Our week in review

Is it just me or does time seem to be going way too quickly?

It was exactly a week ago that we spent a fabulous Thanksgiving day with family. We had Jeff's mom and her husband Richard, 3 from the Blair clan (Jeff's sister's family) - Tom, Bryant and James, and Jeff's cousin Joseph with his wife Jenni and son Owen. It was such a great time! I have to admit I was feeling the pressure to put on Thanksgiving dinner without Jeff's sister Heather. She is usually the pilot and I am co-pilot, but she wasn't able to be there for Thanksgiving day. But thanks to the help of everyone we had a great dinner and even better company! Jeff's mom, Richard and the Blairs all stayed the weekend to attend Emilie and Ada's baptism on Saturday. Heather and Becca flew in on Saturday so they could be here for the special day. I won't go into details, but it wasn't quite the day I had hoped for the girls. There was some anixety and tears before the baptism. The baptism service was really good and after they were baptized everything went much smoother. I hope they will remember the good things of the day. I am so proud of them and so grateful to everyone who was there to support them and for their patience with us!

Sadly I have no pictures. I was hoping to get one good one so they could remember their day. But, with everything going on with them I was just grateful to get them in the water. Most of you know they don't like getting their picture taken and I just wasn't going there with them.

Monday Emilie and Ada got to skip school and go have some fun with their grandma and grandpa. They went downtown to Union Station to see the train display and Christmas tree display. They also went over to Crown Center and had lunch.

On Wednesday for play group we went to Union Station to see the displays. The train display was amazing and so detailed! Sarah had a great time and had no problem with her picture being taken!

The front of the display Sarah and her tutu - she insisted on wearing it! Still loves her tounge! We then walked over the Crown Center to see the gingerbread house display. It was amazing as well! The last thing to share is this video my sister in law Katie sent me. It is the perfect way to start the Christmas season. It is impossible for me to watch and listen to the song without getting emotional. If this was the only song I listened to the rest of the Christmas season it would be just fine with me. If it doesn't get to you on it's own, try setting up your nativity while listening to it!

If you want to download the video, the song or the sheet music you can do it at:

http://songsbyshawna.com/Site/Home.html

Happy Birthday to my girlies!

Seriously where has the time gone? Could my little twinkies really be 8 years old? I suppose it must be true since it was their 8th birthday last Thursday!

The girls decided this year that they wanted a birthday party. They haven't had a real party since they were 4 - not because I wouldn't give them one, but because they just haven't wanted one. So Saturday they had a party with some friends from school, church and the neighborhood.

It all started with pizza

Then they had a candy hunt to find the treats for the movie (Emilie and Ada's idea!)

Enjoying all the good stuff they found during the movie!
Opening presents

We are still rookies at this birthday party stuff but we think a good time was had by all!

We are so excited for the celebration to continue this week with family coming in for Thanksgiving and the girls are getting baptized on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Emzies (that is what Sarah has started to call her and I love it!) and Ada!

I'm so proud of you both and love you much!

So much to blog.......so little time!

WARNING: VERY LONG POST AHEAD!

It's hard to believe it was 5 weeks ago today that the movers finished packing us up and we were out of our house. It's also hard to believe that it was 9 years ago that we moved to the Chicago area on the 3-5 year plan. So much has happened to our family in the last 9 years and we have really enjoyed living there and we will forever remember our time there and the many wonderful friends we made. We were all a little sad (okay some were extremely unhappy) to leave our good friends and our home, but we (okay not all of us) were excited to start a new adventure in KCMO (translastion - Kansas City, MO).

Friday night (Sept. 25th) began our two week stay in 4 different hotels. Friday and Saturday nights we stayed at a hotel near our house because we had to finish doing some cleaning at the house and we wanted to attend our ward on Sunday for the last time. It was the primary program, which of course Emilie and Ada would not participate in, but they did invite their friend Grace to come and watch. Grace lived around the corner from us and knew a lot of the kids in our ward. Grace came over to our house every morning before school because her mom had to go to work before the bus came. She is a great friend to Emilie and Ada and we miss her much!

Ada, Grace and Emilie

On Sunday after church my good friend Staci had us over for dinner (saving us from McDonalds! THANK YOU!) and then had a going away party for us. It was fun to visit with everyone and have a chance to say goodbye.

Here are just a few pictures

Some of the greatest kids in the world!
Two of my favorite girls!
Our good friends and neighbors - oh how we miss you! One of mine and Sarah's favorite people
Thanks Staci for everything - we miss you!
Sunday night we went to our 2nd hotel which was closer to downtown Chicago because on Monday we were taking the girls downtown for one last time. The main plan was to go to the Sears Tower (I know it's now the Willis Tower, but seriously) since the girls had never been to the top. Of course Monday ended up being an incredibly windy day - I know, when is it not windy in the windy city, but it was UBER windy! We parked and walked the block to the tower and it was so windy we could hardly walk! When we got to the doors this is what greeted us:
PLAN B: Hancock Observitory
It was open, so we drove over there. It was a good second option, but someday we'll get those girls to the top of the Sears Tower! We all had a great time and the girls had fun with the self guided tour.

We then had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - YUM! After that sadly we were all tired and ready to start our drive to St. Louis. So we drove back to the hotel and picked up my car. Sarah, Ada and Jeff drove in his car. Emilie and I drove in my car. Everything was going smoothly until Sarah woke up around the Bloomington/Normal area. (about 2 hours from downtown).

Monday morning when Sarah woke up her left eye was a bit red and swollen. The only thing we could figure out is that she had gotten a misquito bite on her eye the night before at the party.

I didn't think much of it. We went downtown and she fell asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel to pick up my car. When she woke up 2 hours later she couldn't open her eye it was so swollen! So we stopped in Bloomington at the Walgreen's quick care. The doctor there said it looked like Celluitus and we should take her to the prompt care at the hospital incase it was.

So we drove over there and saw the doctor there who said it was just an allergic reation. Most likely to the mosquito bite. So we got her a prescription and all of us some dinner and were back on our way to St. Louis. With our 2 hour detour we didn't get to St. Louis until around 10:30 that night. We were all pretty tired from the day and were ready to go to bed in hotel #3. But not before stopping by to see Jeff's sister and family!

Here is Sarah's eye - I called her Rocky all day because it looked like she got in a fight! You should see the mosquito! HA HA HA

This is pretty much the last picture I took since arriving except for some of our kitchen. We are in the process of new granite counter tops and new back splash which they are supposed to finish tomorrow! It looks awesome! I'll post the before and afters when it's all done.

Tuesday we drove the rest of the way to to KC and to hotel #4 and our home for the next 9 days. We made it just in time to go to the school and meet the girls new teachers. Both seemed very nice and have turned out to be perfect fits for both girls. Emilie's teacher is Mrs. Littrell and Ada's teacher is Mrs. Sheriff. They started school the next day and it was much as I expected. Neither wanted to go and there were lots of tears. But they went and they survived. Ada was fine after a couple of days and is doing great. Emilie took a little longer to adjust, but she too is doing great and they both like their new school and teachers!

We closed on Thursday Oct. 1st and then took possesion of the house on Monday the 5th. (It was wierd to us too, but that is how they do it a closing date and a posession date.) Over the next few days we had a radon mitigation system installed, a washer and dryer delivered, carpets cleaned, painted the dining room and I tried to get the house cleaned and ready for our stuff to be delivered. I say tried because I didn't get everything done I had hoped! Our stuff was supposed to be delivered on Thursday the 8th, but there was a 100% chance of rain so we postponed the delivery until Friday.

Gratefully they let us stay in the hotel all 9 days! Everyone in the hotel knew who we were by the time we left. The funniest story was one night we had popped some popcorn and Ada wanted some more, so she put a bag in the microwave and turned it on. All of sudden the smoke alarm went off and we looked over and there was a huge cloud of smoke coming out of the microwave. The bag had gotten stuck and stopped turning and was burning up! It took 4 days for the smell to finally get out of the room! We definitely left our mark at that hotel!

The moving in part was a bit of a fiasco (later post). They guys who unpacked the truck were in a big hurry and put stuff pretty much where ever they wanted. But everything made it and we, for the most part, are unpacked and pretty much settled. We have met a lot of neighbors and the girls are making friends. We love the area - it has rolling hills! From the top of our street we can see all the way to downtown KC (about 20 miles from us)! LOVE THAT! We love the house, the neighborhood and our ward too. I've had fun doing some exploring and getting to know the area. It's been a busy and crazy 5 weeks, but we are doing well and happy to be here!

And just as in Chicago, we love visitors!!!!

The accident waiting to happen............ the sequal

Okay not quite as bad as the lip, but it was close.

This is the result of standing on a chair while eating her dinner and leaning against the back of the chair making it fall backwards and smacking her forehead on the corner of the cabinet. Gratefully she did not cut it open.

Don't be fooled by that smile, there was some serious screaming and crying.

Thanks Staci for being my on call nurse. What am I going to do without you? Don't answer that - I don't want to know yet.

I'm a little frightened to see what she does to make this a trilogy.

A hunting we did go....

and found ourselves a house!

We did it - after two VERY long days of looking a houses, we put an offer on a house and long story short they accepted! We close September 30th in Chicago and October 1st in KC! Everything is falling into place very well and knock on wood it continues until all is said and done.

Quick update

Just wanted to quickly update what is going on:

Sarah's got her stitches out and her lip looks great!

Our house went on the market on Tuesday Aug. 25th and we accpeted an offer the next Tuesday morning! Currently everything is going well and we are scheduled to close

Sept. 30th.

We left for KC last Friday. Spent Friday night and most the day Saturday in St. Louis with Jeff's sister and family. Drove to KC Saturday evening. Sunday we went to church and spent the afternoon with a family we got to know and then drove around the area to explore a bit. Monday we had a fun day. We went to the KC Renaissance Festival (interesting but fun!) with a couple families and then went swimming. Tuesday we started house hunting. We spent pretty much all day Tuesday and Wednesday looking at houses. Today we went back to our 4 top choices and we have narrowed it down to two options and have put together an offer for one. Now it's the waiting game!! We are all exhausted and hope to be heading home tomorrow!

The accident waiting to happen......

happened.

I knew this was coming sooner or later. I've been saying for the last few months that Sarah was an ER visit waiting to happen and today it did. She couldn't have had better or worse timing. Better - because the twins had left for school and Jeff was actually home today so he could drive to the hospital while I held Sarah and kept a towel on her bleeding lip. Worse because we were working on the finishing touches on the house and the realtor was scheduled to be there in an hour to take pictures for the listing of the house.

So here's how it happened. I was in the twins room standing on Emilie's bed hanging something on the wall when Sarah climbed up on the bed behind me. I knew this was a bad idea and I was just about to turn around to get her off when she lauched herself towards Ada's bed. Her jump was a little too good and she landed on the far side of the bed and smacked her mouth right into the nightstand and bit into her lip. I grabbed her (yes she was screaming) and saw the blood, ran into the bathroom and started washing out her mouth with water, got a towel to try to stop the bleeding, ran downstairs and yelled to Jeff and off we went to the hospital. Gratefully there was only one other kid in the ER, who coincidentally also had a split lip and was about Sarah's age, so we got right in. The nurses and the doctor were so nice and really great with Sarah. About an hour and fourty-five minutes and 6 stitches later we were home. Overall she did really well. She didn't like being strapped in to have the stitches done, but who would?

The top cut is where her bottom teeth cut her, the cut with the stitches is where her top teeth cut her. The only reason the doctor stitched the one is because it was right along the lip line and for cosmetic reasons wanted to make sure it healed properly.

She has been pretty happy the rest of the day. Just a little sore and it's been a little difficult to each and drink much. She will get the stitches out on Saturday.

I think our bedtime story tonight will be
"NO MORE MONKEY'S JUMPING ON THE BED!"

On a side note - the realtor came this afternoon and got pictures and our house will be on the market tomorrow!

Two Cute

Sarah is two today!

Here is what she did to celebrate:

Had the door decorated in her honor.

Ate a very hearty breakfast of two bites of cereal.
Had her favorite treat of "popies" multiple times during the day. Helped with the many projects going on around the house.
Played in the water (one of her favorite things to do).
She is always asking to take a shower!

Refused to take a nap due to so much excitement around here!

Took calls from many family members and skyped with her cousins.

Played with her cousins who came up from St. Louis to help with the many projects going on around here.
Took a shower and went to bed early due to no nap.
It's pretty good to be 2. Happy Birthday Sarah!
We'd like to add a little shout out to our friend Gage

Happy Birthday to you too!

Back in the saddle........

......well at least I am going to try to be when it comes to blogging.

I would love to say I have some great excuse like "I wanted to see how long I could be at the bottom of everyone's blog list that shows when the last update was" but I can't. Basically it comes down to taking a bit of a break and then lately it's been a lack of time.

So I'm going to give the rundown of the last 3 months and hopefully I will be better at updating in the future!

Rest of May:

Went to St. Louis for nephew's graduation.

Niece and nephew came up to visit and went to a Cubs game.

June:

Emilie and Ada finished 1st grade!

My sister, her husband and kids came to visit for a few days.

Made our annual trek to Utah via South Dakota. Went to the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Custer St. Park and down to Martin's Cove.

During trip to SL Jeff and I flew to Kansas City, MO for a few days. Then I went back to SL, Jeff flew back to Chicago.

Jeff came back to SL for his Aunt's funeral - the girls and I started our drive home with my friend Tiff and her niece Paige. Stopped at Winter Quarters and Nauvoo on the way home.

Tiff and Paige stayed with us for a few days to party!

**Decided to take a job offer and move to Kansas City, MO.**

On the 19th celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.

Two days later drove to St. Louis for the wedding reception cross country tour of our nephew who got married in SL in June. Next day drove to Branson to party with Jeff's family for 5 days.

During our trip to Branson we decided instead of driving back to Chicago, we would drive to Kansas City and spend a couple days so the girls could see where we were moving. Our nieces Megan and Becca drove with us so they could drive back to Chicago with me and spend a couple days here.

In the 10 days since we have been home we've been finding a real estate agent, packing boxes and getting the house ready to sell. Honestly I'm feeling like a chicken with it's head cut off but I am excited to get it all done and start our new adventure!

I'll try to post pictures soon!

Happy Mother's Day...... And the winner is......

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EVERYONE!

But first - AND THE WINNER IS.....

I know you probably think I have forgotten about the giveaway. I promise I haven't! It's been a crazy week at our house and everytime I went to sit down and post the winner, something else came up. So I have decided to make everyone who commented the winner!

So congratulations to the lucky 7:
MEG, ANGIE, JOLEEN, JILL, KARA, MINDY and KERRI!

You will all receive something from me in the very near future!

Thank you all for being a friend, example, influence and part of my life in some way!

and now - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

My mom sent me this email to me for mother's day and I wanted to share it. Thanks mom, I love you!

I think I'm going to use the same title as the woman in the story next time I'm asked!

A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself. 'What I mean is, ' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job or are you just a ...?'

'Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman. 'I'm a Mom.'
'We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,' Said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed

of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar.' 'What is your occupation?' she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. 'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.

'The clerk paused, ball -point pen frozen in m midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest,'just what you do in your field?' Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, 'I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) In the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out.) I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.'

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mom.'

Motherhood! What a glorious career!

Especially when there's a title on the door.

Does this make grandmothers 'Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' and great grandmothers' Executive Senior Research Associates?'

I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts Associate Research Assistants.'

Want a good read for Mother's Day? Go here to read a fantastic talk about women by Sheri Dew back in 2001.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Give oh give away....... and Christmas in April/May

First the give oh give away - I haven't forgotten about the giveaway, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Today I have been playing catch up all day from being gone for 4 days. I think it will take me a week to catch up!

Now for Christmas in April/May. For Christmas my sister Laura and I were given a few days off from "being the mom" by our husbands to attend Women's Conference that was last weekend. I don't think I have ever waited so long to use a Christmas present except for the time Jeff gave me a trip to Poland (where he served his mission) for Christmas that we took in May after he graduated with his MBA. Anyway, I was very excited to go mainly to have a break from being the mom for a few days and getting to spend time with my sister, which I don't get to do often enough.

I flew to Salt Lake late Wednesday night and then Thursday and Friday we went to Women's Conference. This was my first time going to WC and it was quite an experience! We actually didn't go to the opening session, but we made it there in plenty of time to make it to the first class. As we were walking across campus, I thought for sure we were going to get run over! I didn't realize how serious women take this thing! My sister tried to warn me, but I really didn't realized it until I experienced it! We joked that it was "Time Out for Women on massive steriods!" We made it into all the classes we wanted too and for the most part they were all really good. After the closing session we headed out. We were starving and I had to get my fill of Training Table. It was well worth the wait! Then we did a little shopping and headed to the hotel. It was nice to finally rest and relax and chat for a while before going to bed.

Friday we were back at it. But by 1:30 we were done and starving again. So I'll face up to it, we left early. (Sorry Jeff!) We went to Cafe Rio for lunch and then did some more shopping. By Friday night we were both exhausted from having so much fun over the two days! :-)

There were good and bad parts of WC, but if anything we definitely laughed a lot during those two days and I had a great time just being with my sister!

Saturday we hung out some more, did a little more shopping and ran some errands. Then Saturday night we went over to my brother Mark's house for dinner. It was fun to see everyone and hang out. We missed you Mom and Dad, Matt, Andrea, Max, Sam,and Daniel! After dinner we went back to Laura's house and we played a little Guitar Hero for my last night there.

Sunday morning I flew home. It was nice to have a break, but it was nice to come home too. I missed Jeff and the girls. And I think they missed me too. I loved the fact that when I pulled in the driveway Emilie and Ada came running out saying "mommy, mommy" and trying to get the car door open before I could even pull in the garage and Sarah waving to me and then clapping her hands and grinning from ear to ear. Best feeling ever! I didn't miss cleaning the house, doing the laundry and making dinner - but it was all waiting for me when I got home! Thanks Laura for a great weekend - I miss you already. See you all in a few weeks! Thanks Jeff, Emilie, Ada and Sarah for letting me go.

Love you guys!

My only regret of the weekend - We didn't take any pictures! I guess we'll have to make up for it in June!

Happy Birthday Tami! My gift to you!

I don't know if they have birthday parties in heaven, but if they do I guarantee my friend Tami is throwing a big party today. Today is the day that she would have turned 35.

I met Tami when I was 15 months old. She was the first best friend I ever had and we were always friends until the day she passed away in January of 2002. In the 27 years I had the privilege of being her friend I think we went through and did just about everything that friends can go through and do together. She is one of the most incredible people I have ever known. She was and is a huge part of my life and helped me become who I am today.

Oh how I miss that girl!

My friend Chelle did a giveaway on her blog and although I was not the winner I'm going to pay it forward anyway. Since I can't give something to Tami, how about I give something to one of you? In honor of Tami and her birthday today I am going to do my own little giveaway. So here's how it works:

Leave me a comment, everyone is welcome - friends, family, friends of family, even you blog stalkers! Hmmm, but then you might be busted! HA HA! I'll choose the winner at random on Sunday May 3rd. The winner will receive something fanastic from me - I might buy it or I might get crafty and make you something! - but no matter what hopefully it will brighten their day they way Tami always brightened mine.
Happy Birthday Tami!

Inspiration

I was reading my friend "Meg's" blog today and her post today was about someone or something that inspires you. I had many thoughts today about who and what inspires me and figured it would just be some good "food for thought" for the day. But then I saw this on the fox news today and thought I would share.

It gives new meaning to the phrase

"Never judge a book by it's cover".

Hopefully she inspires you too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

"BUGZ"

AND NOW!

PRESENTING EMILIE & ADA BARNES
(and the rest of the 1st grade at McCarty Elementary)

IN "BUGZ"!

Last night was the 1st graders presentation of "BUGZ".

Emilie and Ada did a fantastic job singing all the songs and doing the actions. I'm sure most of you will be shocked to read that they did not have a speaking part ;-). They got to choose what kid of bug they wanted to be. Emilie chose to be a butterfly and Ada chose to be a firefly.

I only got a few pictures because they wouldn't let me take a picture of them in their full costume - but trust me they looked very cute! They were being more like stink bugs about it than a butterfly and a firefly!

The stage

Let the show begin!

Ada is circled on the left and Emilie on the right

The one and only picture they would let me take
Ada's bug she made for the backdrop
Emilie's bug she made for the backdrop

Great job girls!

April Fools? Nope, just a fool.

I thought I would share my embarrassing moment from yesterday since I am still laughing about it. I figured why not give a few other people a laugh too?

A few months ago I mentioned on this here blog that Ada dropped my cell phone in the tub and therefore it no longer worked so I had to get a new one. Well little did I realize that I when I was putting all my contacts back into my phone I was setting myself up for a big joke!

So yesterday I had a question for my brother Mike and called him up on his cell phone - at least I thought I was. Let me just interject here that if you know my brother Mike he is pretty funny. Sometime when I call him he will change his voice (and in my defense sometimes it can sound like a woman!) or say something funny etc. Let me also add that I was in the car with 3 loud kids and Hannah Montana playing, so my ability to hear clearly was not at it's highest. SO, I call him up and I'm not really paying attention as I wait for him to answer and then I hear a voice say "hello" and I then say "Hey STINKY PANTS!"

(just one of the many names I call him)

Dead silence. Then the voice on the other end says "Who is this?" At this point I realize it is actually a woman and not my brother! I'm thinking who in the world did I call? So I say "I was trying to call my brother." And she says "And I was wondering who was calling me stinky pants!" As I am trying not to laugh, I say "I am so sorry I obviously have the wrong number!" and quickly hung up. I'm dying. I am trying to figure out how I had the wrong number. Did he change his cell phone number? I don't remember him doing that and I got his number from Jeff's cell phone. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that it was Jeff's OLD cell phone with Mike's OLD cell phone number on it. Bingo - joke is on me! What a fool!

I was very hesitant to tell this story because somebody always knows somebody who knows somebody. The world is just way too small, especially in Utah. So if any of you go to family dinner this week and someone says "I got this phone call and some girl called me stinky pants!" or hear of this happening to a friend, yep, that was me.

But maybe we can keep this our little secret?

Girls weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Last Wednesday (the 4th) Jeff's mom and her husband Richard brought Heidi and Eliza (Emi & Ada's cousins) out to Chicago for a girls weekend. Emi and Ada were so excited to have their cousins come. They had such a great time with them all here! Poor Sarah wanted so badly to join in the fun and hang with the big girls. Thanks Emilie, Ada, Heidi and Eliza for including Sarah in all your fun when you could! I know she had a great time with you here too!

Thursday morning they took the train downtown and went to the American Girl Place for lunch and shopping, hit the beach and then off to the Children's Museum. They stayed downtown that night and from what I understand nobody got very much sleep! Friday they went to the Shedd Aquarium and then took the train back to our house. Friday night Jeff, Sarah and I were excused from the house so they could make dinner together and have some more fun. By Saturday you could tell the exhaustion was setting in, but they weren't ready to quit having fun! They went to Airtastic for 2 hours to play. Then after dinner it was movie time with just the girls (Grandma slept through most of it!) Sunday was a quiet day of just church, dinner and some Hannah Montana on the Wii. Sadly on Monday it was time for them to go home. We were trying to convince them to stay another week, but unfortunately it just didn't happen. The girls had so much fun it took them a couple of good nights sleep to recover!

Here are just a few of the pictures taken to highlight the fun weekend

On their way!

Grandma, Heidi and Eliza

They made it!

Heidi, Emilie, Ada, Eliza and Sarah

Waiting for the train to take them downtown

The buddy sysytem!
Heidi & Ada Emilie & Eliza

This one is hands down my favorite!

By the Chicago River

All the girls - in the hotel room


Lunch and shopping at American Girl Place

Lake Michigan and the beach

The Children's Museum at Navy Pier

Emilie & Heidi Ada & Eliza

The Shedd Aquarium

(unfortunately the dolphins, whales and penquins were

"on vacation" but there was still plenty to see!)

Taking the train back to Aurora

Saturday afternoon exercise!

Eliza and Heidi as Hannah Montana on the Wii

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Kath and Richard for bringing Heidi and Eliza out and giving Emilie and Ada such a fun and memorable weekend! You're the best! XOXOX