Dollie Parade

Audrey was in her glory as she marched around the old Lake County Courthouse in Crown Point’s annual “Dollie Parade” yesterday.  My mom and I took the kids to this cute event in which girls push their dolls in doll strollers around the courthouse for a little parade. 

 

Emily was my little doll.

 

Proudly parading around the courthouse!

Here’s a little video to show you Audrey in action.  She was so proud to be a part of this… and terribly distracted!  She had a hard time walking straight!  :)  So much to see for her two-year-old eyes!

The parade route was two laps, but Audrey could have gone many more!  At the end, each girl got a ribbon and a sucker.   What fun!

 

 

Cute firsts

I just spent the past hour updating this blog with pictures from the past month, so scroll on down to find some new posts!  I’m so glad there’s a back-dating option so I can post these updates where they belong.  I came onto the blog intending to post a couple pictures of “cute firsts” that happened today, and then I realized how far behind I was.  Lately, after the kids are in bed, I’m exhausted.  Emily has been fighting her sleep (she loves to roll to her tummy in her crib but she hates to sleep that way and forgets/refuses to roll back – it’s a vicious cycle) so it’s taking me longer to get all the kids to sleep.

But this blog is my journal/diary of these busy days and I don’t want to neglect it for too long. 

Today was the first day Logan asked for a puppy after visiting PetLand.  (The answer was “no” although the puppy was cute.)

Today was the first day I put Audrey’s hair in pigtails.

And today was the first time Emily fell asleep in her high chair.

How I love these kiddos and all their firsts!

Potato Creek

We spent the past 4 days at Potato Creek State Park with Luke’s family. We stayed in neighboring cabins and had a really nice time playing outside, sitting around the campfire, and finding an adventure around every corner through the eyes of our kids. Here are a few (ok, a lot … it’s hard to pick just a few) pictures of our extended weekend.

Waiting for breakfast in the cabin.

At the Nature Center – measuring their “wing span.”

Getting ready to go for a hike – I’m a little overly-cautious about the mosquitoes so I came prepared with two Off Fans for this hike.

We spent one afternoon at the beach.

Logan and Audrey loved their glow sticks from Grandpa, especially when the lights went out and it was time to sleep.

Hanging out during the day.

The last day we went to a local zoo for the morning. Here we are on the zoo train.

35

This is what 35 years of marriage looks like. My parents just returned from an Alaskan cruise to celebrate their milestone anniversary. Congratulations, Dad and Mom!

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day with some of our closest friends, Jeff and Lisa Bulthuis, at their new home in Munster. We’re thankful that throughout our married life, we have lived fairly close to them for the majority of the years. Although we had more time for playing cards into the wee hours of the night before we both had kids, now it is fun to see our kids interact. Between our two families there are seven kids 5 and under! Memorial Day was a fun day taking care of all these munchkins together.

Preschool Program

Logan had a great year in preschool again this year and capped it all off with the final program. Although he did more smiling than singing in front of the audience, we’re proud of what he accomplished this year and can’t believe he’s ready to start Kindergarten in the fall. Our boy is growing up!

p.s. Logan adores the twins on his right. Aren’t they adorable?

Sunshine

It’s so nice to finally have some sunshine around here!  This morning, I took a walk with the girls while Logan was at preschool.  On the way home we stopped at the park where Emily took her first ride in the baby swing.  She loved it!

Her big sister loved pushing her too!

Then this evening, the kids enjoyed a quick visit with their cousins, Meredith and Kaitlyn.  Rachel and the girls stopped here for dinner on their way to Michigan.  The bigger three had a lot of fun playing in the new tree house.

And Kaitlyn was fascinated with Emily.  Being only a little over 5 months apart, I’m sure they have many more days of playing together in the future!

All in all, a fun, sunny day!