Grandparent Camp 2022

All photos and captions are from Gramma Jean!

Down at City Park in the river. It was COLD!
Looking for petoskey stones.
Goggles helped find them!
Swimming at Higgins Lake North State Park.
First ones there and last ones to leave! Five hours.
Owen now knows how to ride and mow the lawn!
Painting rocks on a rainy day!
A little laundry to do on their last day.
Our pit stop at the Big Mac.
Now it’s Granny Lin’s turn!

2022 dual birthday pool party!

For as much as I take pictures of everything we do, I seemingly always let it slip on pool party day. At least I got one of both kids.

This one was from a friend.

And this was as we were packing up—Anna found a little grasshopper and put it on Katie.

The party was a big success again! All the kids love it! And it’s easy since we don’t have to clean the house.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Tom’s youth baseball coaching career is off to a great start—the Phillies are the Gurnee Youth Baseball Mustang Champions! It took two days and 9 innings but they did it!

What made the win even more exciting is that they beat the undefeated Cubs to win! (And the Cubs had actually slaughtered us in a previous game—something like 17-2.)

It was a nail biter for sure—they caught up and we were tied 12-12 which then pushed us into an extra inning! And after no scoring, another inning! And then in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, we scored—which meant the game was immediately over!

A special sidenote: Anna and family showed up again to cheer the team on!

Still waving hats from the baseline!

The Santa hats aren’t working this year.

I take these pics every year. This year they just aren’t working. The hat didn’t fit. Someone can’t find their hat. They have the wrong hat. They aren’t in the mood. They don’t look cute. The lighting is off. The pics don’t turn out. They have to have the tiny hands in them…

Sigh.

So this is what we have thus far.

Last day of school and eLearning (2nd and 5th).

Katie picked out this fancy dress to go to school supply pickup. Of course she hadn’t showered in three days.

It was a little bright on the porch.

She missed her last class Zoom meeting where they were going to share their goodbye posters so I posted it to the school’s page and sent it to her teacher.

School supply pickup was more emotional for me than I anticipated. I might have gotten a little teary-eyed as we drove away. I asked Katie if she was okay and told her I was sad so it was okay if she was. She said she was a little sad but she was okay. Leave it to Mom to be overly emotional.

Then we had to go through a huge garbage bag of Katie’s stuff…including…a lunch bag. Thankfully it was empty!! We were all thinking we’d have to just toss the whole thing. Phew! Oh, and we had an outfit change!

Then it was time to take Owen’s pictures—-and he hadn’t showered in awhile, either. But Tom had given him a buzz cut.

Not crying… Still too bright!

Normally last day of school pics are just me and the kids…

…but since Dad is working from home, he got in on the action. #gonnamissthisbench

The first day of 2nd and 5th!

Long story short, the school schedules all got mixed around this year. Owen used to have to get on the bus at 7:35am (which was perfect because he wakes up around six and he can get himself completely ready all by himself). And then when he was leaving the house at 7:30, I was waking Katie up if she wasn’t already up (which, more often than not, she was still sleeping) to get her on the bus at 8:20.

This year…Katie has to get on the bus at 7:25am…and Owen doesn’t need to get on the bus until 8:50!! Katie has a little bit harder time getting ready on her own (showering and washing her hair) so I have to get up with her—which means I actually have to set an alarm for the first time in two years. At 6am. YUCK.

I had no idea what to expect, but the morning went well. Katie was up by 6:15 and was ready in plenty of time to take first day of school pics. (I did find out after-the-fact that she skipped breakfast so that was a bit of a fail but other than that it went well.)

Usually I take sibling photos right before they get on the bus but Owen had to get dressed quick before she left because he had another hour and a half to wait.

On his way up to shower, he told Katie “If you have to leave before I get out, I love you!” (All together now…AWWWW!) He managed to shower and get dressed before she left for the bus, so he’s now in his first day outfit. Plus he wanted to go to the bus stop with her (and to see Enzo).

And then it was back to the house to waste an hour and a half before his bus.

And with neighbor and friend Nate at the bus stop:

And the official Facebook photo!

The last day of 1st and 4th!

This is what happens when you give your 10yo the phone to try and take a pic on their last day of school. 😂

It looks like all smiles and laughs but we parents all know the day is bittersweet as we’re reminded just how quickly time passes and how lightning fast they are growing up. Weren’t they just in diapers a few months ago? Weren’t they just getting on the bus for the first time? Before you know it they’ll be graduating and moving out and getting married. 😭

These are the feelings I’m going to try and remember this summer when they are making me crazy with 1000 snack requests and whines of “I’m bored.” And I’m going to try and take in each moment and relish the fact they’re still actually little kids. 🥰

First and last days of school. The district actually has three more days due to snow days but we had a family reunion vacation planned for months so today is it for them. We also had a Katie outfit change with lots of drama because she’s ALMOST SEVEN and everything is filled with drama. 😂🤦🏻‍♀️

Merry Christmas from the little beasts!

Yes, these masks might have freaked them out just a bit hiding in their big Santa bags. 😂

Tom and I were up before 7…but the kids weren’t—their phones were still outside their bedroom doors!! Well, if I was up they were going to be up [dammit!] so just as I was about to get Owen up he walked out, and then we had him wake Katie up!

Santa screwed up a little by using the same paper for our gifts, too, and not making sure ours all had name tags… The kids were too excited to see their paper on other gifts that weren’t in their Santa bags so ended up opening a few of ours. Oh well. Maybe next year Santa won’t start wrapping quite so late.

Both kids were excited to see a programmable robot that they’d previously asked for and forgot about… Plus Santa did bring some things they specifically asked for (ballet shoes and Pokémon cards) so they were happy. All gifts were open by 8am. 🙂

2018 Marine Corps Birthday Ball

After last year’s ball (that was 20 minutes away and we were home by 11) we decided to take the kids this year because it would be quick and easy. Ha. HAHA. Of course, best laid plans, right? This year the ball was being held AN HOUR AWAY in Milwaukee! But, we still decided to go through with it. Owen wasn’t thrilled with his new “dress clothes” (really just a nice black shirt and pants…and a bow tie that I bought on our cruise)—and I didn’t even make him wear dress shoes (he got a new pair of Vans!). Oh, he also had to wear a belt. THE HORROR, right? Katie was SUPER excited about the whole thing, but was really VERY excited about the new heels I bought for her, being able to wear a fancy dress, and wearing PANTY HOSE for the first time (I warned her that was not going to be the best part).

Prepping the playing field…

I have to do a before.

And not too terribly long later, the after. Yes, I wore the tiara!

She would have worn her dress and heels in the car on the way there if I’d let her.

I only had one pair of clip on earrings—thankfully they matched, but unfortunately they were too heavy and kept coming off her ears. (I didn’t even THINK about getting her clip-ons before packing for the trip!)

Owen was completely flummoxed at how to put on and fasten a belt. This was the first time he’s ever had to wear one (we borrowed it from a friend!).

Owen not able to get his new shoes tight enough. Poor kid. (That said, I did have to help Katie put the nylons on so she didn’t punch a finger through them in the first three seconds.)

Total cuties.

A quick snap before we got on the elevator. It looks much more striking in black and white so there you go. 🙂

Once we got to the lobby, we grabbed one of Tom’s co-workers to take a quick pic in front of the tree. As it turned out, I am SOOOO glad we did, because the official pics did not turn out well…and this might be one of the best family pics we’ve ever taken!

Open bar! So we got the kids some fancy virgin drinks. Yeah…neither one liked either one we tried. They liked the cherries and that was about it. So much for treating them to something special!

The kids were AMAZING during the ceremony (totally boring speeches to them, I’m sure). Afterwards, before dinner, we went out to use the restrooms and…RAN INTO OUR NEIGHBOR! Ha! She was there for a girls night with her college friends. I mean, what are the odds? Then we took a few pics. Because me.

So, the official pics. Ugh. I totally appreciate that one of the local Marines offered his time and equipment to take photos, but what’s the point when they’re not good? I’d rather pay for a good picture. Remember, the same thing happened last year (with a different photographer). Here’s an edited version (which is better but still not great).

Oh well, right? At least we got our Christmas tree pic.

THAT SAID, the kids were poops. They love dancing at home. They do it all the time. But here? When dancing is expected? Nope. Not happening. To his credit, Owen did eventually go over to a kid his age and they were doing some type of dance off (it was soooo cute and Tom thought he got a video but he didn’t).

We even asked them to dance a slow dance with each of us. Nope. There were lots of kids out dancing. NOPE. We finally told them they had to dance at least one song before we’d go back to the room. Katie seemed to be having a blast doing it so we thought she’d stay out for another song. Nope. Oh well. We likely won’t do this again, so at least we did it once. 🙂

First day of 4th and 1st grades!

I tried to get pics on the front porch but the lighting just wasn’t right (well, the lighting was good but it was too bright and they wanted to squint).

So we tried elsewhere, but it still wasn’t right…and Katie was cold.

First day of 4th grade. What?! So serious.

Okay, a tiny smile.

Owen and Xavier are the only two at their bus stop at 7:45. Yes, 7:45AM. Needless to say this is the ONLY day I will be going with him. 🙂

Katie’s turn…in her annual T-shirt pictures.

We found the perfect lighting! She was pointing to geese flying overhead.

First day of 1st grade. I can’t even with this outfit and the shoes.

With a backpack almost as big as she is!

At the bus stop with Linkin and Nate (Sophia will be there, too, but she was parent drop off today).

My happy face!!

And later on Facebook I found these pics of how the elementary students were welcomed to school. How cool.

Happy 5th birthday, Katie!

The day started by opening a present from papa and Grannie (that has been in our closet for probably two years now)—doll bunk beds. She was over the moon!

  
Picture with the birthday girl!

Opening her birthday cards—the same card from two people and the zebras matched her outfit! What are the odds?!

The official picture.