Abby's Fancy Nancy Party

Papa and Yoyo all "fancy"
The bopsy twins
Having an extraordinary time!
Pants and Sylvie
Look at those divas!
Abby had a Fancy Nancy Party for her 5th birthday party. Of course there was plenty of dress-up and fanciness going on! The girls had a blast celebrating with their older cousin.

Ballerina Bea

Beatrice loves all things pink, frilly and having to do with ballet. Quite often she will sport a ballet costume of some sorts and give performances to anyone who will watch.

Peach Pickin' and Skinny Dippin'

So after the round of Peach Pickin' (which took all of 5 minutes). The kids ventured to get a closer look at Hutchins Lake. What started out as "toes in the water" turned into full naked bodies swimming! The kids had a blast and it was just a hoot to see the clothes scattered along the dock and them up to their necks in the water!

Peach Pickin' and Skinny Dippin'

Isabel Robbins

We packed up the kids on Saturday and met the Robbins family at Crane's for some agri-tainment, peach picking! In addition to picking a pint of raspberries, we picked 18 lbs of the fuzzy sweet fruit. After the peaches ripen I plan to freeze them in smaller portion size bags for winter. How fun is that!?

a night in chicago

jason and meridith enjoying a splash of sunshine on the architectural boat ride
Frightening! A pooch purse- what a find at the MCA!! Ok, so it has been four years since we got away overnight just the two of us, no bambinos. Of course, being the socialite I am, we rounded up our dear friends, Jason and Mimi, to accompany us on a Chi-town adventure.
After shopping from Gold Coast to downtown, we settled in at Cafe Spiaggia for a meaningful Italian dinner. The next day we discovered the work of Jeff Koons at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), hit F.A.O Scharwtz for a gift for the girls and caught an architechtural boat tour of downtown Chicago. Of course, we had to hit the "Fox" (Fox & Obel) for another quick bite to eat on the way home.

The dino-dig

The girls were so pleased with their "dino-dig" tee-shirts from their friend, Toby Robbin's birthday party! Sylvie insisted on wearing hers to bed that night. What fun we had digging for dino fossils and eating dino cake to help celebrate Toby's big 4th birthday.

Maine Mermaids

Somewhere in Maine, some incredibly crazed person designed this tee-shirt. Perhaps they had seen a siting off of Bar Harbor? Mr. Jason and Mimi brought back this classic gem from their recent vacation to Camden, Maine, for Beatrice, who we all know is crazed about mermaids and obes (mermaid's shell covers) herself. The funny thing is Sylvie opened the gift first -and as you can see from her smile, she understands this shirt is a hot commodity and isn't going to let her sister have the pleasure of sporting it.
So, Sylvie tooled around all day just in her diaper and wearing three sizes too big peace, love, mermaids tee-shirt with no hair do. She looked like she just washed up on shore herself, but secretly I think it was the cutest thing I've ever seen...

Popsicles

There is something about watching a young kid enjoy a popsicle during summer -when it is melting as fast as they can lick and everything they touch is a sticky mess. Sylvie's expression in the first picture cracks me up, can we say "cold headache"???

Learn and Play

We drove cross city to Ransom St. Park for a summer "Learn 'n' Play". There we met up with the Bonnema triplets and Hackneys. It was a wonderful morning of being outdoors, playing on the playground, and having some organized activities. The girls LOVED holding onto the parachute and doing "popcorn" to the balls.

7th ining stretch

Summer Firm Party at Whitecaps Baseball Game. Daddy gives Sylvie tips on how to not let your coach storm the mound when you are the hot-headed pitcher!
Linda, the firm manager, provided some great crafts for the children!
Sylvie is all smiles after seeing "Frankie", the mascot pig dressed up in Whitecaps gear...scary.
Beatrice spent the 7th Ining amongst the picnic tables being Miss Creativity.Being the big baseball guru that I am, I can't even tell you who they played or who won, but the girls, Haans and I had a great time at the game.