Hanging with my guys....

Aidan decided tonight would be a great night to surprise Nate with a picnic dinner at the forest preserve and to fly a kite...so we did and had a great time!  I of course couldn't miss an opportunity with such a great natural backdrop (and lighting!)...so here are a few of my fav's: 

Lucas kept wanting me to take pics of him with his mad face...then he made daddy do it too!

Mandarin student...

Aidan has been taking mandarin classes at our house once a week for about six months now...he seems to really enjoy it.  His teacher emailed me these pictures she took of him last week - so cute!

He can count to 100, sing two songs and knows many "pinyins".  So proud of my guy!

Summer Project...before and after..

So I finally tackled a project I had been thinking about since we moved into this house....here are before and after pics...

So this was the dining room when we bought the place.  Phase one was replace all walls, re-do floors and get rid of lovely closet doors to the kitchen...

I wanted to add a board and batten treatment to our walls so I learned how to use a miter saw!  We also cut the legs on our bar height table and purchased new chairs.  Our dining room at this house is much smaller than at our last home, so by shortening the table the room actually feels bigger...

 End result: 

 I am pretty happy with the end result and proud of myself for accomplishing it!  Now that I know how to use the saw there is no stopping me!  :-)

Hanging with the Pillots....

We have been able to spend some time this summer with our friends, the Pillots, and it has been a blast!  We met halfway in Michigan at the dunes for a day and had so much fun!  They planned a trip to Chicago and stayed with us last weekend as well - we packed a lot in - we went to the park, the zoo and the aquarium!  

Here are some highlights...

 

By t

 

 

By these last two pictures everyone was pretty done - it was HOT at the zoo, but we still had a great time!  Can't wait to do it again soon!

Summer fun...

We sure have been keeping busy this summer!  Aidan is in three week long camps - soccer camp (just finished); Mad Scientist camp (going on this week); and next week he has LaCrosse camp...Lucas took his first official swimming lessons at the YMCA and loved it!  We have been back and forth to our cottage a few times, along with some day trips to Michigan Dunes and the madness continues...I think we have packed as much as we possible can into our super short summer!  

Below are some of the highlights so far: 

I am sure there will be many more to come!