A busy couple of weekends...

As the title to this post suggests, we've had a couple of very busy weekends this month! The first weekend, we went to Aaron's good friend Shawn's wedding down at Moody Church in Chicago. It was a beautiful ceremony, and both the bride and the groom looked wonderful and very happy. We had fun catching up with some of Aaron's friends from back home and it was a blessing to be included in such a special day.

Aaron and Shawn (aka - Nino)

Caleb and "Uncle Nino" ~

Some of Aaron's friends from Moody with the happy couple (Shawn is also a Moody grad)

Then the second weekend we took the kids to the Shedd Aquarium for the day, along with Uncle Eric and Auntie Tracy. Aaron had gotten free tickets through his work, so we got to see the dolphin show, a 4D version of a segment of Planet Earth, and wander around the Wild Reef exhibit, and only had to pay for parking! (we brought some coolers with things for lunch) I LOVE being able to do things like that for little or no cost to us! :) We had a great time looking at all the fish and marveling at God's amazing creation, and it was fun to share the day with Tracy and Eric too. Micah loved running around and going from one tank to the next, so I'm not sure we really studied any of the fish in any particular spot for too long, but we had a great day nonetheless. (and since neither of the boys napped for any significant amount of time, bedtime went very smoothly and came fairly early for all of us!) :)

**Some of these pictures were taken by Tracy and Eric, so thanks to them (and the dropbox folder) for most of these shots! :)

The dolphin show ~

The big reef in the center of the aquarium ~

Amusing ourselves before the 4D show of Planet Earth ~

"Shark bait! Ooo ha ha!"

Belugas ~

Playing on the submarine down below the Oceanarium tanks

Looking at the penguins ~

The boys with Auntie Tracy ~

Row, row, row your boat...

This is as close as we've come to camping in a while! :)

Button pushing...

Checking out the dolphins underwater ~

Reaching in to touch a starfish ~

Auntie Tracy with Caleb... I think he wore her out making her carry him around so much! :)

Checking out the turtle statue with Uncle Eric ~

LOVE the look on Micah's face! :)

In between these busy weekends, we've had plenty to keep ourselves occupied. #1 on our list of things to do lately has been to get healthy, so there were several days spent just being home and catching up on rest. But we managed to have some fun.

Caleb and I had some one-on-one time together while Micah napped one day, and he was just "talking" up a storm! Naturally, when I got the camera out he was more interested in that than in making much noise... kind of like Micah was at that age... but there are some good smiles in there too.

Micah had a play date with his buddy Michael last week... usually I'm all about taking tons of pictures when these two are together, but for some reason the camera stayed away this day. (probably because I was busy taking care of Caleb as well) I did manage to get one picture of the boys having a snack at the kitchen table... both sitting in the "big boy" seats. :)


And since we're getting back to our normal selves health-wise, I was able to take Micah to gymnastics last week. Thanks to Grannie Jannie for staying with Caleb so Micah and I could have some one-on-one time together! :) The video is of Micah working on his somersaults at home, in preparation for gymnastics the next day.

Rocking with his friend Elyse ~

When we came home to Nee Nee, Micah amused himself (and us!) by trying on Nee Nee's glasses and shoes. I had flashes of myself as a kid seeing Micah wearing my mom's glasses! :) And I love how he made a beeline for the front door once he was ready to go! :)




We got to visit with my dear friends, Ron and Trish one evening, and had lunch with our small group after church one Sunday (Micah had a ball bouncing...and being bounced... on the trampoline!)...

Our group leaders' son, Sean, loves Micah... and Micah adores Sean too!

...and we've had plenty of time to just enjoy our family...

Micah pulled the pillow and blanket over to lay down by Caleb all by himself ~

My boys ~

Daddy with his "little helpers"

Caleb and Pops having a staring contest :)

This video is kind of dark, but the audio is more important than the video... Micah was helping me take this, so listen closely, especially at the end. :)

Life is busy these days, especially with 2 kiddos! But we've got a great life! :) And God is good!