Sister Photo Shoot

This is one of the cutest series of pics I've gotten of the girls in a while. I couldn't choose which was the most adorable, so you're getting a bunch. :)

Chalk and a Good Friend

I missed these few photos yesterday, and that really is a doggone shame. The quality isn't the best, but the joy is abundantly clear. Riley truly does love Robbie. She talks about him every day, at least once. Can you blame her? Look how much fun he is!

our girls are cute

It's true. Here's the evidence...

I apologize for Riley's low-cut top. It will be remedied soon. :)

This last picture was taken at the glorious reunion of Riley and Robbie. Look closely at Noelle's lips, and you'll notice that she got in on a little of the chalk action, as well. Speaking of chalk action...

He's a ham, that one. :)

Let me interpret that adoring look in Riley's eyes: Robbie, I missed you so much. I love you.

Adulthood=No Fun

I've been perusing a new blog recommended by my friend, Swank. It's ridiculously hilarious, and it reminds me of my life, at times. This post felt pretty relevant today. I mean, seriously, being an adult isn't all it's cracked up to be. This morning, my adult husband had to spend a huge chunk of time pulling up our basement carpet and padding because the dumb city of Wheaton has allowed the storm drain in front of our house to fill up with who-knows-what? for years and every time we get a decent rain, Lake Green comes around. This past Saturday, it came roughly halfway up the yard. These are actually after it's gone down a little, too.


This doesn't bode well for us because, 1) there's no way to leave our driveway but through our neighbors' yards and, 2) when the ground becomes saturated, the water loves nothing more than to sneak its way through cracks in our foundation and into our carpeted basement.

So, as adults, we have to suck it up and dish out our adult money because the stupid city didn't send a truck over to clean the drain until this morning, while Mike was ripping up our carpet that, in case you have forgotten, got soaked because of negligent Wheaton. I'm not bitter, though. (And I'm not stupid, either. I realize that this may not have been the city's fault entirely, so maybe I am just bitter. Which one looks better on a resume?)

I'll be honest, Michael did most of the adult-type work-- moving all the furniture, including futons, computer and TV, ripping up the carpet, positioning fans to dry stuff out. I guess I was pretty inspired by it. Plus, my main outlets during nap time had been ripped away from me by our beloved city. I couldn't get to the computer, watch my DVR'd Food Network shows or, gasp, reach my sewing machine. I had to be productive somehow.

Thus, this morning, I made gluten-free, egg-free banana bread, got dinner in the crockpot, washed all the dishes, cleaned the counters, cleaned the fridge out, put away toys and entertained the girls till nap time. I felt pretty darn good about myself. And then, as I was lying in my bed, resting while the girls napped, I realized that, when they woke up, I had to be an adult all over again. It's like the opening chart in the aforementioned post: "I did three things yesterday! Now I'm supposed to keep doing things? It's like the things will never end!"

So when Noelle woke up, I quickly texted Becky to beg her to hang out with me, so I wouldn't have to do more things because here's the paradox of the situation. I get tired of doing things, but I'm also so goal-oriented that I HAVE to do something. I MUST BE PRODUCTIVE! Fellowship, in my book, counts as productivity. So, Becky, thank you for fellowshipping with us. I am more adult because of you.

Too Much to Say

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, and not blogging is just aggravating the problem. But the problem is not blogging, so what's a girl to do? So much time has elapsed and so much has been done since the last post! Argh! I guess this girl's just going to sit down and start to tell a story and see if she can sort that single story out from all the missed ones over the past few weeks.

We'll start... here.

My parents came for a visit, last week. Naturally, it was awesome, though it was also way too short. My dad only got to stay for two days, as he also was flying to Tennessee to visit my grandparents (perhaps more on that later? one never can tell).

Sidenote: Mike just looked up and said, "Oh, you're blogging?!" When he exhibits surprise at that, it's a problem.

Back to the story, though. Moom and Dad (aka Nana and Granddad) came in, and we had to take them to all the BEST places.


We started our time off doing one of the things that Riley and I love best-- strolling downtown Wheaton. Of course, we hit the popcorn shop, sat by the fountain, had a tea party at Stork's Cradle and even grabbed lunch at Cellar Bistro.

And we hit the pool. It was just our little, yellow pool, but it was a pool, nonetheless...

Nana obviously loves her grandgirls because, I gotta tell ya, it's WAY more fun to play in a kiddie pool when you're a kiddie.

... though it's, apparently, also fun if you're a doggie.

I don't know where they get those crazy expressions from...

We also dropped by Atten Park where Riley taught Nana and Granddad the art of lounging in the swings.

Plus, Atten has sand. Bonus.

I think you need a little backstory for this next pic. When we traveled to CA in March to visit my parents, the man sitting next to Mike on the plane let Riley watch Wall-E on his portable DVD player. It was love at first view. When Granddad heard of the occurrence, he ran out and bought Riley her very own copy of the flick. We were staying at a hotel in Indian Wells, and I believe that Wall-E probably cycled through about 814 times over the course of our week-long stay. Riley just can't get enough of that digger. So we came full-circle when she got to sit down with Granddad and show off how much of the film she has memorized (a lot).

No stint with Granddad would be complete without a trip to the bookstore.

And Riley never passes up the opportunity to introduce someone to the splash park.

Overall, fun was had by all. Now we're counting down the days till they come back in September!