Monday, July 31, 2017

Brooke Surgery

Brooke is a regular at the Lurie Children's ENT. When Brooke was a baby she got chronic ear infections so that led us down the path of getting tubes when she was 11 months and finding out she has some hearing loss in her right ear. Well when we were visiting the ENT in March for her annual ear check we mentioned to the ENT that Brooke snores, has trouble falling asleep, talks in her sleep a bit and seems tired only a few hours after waking up. The ENT checked her out and recommended an X-Ray to see her adenoids. After the X-Ray she determined that Brooke did have really enlarged adenoids and would be a candidate to have them shaved down (they don't remove adenoids anymore). Louis and I thought about it and waited a bit to see if this was something she would maybe grow out of. After sleeping in a bed with her for 3 nights in June on vacation and hearing how restless her sleep was we decided to pull the trigger. We didn't really tell Brooke much about what was going to happen other than the doctors were going to put her to sleep and look up inside her mouth and help her breathe better. She did amazingly well and much better than expected. She was very brave and didnt have a single tear shed before the procedure (they had to put her under and put a breathing tube and IV in during the 20 min surgery). The only time she was crying and upset was when she woke up but after a few cuddles with me she was OK. Such a trooper!!! So far we think the procedure might be working, we haven't heard any snoring and she seems to be a bit more rested.

All smiles before hand


Friday, July 28, 2017

Bounce and Booze

Back in June while we were out celebrating Karyn's birthday we came up with the idea of having a Bounce and Booze party. Bounce house for the kids, Booze for the adults. Well, I decided to pull the trigger and make it happen. I rented a bounce house and lucked out with perfect weather despite the rainy July we have had.

Karyn, Christeen, Jill, Me


I ordered some photo props...big hit!

I seriously hit the friendship lotto with these two. It is amazing that our kids are besties and we truly love spending time together!!

See what I mean with the photo props, they make everything more fun. P.S. I should mention all the husbands were there too but we didn't take pictures with them because they weren't as fun as us!

Brooke was so excited to have her friends over. 
Brooke, Ruth, Piper, Evie

These two are too cool for school

I can't wait to make this an annual tradition!!

Boating on Lake Geneva

A few weeks ago while Louis was at his annual golf outing with James and Clint the kids and I went with my parents and brother to Lake Geneva and rented a boat on the lake. It was an absolute blast, probably my favorite thing so far this summer.



There are times when I don't really see how much my Mom and I look alike but when I look at this picture, there is no mistake we are related!! 

We rented a tube and took Blake out there for his first tubing experience. I loved tubing as a kid so I was hopeful he would enjoy it. He declared that he could sit on it all day-- SUCCESS!


One of the best things about boats, it can get my kids to fall asleep


Brookie sat on the tube when we were just floating around, she was a little too young/scared to ride on it when the boat was moving.







If I had a book that would be perfection and the definition of my favorite day


Sean brought this blow up flamingo (we named Pinky) and we had a ton of fun lounging on it. 





Proof that my dad was there!

Sean and I went tubing together and it was HILARIOUS. We were hitting big waves and at one point he got thrown off.... 


See what I mean about sleeping....




Now, if I can just manage to get my parents to pull the trigger and buy a boat ;) Thanks again Mom and Dad for an awesome day.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

4th of July Weekend


We had an action packed four days for the 4th of July weekend. We started off on Friday with getting the kids early from school and heading over to the Crystal Lake Lakeside Fest. Brooke was a BIG fan of the carousel.


I had been wanting to get the kids a playhouse forever and finally pulled the trigger. So far, they LOVE it. 

That night we headed to the Cary fireworks with some of our Goddard favorites!

Brooke and Piper

Ruth, Brooke and Piper

Me and Brooke.... and my brother was trying to give me bunny ears which is why it looks like I have something weird growing out of my head!


Blake photobomb

Blake and the girls....



Karyn, Me and Christeen

The kids!
 
The next day we woke up to drive up to Fontana Beach (Lake Geneva) to have a beach day!







Then we headed to Pier 290 and played some games and watched the boats

On Sunday we setup the pool and the kids swam and played all day. 
 Being lifeguards
 Out to dinner
 On my birthday Louis and I went to Coopers Hawk for dinner

Happy 4th of July