The family that passes out together...

....stays together, right? What, this isn't how you start out all of your family functions?

Oh yes, a family picnic means blowing up a giant inflatable pool/ball pit, when there is a perfectly fine hard plastic baby pool in the yard. We (ahem, ME, since the boys gave up fast) got it mostly blown up and called it a day. I spent a sad amount of time blowing it up when I should have been talking to family!

While I was otherwise occupied, good ol' cousin Jen took over my camera and grabbed some shots for me. 

{gah! cute}

{grandpa heard the ice cream truck and went running!}

{auntie cookie shared her creamsicle with finn, who would cringe with how cold it was but kept going back for more!}

{finn playing peek-a-boo over the side of the pool}

{silly eddie}

{these gals, I love em.}

We're gearing up for another big party this weekend, our first annual FAMILY FIELD DAY! I am super excited and will spend most of the week getting things ready....including another balloon arch! Eeep! I'll try to keep up here, but apologies if I don't :)

A day at Nanna's

Every Friday, we go to Nanna's. And 99% of the time, its the same routine. We start with a dip in the pool. Last week I brought my "big" camera to try and copy the insanely cute eddie-with-goggles picture from my iphone. 

{different version, still awesome}

{finn used to hang out in his little tube thing, but now has decided he hates that and would rather walk around and cause heart attacks. he walks in, climbs out, walks in, climbs out....over and over, no fear in the world}

{"I'm in my speedo tryin' to tan my cheeks"}

{eddie eventually gets cold (its super shady in the back in the mornings) and we head to the front yard to play with some toys without the worry of dog poop}

{finn steals everything that eddie loves and copies his brother most of the time}

{we're back in the pool after lunch...usually a quick swim before nap. I get a good goggle picture!! This one is going to be blown up on canvas...woot!}

{Nanna and Grandpa get home and find a game Finn loves...sitting on his raft, he can move around (even tried to surf, crazy man) and generally cause momma more heart attacks}

Last Friday was a little different.....we finally convinced Frankie to meet us a Sushi Station, so it was bath time for the boys....

{cutie boy!}

{and sushi for all!}

{yes, eddie loves sushi. you see here his edamame and bowl of squid (!!) salad. Blech}

Today is another extra special Nanna and Grandpa day since we're spending the night. I promised a late night swim with the rainbow pool lights and the light up palm tree on....yay!! Gotta love our little getaway!

Day trippin'

When good ol' cousin Jen asked for a playdate with me and the boys, you know I was more than happy to oblige! Jen had planned for us to go to a burger place she wanted to try (The Anthem) and to play in Millennium Park since neither of us have seen the bean.

Too bad for us the day had decided to work against us a bit....The Anthem didn't open until 4 (wtf?) so we decided to go to the Taste. No biggie, we thought!

{aw, I have a picture with just Eddie at the welcome sign when he was Finney's age!}

{hmm....maybe we should have paid more attention to the skies?}

{eddie was obviously thrilled about his bbq}

Two food stops later the lightening and thunder got really close and they started ushering people away from the taste. Cue Maggie freaking out....I hate storms, I have two kids in tow and we're outside while this doozy of a storm is coming down on us. SHIT. We ran to Potbelly's (thankfully) before the rain hit and got Eddie what he had been asking for all day....a pickle.

{the happiest he was yet! we put that thing on a slice of bread, called it a pickle sandwich and he damn near exploded with happiness}

{oh yes, this sweaty/dirty disaster of a babe had a taste too}

{just as Jen and I decided to head over to the art museum, the rain stopped and we went back to the taste}

{from there we went on to Millennium Park where Jen gave Eddie some pennies to make wishes. They included "i wish mommy was a pencil" and "i wish mommy was a cat" until Jen so nicely suggested that maybe he should wish bigger...like being a blackhawk's player when he grows up}

{he thought this was the silliest thing ever}

{my boys, they love her}

{smaller than I thought it would be, bigger than Jen thought it would be..lol}

{eddie was SO excited. I showed him pictures of it in the morning and all day it was all he wanted to see}

{finney was long passed out at this point}

{sillies}

{i wonder which one is the birth mom?}

{ha!}

{the boy loves checking himself out in mirrors, so of course he loved this}

{of course we hit up the fountains! Eddie loved them, as expected}

{they were huge!}

{finn finally woke up to see brother being goofy}

{Jen knelt down next to Finn for a picture and when he turned to look at her he gave her tons of hugs and kisses! it was adorable}

{that water was COLD}

{finn has no fear and wanted to go under the waterfall, but the water was strong and i was so scared he was going to get hurt! he, of course, didn't mind at all}

{while walking back to the bathrooms to change, i couldn't figure out why people were snickering and smiling at us....until I remembered that Eddie was rockin' the dog towel}

{wouldn't you smile at this cutie?}

Since it was already pretty late, we decided to head on over to The Anthem so Jen Jen could get her burger fix. After trying forever to find parking, walking forever in the rain with Finn, we arrived to a whiney Eddie and a hungry Jen. It was a long day :) 

{yogurt melts keep a crabby baby at bay}

{finally getting her juicy lucy on...molten lava cheese in the middle of a burger burns like hell when it drips on your finger, fyi}

I can't wait until they boys are old enough to say "oh no.....not another adventure with Jen and Mom! What's going to happen this time?!" At least we're giving them ammo to out story-tell grandpa, right?

Little fish

As usual, we're spending a lot of time in my parent's pool this summer and as a result, Eddie has stopped swimming with a bubble and is rocking it completely on his own! It sounds mean, and it may result in some therapy later, but I kind of forced it :) When he had his bubble on, he completely relied on it, he wouldn't even kick his feet, he just kind of floated. So, to get his butt moving I took it off in order to force him to actually swim. Yes, I know this is harsh, but after a billion years of teaching swim lessons, I like to pretend I know what I'm doing when it comes to kids and pools and let's face it, I know my kid and know what will work for him.

(disclaimer: don't try this at home, I am a trained professional!)

The problem we're running into now is that he gets tired but still wants to swim...let's just say he gets a little sink-y. And that, my friends, is why you always have adult supervision when kids and pools are involved.

.

I've thought of ways to write this post, and while most of it is composed in my head, I'm having trouble writing it. I don't know how to start....and I definitely can't do it without crying (I already am).

My beautiful cousin, Margie, passed away a couple weeks ago. 13 days after being diagnosed with cancer. Those days were whirlwind, one of pain that I don't ever want to experience again, for it is a horrible thing to know that everyone in your family is hurting the same way, most more, than you at the same time. 

Margie was a huge supporter of me and this blog. Emails from Margie were fairly frequent to me...they would come after posts with great pictures of Eddie (she loved photography) with her saying how beautiful they were, how handsome Eddie was. My favorite one came after our earthquake in 2010 making sure that we were ok...it still makes me laugh. A little over a year ago, when I was going through my preterm labor with Finn, the emails made me smile. They were short, a couple sentences at best (all usually were) making sure I was ok, telling me that she was thinking of me, praying for me. For us. I continued to think of one in those thirteen days, one sentence that she wrote that brought me comfort. 

"Here's a quote from an awesome, interesting and wonderfully written blog (that I read sometimes)     KEEP CALM and CARRY ON..."

Tears are streaming down my face, and I've had to stop more times than I'd like to admit to breathe deep. But I'm keeping calm (the best I can) and I am going to carry on, and above all, take pictures. Because that's what Margie would want. She said so herself. 

I'm going to miss the emails, the incredibly unique things that only Margie would find for the boys. I'm going to miss the random packages in the mail containing photoshopped pictures. I'm going to miss her so, so much. And I know I'm not the only one. 

B&W

I actually had time to edit today and for some reason seem to have a love for some good ol' black and white this morning.

Water Fights

Sunday I had a quick lunch thing to talk about flowers for a wedding (woot!) with Stef and Heather, and we ended up following them to the FRG water fights later in the afternoon. I knew Eddie would have a blast...not only would his favorite fireman Mike be there, but they would have all the firetrucks out AND he would get to see the hose in action. It's the preschool boy trifecta of awesome.

{heather and jim trying to convince eddie to put on the hat. he wouldn't the first time we tried...}

{but eventually gave in and oh! the cuteness!}

{frankie made a friend. poor frank, being used for his hot dog. this guy stalked frank the rest of the time, too, hoping for some more treats!}

{heather, stef, me and finney}

{how finn spent the afternoon....he was perfectly happy in there until I put him down to put up my hair (took him longer than I had guessed it would for him to start pulling it!). Once he was down, he wanted to get out and walk and was pretty whiney from there on out. Thankfully Nanna started loading him up on yogurt melts to keep him happy!}

{a quick splash in the hose}

{uncle mike's team was up to bat!}

{eddie thought this was the greatest thing ever. he would yell "goooo mike!!" and watch so intently the whole time}

{poor Uncle Mike. He lost. BUT.....eddie didn't know the difference and still thought he was awesome, lol}

{mrs. sobs! love her}

{my favorite picture of the day. in my defense, i didn't drink them both and even if i did, the donations were going to send kids to burn camp. SO THERE.}

We had such a blast. Eddie got home and the first thing he did was set up his own little version of the fights, with Jim and Mike guys and all! It was so cute. Next year we'll have to remember to wear our best cut off jean shorts and bikini tops though, right Steffie?