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!

Summer Fun

It's summer, so, quite naturally, we HAD to get to the Glen Ellyn splash park. Today was our first chance to get there, and it didn't disappoint. It's absolutely perfect for Riley now (even though she does still freak out, at times, when she gets splashed in the face). She mostly stayed by the low "splashy-things," and that seemed to work out just fine.

Plus, we got to go with our buddies, Becky and Gracie. Riley helped show Gracie the ropes...



... but she also made sure she did some big-girl exploring, as well.



Gracie wasn't overly thrilled about the chilly water, so she and Becky hung out on the train for a while. Noelle was middling to not thrilled about the situation, but since I have to hold her, she didn't get into any shots. Promise she was there, though! :)

After playing in the water, it's important to don your shades... you know, to impress all the other kids out there.

I'll be honest, this is from a couple days ago, but I wanted Noelle to make an appearance, so I thought some "nakie" pics would be fitting. :)
What's next on our summer to-do list?... Maybe the REAL pool! :)

Fun with the Girls

Riley and I are hanging out in the basement because it's a COOKER out, and we needed a little break in the cool basement climate. I did just flip the air on, but until it really kicks in, we'll hang here.

But what I really want to write about is our super-fun day yesterday with the Wheaton girls. We headed over to Becky's around noon, and the fun started immediately.

Gracie practiced with her sippy cup, and Noelle tried to keep up with the "big girls."

Gracie showed that she is, indeed, one tough cookie as Riley loved on her.


Such a cutie!!

Noelle was a little tuckered out.

But when she woke up, she got some quality Swank (and Baby Shuffle!) time. :)

Riley and Gracie were ready to chow!

... and Riley was glad she did. She was rewarded with a strawberry pie!!

Riley and Noelle share a little sister time.

These are two GORGEOUS ladies, obviously.

This is one of my favorites. Noelle, sadly, was sleeping, but I got a cute shot of Riley, Gracie and new baby Zion! He's about 2-months-old, but he's bigger than Noelle!!

At home, I continued to chase the girls with the camera. :)

Fun-tastic Weekend

I'm actually groaning at the title of this post, but I'm not going to change it... I'm not! And I'll tell you why: because it WAS a SUPER fun-tastic weekend. Ha, I've said it twice now! Believe me, though; once you see these adorable pictures, all will be forgiven.

The weekend started on Friday with a trip to Grandma and Papa's house. It had been a little while, so Riley was very excited to see them, and of course Ben, Hannah and Sarah, too. Riley didn't know this when she woke up, but she was also going to get a brand new summer 'do. I knew of the upcoming event, though, so I snapped a few "before" shots of her scraggly hair...

No Noelles were injured in this photo shoot... maybe just a little freaked out. :)

At 11:30, we headed to Kidsnips, an example of brilliant business and cruelty to parents. The place is more of a toy store than a hair place. I mean, seriously, every square inch is packed with treasures. Fortunately, Riley was most interested in the car chairs.

Cousin Ben joined us, too, which was an adventure in itself. :)

And then, the haircut began. Not only did Riley get to sit in a cop car (which, as Chris-- Riley's stylist-- pointed out, matched Riley's skirt), but she got to choose a movie. For those of you who know Riley's movie preferences (Nana and Granddad), I'll give you one guess which movie she chose...

That's right... Wall-E!

I loved Chris. If we go back to Kidsnips, I'm asking for her again. :)

Another bonus (for Riley) of going to Kidsnips-- free sucker! :)

Then it was back to Grandma's to hang out with Riley's favorite cousin!

Friday also happened to be Michael's birthday (woohoo!), and due to poor planning (oops), he got to have pizza for dinner. It wasn't all that bad, though. He got Lou's, and Riley got to have her first Lou's experience, which, of course, we recorded in pictures...

I think she likes it. :)

Speaking of firsts, Noelle had a first of her own: first rice cereal!

You have to swish it around in your mouth to really get the full flavor.

Ever Mommy's helper, Riley stays close by.

On Saturday morning, Riley got to spend a little time on her favorite activities. Reading...

... and playing peek-a-boo...


...and just being all-around cute!

Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's again!

Choo-choos, an absolute favorite

We even got out a little in between the rain. Ben was demonstrating his baggo technique.

Riley mostly relied on distracting her competition with her cute antics.

Riley is one lucky girl to have such a great uncle!

And in case you've forgotten, we also have another child. :) Don't worry; even though this post is a little Riley-heavy, Noelle, despite being the second child, gets her share of picture time.

I love this cute little face!!

Just look at those cheeks!!

Not to be forgotten is Michael, who, after all, was the one we were celebrating! Jeff, Hannah and Ben were getting excited for the birthday cake. :)

... and here it comes!

Yeah, baby! 31!!

And if you're still with me, well done. To make it worth the wait, here's one of the absolute cutest pics of Noelle to date. Thanks for reading! :)