July.... just flying by!

So July is when summer REALLY begins! We have had a great time so far this month -- lots of adventures and time with family and friends. Here are some picture highlights...

This one is technically from the end of June but was a very fun day nonetheless. I did the Dirty Girl Mud Run with my friends Christine and Colleen -- aka "The Lou Crew" named for Emmy Lou Colleen's daughter who has Rett Syndrome http://www.rettsyndrome.org  . I have had other friends do this race in the past and it looked like a lot of fun so we signed up and went for it. It is 5k but it more of an obstacle course (through mud of course) than an actual run. We were proud of ourselves though because we jogged the whole thing and made good time.  Check out some of our AFTER photos...

 

Yes.. you will notice that I am the muddiest one. I think it was the last obstacle that did me in. A giant water slide that dumps you in a pool of mud. Of course I screamed the entire way down and ended up with a MOUTH full of mud. Ha ha-- good times!

 

 So much RAIN this summer --- (good for the flowers but lots of indoor play dates have been necessary) Here is Isabel with her best buddies Jordan and Alanna. Princess tea party all morning "darlings!"

Good thing "Jor" has a little sister for Lucy to play with because as much as she tries-- she can't keep up with the big girls yet.

Ahhhh.. finally a sunny day. It was time for Bel's first lemonade stand! The neighbors were having a garage sale so we though we would try to piggyback off of their business.

 Business was SLOW at first but that might be because we started before 9 am (someone was awake and ready to go very early). Luckily for us we had some friends, neighbors and family members stop by. With some extra donations we were able to raise over $40 for Open Door Haiti- the organization my friend Julie and her husband Fan Fan work for. http://opendoorhaiti.com/

Ya Ya and Pa Pa

"Grandma Diane" and cousin Payton

 

Lucy woke up from her nap and was ready to assist.

Chuck E Cheese with the girlies. This place is as CRAZY as I remembered it being when I was a kid. Lu was terrified of Chuck E the Mouse... (he is a little creepy) and she said "bye bye" every time she saw him. Bel and Pay were in heaven.

Pool time-- the girls are getting much better about water. They love swimming in the big pool now and Isabel practices with her kick board and life vest.

You know what I LOVE about eating outdoors during the summer? You don't have to

clean up the mess. Thank you birdies and squirrels.

Happy Fourth! Off to the South Elgin parade and for once it was an AWESOME day. Clear skies and not too hot.

Look at my man. Isn't he cute?

These girls were ready for some CANDY

Parade time!

Lu didn't remember the parade last year since she slept in a stroller. She wasn't sure about the sirens at first (always suspicious) but then she got into it!

A hundred photos but none with them all looking. Cousin cuties :)

The family came back to our house that evening for a little fire and sleepover.

Payton and Isabel were beyond excited to be up sooo late -- in their PJs-- and playing outside.

Past ten o' clock and still awake--- watching some Little Einsteins and loving life!

 

Lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Leppin's house

Snuggles with Grandpa

 

.. and a visit and pedicure from Uncle Katie! Bel loves being girly girl with Katie.

 

It wouldn't be summer without a trip to Santa's Village with the girls.

Payton and Isabel loved ALL of the rides so much. Bel even got me to ride a (little) rollercoaster.

 

 

June... June... June...

June-- a teacher's FAVORITE month :) Ahhh... it feels so good to be on SUMMER BREAK!

I really did have a good school year this year--- even though I experienced a lot of drama and turmoil throughout the Spring months when my school district made sweeping changes to the middle school schedule and changed up my team and teaching assignment several times. However, when the dust finally settled, I ended up basically teaching the same thing as last year and with most of the same people. So that was good. Not so good--- the district cut literacy minutes in half and none of my letter writing, protesting, or attending Board of Ed meetings made a bit of difference. It was disheartening. But hey.... reading and writing are a bit overrated.. don't you think? ;)

We did have to make up a snow day this year but school was officially out on June 4th and this month has completely flown by. The last three weeks have been a blur of trying to catch up on life, visiting with friends I don't have time to see much during the school year, and basically just keeping the girls busy and entertained all day long. I always forget how TIRING it is to be a full time stay-at-home momma. Of course it is tiring to be a full-time working momma too-- just in a different way.
(So really it is just tiring being a momma - ha) Here are some pictures from this month-- enjoy!

 

Playing outside and walking to the park-- even though the weather this month has been disappointing. LOTS of stormy days and rain-- we are waiting for hot summer to truly begin

(Isn't Lucy AMAZING writing her name so well already? :)

 

 

Isabel is back in swim class--- after an almost three year hiatus. Now that she is old enough to get in by herself with the teacher-- her mom likes class much better. Isabel is getting braver and is putting her face in the water. Learning to swim is a priority this year. 

 

 



One day I took the girls to visit a real farm in the area and we had lunch on the property afterwards.

As you can see, Lucy LOVED the animals. She cried the entire time and waved "bye bye" to the chickens, geese, horses and cows.

 

 

It is always fun playing with cousin Payton at Ya Ya and Pa Pas house. Look at these girls. They look like little stair steps.

Rainy morning... let's paint!

 

Isn't this a sweet face?

Family Picnic at the library. Isabel is rocking out with her good buddy Jordan.

 

and speaking of dance.. this month we have been practicing and preparing for the big dance recital (or four + hour extravaganza as we refer to it)

This year they are performing a dance to "Sea Cruise" and Isabel was practicing for us before we took her to recital pictures.

 

It wouldn't be summer without visiting the Brookfield Zoo

(of course we look like we are dressed for October-- crazy Chicago weather)

 

I signed Lucy up for her first class this summer called "Baby and Me" tumbling. She is very wiggly and doesn't like to listen to the teachers. Instead she wants to socialize with the other kids and do "rolls".

 

Isabel went to Hot U Jr. for four days this summer with her cousin Marcus and her friend Alanna. Hot U is our church's version of Vacation Bible School and it is really an amazing week. This year camp was a "zoo" theme and they learned all about Daniel from the Bible. They got to do science projects, make crafts, jump in bounce houses, eat popcorn and snow cones etc. We are lucky to have such a great church close to our home that teaches our kids the gospel and makes it fun and exciting.

 

 

and finally.... a night out for just us TWO ....

 

 

These pictures were taken the night of Jason's annual gala for work. This is the biggest fundraising event of they year for J and I get to tag along each year and wear a nice dress. This year I rented my dress at the last minute because I wasn't happy with the one I had.... and I have to say that the website renttherunway.com was so awesome! I will definitely use it again. Great designer dresses and so simple to use. I only wish I had more reasons to rent cute dresses :)

 

So... as you can see we really have been busy this month. Bring on July! I am ready for it.

 

 

Everything Lucy

This post is to catch you up on what Lucy has been up to for the past 7 or 8 months-- ha! (poor second baby.) Other moms told me that it would be harder to keep up with all the photos, posts, recording milestones etc. the second time around-- but now I know that is true. So... rather than trying to remember every detail I thought I would share some pictures from the past few months and toss in the things I remember as we go.

Here is our sweet Lu around 11 months. What a funny little girl. Lucy has a different personality than Isabel at this age. She is cautious about things and sometimes very fearful and suspicious. She doesn't like new situations, strange sounds or even dogs. However, once she warms up to someone or something she goes for it FULL SPEED AHEAD. It was this way with her learning to crawl and even learning to walk which she finally did at 15 months after much worry from her parents. She does everything in her own time... and won't be pushed into it.

 

Lucy is not the most verbal baby --  yet she understands everything we say, nods her head appropriately to all of our questions, but only responds with a few words. Her favorites are "Momma, Dadda, Mine, Joo (juice) and Cookie" She is quite observant and watches things like a hawk.

 

She may not talk much but she is a big joker. She developed her sense of humor early and loves to get a laugh from others. She will play peek a boo, hide around a corner to scare you, tickle your toes when you are sitting on the floor, and crawl through your legs when you are standing in the kitchen making dinner.  She has an easy laugh and a beautiful sunny smile with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Lucy melts her mom and dad and brings us so much joy and happiness. She makes Isabel laugh constantly and the two of them get positively rowdy together in the backseat when I am driving them places.

 

Lucy at her 12 month photos. We celebrated her birthday with family party and cupcake theme. She enjoyed her birthday cake and ate lots of frosting.

 

 

Little Party Girl

 

 

Always in the 50th percentile for weight -- Lucy is average but we are used to much chunkier babies in our family so she seems like a little waif. Her height of course has steadily increased and she is in the 95th percentile now-- a tall girl with those Leppin genes for sure.

 

Look how long she looks here! I snapped a pic while she was napping. Lucy has been a great sleeper since about the 4th month. She usually still naps twice a day and sleeps from 7 to 7 or later each morning. Shhhhh......  I am almost afraid to say this too loudly. I don't want to jinx it

 

 

 

 

Our big girl loves to eat --but she is a picky eater. As long as you serve her some sort of carbs with cheese-- she is happy. However,  put a plate down with vegetables in front of her and she may dump it on the floor or sob uncontrollably (really). She has reached that opinionated toddler phase now. Gone is our low-key and mellow easy baby. That's okay though. It is fun to see her little personality developing and to see how she is different than her sister.

 

 See this is that gorgeous, gummy smile I was talking about that melts us. This girl has A LOT of teeth. They seem to come in groups-- and she doesn't get fussy about it.



 

During the school year, Lucy spent her weeks at Ya Ya and Pa Pa's house while Jason and I were at work. She loved crawling and eventually chasing after her sister and cousin Payton all day long-- desperately wanting to be able to do everything they were doing. Sometimes she is the "left out Lucy" because she just isn't quite old enough to keep up with them-- but she never stops trying.

Here is a sweet picture of the little "pirates" getting ready to go outside for a treasure hunt. Pa Pa found a treasure map that Captain Hook left behind and the girls searched high and low for their prizes.



Look-- old enough for pigtails now! Lucy has tons of hair and it is thick, curly and beautiful. It also sticks up like crazy bed head most days unless I tame it.

 

Lucy is not just walking but running now! She is a climber and can get up two flights of stairs at our house in the blink of an eye-- she just can't get down so we have to watch her.

Some other favorite things right now are having books read to her, animal sounds, Elmo (Mo Mo) Minnie Mouse, ice cream and mash packs, taking anything that belongs to her sister, dollies, and playing outside.

 

 

Isabel adores Lucy and I have to say she is a great big sister. Very protective, very patient, and like a "little mom" to her. She very rarely loses her patience with Lucy. Lucy is also fascinated by Bel and follows her everywhere -- but can play pretty rough and be a tough girl. She has scratched and bitten her big sis a few times and has recently discovered the "time out" spot in our family room for her aggressive behavior. Luckily, she has learned how to say "sorry" and gives Bel a "squeezer" when she wants to apologize.

 

Our little Lu -- what a sweetheart and getting so big.

 

Lucy Kathleen made our little family complete. We love her so much and can't imagine life before her. This little goof ball will keep us all on our toes and bring us happiness and joy. You have sass and spunk but you are a little lover too----  We love you LU LU!

 

 

 

We're Back!!

Okay.... so it has been 7 or 8 months since my last post. Yikes! Where have we been? Why haven't I written anything? Well.... nothing major happened-- just a series of unfortunate events. It all started with our old computer crashing for good-- and me losing lots and lots of photos- devastating. Then it was followed up by me running out of space/memory here on this blog site and not being able to figure out how to purchase more. Then I just felt like it had been too long since I had written anything and I didn't know how to start again. And let's be honest, life is busy and crazy with two kids and work and family activities etc. So I decided just to quit writing the blog.

Except about month ago I came across my old blog book from when Bel was first born (did you know you can turn these blogs into a nice hardcover book online?) and I decided I should get back into this. I know that I don't have much of an audience-- but that isn't why I write it. I write it because this is a way for me to have an archived record for our family. And for various other reasons I will attempt to make time for more blogging.

1. I never got around to finishing Isabel's baby book (or starting one for poor Lucy for that matter). So here you go girls. Here is a little taste of what your childhood was like.
2. I always have good intentions about starting a "journal" or writing letters to the girls but I just never seem to get around to it or I feel too much pressure to make them sound "just right" so I never do it.
3. We have some family and friends that are not local and (gasp) not on Facebook. So the blog is a good way to keep them updated. They like to check in from time to time I think.
4. It is cathartic. I always forget that I like to write and my family is one of my favorite things to write about. So that is why we are back! Stop back to see some new pictures and hear about what we have been up to.



Here are some pics from our family photo session with my high school friend, traveling missionary, and talented photographer buddy Julie Larame of JS Photos. She took so many cute ones even though are girls were NOT cooperative-- here are some of my favorites.

 

(That is Isabel's fave cheesy smile these days)

And this is why Julie is a great photographer. The girls have fun and sometimes Isabel forgets to make the cheesy smile.

Well... I blinked and Lucy grew up. Really-- what a beautiful little bug!

Julie brought this to our shoot-- the girls thought it was really neat and I love these with the stars and stripes

Officially a big girl

You might think she was smiling. Think again-- she was FUSSING and CRYING. This little one does not like to pose for photos

I love my family

Sisters and besties. I hope they stay that way. This picture of Lucy reminds me of Mandy for some reason.

 

Pretty

Could you just eat her up?

 

 



Us girls LOVE Jason

Ha ha Lucy-- when you thought we weren't looking Julie caught you smiling and having fun with your sis from 50 yards away!