Have you missed me? :)

I'm baaack!!!! :) 

I absolutely love doing this blog.  I do, however, struggle to keep it up...especially during the school year!!  When I (actually get to)  sit down anytime from September to May, blogging is the last thing on my "to-do" list.  I know I have some faithful followers who have missed keeping up on my family.  So...this post is for you Uncle Rod! ;)  

Thanks for encouraging me to start blogging again!!  

Don't delete me from your favorites, yet!! :) 

This is a glimpse of  the last 6 months!!  I hope to keep you better updated throughout the Summer! :)

Emma and Madison both played basketball over the Winter. 

Emma played on a Portage Bantam Team.  She had two amazing coaches and learned a TON!!

Phil was "all-time" score keeper!!

Maddie and her friend Mia played YMCA Ball.  We weren't overly impressed (I'm being nice here...) with her experience, but she had fun!!  

The girls also played 3 sessions of indoor soccer this Winter.  I don't have any pictures of this :(
There are nets everywhere, and I wasn't able to get any great shots.  They LOVED it, and Phil enjoyed being their assistant coach.  The plan was to only play on session....but the girls have a way of talking their dad into things, especially soccer!

We enjoyed some sledding and playing with cousins:

Right before Christmas our sweet cat Max died.  He is still greatly missed, especially by Maddie.  She and Max were buddies from Day 1!  He was always there to comfort her when she was sad, in trouble, sick, or just tired!  In this picture she had an extremely high fever, and horrible cough.  I kept her out in the living room to sleep.  Max laid on top of her, like this, all night....and she let him!! They were quite the pair.  It was NOT fun watching Maddie loose her 1st pet!!

But....we didn't wait long before we welcomed a new kitty.  She came with the name Jewel.  

We call her all sorts of names...Ruby (from the show Max & Ruby), Pige (because she sounds like a pigeon) and Jewdel (that's what my nephew Cohen calls her :)

She is well loved and very sweet!

She's basically the girl version of Max!

The girls love school.  Heritage offers wonderful experiences where they can really step out of their comfort zone and excel in areas they didn't think they were good at!

Both of the girls qualified for Speech Meet this year.  Emma received a perfect score for "The Fox and the Crow" and Madison received Superior for her poem.

Here are some of the girls with their blue ribbons and their friend Dean with his red one! :)

Emma also participated in Math Olympics (obviously she didn't get her smarts from me ;).  She won 2nd place in the whole 3rd grade division.

These are all the kiddos that went from HCA

In April we traveled to Orlando with my family.  We were all excited to do Disney this trip!!

We have never been to the Animal Kingdom.  I'm so glad we decided to check it out this time around!  Everyone loved it!!

 Cohen and Scooby are buddies

(that's what he calls Phil...adorable!!!)

Magic Kingdom: 

Even Snow White couldn't resist this face!! :)

We had Breakfast inside the Castle with all the Princesses.  Thanks to Nicole for spending time on the phone months before our vacation making reservations!!  We couldn't have done it without you!

I love this pic of my mom and dad on the Buzz Lightyear ride!

I think we left around 1:00 in the morning!!! 

 We packed a lot of fun into one day!

We did some chilling by the pool...

Maddie paid for her own hair braid...she JUST took it out!!! ;)

Some of us had SO much fun on vacation...

we feel asleep in our peanut butter! :)

On the way home we stopped in Nashville for a few days.
We went to the Pancake Pantry (a Nashville must ) for breakfast!  It did not disappoint!!

At the top of our list was a stop at the Antique Archaeology (American Pickers) Nashville Shop.

We had all seen the episode when Frank wears the Pig head...so this was fun to see at the shop! 

Mike and Frank had been at the shop filming 3 days before we were there...just missed them!! 

April 14th was Madisons Birthday!!  She turned 8 this year...AHHH!!!  I can't believe how fast time goes by when you're an adult!!!

This year she had her first "friends" party!  She invited all the girls from her class.  We did a spa night, and had a fun photo booth!  I think everyone had a great time! 

Maddie and her friend Elise

Spring AYSO started up in May.  The girls were so excited to get outside and play!

Maddie was able to play the Spring season on Emma's team and her team.  She enjoyed the extra practice and time on the field.

So after Friday night games, we did it all over again Saturday afternoons!

And of course...we loved every minute of it!! :)

GOAL!!

Go Purple Rockstars!!

Our little Rockstar!!

Coach Jim...Coach Dad was off on a fishing trip! :)

The girls also finished off their year of piano lessons with their annual recital.

We love Mrs. Mann :)

Both of the girlies did great! 

I had to say goodbye to these cutie-pa-tooties!!  

I loved every minute with this group of Kindergartners.   

I can't believe they're ready for 1st grade!!

Schools out!!!

Emma and her BFF Piper

The 3rd grade gang...

The 3 Musketeers

We are so thankful for the teachers at HCA

Spring is here!!  I love Peonies.

Yum Yum!!!
Yes...we did drive down to Indiana for Chic-Fil-A
:)

Summer is here!!!
We kicked off the summer with a trip to Milwaukee with the cousins!
First stop...LegoLand in Schaumburg

We also made a stop at the Cheesecake Factory, and took a Jelly Belly Tour!!

We were also able to catch one of Caleb's baseball games!!
He found out that he made the All-Star Team right before we arrived!!
Congratulations  Caleb!
 I promise I won't bring Uncle Phil to your All Star games...He's loud & distracting! ;)

I hope your summer is off to a great start!!

I look forward to keeping up with the blog...so keep checking it out! :)