Andrew's last day of preschool!

Thursday was Andrew's last day of preschool. It is always so sad to see each school year come to an end because I know they are one year older......can't we just keep them little forever!
Here is a few pictures of him on his last day of 3 year old preschool.







This is Andrew with Andrew Henke and Grant, his two best buds from school!

Andrew with two of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Zerbolio and Mrs. Weber. Adriana also had them as teachers and I'm hoping they will both still be there for Joey when he comes to preschool.

So ends another year with more tears to add........at least for the sappy ole' momma!

Adriana's team photo!

Last night was Adriana's coach pitch softball team photo. She did really great in her photo and all the kids did great in the team photo! I can't wait to get the pictures back!

Strawberry picking!

Yesterday we took advantage of our first day of summer break and headed out to Lakeview Farms and went strawberry picking. We love picking fresh fruit and take advantage of each fruit season and head out to go picking.
Here is a few pictures of the picking....




We also sampled many of the juicy strawberry's, you know to make sure they were good.....boy were they!


So this is what we picked today. We will be heading out again for raspberry picking and possibly a little more strawberry picking, who knows!

Andrew's team photo!

Last night Andrew had his t-ball team photos. He did a great job for his individual photo and here is a picture of the team photo. I can't wait to see them when they are done!

Baby Jessica!

Here is the stats for baby Jessica!
Jessica Renee Howell
19" 8lbs 5oz.
born 8:03 pm on 05/25/10
And of course an update photo of the little princess!

Adriana's kindergarten graduation!

Tuesday morning was Adriana's kindergarten graduation or congratulations as Adriana calls it. I can't believe she is already done with kindergarten, it seems like it was just yesterday I was crying as I was dropping her off at this huge school and now I'm sitting at her graduation crying! Time needs to slow down a bit!
The ceremony was very cute!
Here is Adriana walking down to the stage.

The kids sang several songs they have learned over the year for us.

One of the songs even called for some sunglasses.......silly kindergarteners!

Here is the entire Borromeo kindergarten class of 2010!

After they performed each of the kindergarteners were called down and given their "diploma" along with a scrapbook that was made for each kindergartener filled with pictures of all the exciting things they did through the year.
Adriana getting her diploma from her teacher Mrs. Mahack!

Adriana shaking Sister Maggie's hand. Sister Maggie was also one of Chris' teachers when he went to school there.

Adriana and her BFF Janet!

Adriana and the most wonderful kindergarten teacher ever, Mrs. Mahack! We love her sooooo much!

Adriana with her buddies, Kaitlyn and Emily!

Adriana with Andrew who was so proud of his big sister!

Adriana with Maw Maw!

Adriana with MeMaw and PePaw!

Yes, I did cry......but only a little! It really is so hard to watch your kids grow up and become independent! I am going to write a post all about what "I've" learned in kindergarten this year, but it will have to be another day as my emotions have handled all they can today.
Congratulations little patootie! We are so proud of you baby girl!!!!!

Baby Jessica is here!

My newest little niece was born tonight!
Jessica Renee Howell
8.5 lbs
Will fill in more later. Here is her newborn picture I was just sent.
Congratulions Jenny and Kevin! She is beautiful and I'm so proud of you two!

Outside fun!

This is what fun a hot day and a sprinkler can bring to the lives of three little ones!

Gymnastics performance!

Last night the kids had their gymnastics performance for the end of the year. It is kind of like a recital for dancers, but not expensive at all as we don't have to buy anything but their t-shirt.
It was really cute. The kids did a little performance at the beginning which unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures of because we couldn't see well where we were sitting. After that we got up and moved and were able to get some better photos of the kids.
After their performance together, the kids broke up into their groups and showed off all their skills they have learned, although only being in gymnastics for a couple of months the kids didn't have too many skills they have learned.
Here is both of the kids on the balance beam. I was lucky and got them on there together.

Adriana doing her floor routine. She was doing her backwards roll here.

Andrew doing his floor routine. Also getting ready for his backwards roll here.

Adriana waving to the audience before her bar routine.

Adriana's bar routine.


Andrew was a bit more shy than his outgoing sister and didn't want to wave at the start of it. But here he is doing his bar routine.

At the end of their performance each of the kids were giving a medal. Here is the kids checking out their new medals.

Adriana also graduated from the tumble bee's and is moving on to progressive which they start when they go to first grade. So Adriana got a balloon and a certificate for her graduation.

They also had flowers you could buy for each performer so we had to buy each of the kids some flowers. Here is the two big gymnasts full of pride!

Way to go Adriana and Andrew! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you two!!!!

Chicago!

This past weekend my wonderful mom treated us to a weekend in Chicago. We left Friday afternoon as soon as Adriana got out of school and drove up to Joliet, IL where we spent the night. The next morning we got up early and made our way into Chicago to our hotel, Omni Hotel, which was on Michigan Ave. The hotel was very welcoming to us and gave each of the kids a souvenir bag filled with lots of goodies. My mom also booked the American Girl package at the hotel which gave us valet parking and beds for the dolls in the hotel room.
Here is the view we had of Chicago from our room. Way in the back is the lake.

After checking in, which we were so happy they let us do early, we headed out. Our first stop was to the Lego store for the boys. The boys were very overwhelmed with all the Lego's in the store. You could buy packages of them or each individual piece. Andrew was having a hard time choosing so we got out of there fairly cheap and told him we would go back on Sunday when he would have more time to look.
Here are some pictures from the Lego store.



While I was looking at the Lego store with the boys, my mom took Adriana to the Hello Kitty store. Look Hello Kitty was even there!

Our next stop was the Sears/Willis Tower. I was super excited about going to the Tower but was bummed that I left my phone in the taxi :( You don't realize how much you need the darn thing until you loose it.
But anyway, after a short wait in line and a short elevator ride we were up at the top. The kids were loving it, although mommy wasn't. I don't like heights especially way up here!
Here is a picture of MawMaw and the kids out on the skydeck.

A view from the top.

More pictures of the kids out on the skydeck.



Next was the American Girl store, which Adriana was patiently waiting for all day.
Here she is in front of the store.

My mom bought her the Spend a Day at the Store package which included all kinds of fun things. Along with a $130 gift card, she got to take one of her older dolls to the hair salon.

She also got a photo session at the photo studio and it included an American Girl magazine that Adriana was on the cover of. She was so excited about this and had to show everyone! We also got souvenir t shirts for her and her doll and lunch. You will see the lunch pictures later since we didn't eat there until Sunday.

By this time we were all starving so we made our way to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. I have been to several of things in other cities and just love eating there. I'm so hoping that one day we will get one in St. Louis.

Maw Maw and Andrew.

Mommy and Joey....finally someone took the camera away from me and proved that I too was on the trip!

We get this everytime we go to the Rainforest Cafe. It is the Volcano! This thing is huge and we have never once been able to finish the whole thing, including this one. Some day we will finish the volcano!

Joey kissing on his "bear bear".

Joey sitting on the bench with bear bear. This picture cracks me up because it looks like he is looking at the Gorilla saying "Where did you come from?"

Our last stop of the day was to the Navy Pier.

And of course to Build a Bear. I promised the kids we would stop there since they still had their gift cards from Aunt Kimmie plus some other coupons we have saved.
Here is Andrew giving his heart a little love before it goes into his dinosaur.

Adriana dressing her I Carly bear which she name I Carly.....very original!

Joey playing dress up with a hat while trying to find something for his doggy to wear.

We finally made our way back to the hotel room and got to get some time in at the pool before everyone crashed.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, which served all organic food. It was the best breakfast buffet I've had!
After bringing our luggage down to storage and checking out of the hotel, my mom headed with the boys back to the Lego store while Adriana and I headed for lunch at the American Girl store.

At lunch we got our own little table complete with an extra seat for Adriana's American Girl doll. We started off with cinnamon rolls, then got some fruit and veggies. Next was our entree which I got chicken and Adriana got Mac and Cheese (go figure). Last was dessert which included chocolate mouse in a flower pot, cookies shaped like butterflies, and iced angel food cake in the shape of a flower. The food was all sooooooo good!!!!
After lunch we met back up with my mom and the boys. Adriana had managed to talk my mom into another American Girl doll (which wasn't hard to do!). This time she picked out the doll of the year, Lanie. Here she is with her two new dolls. So yes, my child who had no dolls at Christmas now has SIX of them!!!!!! So much for me being able to make them special........sigh!

Adriana posing in front of the store.

These two are kind of out of order but I didn't feel like trying to mess with changing them around.
Here is Adriana sleeping at the hotel with her new doll.

And the nighttime view of the city from our hotel room, which I forgot to mention early was on the 22nd floor.

We really did have a very, very fun weekend. And as always the time goes by way toooooooo fast!