Dance Pics!

The girls had their dance pics come in the mail and they turned out so cute!

Gracie looks so grown up in this picture.

 

Evie didn't smile but she still looks like the cutest ballerina.

 

I'm not sure why Gracie's group pic turned sideways.  She did good. She's in the front row.

 

Here's Evie's group pic.  She would not smile and I was even there making funny faces at her. Oh well.  She must get that from her father.

Beach Bums and a Sleepover!

Today was the perfect day to hit the beach!

 

Being it Wednesday, and those days are Wesmere Wednesdays, we usually meet at a splash park.  But today we skipped the splash park and went straight for the beach!  Mt friend Jill belongs to a beach club so we went there!  We brought a picnic lunch.

 

And then we were ready to hit the sand.

 

The little ones couldn't wait to build some sand castles.

 

It was a beautiful day and the beach was pretty much all ours.  There were 5 of us that went and 10 kids.   This beach was really nice and there was even a water slide!

 

Gracie and Presley went down the slide but this girl climbed the stairs a couple of times but never went down.

 

Presley was done with the water after the one time down the slide.  He was totally into building all kinds of sand castles.

 

He had a little village going at one time and Cullen even came over to help.

 

Gracie was all about making sand angels.  

 

Then these two, who tend to stick together, decided they were in need of a snack.

 

The kids did have fun and they all played and swam very well together.

 

Of course right before we left, my kids decided they were having the time of their lives and the whole way home they talked about the beach.  

 

Even Presley was all about the water before we left.

 

After we came home and bathed, we invited our friends Jackie and Olivia to sleepover!  We went to the park, had popsicles, and put on a play!

 

Even the only boy in a group of 4 girls decided he could be in the play as a monster.

 

After that, it was time for a tickle fight.

 

And then we laid out our sleeping bags.

 

We popped in movie and I think we are basically settled in for the night.

T-Ball!

After last week's distasterous t-ball class that involved lots of crying, screaming, and people staring, I am happy to report that this t-ball practice went the complete opposite! This boy was ready to play t-ball today.  We stayed inside this morning to avoid falling and scraping our knees (which is why it was so traumatic last week) and he was ready to play!

 

Coach called him over and he smiled and ran off happily.  Thank goodness.   I was by myself with all 3 kids and did want another scene last week.  Plus I bribed him with some park playing time after t-ball class.

 

Presley did take t-ball over the winter and did fine there.  I think last week was just a bad day.  He was all about catching the ball today.

 

He participated and even said his name and told coach his favorite animal was an elephant.

 

He listened to his coach but looked over at me every few minutes to wave and make sure I was paying attention.

 

I would give him the thumbs up sign and he would do the same back.

 

He went in for a team huddle.

 

And ran the bases.

 

He knows where first, second, and third base are.

 

He loves baseball!

 

He did great at batting too and hit the ball pretty far!

 

And he made it to first base too!

So proud of my little baseball player.  Look out Cubbies, cuz Presley is heading for the major leagues!

Raging Waves!

In trying to keep busy this summer and fit in all kinds of fun before next week, we headed out to Yorkville today to a water park called Raging Waves. It was sort of pricey but Gracie had a free ticket from school and they seemed to have more to offer than the local Joliet water park so we went. 

Check this awesome area out. The kids had fun here.  All kinds of water slides, a splash pad and all sorts of water fun for the younger kids. 

 

We found this area too and my kids were obsessed with these water slides built just for them.  They don't go too fast and the kids loved them.

 

Gracie nd Evie even went down holding hands.

 

Do these kids look they are having fun or what?

 

We took a break just long enough to go out to the car and eat lunch and come back in.  We hit the wave pool and another pool but it's too hard to walk around a water park with your camera so I didn't get a lot of pictures.  The kids loved the wave pool and had fun jumping over the waves.  I really liked this place because they had these life jacket stands that you could just grab a life jacket for your kid and snap one on.  We did that!  We did that to float around the lazy river too!

 

But after that, it was back to their favorite spot of the day.  The kiddie water slides.  This time Presley and Evie were holding hands going down the slides.

 

Are they not the cutest little twins you ever saw?

 

They even held hands walking up to the slide.

 

Then they got a little more daring and went down the twisty slide.  This one was one of Gracie's favorites.

 

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this dude waiting in line to go down it!  He loved it!

 

And I knew this girl would for sure.  Every time they went down, they would laugh, smile, and say "I wanna go again!"

 

We walked by some of the bigger water slides too. Gracie was tall enough to go on these colored slides so we  got our double tube, climbed up the gazillion stairs and went not once, but twice! On the green and pink ones.  They are inclosed by tunnels so it is dark in there and they go fast! The green one had lights inside it but the pink one was scary.  I love water slides, I always have. Growing up, we had a place in Wisconsin Dells and we would always go this waterpark called Noah's Ark and we had a blast!  We would get there when they opened and stayed until they closed.  Best. Time. Ever.

 

And apparently these kids had a good time because no sooner than we got in the car, this is what it looked like!

It was the perfect day. Not too hot or too cold.  There were no lines either!  Now we just have to figure out a way to lure Daddy into our waterpark obsession!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, grandpa's, uncles, brothers, etc.!

Because my baby daddy works so hard, he was even working on Father's Day!  (usually he does)  So we took him some Mickey D's and brought lunch to him!  My kids think it's totally cool to eat at Menards because we can go upstairs and see the whole store.   

 

Grace found a Barbie Father's Day card for Daddy so it was only appropriate for her and Evie to give to him.

 

This crazy boy found a truck card.

 

We gave some presents too.  Like the the wooden Cubs thing.

 

And each of the kids did a daddy interview and it was really cute. I think I may go back and have them do one about me and pretend it was mother's day.

 

Daddy liked reading them all.  I think this is a priceless gift really.  Much better and more meaningful than anything store-bought.

 

Here is Gracie's and she had to write it herself.

 

Here are the questions I asked Evie about Daddy.

 

And here is Presley's answers to his questions.  I put them all in a picture frame so that he can read these and have his heart melt everyday.

 

After visiting Daddy, we headed over to Grandpa's because he just put up his little pool. And it's really awesome this year because everyone can touch!

 

This girl was practicing everything she learned at swim lessons.

 

Evie is my little fish and just loves the water.

 

Bub was all into shooting his new water gun.

 

I'm not sure why they insisted on wearing their floaties when clearly they can all safely touch the bottom no problem.

 

And then we got a little surprise that Amy and Grandpa put up.....

 

Our very  own inflatable water slide!  

 

This thing cost a little bit of money but I think it will be worth every penny.

 

The kids played on this for hours today!

 

How cute are they?

 

Even Grandpa got in on the action and played a little basketball with Bub since it also has a little hoop attached to it.

 

We didn't do anything fancy, just cooked out hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner.  We ate outside because everyone was wet.

 

We had to give Grandpa his presents too.  We did the same thing like Daddy only we did a Grandpa interview.

 

Here is Gracie's. You can tell she got a little frustrated because she couldn't spell some of the words.

 

Evie and Presley shared one.  I just alternated asking them questions.

 

And we ended the day with a pineapple upside down cake that Gracie and Evie helped bake and some ice cream.  

 

It was a great Father's Day!  We are so blessed to have the best Daddy and Grandpa in the world!