Look at the Wild Life!

Had a great day at Brookfield Zoo with the Alfredson's today!

Good Ol Fishing Derby

It's that time of the year again...the fishing derby at Grandma & Papa Witz's neighborhood lake.  Emma caught 3 itty bitty ones & Lucy caught one too.  It was a great day!  Look how cute Grandma & Papa with their youngest 4 Grandkids! :-) (Caed, Emma, Lucy & Shea)

Hiking Rock Cut

We had a family day at Rock Cut...hike & picnic the other day.  What a great park!  We did get a few mosquito bites, but other than that a really great day enjoying the great outdoors.  Sometimes it seems like there's not many things that you can do as a family that doesn't cost a ton of $...which made us appreciate this day that much more.

Play Ball!

We spent our 4th of July with Grandma & Grandpa Lantz at a Rockford Riverhawks baseball game!  Despite some confusion about fireworks after the game (oops!) a fun time was had by all.

Summer Time Fun

We had our niece Shea over for a day, the girls played so well together & we had a great time with her! Nothing better than playing in the water on such a HOT day!

Another Parade :-)

We took Grandma & Grandpa Lantz to Elgin's 4th of July parade...let's just say it was way too HOT and LONG!  Overall, the kids did great...maybe better than us adults, sigh.  Emma was quite out of sorts, which is why she is not in any of the pics...oh well.  I won't bore you with the details of our parking/road closing debockle (did I spell that right?).  I think the lesson learned was that Belvidere's parade is much more kid friendly (short & sweet).

cousins: Lucy, Caed, Ben & Shea

Happy 4th of July!

Had a fun time at the Belvidere 4th of July parade & fireworks last weekend!  They switched the parade route from what they normally do...so we were at the beginning of the parade instead of the end and the girls got TONS of candy, the little sandwich baggies I brought were overflowing into Daddy's cargo pockets of his shorts! It was tons of fun!

Our Day at the Shedd Aquarium...well, not really

Kim & I took the kids (minus Ben) downtown for free day at the Shedd Aquarium. After paying $16 to park we discovered that there was a 3 hour wait to get in to the aquarium.  So...we rather than spoil a beautiful day...we improvised!  We had a picnic in the harbor and watched the water & boats.  Then, we looked at a map and saw the Buckingham Fountain was just a half an inch away! :-) So, we walked through Grant park to the fountain.  I think it was the LONGEST half inch those kids have ever walked! LOL But, we made it and it worth the walk.  The wind was blowing the fountain and cooled us all off with the mist.  It was refreshing!  Lucy did stand in the mist for a long time and ended up completly soaked! But, she wasn't complaining about being hot!  Then we walked back to the Shedd (still a 2 1/2 hour wait) and enjoyed some popsickles next to the Lake.  We finished the day by making it back in time for Kohlman & Ben's baseball game where Kohlman made a great hit, that became a homerun which won the game and put their team into first place! The girls really enjoyed their special day with their cousins even though they didn't get to see any cool fishies!

Julia & Nicole's Graduation

We spent the weekend in Clarinda, Iowa celebrating the twin's high school graduation! It was fun to see the family and catch up.  The girls both received academic honors.  Reflecting on the twins, it was quite surreal for me to see them graduting...I still remember them as flower girls in our wedding (12 years ago!)  Anyway, this isn't about me...congratulations Julia & Nicole!  We will be praying for you as you start college.  And a special thank you to Aunt Jane who put together the cutest graduation survival kits for Emma & Lucy.  So thoughtful.  We are blessed!

                                This is Nicole.                                                         This is Julia.

Aladdin with the Freund's

For Reese's 6th birthday we got her tickets to the Rockford CYT production of Aladdin. We had a wonderful time spending the day with the Freund family (minus Merrick). The show was great, we had trouble finding the theater (and Culvers too, but that's another story), but we arrived in time to catch the end of the first scene, which was an Indian infused version of Beyonce's Single Ladies. Can't get that song out of my head ever since...such a catchy little tune! 

Happy Easter!

We had a special Easter in Pennsylvania with Grandma & Grandpa Lantz!  He Is Risen!

BOWLING!

Spent a family day bowling with the girls! What fun! I am shocked at Emma's strength...she would pick up the bowl and throw it down!  I couldn't believe it!  I need to give props to Emma's recent "Day with the Witz's" where Uncle Kenny taught her how to bowl.  Lucy had a little trouble throwing the ball. But, how fun was it to bowl with bumpers, you know I did not get one gutter!   

Downtown Tradition

We have a tradition in my family, every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving all the "girls" (me, my mom, my sisters & sister-in-law) take the train downtown, have lunch/brunch at the Walnut Room inside Macy's and then do a little shopping. It is something that I look forward to. Last year we did not go because my sister Kelly was in Korea. This year, we resumed the tradition and also invited Emma to come with, and to make it extra special, one of Emma's favorite cousins, Ben, came with too. We drove to Cumberland and then took the "L" downtown, just a couple blocks from Macy's. We had a wonderful brunch and got to sit very close to the big tree. It was the first time ever that we did not have to wait a really long time, a reminder of how so many people are struggling this year, no doubt. Did I mention that Emma spilled an entire glass of ice water all over herself...luckily I brought with a change of clothes. After lunch we made our ususal stops, Old Navy, TJMax, Filene's. And we were contemplating heading over to the American Girl store at Water Tower, when the trolley headed toward Water Tower, pulled up right in front of us! It was great and the kids loved all the neat modes of transportation that we experienced. We had a fun trolley driver who pointed ut all sorts of neat tidbits. Including where to get the giant shopping bags that we saw people walking around with. When we got off the trolley, we went straight for the free shopping bags. They were so perfect! I had been stuffing all of my purchases into one shopping bag and the handles were really hurting my hands, but that big bag held it all and the straps rested nicely on my shoulder. :-) All in all, it was such a wonderful day with the girls (and Ben).

Here's me & the kiddos waiting on the "L" platform.

The kiddos having fun on the trolley.
Awww, look at them walking hand in hand through the subway tunnel.

And finally, a fabulous group photo under the big tree at the Walnut Room.

Pumpkin Patch

Despite the fact that we are all still recovering from flu/strep over here at the Lantz house we took a family trip to the Edwards Orchard/Pumpkin Patch this weekend. It was a beautiful day!

Funnel Cakes, Elephant Ears & Lemon Shake Ups OH MY

It was such a beautiful day..not too hot with a nice breeze, perfect day for the County Fair! I think we were there for almost 7 hours! We met up with a bunch of our friends from Church. It was so fun! Fair food is so yummy and we had our fair share for sure. Emma & Lucy were very excited and wanted to go on all the rides! One of the wacky workers at the TeaCup ride...jumped at Emma and said "boo"...it was not a very nice thing to do to a 4 year old, but luckily she handled it well...crazy carnie. Lucy & Daddy went on the dragon roller coaster, Emma thought it looked scary and didn't want to go. Lucy is definitely the more adventurous of the two. I think a highlight for both of them was the petting zoo. They let you go into the corral with the animals...it was cool. The sheep and goats were just walking around us. One of them walked right up to Emma and layed down at her feet, "Awe". We let Emma go on a pony ride which she LOVED! In fact when we tucked her in for bed, she was still going on about it (next time, she wants to ride the white horse, it was her favorite). As we were leaving the fairgrounds, the girls said "bye bye fair, see you next year!" It was a ton of fun (and money)...once a year works for us.

Side Note: The girls have each woken up in the last half hour crying and feeling hot with stuffy noses. The aftermath of 7 hours at the County Fair...2 sick kids?? Probably.

Reconnecting with Friends...

I know you have all been on the edge of your seats wondering when on earth the Lantz family would be back with another blog post...well, we're back! We had a really cool week that was jam packed...to say the least. One of my very good friends from highschool, Trisha and her hubby, Nathan (Sean's friend from Wheaton College) and their two daughters, Olivia and Vivian drove up from Atlanta, GA and stayed with us this week. Some of the higlights of the week were: several fun rounds of Hoopla, Sean and Nathan kayaking the "Kish", Trisha beating me in countless games of Columns (wait...that's not a highlight!), scrapbooking at Scrap Inn, dinner at our friend's Carrie & Paul's house and some really great coversations about life, faith, kids and parenting. Man, I love my friends! Thank you God for allowing us to reconnect with some really wonderful people! In this moment, I feel refreshed, loved and exhausted all at the same time.

The girls on the other hand, Emma & Lucy (especially Emma) had a tough week, I don't think I have yet mentioned that this week was also 5 Day Club (VBS) at our Church. Emma & Lucy are too young yet to participate but I had volunteered to help take care of the kids of the helpers who were also too young to participate. So, Monday-Thursday with the help of another church friend, Jen, we took care of 9 little kids at our house! Whew! Each day got a little easier, as we figured out a routine and in the end we survived! But, all the extra bodies at our house, was a bit more than Emma & Lucy were equipped to deal with. With all the kiddos in their territory, playing with their stuff and their naps/bed time routines thrown off course a bit, I think they whined and cried more than they ever had before. A special thank you to Trisha & Nathan for helping out with 5 Day Club and not whining or crying about it...lol :-)

After the 5 Day Club kids went home each day, Emma, Lucy, Olivia and Vivian played very well together! It was so cute. Olivia is just 3 months older than Emma and Vivian is just a few months older than Lucy. At first, Emma called the girls collectively "Olivian". Then, she watched them carefully to figure out which one was "the big one" and which was "the little one". They all enjoyed making crafts, swimming in our little pool, playing games and reading books. How special to watch these new friendships develop, I could see them being pen pals someday (do kids still do that?). And we hope for an annual reunion!

Our American Girl Experience

Yesterday, was a BIG day for Emma (and Lucy). Grandma Witz and I took the girls downtown Chicago for an American Girl experience (Emma's birthday present)! It was a full day of fun and adventure. We started by picking up Grandma & getting on the train at Big Timber in Elgin. We took the train all the way to Union Station in Chicago. Then, we hopped on the free trolley that took us down Michigan Ave to the American Girl Store. We had 11am lunch reservations at the AG Cafe. It was quite the girlie girl place...from the pink daisy light fixtures, to the polka dotted pony tail holder napkin ring souveniers. Not a single detail was missed. The entire cafe was hot pink, black & white. They gave Emma a high chair for her baby that hooked to our table, and they let Lucy pick out a doll to borrow for the lunch. Then, they brought out wine goblets with pink lemonade for the girls and little saucers & tea cups for the dolls. The first course, was sticky buns. The second course was a fruit kabab sculpture surrounded by veggies, dips and baguettes. Oh, I almost forgot, there was a little box on the table filled with conversation starters on little strips of paper. This was high amusement for 2 little girls...not the conversations, but rather the little strips of paper. After loading up with fruit, veggies and bread, the girls barely touched the main entree. Then they brought us each a plate with 3 cute little desserts: a chocolate mousse flower pot (which Lucy thoroughly enjoyed), heart shaped cakes and daisy shaped sugar cookies (that we saved for the train ride home...yummy!). The food was very good and the restraunt was so cute. Emma & Lucy were very good girls. After lunch however, Lucy let everyone know that she needed a nap by crying hysterically in the store. Emma picked out a backpack carrier for her baby and started crying when she realized that it didn't come with a new doll (like the one in the display). We made our decisions quickly and got out of there. The store was so crowded and a bit confusing for first timers. Once we were outside, the girls were good again. Trolley, train, drop off Grandma & back to Belvidere. Whew, I was exhausted! We will definantly do it again...maybe in a year or two. (One thing I was surprised about, was the amount of older girls (like ages 12-15) that were having lunch with their dolls.) Anyway, It was a special day, I hope Emma remembers it.

Family Function Fiasco and 5 Lessons Learned

For my Dad's retirement/birthday party we had planned on all wearing t-shirts with my Dad's top 10 sayings as a surprise (I think I posted about it a month or so ago, in fact). But, of course, nothing good happens when you wait until 2 days before the event to make the t-shirts. First lesson learned, when the t-shirt transfer package, says "for use with ink jet printers"...this means they will melt inside your laser printer. So, I decide I'll just go to Scrap Inn and print them up. Second lesson learned, when you drive 20 minutes to get somewhere, you should probably make sure you have the KEY. Feeling completely frustrated, I decide to take everything over to Kinko's and print them there. Third lesson learned, Kinko's does not have any ink jet printers but they sell laser jet t-shirt transfers for $5 EACH! I only paid $3 for the shirts, I wasn't about to pay $5 for the iron on! Though feeling exasperated with the situation, I did contemplate this solution, but just couldn't do it. Fortunately, my lovely husband came home and could sense my frustration (this could be because I was literally FREAKING OUT), so he drove out to Scrap Inn and picked up the printer! Yay, t-shirts, FINALLY finished (at 1am).

This past Spring, Emma's preschool class had a Rockford Riverhawk (minor league baseball) ticket fundraiser. So, I convinced everyone in my family that this would be the perfect way to celebrate my Dad's retirement/birthday and bought the tickets. Fourth lesson learned, read the fine print...which I did not do and realized the day before the game, that we had vouchers, not actual tickets. When we got to the ticket window at the stadium, the nice boy tells me that the game is sold out because the Steel Workers Union has bought out all the tickets for the game for their employees, but he will give us standing room only tickets for free. Well, trying to remain positive here, I had 2 realizations: 1-our vouchers are still good for another game and 2-more than likely I will not be asked to coordinate another family function. So, I take the free tickets and within minutes the entire family has arrived at the stadium. While they all stood there (looking so cute all in matching shirts..heh heh) I explain the little predicament that we are in. Amazingly, nobody razzed me for being such a dufuss. Fifth lesson learned, don't assume the family is going to freak out. In fact, they decided to go on into the game and just wing it. Sure enough, there were plenty seats! It was a really nice stadium and a great game, there were fireworks after the game and the kids got to run the bases. Everyone had fun...and we do still have vouchers for another game! How about that for a potential disaster with a happy ending!

There he is, the guest of honor...who almost got us kicked out of the game, but that's a another story.

My brother Kenny, sister in law Amy, nephew Sam and niece Shea. Awww look, they're wearing matching shirts. :-)

My sister Kelly...back from Korea and looking cute!