We didn't do a party for them with their friends in January because it was too cold and someone always gets sick...so they had asked for a half/summer birthday this year at the neighborhood pool. I had hoped they had forgotten...but look what we did last week, before school was out and vacations started! Fun!
The week started off with Trevor and I getting a break from our kids (Thanks to Grandma for a day and Uncle Sean & Aunt Cosima coming to relieve her) we got to go down to Georgetown, KY for 2 days to watch Kyle (A friend who I used to baby sit and carry around on my hip). Kyle plays golf for Drury University in MO. We are fortunate enough to get to see him when he is playing close to us during golf season. He did great! It was a fun trip but we had to get back Sat. afternoon in time for Easter Sunday!
Easter morning after church we drove up to Grandma & Grandpa's house to be with them. The kids love it when all the cousins are together and they had lots of fun. The kids hunted eggs (over 200 between the 6 of them) and then we spent the night since we were leaving Ben & Molly with the Grandparents for another night. The next morning, Trevor, Rachel & I took off for Chicago. As part of Rachel's birthday gift she got a trip to the American Girl Store. She had got her first doll (Kit) from Santa this past year and she was so excited to go! (And for all those wondering, Ben wasn't left out! He chose a day trip to Perfect North to snow tube and got to take a friend along!)
We stayed right around the corner from the American Girl Store and had the best time!
I love this picture of Rachel. It's about how her expression was the whole time...she just kept saying, "everything is so fancy!" and was just thrilled to have some one on one time with just Mommy & Daddy! We even got a king size bed at her request so she could sleep in the middle! :)
We had lunch reservations at the American Girl Cafe. So worth the money for the experience! She got a seat for her doll and was just so excited about everything! And not to mention the wonderful conversation the three of us had, so special!!
And finally....shopping done, birthday money spent (& then some) three hours later we were heading out the door with one happy, precious, & thankful daughter!
We did some walking on Michigan Ave. and it was a beautiful day & evening!
The next morning we were going to go to Navy Pier and go up in the John Hancock building since the weather was supposed to be nice again but we woke up to cloudy, wet skies & fog. So we did a little shopping and headed back to get Ben & Molly before coming home. Not sure there would have been much of a view up in the building...do you?
We came home for a few days which Ben had to spend indoors because his allergies were soooo bad. He looked like he had been in a boxing match. We had lunch with their first grade teacher from a couple years ago and got to see her new house and just hung out and so enjoyed not getting ready for school each day! Then Trevor and I were off again on Sat. night to go watch Kyle golf again! (Thanks to Grandparents who came and took care of the kids until we got back Monday afternoon late)
And he did super! We were so proud of him. The course was the Purgatory Golf Course in Noblesville, IN. Tough hilly, sandy course. He shot 4 over the first day and one over the second day. They ended up 7th out of 22 teams . They stayed in Indiana and played in Columbus a few days later....we had to come home because the kids missed us too much & Trevor had to get back to work. But Kyle went on to place 2nd individually in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and third as a team. He shot 73-71-73! He was also named to the All-GLVC team for his performance there! Way to go Kyle!!
As baseball season approaches, you can imagine what an awesome surprise it was when these signed "Stan the Man Musial" items arrived in the mail for Trevor. The story dates back to when we went on the cruise this past Nov. Of course Trevor had his Cardinal hat on which struck up a conversation with a really nice couple whose daughter just happened to be married to Stan Musial's grandson. We exchanged addresses and emails and this all transpired and now I have one happy husband!!!
Tuesday Night, March 23rd was the 3rd Grade Music Program at SLE (South Lebanon Elementary) where Ben and Rachel go to school. Grandma and Grandpa were able to come down for it too. We were all so proud of them. They sang beautifully and also did very well on their speaking parts.
Ben was going to wear a suit, until he put it on and said the shirt and tie were choking him. lol
All three third grades sang together, but this picture is mostly just their class. 
The latest big news is that Molly had her first friend sleepover! Abbi (a friend and neighbor who is in 1st grade) got to spend the night here while her brother spent the night with Ben. Molly thought she was something! For a week after this, she asked every day if Abbi could come back for another sleepover. Although Ben & Rachel won't stay anywhere yet, Molly will be our girl that goes and never looks back...I think we are in trouble!
Fun times when cousins come and spend the night. Molly, Will, Ben, Calla and Rachel. They have such fun together but I have to say that Calla and Ben are pretty funny when they get together. She loves him and he adores her! So different than with how he is with Molly sometimes! lol
I just love this picture of Ben and Rachel. It was taken at the family birthday party. I hope they love each other as much when they are 19 as they do when they are 9! Best Friends for sure!
Happy 9th Birthday Ben & Rachel!!! We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge (an awesome indoor water park only 3 miles from our house) to spend the night for their 9th birthday (last Thursday night, Friday was their day)! We had lots of fun. Even had a really cool loft room so Ben & Rachel felt like they had their own place in the loft area, with it's own bath. The water park was so fun but at one point we counted 89 steps to the top of the 2 slides we rode over and over on those days. I am guessing we did close to 3000 steps! Whew!
Then we came home Friday night to get ready for their family party on Sat. but found out that Grandma wasn't feeling well (she had a little stomach bug) so we waited until Sunday to celebrate when she was feeling better. Little did we know what was ahead. The day was great but then late Sunday afternoon Grandpa started getting sick. It wasn't a little stomach bug anymore...it was a bad stomach bug that made him so sick he couldn't drive home. Then Monday afternoon it went into the domino effect. Rachel got it by 3, then Molly at 3:45, Ben by 5, Uncle Vic, Uncle Sean, myself that night by 9, Trevor & our nephew Michael by midnight. Then found out this morning that Aunt Maureen got it last night. So 11 of the 14 of us either had it or got it, and it was NO fun. Kids are still out of school today, Thursday but hopefully they will feel like going back tomorrow. Trevor did end up going into the office for a little bit today but only for a couple hours. Hope you are all well and don't get anything like this!!! It is so bad and it is a party that we won't soon forget! :(
