Visitors to Boston

This past weekend, my sister came to visit us with her 2 girls, Reagan and Ruth. Poor, weary travelers, they got into Boston 4 hours late on Thursday after 11pm! But they were troopers and were ready for a trip to Crane Beach on Friday. It's about an hour's drive from our house, but a lovely spot. We thought it was going to be cool and cloudy and didn't even bring suits for the girls. When we got out of the van, I was a little chilly and was a bit bummed, but about 15 mins after we got there, the sun broke through the clouds and it was an absolutely perfect day at the beach. Sunny, but not too hot. The kids had so much fun playing and splashing in the water. They were quite sandy and soaked by the time we left!

On Saturday we went into Boston. Took the T just so Reagan could have a thrill. We toured the New England Aquarium, had lunch at Quincy Market, rode the water taxi over to the USS Constitution and walked over to the Bunker Hill Monument. Unfortunately it was closed, so we hiked back over to the the North End for some dinner and pastries. We were gone entire day 8am-6pm with 3 adults and 4 children, three of which were under 2! However, the Hall and Reifenberger children are troopers and all did great! We were all pretty pooped when we got home, but had a fantastic time. On Sunday we took it easy, went to church in the morning and Jaime and I did a little shopping in the afternoon. I dropped them off at the airport on my way to work on Monday morning. I was pretty sad to see them go. We had such a fun time! Enjoy some pics from the weekend.

Kids are silly.

My niece, Reagan, was here in Boston this past weekend and dressed up Tycho. We all were laughing at this one.

Anne is a good big sister and likes to give Owen things to play with. Here he is in the bouncy seat. You can hardly make out that there's a real kid in there!

Trip to Illinois: Mother's Day

We all headed back to Illinois for Mother's Day Weekend. Jeff just stayed for the weekend and I stayed for another week with the kids. We had such a great time with family. It was very relaxing, but the time just flew by!

My parents hosted an Open House for friends and family to come over and meet Owen. Jeff's parents also made the trip up to visit with us on Mother's Day.

These are my high school friends Kelly and Janet and my friend, Carrie, from church.

Grandpa's are fun!

We took the kids out on a walk almost every morning when I was home with my parents. They have this great tricycle that Anne enjoyed riding.

One night we drove into the Chicago suburbs to see my cousin, Sam, play baseball. He played a good game. Below is my Aunt Jane and cousin, Allison.

Ron meets Owen for the first time.

Dad with his cousin, Jeff.

My dad's sister, Mary.

Owen with his Great-Grandma Knox

More high school friends. My friend, Jenny, drove in from Chicago just to see us. She had never met Anne before. It had been too long and was so great to see her.

Here's Uncle David and his girlfriend, Amy. Looks like they acquired an extra niece and nephew.

Anne with her cousin's, minus Ruthie.

Anne seeing her 2nd cousin, Lyla again who is 3 months older than Anne. Lyla is going to be a big sister too in July!

Jeff's Birthday

We invited Matt and Darcy and the Welander's over to celebrate Jeff's birthday. Here's Owen with his cousin Ellie who is about 12 week older. Unfortunately, Owen looks kinda perturbed in this picture. I always say that Ellie makes Owen look like he's developmentally delayed because he's quite a bit bigger than her, but she's much more interactive and sitting up. He's catching up in those departments though.

And.......We're back!

Wondering where we were? Well, this mommy started back to work a few weeks ago and things have been pretty busy since then. I think we might be starting to catch up though! Our biggest news is that Owen started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago. Which makes for a very happy and much less foggy-headed mother. I'm sure my patients appreciate that!

I'm sitting here today as a new roof is being put on our house. What an exciting way to spend money! Not exactly, but we're glad to be getting it done. Thankfully, I have two sleeping kiddos who don't seem to mind the pounding. I didn't even try to take a nap myself. Was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen.

Now, to catch you up on some photos and what we've been up to. Here's a pick from datenight. Jeff and I had dinner at P.F. Changs and went to see Tornado Alley at the IMAX at the Museum of Science.