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4th of July

We spread 4th of July out over two days. Our town had a fireworks show over the lake on Sunday night. Then Monday we went to the Vernon Hills Parade (still the best 4th of July Parade I have ever been to), to mom and dad's for a barbecue, and then the Vernon Hills Fireworks show. The kids had so much fun but we were all exhausted- it took Nate and I a full 24 hours to recuperate!

Linc trying to get in a little extra sand time

Enjoying the parade and the candy!

Linc with the creepy Buzz Lightyear that made Reagan scream!

Reagan fell asleep during fireworks

Linc made himself very comfy

Spending time with Grandma and Grandpa was the best part

Concert in the Park

We made our way to Arlington Heights one Tuesday afternoon for a kids concert in the park. We ate a picnic lunch, danced to the music, and played at the playground- a pretty fun day!

Why I love summer

Waking up late,

heading to the beach for two hours,

coming home to eat PB&J's,

showering all the sand off,

followed by a little of this...

and this...

watching movies all afternoon while a thunderstorm rolls through,

Pot roast cooking in the crock pot,

BEST DAY EVER!!

A warm sunny day

Today we woke up to thunder, lightning, and 50 deg temps so I decided to post about a lovely sunny day we had a few weeks ago- if only to remind myself that we do see the sun every now and then here in Chicago. My friend Laura invited us over for an impromptu playgroup with a couple other moms in the ward. Laura has a huge backyard and a sprinkler so my kids put on their swimsuits for the first time this year...

Such a sweet face

Linc and his buddy Bryson

Reagan was gifted this Dora purse and carried it around with her all day!

Reagan and her little friend Imogene, who I think at this moment is

thinking "why am I standing next to this crazy girl?"

Trying to get a decent picture of all the kids together

Why I haven't been blogging...

Don't let the innocent look fool you...

...she has been a holy terror for three weeks now. Reagan thinks she doesn't need to sleep anymore (naps, nighttime, nothing!) and if she does sleep it has to be right in the middle of Nathan and I in the "big bed". It has been a rough three weeks, nobody but Lincoln is sleeping and we are all walking around like zombies. I think I got more sleep when she was a newborn!

General Conference Weekend

I really wanted to make an effort this year to have our family sit down and watch all four sessions of General Conference (or at least sit in the same room). I found that the internet has a wealth of information for mom's trying to keep kids entertained during Conference and armed with a load of coloring pages, activities, toys, and food I set up on Saturday morning

We cleared everything out of the living room and let the kids

occupy whatever space they wanted

Can you tell who my easygoing kid is? At this point Lincoln was

running in circles around the room

Food, Food, and more Food- that was my trick for getting the

kids to stay in the living room with me :)

Mom and dad came over Sunday morning and we had a big brunch (complete with ham and cheese souffle- made me miss the Devlins). The kids loved having Grandma and Grandpa to play with all morning although I think Linc distracted Grandma through most of the session! All in all I would say we did pretty well, hopefully it will continue to get better as the kids get older!