Weekend In Chicago

We had such an awesome weekend in Chicago! We went up to meet with a group of Guatemala Adoptive Families that we met during our process and have become wonderful friends with. About nine families got together with their beautiful children. I will not post pictures of those families that do not have a public blog but wanted to share some pictures of our fun weekend!

We arrived very early Friday morning and did our own little Chicago tour, including shopping on Michigan Avenue, taking a trolley tour and visiting Navy Pier... boy, does Chicago live up to it's nickname "Windy City"... it was extremely "knock you over" windy!






It wasn't long before we met up with our friends. Bug was in heaven playing with Patrick & Emma (our not so frequent blogging friends)


Emma & Sophie


Sophie & Caleb


Ring around the Rosie with Patrick, Emma & Maya


Riding the choo choo on Navy Pier




Grant and Hannah enjoyed multiple rides on the swings and ferris wheel.


The ever gorgeous Sofia


Beautiful Sela


Maya took a turn pushing Sophie on the swing in Lincoln Park.


Funny Patrick




These two had a blast together... Sophie just LOVES Patrick!


The beautiful Hannah with her little brother, Caleb


We even made it to the beach!!

It was so fun to watch adorable baby Charlie toddle on the sand.


And enjoy a frosty treat from the Ice Cream Man.



And just enjoy digging in the sand...


What a beautiful city! We can't wait to go back to Chicago and we look even more forward to visiting with our friends more often!

Christmas in June Giveaway

My friend, Tricia & her Sisterly Shenanigans, is doing an amazing giveaway to help raise funds for a group of children in San Andres, Guatemala. She can use the support of all of us to help make Christmas a reality for these children. We can all make a difference one child at a time and Tricia is amazing and relentless in her pursuit of finding ways for us to be that "Change"!

So, please pop on over to Tricia's Blog and find out how you can help and also register for her amazing giveaways!

'Tude Tuesday

Three Year Old Attitude at its best!!!



Anybody else recognize this? The 3's are here with a vengeance!

We had the greatest weekend in Chicago! Will post pictures and a recap soon! Sorry that I have not been able to visit everybody's FFF post from Friday! So glad my friend, Mr. Linky, was on the job!!

Favorite Foto Friday #43 - MESSY SPACES/DISORDERLY CONDUCT

OK, I thought this week's FFF was going to be a HUGE challenge for me. I have to admit that I am a very Type A person and like things to be clean most of the time... but I have let things go a little over the past few years, especially with my teenagers' rooms. I still hyperventilate a bit when I walk into their rooms and am known to have an occasional mommy meltdown when it is obscenely disastrous. But, overall, I like to have things at least picked up and I would never PHOTOGRAPH a messy room to be able to look back on. That would be like a Chinese Water Torture picture for me and I know I would run across it much more than I would want to.

So anyways... we are undertaking a renovation project at our house. We are adding a front porch to make our ranch style house more "cottage" looking. Well, that involves destruction first... complete with jackhammer, shattered glass (yes, in my living room) and things falling off the walls from the vibrations. I am so happy that much of the mess is made while I am at work. Driving up to our house now is hard for me... my heart starts palpitating as soon as I see how awful it looks, but I keep reminding myself that it will all be worth it when it is done.

So... since this theme was suggested in the comments, I actually have a great FFF picture to post of my very MESSY SPACE - MY HOUSE!!! I added a little cuteness to the picture with my little Bug posing on the rubble of my old front porch...



Hee hee, Mommy... this Queen of the Mountain is kinda fun!


Grant is in boy heaven with all the destruction and dirt and power tools...


Now... for the NEW MR LINKY FFF LINKING DIRECTIONS!! Go to your blog and click on the title of your FFF post - your post URL will appear in the address bar in your browser and it will contain the exact link to your post! Simply highlight the address, right click, choose copy and then paste it in the "URL" spot in the Mister Linky - just under where you put your name (you can put your name and the name of your child/ren in the picture). Don't forget to click the "Enter" button and voila... you are linked!

It is important that you are linking just your post and not just your blog web address so everybody can link directly to your FFF post!!




And don't forget to still show the love and leave a comment here! I would miss you if I did not "talk" to you each week!! I will not be able to comment on your blogs today as I am heading out of town for an extra special fun weekend but will try to catch up when I get back! I will post pictures and tell you all about it next week! We cannot wait!

Next week's FFF theme is BLOOPERS! We all have them... and I would venture to bet that half my pictures involve people with their eyes closed... that Elvis sneer look of a half blink or onset of a sneeze! Dig up a good blooper (or two or three) and share your outtakes!! This could be fun!

Wordless Wednesday & Test

Nana, Grant, Sophie, Mommy and Morgan



OK... so I am not going to be Wordless this Wednesday. I am hoping that some of you can help me test out a new feature I would like to use for our Favorite Foto Friday posts. It is called "Mr Linky" and it will allow everybody to create their own link each Friday and attach it to the FFF post on my blog. I am going to attach the Mr. Linky Feature to this post in hopes that I can get a couple friends to test it out and see if it works. If we are a "go"... then we will use this on Friday to give it a test ride. This would be good timing for me, as I will be out of town this weekend and may not get to post everybody's links until I return Sunday night... so let's cross our fingers and hope this works!

Sooo... if you have a Wordless Wednesday post today and wouldn't mind sharing it, please do this... go to your blog and click on the title of your Wordless Wednesday post - your post URL will appear in the address bar in your browser and it will contain the exact link to your post! Simply highlight the address, right click, choose copy and then paste it in the "URL" spot in the Mister Linky - just under where you put your name. Don't forget to click the "Enter" button! And there you have it - hopefully this will work!

Thanks for helping me!!!



OK... testing this again with a new Mr. Linky... as I want this to show as a list of your posts without having to click on the Mr. Linky to actually see who has done the meme. Try this:



Yeah! It works! Thanks for helping me test it! We are going to give the second Mr. Linky option a whirl on Friday and see how it goes! The only thing is... I will miss all the nice comments if everybody just links themselves! I guess I am going to have to resort to begging for comments...

Favorite Foto Friday #42 - PAJAMA PARTY!

While this picture does not represent a "party"... it is a picture I took tonight of my little Sophie~Bug and a little pose she did all by herself in her Princess nightgown. So, without further adieu... here is Miss Sophie sporting her new haircut and her new stitches-free beautiful face!



Pose #2... with a little sass thrown in!! Couldn't choose just one!



I will do another update below this one with the end of the week events! It has been a busy couple of days!

And... I am thrilled that FFF has really taken off and we have many more people participating than I could have ever imagined. I LOVE checking out everybody's sweet pictures and am thrilled that many accept the challenge of my "theme"!! However, I would like to make a request... when leaving your comment, would you please leave a link to your blog and/or blog post so that I can easily click on it to find it? It will help immensely in my stolen time from work to post everybody's link! You will know that I have posted your link if I leave a comment on your blog back to you. Gracias, mi amigas!!

Next week's theme... DISORDERLY CONDUCT OR MESSY SPACES (another contributed idea - THANKS!)

Rachel, Makensie, Madison, Makan & Max
Marianne & Olivia
Hannah, Dmitry & Sophia
Amy & Birthday Boy Ethan!
Kathy & John
Sarah & Anna
Becky & Tabitha
Aves & Tuki
Becky, Juliana & Amaya
Denise, her three boys and baby girl
Sharon, AnnaMaria and her big sisters
Jennifer & K's Birthday Pajama Party
Kathy & Rudy
Sabra, Hannah, Maya, Caleb & Sofia
Tina, Toby & Liliana
Amy, Brayden & Malayna
Aimee & Mayna
Kerri & Ruby
Kim, Ana, Ruth & Nathaniel
Mindy, Walker & Hadlee
Sue and her girls
Laurie, Kari, Mindy & Joe
Michelle, Dylan & Dominic
Becca & Ella
Ellie, Angelena & Angelo with special guest, Maya
Rebekah & Jaden
Christina & Aiden
Christina, Emily, Ashley & Madeline
Heather, Kyle, Brandon, Devin, Jacob & Allie
Sarah & Lily
Rachel & Riley
Jenelle & Colter
Katie, Madeleine & Audrey
Lisa & Madeline
Rena, Nathan & Sela
Rachel & Prayers for Baby Kenth
Timberly, Dawson, Daeton, Emmy & Ella
Dena & Annie
Sarah, Micah, Zech, Alec & Aidan
Debbie Skylar & Heidy
Amanda, Mason, Matthew & Mary
Stacey, Luke & Kolby
Kelly & Karaline
Marlene's Mission to collect pjs for Guatemala
Dana, Brooklyn & Addison
Heidi & Emmi
Kelly & Skylie
Farrah & Madisyn
Laurie & Bella
Tracy & Brenda
Violet's Pajama Parties
Lauren's New PJ's
Kim & Alex
Maria, Jose Luis & Jose Antonio
Holly, Gia & Nino
Lisa, Katelyn, Frankie & Sophia
Megan, Lily & Charlotte
Kelly, Craig & Courtney
katie & Arianna
Ruthie & Lili
Jill & Allison
Jill & Isabella
Carrie & Savannah
Cindy & Allie - First FFF!
Corey, Luke & Sarah
Jane & Cara - First FFF!
Patti & Maggie
Kara & Dillon - First FFF!
Amy & Jonathan
Kristin & Madalyn - First FFF!

Haircuts and Earrings and Permits, oh my!

A little catch up from our BUSY week!! Grant finished up school last week, Sophie is home for the summer with our WONDERFUL nanny and Morgan has had final exams all this week and finishes up school today! Summer is finally here! The weather has started to become beautiful and I feel as if we have not had much of a chance to enjoy it yet, but looking forward to it before it becomes so stifling hot outside!

Tonight, Sophie got her third haircut of her life! "Aunt" Julie gave it to her and she looks so adorable with a few inches taken off for the summer. She was so excited to get her hair washed, cut and dried in the hair salon! She sat so still and looked so cute, I just had to take pictures (you know me)! Here are the before, during and after pics!







It was a big week for Morgan too... not only did she turn 16 and have final exams and her summer volunteer position interviews this week, but it was also time to get her DRIVERS PERMIT! Oh my! I cannot believe that MY CHILD is old enough to be behind the steering wheel of a car! While I know she is responsible and for the next 6 months, has to be with an adult 21 or older while she learns (she will also take Drivers Ed), it makes me a nervous wreck to think she will soon be driving away from home and I will have to hold my breath and pray until she arrives back home safely each time. I hope her guardian angel is ready to start working overtime!

She leaves for a vacation in South Carolina with her friend, Olivia, and her family today after school. She will be gone ten days... soaking up the sun on the beach and visiting colleges on the way down. I am going to miss her but know that she will have so much fun! Boy, giving your child "wings" is hard!

As a surprise for her birthday, I took her out to the mall after her birthday dinner and let her get her cartilage pierced in her ear... this was something she has been begging me for for a really long time and I have always said no. I have to admit, it does look cute and I have told her no more piercings on her body!! Of course, I embarrassed her by pulling out my camera... but that is a mother's prerogative right?




We will have her Sweet Sixteen birthday party in June with a friend of hers... Oh boy!

And, lest I forget... Bug also got her stitches out on Tuesday. She was SO BRAVE! Two nurses came in to hold her down and she just laid there all by herself perfectly still while the doctor cut her stitched off. He says the scar looks great... I thought it still looked a bit scary, but he IS the Plastic Surgeon, so I will hope that what he thinks is good will be for her...

This was taken two days after they were taken out... and the healing is going nicely. Just a little bruising still around her eye and a red mark in the white of her eye. It is amazing how fast they heal!



I also had pictures done of all three kids a couple weeks ago and have not had a chance to post them here... I think they turned out really cute!






And my favorites of each of the kids by themselves...

Morgan - age 16


Grant - age 13


Sophia - age 3


Have a wonderful weekend!!!