Life's Little Blessings

Today Eva went to her first birthday party, for her friend Piper.  The little girl who's birthday party it was, was a classmate of Eva's and probablely her best friend.  There were two other children from their class that came and they all had so much fun.  Raquel (Piper's mom) had set up several different games for the children to do and they also go to pick out prizes if they won.  The first thing they did was open a pinata.  The children got to pull a sting to try to open the pinata instead of trying to swing a stink to open it. Then they played pin the horn on the unicorn, unicorn races and they had to try to pop a balloon.  Eva did win 2 of the unicorn races and picked a parrot and monkey hat.  She decided that she was going to give the parrot hat to Maggie.  The children also got to keep the unicorn's from the races. Then it was cake and icr cream and then present time.  Eva got Piper a fairy dress-up set and a princess wand....

Today I took Eva to the preschool storytime that our library offers for children 3-6 years of age.  I have never taken either of the girls to a storytime but have always wanted to and now that they are showing more of an interest in reading, I thought it was a great idea.  I am so glad that I did take her.  She had so much fun.  They read 3 books about the ocean, ocean animals and the beach.  They also played with puppets and sang songs.  I am so looking forward to doing this every week with Eva.  The library also does a Toddler storytime for children that are 2-3 years of age on Tuesdays, which I will take both Eva and Maggie, and they do a Family Storytime for all ages on Wednesday nights.  So if the girls grandma wants to come with she can or if I know ahead of time that we won't make either the toddler or the preschool storytime we can go to the family one istead.  This is already the BEST summer ever!

Jim and Maggie  Jim with Eva Father's Day 2010 This year for Father's Day, Jim wanted to go to Wisconsin Dells.  We all got up between 5:30 - 6:00 in the morning got dressed quickly and then drove the 2 1/2-3 hr drive to the Dells.  The girls were so wonderful on the car drive there.  Maggie stayed awake the entire drive and Eva and I both took naps on the way up. When we got there, both the girls were so excited and couldn't wait to start having fun.  Once we got our tickets and locked up our valuables in a locker we started to have fun.  The first ride that Eva wanted to go on was called the Stingray and it was a complete straight drop down and then you would slide up on the other side and keep going back and forth until you slow down.  You are on a double inner tube.  Eva was tall enough to go the ride but kept falling through the inner tube and for safety both Jim and the Lifeguard didn't want to risk it.  So then Eva and Jim went...

We had so much fun today as a family.  Jim and I took the girls out a late breakfast to IHOP .  Eva calls IHOP , hoppity hop.  We had a great time eating out as a family and the girls were well behaved to.  Then we went and made a payment on the girls bunk beds.  When we got home the girls rested for a little bit then I tool them to a park called Abbeywood , which located right next to Benedicint University.  The girls had such a great time.  There was a bunch of other kids there that were fishing in the pond that is next to the park, and they gave Eva a turn fishing.  She caught her very first fish on the her first time fishing.  I am upset with myself that I didn't get pictures.  I will be buying both the girls own fishing poles and we will have plenty more opportunities to go fishing. Eva was also very determined to do the monkey bars at the park. She was able to get to the first and hang there buy herself. I was very im...

Today Eva had her first ever sleepover.  Her good friend Bella came over and stayed the night.  Both girls were sooooo excited about it.  They enjoyed watching the Disney movie Bolt and having ice cream at 9:30 at night.  Eva fell alseep pretty early and Bella was up untill 12 midnight.  In the morning I made the girls pancakes and they both devoured them.  When Bella's mom came to get her we all went to the Farmer's Market.  I got 4 ears of cornn, about a pound of green beand and a head of romaine lettuce for 10 bucks.  The fruit they had was very good looking but expensive.  When we were there we got rained on, I mean poured on.  So then we wnt to Dunkin Doughnuts and chocolate doughnuts. Eva will get to sleepover at Bella's soon, and she is very excited about that and is looking forward to it.

So today I signed up both girls for the Summer Reading Program through the Lisle Library.  I thought this was something that could help them both have a love of reading that their grandma Kathy, their daddy and I all do.  They have a log chart that we write down the books that we read to them and after the first 10 books they get a prize and then after each additional 5 books they recieve another prize.  The summer reading program goes until the end of July, with a Beach Party and then they will pick grand prize winners for those who read the most books.  The final prizes are pretty cool. The Library also has a Summer Reading Program for adults that I signed up for.  I have to read atleast 3 books and complete a review on each book.  After the first 3 books, I get a prize.  The Summer Read prize will be awarded to the first 250 individuals to complete 3 reviews. But for each book that is logged, I will receive an entry for the raffle drawings at the ...

It was very nice to be able to take the girls out to the small local zoo by us.  We are so looking forward to take the girls to both Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo, this summer as well.  We found some more reptiles that Eva and I didn't see when we were there for her school field trip.  Maggie was the cutest ever because she is now more aware of different types of animals and their sounds, so when she saw an animal that she knew and the sound it makes she would say it at the animal to try to get it to say it back.  When she saw the cows and the horses, she was really excited.  We saw a few more white tailed deer this time, and one was really close to the fence and it was sticking out its tongue.  I tried to get a picture of it, but it moved away very quickly.  Eva thought the reptiles that they had were interesting, Maggie on the other hand said "ucky" at them.  It was such a wonderful time and I absoluately love our Family Day. Eva and Ma...

Today we went to the park again.  We pretty much always go to the park after dinner to release some energy and that way I can socialize with my few friends that I have made in our complex.  We went to this other park that I really like that is walking distance from the house, it is apart of the Lisle Park District and Eva calls it the "big" park.  I like it more because there is more things that Maggie can do since she is smaller, but the only bad thing is there are no swings or baby swings.  They just started putting in those things that you can put a child in and that child can rock back and forth in.  Now they have a small one and a bigger one.  Both the girls love them, Eva just goes to town on the bigger one. Maggie tried to climb a chain ladder today, she was able climb almost to the top of it but then got scared. I know that she will be able to do it before long.  I love just watching them try to figure something out and seei...

So today I was able to take  the girls and their good friend Bella to the pool this afternoon.  They all loved it.  Eva has always loved the water since she was born, but Maggie on the other hand hated the water until she turned one.  So last summer Maggie would go into the pool but won't stay it too long.  SO far this summer is totally a different story.  She threw a temper tanturm on the side of the pool because I took her out the pool because she was shivering and her teeth were chattering.  I tried so hard not to laugh at her because it was a little more than a year ago where she was still screaming bloody murder when she was in the water and now she screaming because she had to get out of the water.  It is amazing how fast time goes bye and children just grow way to fast.  Eva did also have a little meltdown when it was time to go, but I told her that if she continued she wasn't going swimming for the rest of the week.  She pretty s...