Callie and Diane In Illinois!

We were so excited to have some Charleston visitors in the great state of Illinois!!!

Diane and Callie flew in from Charleston on Thursday May 1 in the afternoon. They flew from Myrtle Beach to Chicago. Diane's brother-in-law picked them up from the airport and we all met in Naperville (a Southwest suburb) for some delicious deep dish pizza....Chicago style. It was so good seeing them!!!! AHHHH!!! I was so excited I wanted to jump out of my skin!

 

We enjoyed pizza and the company of Diane's amazing sister and her beautiful family. We then loaded into the car and drove the two hours back home. By the time we got home that night it was 10 pm. We put the babes to bed, caught up with Alex and had some girl talk then we all went to sleep.

 

They came dressed for chilly Charleston but not dressed for Spring Illinois :) It was still a bit too cold for them :) No worries, I had plenty of fleeces and sweatshirts to go around. On Friday morning, I gave them a riding tour of town and the area. We had lunch down by the river. Naturally, the babies were in tow with us. We did a bit of shopping and headed back home.

We had big plans to go out Friday night. We were going to hit the townie bars but all three of us were just wanting to veg out, watch a movie, and have girl talk. So we popped a chick flick in and just relaxed. It was perfect!

 

On Saturday morning, we headed uptown to hang out and let the kids run around outside. I showed them the beauty of the Metamora square. They went and looked at antiques for a bit and we froze our booties off watching the kids burn some energy off.

Naturally we had to get a picture with Abe Lincoln while we were up there....

Then, we had some fabulous girl time. Mary came over to watch the kids so that we could go shopping and go get lunch. We ate some pub food and browsed the stores at Grand Prairie. No matter how much I LOVE my kids, it is sometimes nice to get to hang out with friends without have kids around.

 

We then headed home to get ready for a get together Alex had planned. He was having friends over from his work and I had invited Jodi and her family over as well. He had spent the past few nights getting the food ready for it. Such a good host.

 

Alex got home early from work and got the grill started. Us girls helped out as much as we could but Alex pretty much had everything under control :)

 

Even Papa came over to visit after he had gone to a different party first.

We got a bunch of the toys out for the kids that had come. We looked so fancy with a bus in the front yard...

The big man in charge of the grill.

This is serious stuff.

Callie and Emily became best friends :)

That's one thing about Em, she attracts lovers from everywhere :)

One of Alex's masterpieces...

Jodi loved it.

Clearly.

We. Are. Cool.

We all stayed inside with the babes while mostly everyone else was outside. Regardless, it was a blast of a night.

 

Sawyer finally got close to someone besides me :)

And I am pretty sure I am going to frame this and give it to Derrick. This is the only time Sawyer has ever gone to him :)

Love these two ladies so much.

Such a fun weekend and fun night.

This was in between finding our favorite bootie shake songs and while we creeped on the internet.

On Sunday morning, we got up BRIGHT and early. We loaded up the Avengar and headed to the Windy City. We took a pit stop at Panera for bagels and kept on going. We went to the Tory Burch outlet first. Callie is so hilarious. She had two requirements on this trip....to see me and to go to the Tory Burch outlet in Chicago. Done and Done. So we did the outlets first. So many great deals. So many great stores. AND they were all inside.... nice and warm.

 

Then we headed to Uncle Julio's for lunch in the city on our way to Michigan Avenue. The food was delicious.

 

We then headed to Navy Pier to park.

Here was our view as we got out from the parking garage!

HELLO CHICAGO!

In the city....

 

 

We browsed lots of stores. We ended up at Water Tower Place where were did a bunch of browsing.

 

Legos. Duh.

 

I mean, that's cool. He's in the Windy City. See his scarf flying???

The million dollar store. :)

I feel like I could climb this....

We had dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummmm

No idea. I mean, why wouldn't I make that face?

After lots and lots of shopping and lots and lots of calories, we headed back to the car.

 

The girls had a very early flight out in the morning so they had booked a hotel to stay in that night near Ohare. I ended up bringing clothes and just sleeping at the hotel. We had lots of girl talk and Diane's fabulous sister was able to join us for a few hours of girl talk. We all slept like logs and were on the road to the airport by 5:45 in the morning.

 

It was such an awesome weekend. I loved every minute of having them here. When I lived in Charleston and didn't have family there, these girls were my family (still are.) They (along with some others) were the ones that were always there....whether to talk, go shopping, go out, lay around in jammies....whatever.

 

D and Callie, thank you so much for taking the time and money to come visit us. Illinois at the beginning of May is NOT exciting but seeing you WAS! Love you and I am so thankful for you.

We Love These Boys

Great, long lasting friendships that can withstand distance, time and life circumstances are very rare. Tracey and I met in college. We lived on the same floor our freshman year. We were both from small towns. She was pretty, nice, and funny. Fourteen years later, we are still friends. In fact, we are more like sisters than friends. We both have kids that are 18 months apart...her two boys are a year older than my kids... Mitchell a year older than Charlotte and Carter a year older than Sawyer. So this time when we are together we have a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year :)

 

We came straight from gymnastics class home and they got to our house right after we had arrived.

 

Charlotte said we NEEDED to go to the basement. (or "bayment" as she calls it)

This handsome guy. Always hanging out on the sidelines. He is not outgoing like his sister but he does love to watch.

How old does he look???

This picture is one of my favorites. He is so handsome. And it looks like he is posing for me.

They all play so well together.

Peek A boo

I made a cake for Charlotte and a cake for Mitchell. Their birthday parties had to be on the same day so we couldn't attend each other's parties. Therefor, we needed to celebrate again!

I didn't have a #4 candle so he got a one :) And he totally didn't care!

Carter helped him blow his candle out.

The big #3!!

She was so very serious about licking the icing off of the #3.

Present time!!!!

Thomas sunglasses!

 

A movie, Thomas swim gear, and Thomas sunglasses!

Bath stuff :)

A "pwincess" scooter!!!

We always try a group photo. It varies as to who wants to cooperate and who doesn't.

 

This guy.

I love him.

Our four beauties!

Time to wrestle and giggle and be obnoxious!

 

We love our time together. It always goes way too fast. We love playing together and laughing and being crazy. Thank you Tracey and boys for coming two hours one way to see us for a few hours. We love you to the moon!!

A Visit From Our Cousins

On Monday March 10, 2014, Melia, Melissa, Kyla, and Alana came up to visit us. I babysat Emily that day. As they were getting here, all of the kids were waking up from naps so everyone was in a great mood and ready to play! Mondays are Alex's early  night so he was home by 5. We were able to grill outside and Mary, Chad, Dad, and John came over.

 

Just hanging around!

He wants to be like Daddy. He doesn't say many words but he does say "beer". No worries....it was empty :)

Cousins who pee together, stay together!

How sweet are these three???

CHEESE!!

 

 It was a delicious meal. Mac n cheese, green beans, corn, steak, chicken.... DELISH.

Alex is always the last one eating....especially with a grilled out meal.

Delicious dessert!

Note Charlotte's hand on Alana. She is obsessed. She feels the need to touch her constantly.

On Tuesday, we all got up, got ready and headed to Peoria. We took the kids to the Caterpillar museum. We didn't know how kid friendly it would be but loaded up all four to try it.

It starts with a movie. Sawyer started BAWLING. He gets nervous when we go into new places. He thought we were at the doctor. Perfect. He screamed. And screamed. When he finally settled down, we went back into the movie. The movie theater was in the bed of their biggest truck. It was GINORMOUS!!!

Check out those wheels!!!

 

 

 

 

Sawyer was in heaven.

 

 

 

 

The movie theater was in the bed of the truck behind Sawyer.

 

 

 

They had "games" for you to play too.

 

 

 

Alex was MIA for a long time. I found him at the games :) Typical boy.

 

 

We are comedians on the side.

Alana was so good. All she did was sleep. Such a good girl!!!

After we went to the museum, we headed to lunch at a Mexican restaurant in East Peoria. It was chaotic but the kids were really good...Considering we had a 3, 2, 1, and 4 month old. We then headed home to hang out. We had mostacolli that night for dinner. We watched movies and hung out. Kyla ended up with allergy issues while at our house so they headed home to the doctor on Wednesday morning.

We had a blast. The kids loved playing. They had a blast just hanging out. We were so glad they took the time to come up and hang out with us for a few days. And luckily, the weather wasn't too bad or too cold.