Spa night!

Lauren surprised her sisters with a Spa Night this week. 

How cute is all this? 

And how cute are they? 

This one was super excited. 

They let me in on the fun for a little bit. 

Face masks. 

Lauren applying her own mask. 

Mirrors are so 2010. 

She's truly the best. 

St. Patrick's Day

Cindy held her annual St. Patrick's Day party on Sunday. 

It did not disappoint. 

Her decorations and details are beyond compare. 

A true gift. 

How lucky we all are to have her!

My big contribution this year was my rainbow cake.

I called in reinforcements for the frosting. 

'Its not what you know, its who you know'

My life motto.

Perfection.

And now for the awesomeness that is Cindy. 

Rainbows everywhere! 

After lunch it was time for activities. 

Cindy does an amazing job of coming up with new activities each year. 

And they entertain the youngest through the oldest. 

No small feat. 

Painting 

Planting Shamrocks.

Making rainbow necklaces.

A rainbow science experiment.

And not pictured...a scavenger hunt. 

Then dessert. 

Love these colors! 

The lucky, lucky kids!

Thank you Grandma Cindy!

Stuck

This is really not funny. 

But it is so I have to document it. 

The kids have been able to play outside a lot with the great weather we've been having. 

One day Tess left Tori outside and after about 5 minutes she went to check on her and came running in for me. 

Tori had gotten into her old car seat in the garage and could not unbuckle. 

She hobbled her way over to the door and was crying and trying to bang on the door. 

 

Not funny. 

But funny. 

 

Torrance Reagan

Torrance received a letter in the mail a couple weeks ago inviting her to Kindergarten round-up. 

She was so excited and so scared. 

Here we are reading the letter together. 

As the day got closer she was telling us she didn't want to go. 

Tori is shy and a mama's girl. 

And hates anything different. 

The day before round-up I planned a mom and Tori day. 

We went to the Phelps Youth Pavilion. 

Tons of fun for us and after 1 school group left we had the place to ourselves. 

We did some crafts and just played.

Giant iPad. 

Could not be more fun. 

A little recreation of the movie Big. 

Giant Lite-Brite. 

Next we toured through some different country. 

She liked seeing how Isaiah may have eaten his meals while in India! 

Sitting on the floor. 

And she was really good at chop-sticks!

Then we moved on to the farm. 

And the old school house. 

After lunch she cashed out. 

We had the best day together. 

And she decided kindergarten might be ok. 

We picked up the kids after school and she was excited to tell them about her day. 

The day of round-up arrived. 

She wanted her hair curled and to wear this dress. 

She almost cried as I sent her in the door to her classroom but she ended up walking in all big and independent. 

I picked her up 2 hours later and she was as excited as she could be. 

She loved every second. 

Next fall is going to be terribly hard for me. 

But I feel better with how excited she is for it. 

Sullivan Joseph is 10!

Back in February Sullivan turned 10! 

And I'll say every year, I cannot believe it. 

I'll never believe how old my kids are getting. 

Sullivan is hard to describe in words. 

He is just Sullivan. 

He is competitive to a fault. Loyal and fun loving. 

He is kind and funny. 

He loves sports. Playing them, watching them, reading about them, talking about them. Anything sports!

He also loves to read and really loves to write. 

He is always debating. I think his dream of becoming a lawyer could really come true. 

He is the worlds best big brother. He is so good to his little sisters. I just can't say it enough. 

He is also so annoying to his big sisters! :)

His best friend is his dad and he loves to have me rub his back and tuck him in at night. 

We love Sullivan at 10!

The hardest part of big family is carving out one on one time with the kids. 

We decided with Lauren that at 10 years off the kids would get a night away with us. 

Sullivan lucked out big time and we took him to Chicago! 

Lauren and Avery were slightly jealous. 

We got into town in time for lunch on Saturday and sought out some BBQ. 

He killed his plate of ribs!

After checking into our hotel we tried to find a show to go see that night. 

But nothing was showing that was of interest or appropriate for Sullivan. 

Sully seemed fine with that. 

We walked down to Millennium Park so the boys could play football. 

Sullivan's one request. 

:)

Time at the Bean!

Aw, Chicago. We love you. 

After walking up and down Michigan Avenue we were more than hungry. 

Deep dish pizza was just what we needed. 

Bring our pizza! 

Worth the wait. 

After supper Sullivan wanted to play games in the hotel. 

Perfect. 

We played some wicked games of Yahtzee. 

Then the boys watched a 30 for 30 show and I fell asleep!

The next morning we decided to visit Shedd Aquarium. 

We walked. 

It was a long way but the weather was beautiful. 

Especially for Chicago in February. 

Sullivan has always liked the 'corn cob' buildings the best. 

Nothing beats the city skyline. 

The lake looked a little chilly! 

The aquarium was great. 

And the best part...since we weren't traveling with 5 kids...we could say yes to the extra items and see the shows etc. 

The 4D show about sea monsters was so fun. 

Our seats moved and we were sprayed with water. 

Sullivan is convinced we were almost eaten. 

This octopus put on quite a show of his own for us. 

We took a cab back to the hotel and I think Sullivan was pretty sure we were going to crash. 

We headed to our favorite spot for supper. 

We were so excited to introduce Sullivan to Paddy Holman and his 'Laddies'. 

Unfortunately Paddy was sick but the gang still came to put on a show. 

We played cards while we waited for the show. 

Sullivan is loving Pepper! 

Show time. 

We were all enjoying it. 

Sully was really into the traditional Irish fun! 

Some girls always dance the Riverdance. 

We were so happy that Keriann joined us. 

She flew back into town just in time to meet us. 

Happy 10th Birthday Sullivan!