Life With Three

After savoring the last of the sunshine and warm weather for awhile (followed by a few weeks of cold rain), we headed indoors for a free family night at the local children’s museum (which, funny enough, now occupies the space that previously housed my mom’s favorite furniture store when she lived in Mokena – go figure).  There were toys and games for every age, and we all had a great time.   Now that Saturday soccer and ultimate frisbee were over (or almost over), we had plenty of time to watch Notre Dame football and snuggle on the couch.

Michael-John spent a week in Miami on business/family time, and while he was gone, my mom came to hang out for a few days and help me paint Maggie’s room a delicious shade of purple, to match the quilt my Aunt Sandy made her when she was born.

That next weekend, we headed to South Bend to celebrate Papa’s birthday and enjoy fall on campus – it was colder than we had hoped, so we just stayed in and made cake.

Sarah and i thought it would be cute to get the 4 girls matching striped shirts…so we did.  We also got some cute family photos in the process.

Remember when Michael-John talked about the 7 maple trees we have on our property? Well, even with a mulching leaf sucker, we’ve filled 18 lawn bags, and are far from done.  He spent Halloween morning clearing leaves, and the afternoon trick-or-treating with the kids. October was quite a busy month!

I had the privilege of doing the games at Jacob’s party this morning – which basically meant that I got to hang out at preschool today. Maggie had fun being a big kid and following Jacob around, and Jacob seemed to enjoy having us there. They were all pretty cute!

Craft time                                                                                   Circle (Carpet) time

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SuperWhy! and Princess Presto                                            Jacob’s class

We had 3 weeks between the busy summer schedule of t-ball, tumbling, soccer, playdates, window and fence installation, houseguests, and trips to South Bend, and the obviously hectic beginning of the school year.

We laid low, slept in, kept cleaning and driving to a minimum, went to a local baseball game, picked up school supplies here and there, and just tried to enjoy ourselves. We did find time in between playing and resting to bake and eat a tasty birthday cake for my mom!

Unbeknownst to  me, Michael-John had planned a surprise party for my birthday – 3 weeks early, just to ensure that the element of surprise wouldn’t be lost. I came home from rug shopping to find the kidsjumping.com truck parked in my driveway. Turns out, sending me to the store had very little to do with a new throw rug for the living room and everything to do with cleaning and prepping for a party with 50 of our closest friends (half of whom were children, hence the bounce house – though Michael-John claimed it was really for me).

The weather was beautiful, and throughout the afternoon I was blessed with visits from not only our neighbors and nearby south suburban friends (some of whom I hadn’t seen since before Jacob was born), but also from my parents and grandparents (who came in from Indiana for the day), aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a wonderful day, complete with sprinkler running, birthday cake, and of course, a lot of bouncing. (There were even moms-only bounce times.) Thanks to all of you who came over, and for those of you who couldn’t come, there’s always next year.

September was a long month, full of doctors appointments, waiting for phone calls from doctors, and then some more doctors appointments.  We kept ourselves entertained with a trip to Minneapolis to see Kristel and Nicholas, and with a lot of Michael’s soccer games, but by the end of the month, we just needed a rest.

Michael started first grade this year at Tyler School here in New Lenox. We got to go for a preview day to drop off some of the mountain of supplies he needed, meet his teacher Mrs. McArdle, check out his room, and take a walk around the school to see the gym, lunchroom, library, and other classrooms. He loves school, and while his favorite subject remains science, he is doing well in all areas!

Jacob is attending the Kiddie Kampus program at the New Lenox park district, and loves his teacher and class! Maggie also loves to play with the toys when we pick him up, and some days I think she would stay all day if she could!

My cousin Jacky’s wedding was actually at the end of June, but it missed that post so we’ll stick it here. She and Dave got married on the beach in Florida in mid-June and then had a wonderful reception here at home for all their family and friends. It was great to spend time with so much of my family!

We had lots of playdates with our friends -big and small- throughout the summer…

Put in a garden–

(that apparently only grew yellow things)

We did lots of other things, like spend quality time at the park, t-ball and soccer games, new windows in the whole house, trips to the zoo, tumbling classes, zoo camp, and a few trips to South Bend. It was a super busy month, but luckily the first two weeks of August were a bit calmer.

Okay, so this is horribly late. The end of the summer was really busy with lots of doctors appointments, the start of school, and a whole lot of other stuff.  For a long time I couldn’t type enough to get this going, then I couldn’t upload pictures even when I COULD type. But here we are in October and I think I can finally crank some posts and pictures out. So enjoy! (The rest of the summer pictures are here.)

And by quick, of course, I mean a whole list of updates with pictures …

ND Reunion (10th) – We had a great weekend with our Notre Dame friends and their children, some of whom we hadn’t seen in years.

Jacob learned to ride a two-wheel bicycle

Jacob and Michael both started T-ball (yes, both in red)

Jacob started soccer; Michael started tumbling

Got a new fence

Grandma and Gramps came to visit

Father’s Day camping trip

Andrea, Matthew and their children came to visit

Michael’s current school project is to be a “Young Author” and write a book. He has chosen (okay, with some suggestion from me) to write on the houses he’s lived in during his 6 years on earth. It’s been a fun process, as he looks back on homes he doesn’t remember and we look over old photos and tell stories. This photo collage is the last page of his book (and will help readers who don’t quite understand thehand-drawn  illustrations), and shows the 8 places he’s lived over the years:

Top left above – Farm of the Child, Trujillo, Honduras (Oct. 2004-Dec 2006); Top left below – South Bend, IN (Sept-Dec 2008); Top right – New Lenox, IL (Dec 2008- present); Center left – Medford, MA (Dec 2006-May 2008); Center – Chicago, IL (Jan 2003-May 2004); Center right – Mokena, IL (June-July 2004 and Sept-dec 2005); Bottom left – Tegucigalpa, Honduras (July-Sept 2008); Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala (Aug-Sept 2004).

   They certainly are their daddy’s boys – I see that in their choices of acvities, way of interacting with each other (and with Maggie), and in their manner of speech.

   This evening they showed that further with their seamless transition from making cookies for Michael to take to school for his birthday (if we ever go back – we’ve had Wednesday-Friday off for extreme cold weather, plus Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. and Tuesday for teacher institute) to scouring the house for big bags to take to ultimate frisbee.

   Here are a few more photos of the boys, since we’re highlighting them in this post anyway… We went bowling at Thunderbowl in Mokena (where we went with the gang for YFooK+1+1, for those of you who were there) and Jacob got 43 and Michael got 36 (bumper bowling, of course).

   This, in case you can’t tell from the big E, is the University of England. Not sure why we’re infatuated with it, but we are…