Spring, 2016

I can't seem to keep up with the blog with our current life but I'm at least trying to play a good game of catch up these days! Here goes nothing:

Patrick's birthday was in May and we celebrated by having a cookout with all of our friends and neighbors in Highland Park. May weather is so unpredictable in Highland Park, IL so we were so lucky to have a beautiful day to be outside and get to celebrate and let all of the kids run off a bunch of pent up winter steam! The kids helped me make my first ever attempt at a homemade cheesecake, which I was told turned out pretty good. It was so hard to make it and not even be able to taste it to see if it was tasting okay (still nursing Clara with no dairy). Glad it turned out tasting good, even if it fell a little in the middle once it was done baking ;)

As I said, May is very unpredictable when it comes to weather in HP. Every single year we've lived there we got at least one day of snow in Mid May and this year was no exception. We ended up getting hail instead of snow but it was still cold and miserable outside. True summer starts in June and ends in August up there, and by true I mean it stays in the 70s and 80s. The summers are wonderfully mild and great to be outside in (the wind is always blowing and cooling things off) but with the super cold winters that seem to last way too long (October-May) I just can't be won over to the weather of the North Shore, especially since we lived on Lake Michigan and the wind never stopped. The wind made the summers wonderful and the winters really miserable!

Mother's Day provided us with another beautiful day. We went to church, had a picnic in the park with some of our friends from church while the kids played at the park all afternoon. We went to Panera for dinner and finished off the day with some dairy free ice cream at home for dessert! One gift I love to get for Mother's Day is the day off from having to make and clean up any meals ;) It was truly a wonderful day!

In June Patrick and I celebrated 7 years of marriage! We went on a date that night while our neighbor YaYa babysat our kids. I can't even remember where we went to eat but I do remember really enjoying getting to spend time with him and eat a meal (mostly) in peace (Clara was still with us but she didn't fuss too much).

The kids all finished school in Mid June. Micah finished 3 year old preschool and the girls finished Kindergarten. Both of the kids schools had a field day near the end of the school year and I was able to go to Micah's class field day with Clara in tow. He had so much fun jumping on bubble wrap, blowing bubbles, eating popsicles, stacking buckets, and all sorts of other fun activities. Micah's class also had an end of the year party in which his teachers expressed how sad they were that Micah wouldn't be coming back to school there next year (moving to TN). His teachers are always gushing over him and telling me how wonderful he is to have in class because he is a friend to all and is such a sweet boy. I have to agree with them, he wins my heart over every single day! Charlotte and Hannah Kate's school had a graduation for the Kindergarteners where they stood on risers in the gym and sang all of the songs they had learned in music class throughout the year. Then each child had his/her name called and got to walk up front to get a diploma and shake hands with the principal. The kids all wore a graduation hat with a tassel that they got to move over also. It was very sweet and cute! How has time already slipped by so fast? I remember sitting in my rocking chair when I was pregnant with the girls and wondering what they'd look like and now they are 1st graders. Time is not my friend these days because I feel like I never have enough of it and it's zooming past me way too fast.