Labor Day Weekend 2008

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

With still one day left of the long holiday weekend, we have had a lot of family fun together so far!

Yesterday we went to the birthday party for a daughter of a former coworker of Mommy's. It was also a homecoming for their 4 week old twin baby girls, so it was great to meet them as well as see some of my old work buddies at the party too. Kylie was absolutely in her element as the theme was Disney Princess and it was QUITE the princess party!


Yes, that's Kylie with the crown on :)! The kids had a great time painting a castle with the birthday girl (Ariel in this shot- she changed outfits 4 times!).

Daddy and Peyton watching the princesses blow bubbles from their royal goody bags!

After the birthday party we thought we would head over to Naperville's "Last Fling". It's an annual event held here over the Labor Day weekend with food, rides, music, etc. We thought it was a great idea until we had paid for parking, got out of the car and discovered that we didn't have any strollers with us- UGH! It was a hot and exhausting outing to end the day but also a great last blast of summer fair fun!

Kylie big enough this year to go on the "Gravity Storm" for the first time. She found out it's a bit harder to do flips and things than it looks!

This is more like it- the merry go round is one of my favorites!

Trying to catch the big one! Big or small, everyone was a winner and Kylie chose a cuddly brown teddy bear as her prize.

Riding a "Kylie-size" ferris wheel! Caution: do not view video if you dizzy easily :)!

What a week!

What a busy week we had during our first week home together! It was full of ups and downs (and a few exciting milestones for Peyton!) as it's quite a transition for all of us but all in all we made it through :). Among lots of little things here and there, we visited Daddy and his friends at his office, got Peyton's 9 month pictures taken at the mall, had lunch with one of Mommy's friends, had several playdates with Chloe next door and spent many of the sunny afternoons taking a great walk and playing at the neighborhood park!

Here are a few shots from the week...

Princess Aurora having lunch at the mall. Having decided to choose my battles wisely with this princess, we proceeded to the mall on Wednesday morning to have Peyton's 9 month pictures taken with Kylie in the princess garb of her choice. I'm talking from cardboard crown to plastic light up shoes- she really knew how to pick an outfit to leave the house in! I was thrown for a loop not expecting to have to kill some time at the mall before we could view Peyton's pictures but Kylie was as proud and happy as could be walking through the mall and having lunch as a princess! And I think the yucky blisters that Kylie was left with after our outing are enough to make wearing regular clothes and shoes out an easier conversation next time :)!

Can you spot the Princess making her way all the way to the top of the mall playland?

At Phillips Park in Aurora. A great park and zoo really close to our house that Chloe's Mommy brought us along to check out on Wednesday afternoon. It had lots of great new things to play on like this swirly "thing" to climb on!

Kylie, Chloe and "the green guy" at Phillips Park. There's always that one "friend" that tends to not leave Kylie's side when playing at the parks whether she likes it or not. And in this case these girls wanted nothing to do with this rough little guy!

Up she goes! Peyton climbed up the stairs to our second floor for the first time on Thursday morning. We were all so excited as she never really paid much attention to the stairs before but once she did, she was off- no problem! Kylie was the motivator as she had some of her toys on the stairs and continued to move them up step by step and little Peyton was more than determined to reach them herself to play with!

Notice anything different about me?

Look very closely :)...

Baby's Best Friend

Again, who needs Toys R' Us...

when you have a straw and a yogurt wrapper!

This was the 2 man band I had in back of me after lunch yesterday :). Peyton on straw and Kylie on wrapper (or as she said her "party blower"!)

The Annual Lakeside Summer Picnic

Each August our subdivision within our subdivision has a summer picnic. It's a nice chance to meet neighbors you've never even seen out before and catch up with the ones that you have gotten to know. An added bonus is that it's always right outside our front door as we live back in the cul de sac!

Despite the rain showers earlier in the day yesterday and the lingering thunder and dark clouds, at 4pm the sun shone brightly and it was party time! The kids had a great time together and we made it through the whole picnic this year (last year we never even ate as Kylie had had a moment shortly after the picnic began :)!)

Pete & I are on the "Social Committee" tagged with planning this event each year so we're happy to report it was a great success. Hard to believe another picnic has passed and before we know it, it will be time to start the planning for Summer '09!

Daddy and Peyton taking it all in at the start of the picnic!

The speed racers of the picnic: Kylie with Chloe zooming left and Peyton zooming right in the background!

Peyton enjoying some snacks at our table before retiring inside for an early bedtime of 5pm :( !

The kiddie table led by silly Miss Kylie :)!

Our neighbors Bud & Marge getting ready for a little cornhole!

Feeling Better!

Just to update you on Kylie's virus, she's feeling much better and I think it may have almost run its course. Apart from all of the additional potty breaks throughout the day and a not so great belly, she hasn't lost her great smile or fun disposition!

Feel better soon Pumpkin!

Look what I can do!

Peyton really figured out how the whole clapping thing works during our week in Indiana. She's even got the sounds down that go with clapping! It's hard to believe that she can do such things already but I guess it's ok because it's so darn cute!

Here's a video taken during the "Grandma & Peyton Show" one evening last week :) - enjoy!

First Bath...Together!

Before leaving Grandma & Papa's house to hit the road back home on Thursday, I gave the little ones another bath to "de-chlorine" them one last time!

We decided to put Peyton in the bath with Kylie b/c she would be in and out and one would be down! Kylie didn't like the idea of Peyton crowding her personal bath space at first :) but then warmed up to the idea a bit. In the end, mission accomplished and we were able to wash 2 little peanuts with 1 tub of bubble filled water!

Thanks for managing the camera on this one Grandma!


What a yummy washcloth!

Where do you think you're going Little One? (that's what Kylie has sweetly begun calling Peyton)

Wednesday August 20- PM

At Oma's pool- John and Cousin Eric showing Kylie the game of diving for fish! Kylie threw them into the pool and Eric DOVE in and retrieved them all- it was UNBELIEVABLE to see a 3 1/2 yr old swim like that!

Hey Cousin Alex, can I try on your cool Cars hat?

Cousins that kick together, stay together :)!

Wonder if Michael Phelps had these moves at 3 1/2?!

Riding on Cousin Eric's cool tricycle- thanks for the ride Eric!

Wednesday August 20- AM

Starting off at the outlet mall- not so sure about the umbrella stroller yet though!

That's better! Big sis will lead the way!

I love stores that have things for kids to do- it makes ones' shopping experience so much more enjoyable :)!

Hoping to enjoy a ride with Spiderman but he ate our quarters :( !

This guy will never disappoint- Hakuna Matata!

Tuesday August 19

Early morning tomato picking. Kylie had the honor of picking and eating the first ripe tomato from Grandma's tomato plants!

A favorite game of these 2 little ones. It's so cute how Peyton finds and goes to Kylie's hands! Wonder how many hours of the day we could pass doing this :)?

Another pose at the pool- what a great week for swimming we had!

Kylie's signature "silly" face!

Kylie's sandcastles. She worked so hard on them and they turned out great! She paid attention to the smallest detail- like the "flags" on top that all castles have!

Monday August 18

Kylie on one of the rides at Marquette Mall. Her pick- driving the ice cream truck. We had a bit of Mommy/Kylie time at the end of the day on Monday. We went to the mall where Kylie picked out adorable little pink princess teddy bears for her and Peyton and we had dinner together at Applebees. We ended our mall outing by looking and trying on some of the pretty jewelery displayed in JC Penney. There were definitely enough rings, etc on display to turn anyone into a true princess :)!

Sunday August 17

Peyton at Grandma's swim up bar- one bottle of baby formula comin' right up!

Kylie off roading next to the pool on her Dora ATV!

What a cute little smile! Peyton loves playing in the pool!

An evening of bubble blowing!

Grandma & Papa's driveway after the evening of bubble blowing. What you need so you too can create such a masterpiece: one spilled container of bubbles, one pair of size 10 barefeet and lots of energy! Oh, and a bath all set to drop your little artist into immediately after their work is done :)!

"Almost a week" of fun in Indiana!

Looks like today will wrap up our trip to Grandma & Papa's house to enjoy some days of summer fun! Originally I had planned for us to return home tomorrow but unfortunately Kylie seems to have Rotavirus (only for the second time amazingly) so it would probably be best to have a bit of a low key day and then hit the highway home.

The following posts will show how much fun we had each day but here are a few pictures from the week. Thanks Grandma, Papa, Oma, John, Eric & Alex for such a fun time! Next week it'll be hard to top all of the fun we had here but it was definitely a good transition to our new schedule of staying home!


Kylie taking a break to relax poolside on Tuesday.

Peyton enjoying lunch "al fresco" on Tuesday.

Kylie watching Grandma's 3D version of the Barbie Pegasus movie on Sunday night. Our copy is just a plain old movie?!

Peyton and Cousin Alex having fun together at Oma's house on Wednesday.

Kylie and Cousin Eric having a great time together in the pool at Oma's house on Wednesday.

Sleep

Sleep is a weird thing. Without the rest of the family here today I slept until 11:30!! Can't remember the last time I did that, maybe right before we had Kylie in 2003? Anyway, I can't believe how much of a bad mood you wake up in. I mean I just got 10 hours of sleep and I was kranky! I just read an article on CNN that stated too much sleep is actually bad for you. Unless sick or otherwise, the average person is at peak performance between 6-8 hours of sleep. I can vouch for that as I typically get 5-6 of broken up sleep/night. I typically function the best when I get about 6-7. Over 8 and I am cranky and groggy all day. I do have more energy though, as I tackled the laundry and waxed my car so far with about 6 hours to go in the day!

Peyton's 9 month birthday

Happy 9 months Peyton!

Peyton had a very fun day of swimming and hanging out at Grandma B's house today. The girls and I are spending the week with Grandma and Papa to enjoy some final pool time and lazy summer days since it feels like those days are swiftly coming to an end!

Here are some pictures of her fun filled b-day today and a video of Mommy's last attempt to tire out the party animal tonight :)!

Enjoying the wrapping on her b-day gift from Grandma! Where is the actual gift you may ask? In big sister's hands of course :)! Thanks Grandma for the fun toys!

Still smiling after a long day of fun outside! Peyton is DEFINITELY the Energizer Baby!

Grandma's water bed was the perfect spot to end an exhausting day of birthday celebration!

Taking after Daddy with her love of speed and fast "cars"!