Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Elle's First Lost Tooth!

On June 28th, Elle FINALLY lost her first tooth.  It had been wiggly for weeks, but she was so scared for us to pull it or even touch it for that matter.  It was driving us crazy, literally almost hanging out of her mouth.  Then of course, we were at workout one morning and my friend Renee says, "Elle, I'm a pro at pulling out teeth, you want me to do it?"  And Elle let her!  I couldn't believe it!  At first I was a little sad Bud or I weren't the ones to pull it, but when we just recently went through the fight again to pull the second one, I remembered it wasn't for lack of trying.  Holy cow that girl is stubborn, but she looks really cute with gaps!




Friday, September 7, 2012

Cousins Camp!

 Bud's sister Tami is a saint. She'd been talking about hosting a "Cousins Camp" in Chicago for a couple of years and this summer, it came to pass. The twins had had quite the June with nonstop trips, but they were so excited for this one (probably because it was without mom and dad). I went with them to the airport and was pretty brave, but Jake was asking a lot of questions (a sign he's a little nervous) and then I noticed a little extra water in his eyes and that made the tears come to my eyes. I gave them big hugs and kisses and they could see a few tears, but I held it together pretty well until I got outside. Then I burst into tears. Not because I was worried about them, they couldn't have been in more capable hands, but I'd never been without them for a week before. And hate to say it, but at this stage, they're my "easy" kids. The thought of just me and the girls for a week scared me a little. : ) Tami was great at sending updates and having them call us everyday. I think that was a chore for them though. They just were having so much fun. I'm sure I'm going to leave something out, but here's a list of things they did during Cousins Camp.


Day 1: Swimming at Centennial Beach, Basketball at Frontier Park, Hot dogs & s'mores in the backyard fire pit, Sparklers & flashlight tag after dark

        


Day 2: Andrew's basketball game, Raging Waves Water Park, Fontano's Subs for the meatball challenge


Day 3: Arts & crafts in the morning, Field Museum, Sears Tower Skydeck, Giordano's Pizza, Millennium Park Fountains






Day 4: Bread Baking Lessons, Foosball Tournament, Ivory Soap Science Experiments, T-shirt Decorating, Kane County Cougars Game with Fireworks



Day 5: Church and Nauvoo Concert Day 6: Flight home. I was most nervous for this day. The boys were flying by themselves back to Las Vegas. I knew they'd do ok, but I was watching the clock like crazy from the moment Tami told me the flight was in the air, until the moment I saw my boys walk off the jetway. I was thrilled to see them, they had so much fun showing us all their souvenirs and telling us all about their trip. Then they asked if they could call Andrew and Jeremy because they missed them. : )


Jeremy was staying a bit longer since Tara was 9 months pregnant and the fewer kids around the better at that point! However, the second day there, Oliver Charles Fontano decided to join the world a little early and VERY quickly, practically being born in the car!

Oceanside

For YEARS we've been trying to go down to Oceanside with the Tingeys, but it's never worked out. This summer though, they happened to get both condos and it finally fell into place. The only bummer was, the Reids were still in town, so we missed a few days with them, but we thought the boys wouldn't mind too much since they were going back to Chicago with them the following Monday for Cousins Camp! We had so much fun in Oceanside. The weather was beautiful, even a little chilly (a welcome change) and the ocean was freezing, but luckily the Tingey's had a ton of wetsuits and we all got some boogie boarding time. Caroline loved digging in the sand and as long as you kept her digging or eating, she was pretty happy. Bud and Mark were super generous to watch all the kids for hours while Jen and I took the boogie boards out. We had such a blast. We ate great food and just had a wonderful time. Thanks Tingeys!
View from our condo
Bud's favorite donut place
The complex had the most gorgeous flowers and foliage everywhere!
We are in so much trouble with these two beauties!

Cousin Time!

The Morzelewski's came into town and spent a day with us in June. We had so much fun swimming, playing, and eating. Their kids are fantastic and everybody gets along so well. Thanks for coming to visit, Eric, Emilee and crew!
Then just a few days later, Tami came into town with Andrew and Addi while Taylor and Eric were at camps. We had a great time swimming, having a sleepover, and at Sky Zone.

Father's Day

I've been bitten by the Pinterest bug and had a fun time with gifts for Father's Day for Bud, my dad, and Will. Here's what we made for all of them:
We had dinner at my parents house on Fathers Day and I got this cute pic of my dad with the kids:
I'm so grateful for Bud! He's such an amazing man in all aspects. I couldn't have done better!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Mexico!

The kids missed the last day of school because we were headed down to Mexico! We decided to go on a big trip with the Lofgrans and Fullers in lieu of our regular girl's trip. We had a really hard time deciding if we should go to Mexico, given all the recent drug violence, but the Lofgrans go down a lot and have never had a problem and Rocky Point hasn't really been affected, so we decided to go for it. I'd been working hard to try and lose some weight for the trip (a whopping 8 pounds, :P), but had bought two new pricey, suck-you-in bathing suits in anticipation for our vacation. A little over an hour into our trip, I realized I had forgotten to pack them. I couldn't believe it. I went into a mini rage, calling myself an idiot, stupid, Bud asking then threatening to turn the car around, but I couldn't bear the idea of losing 2 more hours. I fumed for awhile and on our way into Phoenix, we bought a suit for the week. So that's how the vacation started. Only girls can understand how truly frustrating that is. Anyway, then we ended up staying up late, talking to Chad and Dana for awhile about the trip and realizing that everyone was really nervous about going to Mexico, but that no one had really talked to each other and the Lofgrans had placated all of us. : ). So I went to bed terrified (especially after a beheading comment by Chad) and hardly got any sleep. I woke up the next morning seriously ready to cancel the whole thing, but had prayed fervently, and felt like we would be ok (probably). Anyway, once we crossed the border, I was constantly looking around, muscles tensed, hands holding all five children at once, just in case. The "guard gate" into our development didn't give me much hope either. First, you could drive around it easily, second, I think the "guards" would've happily let you in for $20. Then we got to the house. I'm not kidding, just pulling in the driveway, some of my anxiety went away, then we walked in the front door, through the patio doors and saw this:
and to my right this:
and to my left, this:
Within seconds, ALL my worries disappeared. I immediately felt relaxed, happy, at home. It was a shocking flip flop of emotions. The house was amazing! Beautiful upgrades, lots of rooms with full bathrooms for each room, tons of space, a jacuzzi, palapa, fire pit, chairs, tables, and chaises on the patio, and even two kayaks! We did a little unpacking (we had to take ALL of our food), then the kids hit the beach. The Lofgrans had told us about a guy who would come to the house and cook unlimited street tacos for us (not for free, but TOTALLY worth it). That night was one of the best we'd ever had. Awesome atmosphere, good food, great friends, just one of those rare, perfect moments. Friday and Saturday were mostly filled with fun at the beach, trips into town to shop and eat, hair-braiding (for Elle and Mae), naps, long walks (and even a run). The tide would go so far out the kids favorite activity was looking for shells, animals, anything they could find. An unopened can of beer even washed up! The water was so warm and although it was pretty windy the first couple of days, everyone had such a blast! The kids loved the jacuzzi more than anything. It was nasty looking by the end of our stay, only Adam was brave enough to use it out of the adults.
Sunday we were in for a real treat. We were going to church in Mexico! I couldn't wait for the kids to see a different culture, hear a different language, meet the natives. We showed up and half the congregation was American! The branch presidency was made up of two Americans and a Mexican. When he started sacrament meeting, he spoke in English!! I was shocked. Luckily, it quickly transitioned to Spanish, but it still cracks me up how many Americans were there and how many people the Lofgrans and Fullers knew, since everyone there comes down from Phoenix. Small world I guess!
Right after church the Fullers had to head back to Phoenix (after the fear wore off for them too, they really wanted to stay longer, but Chad had to work). We were really sad to see them go. But we had a great time with the Lofgrans over the next couple days. The winds died down so we did more kayaking, enjoyed some amazing seafood and beautiful sunsets, ate LOTS of Thrifty ice cream (at twice the cost of the States) and released some lanterns for Jackson and Asher's birthday. That was the scariest part of the vacation. These lanterns are literally fueled by small kerosene pads and you think it's going to light the lantern on fire or burn your fingers off, but then the lantern fills and starts to float away. The problem was our patio roof was thatched and the ocean breeze blew the lanterns right into the house. There were a few terrifying seconds, but then the lanterns cleared the house and soared over the Mexican desert. It was kind of a nice send off once we realized the house wasn't going to burn down. We had an absolutely wonderful time and so did the Lofgrans, they ended buying a share in a similar property just down the road! The kids absolutely loved it and took home lots of souvenirs, including bracelets, sling shots, hats, sunglasses, and Mae's ukelele. She strummed and sang most of the 8 1/2 hours home. Our favorite was "Three Little Ducks". Can't wait to make it down to Mexico again sometime!

Hilarious picture we jokingly took, but we are NOT drinking alcohol.  That's how their lemonade and sprite came.
There was a big election going on and these signs were EVERYWHERE! Had to get a pic on our way out. Adios Kiko!