Tinker-Boy

As I've mentioned in the past, Jude is creative.  I'd almost say to a fault.  If there's a toy he wants, but doesn't have he'll just make it out of paper - and it's usually a fairly decent replica.  It's a great talent, but I also have a house-full of paper toys...ALL of which are extremely important to him.

A month or so ago, our wonderful neighbor, Karen, gave Jude the best surprise ever - Tinkertoys.  He spent hours in his room figuring out exactly what each piece did - and by the third day of owning them, he rolled this out of his bedroom:

"It's one of those things that can pick up dirt - but it's like a car one."

Smarty pants.

Dread

Rob and I recently started the "Insanity" work out program.  We wake up around six, spend twenty minutes avoiding the workout, then spend the next 40-50 minutes getting our butts kicked by the toughest workout I've ever done.   Once we're finished we feel really good - but I have to say that going to bed, knowing what is in store for us the next morning has changed us.  Getting in bed by 9:30 pm has never felt so good!  Here's what you're missing (lucky for you, the stink is not included).

Sorry it's blurry - our muscles were most likely shaking

It's crazy - but we're hoping the results are worth it!  

Yesterday's Facebook Status...it was quite the afternoon

It's all fun and games until someone poops on the trampoline.

Yesterday at 2:57pm ·  ·

• Like this item
  

  Jennefer , Alice , Mandi and 18 others like this.
• • 
    

    Carrie Hahahaha! That can't be good. Watch out for the pink eye!
    

    Yesterday at 3:27pm · 
  • 
    

    Kim  Who did it? Story please!
    

    Yesterday at 3:32pm · 
  • 
    

    Brandon Love this
    

    Yesterday at 3:40pm · 
  • 
    

    Megan  Then it's hilarious! Hahaha!! (Unless you're on clean up duty..haha duty)
    

    Yesterday at 4:08pm · 
  • 
    

    Julia  Haha! That is hilarious!
    

    Yesterday at 4:11pm · 
  • 
    

    Zach  Stop inviting Brandon  over.
    

    Yesterday at 4:44pm · 
  • 
    

    Lisa  hahahahahaha!
    

    Yesterday at 4:52pm · 
  • 
    

    Robby  Seriously, Brandon. It was cute the first time, but come on!
    

    Yesterday at 5:27pm · 
  • 
    

    Debi The next question...did someone jump on it?
    

    Yesterday at 5:58pm ·
  • 
    

    Melissa Ah, yes...it was an interesting afternoon. We are potty training Ella, and she's almost got the hang of it. But in her swimsuit she must have thought she was covered because she pooped, then shook it out the side. I was inside for this, but Maddie came in and said that there was poop on the tramp - and she knew it was poop because she thought it was a rock and picked it up to throw it off. The kids were jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler under it - so it kind of washed it around. The shining moment was when (while cleaning up the poop) I thought the sprinkler got me. Ella said, "uh-oh" and I realized she was peeing on my hand.
    
    

    Yesterday at 7:09pm ·
  • 
    

    Kimberly  oh boy. sounds like quite the day! lol.
    

    22 hours ago · 
  • 
    

    Kimberly  Hope you rewarded yourself after that! :)
    

    22 hours ago · 
  • 
    

    Bonnie Ahhh the joys of motherhood!
    

    13 hours ago · 
  • 
    

    Mary  Ewwww...
    

    10 hours ago · 
  • 
    

    Bonnie That sounds Very.....WEIRD!! HAHA!!
    

    5 hours ago · 

Claire

This kid:

Laughs all the time

Loves to roll

Has huge, sparkly blue eyes

Has been sleeping like a champ since she was five weeks old

Loves to give Mom and Dad kisses

Can't get enough of her siblings

Still has no teeth

Loves to jump

Makes me fall even more in love with her every single day

Water Babies

Dad's Wedding: Part Third (Photo Overload)

 For our final stop in Galena we drove about twenty minutes further into nowhere and ended up at one of the most beautiful bed and breakfasts I have ever seen - with one of the most delicious dinners I have ever eaten.   

Our home for the evening

We started off by taking a really odd photo

Then my little brother Johnny decided to be coy

My twin brother, Dan, braved the river first

I decided to go second.  Shocking everyone with my jump from standing position

There may or may not have been an incident at some point on the hike

Rob and I in front of our cottage

Our bedroom

The largest (and most awkwardly placed) chairs I've ever seen

See what I mean? Talk about an intimate conversation

Monster Sized Tub

Inside Dan and Marissa's Cottage

More relaxing in the cottages

My dad and his new bride 

My husband and his old bride

Derek and Sarah excited for dinner

Sitting down for a seven course family dinner

The third course: Maple Glazed Salmon on French toast with Pineapple.  It was to DIE for!  

Dan tickled the ivories for some post-dinner entertainment 

Then we all bonded in the parlor 

It was one of those weekends that I'll remember for a long, long time.  Family, food and fun.  Thanks, Dad, for letting us be a part of such a wonderful weekend.

Wedding: Part Deux

As I mentioned before, the weekend was host to some sort of Boy-Scout-Jamboree (is that the correct word?  I'm not up to date on my scout lingo).  So early Saturday morning scouts from all over just started coming out of the woodwork.  The city was CRAWLING with tan shirts and backwards ascots with gold ties (again...at a loss for the correct term) until about 1pm, when they put on a parade.  Five thousand scouts walked main street, then vanished.

Saturday night my Dad and Bonnie were married in the historic hotel we were staying at.  They did a lovely job with decorations and details.

Bonnie walking down the aisle

My dad and his best man, Rick

My dad's solo.  Okay, I have no idea what he's doing.  But he wasn't singing.....yet.

Happy Bonnie

 After the wedding, we had a ridiculous amount of delicious food.  Then in (insert maiden name here) family tradition, we hit the dance floor and bedazzled all the guests with our awesome moves.  We are like the dancing equivalent of the Von Trapp family singers.  World renowned, I tell you.

We boogied

We polkaed (it was almost scary how quickly my dad and his brother jumped into this - I mean, who led?)

Then I pretended to Polka (it's a family thing)

It appears as though we may have even raised the roof a little.  

A couple of fun mid-reception surprises were 1.  When the band stopped rocking, and played "Take me out to the ball game" as Portillo's hot dogs were rolled in.  (Portillo's is the restaurant of choice amongst our family - so this was a real home-town treat)

2.  When my dad went up to the stage, plugged in his guitar, and sang "Beginnings" by Chicago while rocking with the band.  So impressive, Dad!

My dad, the rock star

It was a great wedding.  We were so glad to be a part of it.  But it didn't end there - tune in tomorrow for Wedding: Part Third.  Hmm.  When I typed that, it was an accident - but I think we'll leave it like that.  Wedding: Part Third, it is.

Dad's Wedding - Part 1

(I started this post about three weeks ago - but never finished it. I knew it was going to be a couple of long posts, so I kept putting it off. Now I can use my post-a-day to finish writing about my Dad's wedding.  No, that's not cheating.  I don't care what you say...this is my blog - I make the rules!)

Last month Rob and I ran off for a weekend in Galena, IL for my dad's wedding.  It was a quick trip to a tiny little town in the middle of the 1800s  nowhere.  It ended up being a historic little town in western IL filled with old buildings, famous landmarks, shopping, and on this particular weekend - five thousand boy scouts (I kid you not).

It is the kind of town where people dressed like this, walking the streets, is totally normal:

Some more of the old buildings:

Galena's Oldest Building

Fire House and Rob who didn't think he was in the shot.  Surprise!   (The staircase in the background actually is the Stairway to Heaven. It just keeps going, and going.  Imagine our surprise after climbing three billion plus stairs only to be sent back to earth.)

The High School

We spent the first two nights in a historic hotel where all the rooms are named after someone famous who stayed in that room.  Our room was the Susan B. Anthony room.  I wish I had snapped some pics of the inside of our first hotel - but, alas, I forgot.  I'll continue tomorrow with more of the wedding weekend.  

Summer Breeze

We finally hit the upper 70's today.  I can't believe it has taken me until June to be able to say that.  Perhaps it's my Midwest upbringing, but I'm a firm believer that May should be warm, June, July and August hot, and then there should be an immediate cool down come October 1st. (September is just a wash, I suppose!)

Here's how we celebrated the warm weather:

Grilled chicken, salad, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes

All in the comfort of our patio furniture (yes, we're a group of messy eaters)

Then we hammock-ed a bit (brushing hair was optional)

 Even though it's one of the first warm days we've had, somehow Madelyn already has a glorious tan.  What's that about? I won't even come close to this tan until it's time for the pants to be broken out again.  And in this scenario we are keeping tan and sunburned on the same level. 

Happy summer, friends!