the beginning of March and then we'll get serious about selling it.

A Family Visit

We had a nice family visit last weekend with Joe's brother Jon & Stephanie Richards. They are returning to SE Asia to their translation work in just a couple weeks. This was our last chance to snap pictures of our boys with their baby cousin, Nathan.

Stephanie, Baby Nathan & Braden

Jon, Baby Nathan & Zane

The next time we see Nathan he will be 2 years old!