Daddy's birthday

This year for Daddy's birthday we drove up to Bolingbrook to visit Aunt Ashley and Uncle Trevor and see some of our friends from college. It was nice to see their new house and catch up with people we don't get to see much anymore. Evalee attached herself to Bailey the moment we arrived and didn't slow down until we left the next morning. She left with scratches and bruises all over her legs and arms, but I don't think she noticed a single one of them. We left early (or as early as we could with two kids) so we could visit my soul sister Katie and meet her new little girl, Natalie. We all instantly fell in love, and I think Izzy was amazed to see someone smaller than her. Katie and I slipped away for a quick trip to IKEA (and I do mean quick -- who does IKEA in 20 minutes?!) before we took off from Elgin to Bolingbrook. When we said goodbye it was hard to believe that the next time we see Aunt Ashley and Uncle Trevor, they'll have a new little baby with them too! We can't wait to meet her!

4th of July

The 4th of July was different this year because I agreed to help a group of my 2015 European travelers sell Sno Cones at the Orion fireworks. So we abandoned tradition and headed to our hometown to see what they had to offer. Despite Daddy being a bit stressed having the girls all by himself at the start of the night, it proved to be a fun night. The night begins with a lighted parade, which was the highlight for Eva, and the walkers through candy, glow necklaces, and Freeze Pops, three of Eva's favorite things in the world. The fireworks display is at the high school, and it was pretty impressive for such a small town. Although I kind of missed the family fun at Matherville Lake, it was fun to celebrate the holiday in our town.

Eva and her BFF, neighbor Natalie

On the move

Because she couldn't wait just one more day, little Miss Izzy started crawling officially the day before I got back from Europe -- June 20. Her crawl is so cute -- with one knee up and the other leg's foot dragging along on the floor. Travis and I say its because she wants so badly to just be able to walk - she doesn't have the patience to crawl on her knees.
It was less than a week later that she was holding our fingers and walking all over the place. We've been trying to get her to see how easy it would be to walk on her own, slowly letting go of one hand to help her learn to balance, but now 6 weeks later, she is still pretty content to wait for a hand to hold before taking the first step.  I'm sure it won't be too long, though!

Here are some shots of her cruising along the living room...

Summer is Here!

The month of May is a little crazy in our house (hence my lack of posts), but we get something pretty awesome at the end: summer vacation!
This year, I am determined to make the most out of our time together. I've made a Summer Adventure Calendar that has something fun and special we are going to do every day -- some are small, like look for cloud shapes, and others are big, like a trip to the zoo. But we will have fun and make memories every day.

And now an update on the girls -- Izzy is growing up so quickly! She loves to sit on the floor and chew on her toys. She especially loves all our Disney figurines, her sister's princess castle, and the Little People barn we have. Luckily, Evalee is very good about sharing all her toys (except her Toy Story guys. Those are still awfully hard to hand over). She still has no teeth, and every time she has a crabby day we wonder if it's finally her teeth coming in, but every time we are mistaken. I hope she gets some soon because she wants to eat what we're having so badly every night. It's hard to keep her away from our plates at the dinner table! She also loves the water and taking baths with her sister. I think she's going to be much more of a water bug than Evalee has been so far. She does pretty well standing up, and I think in a few weeks she might be able to do it all on her own. It doesn't seem like she's interested in crawling, which is fine by us since we can have a little more time without that darn gate at the top of the stairs.

Evalee is growing and changing every day too. She still loves robots, and for that reason enjoys watching Star Wars just for the scenes were R2D2 and C3PO show up. She also loves Short Circuit when she goes to grandma's house. She has taken to terrorizing the cats moreso these days and likes to try to trap them on the porch with her so she can drag them around to play with her. So they are a bit more on edge. She loves going to Grandma's house (mostly for the mashed potatoes) and her dolls and stuffed animals are often make believe heading to Grandma's house or the grocery store for apples and cookies. She loves to read books, especially the ones that she  knows really well and can say some of the lines with us. She is also getting very funny -- Travis and I are always laughing over random statements she makes in the car or at the dinner table.

We are still so thankful that both girls love each other so much. It's very rare that Evalee can't make Izzy smile when she's upset at home or crying in the car. Eva is always trying to make her laugh or share things with her (again, except Buzz. Buzz is hers.) They both light up when they see each other, and that's something that makes every moment of chaos worth it.

Enjoying the warm weather

Our bird's nest and Evalee's summer love

"She has Buzz!!!"

So much to celebrate

We kicked off summer by celebrating Alex and Amelia's birthdays and throwing a shower for our new baby cousin to be in Virden for the weekend. Eva had lots of fun at the Scooby Doo themed birthday party since it was crawling with hyper children to chase and run with. All the adults had fun passing along Izzy, who was mostly content to have someone paying attention to her at all times. The next day we woek up and got the girls ready for Aunt Ashley's baby shower. The girls wore their rompers Aunt Ashley got them for Christmas, which worked out nicely when we revealed the gender of the baby to the crowd with a purple romper for the new little girl to wear. Alexis brought Paxton, so Evalee jumped at the chance to run and play with a person her size while Aunt Ashley opened her gifts.
On the trip home, Izzy cried for the last hour or so. It took us back to the days where Evalee cried every time we drove anywhere for the entire trip. This wasn't nearly as bad as those days, but it wasn't very much fun either. By the time we got home, I was anxious to jump out of the car and snuggle with my little girl.

Mama Bird! Mama Bird!

So far this year we have had two nests of birds in our tree in the backyard. Evalee was beyond excited to see the first nest. The not-so-bright Mama bird built her nest in the lowest crevice of the tree, which meant Evalee could look in on the three little blue eggs Mama bird nestled inside when Mama Bird was off getting food. Every night for a week, Evalee would sit on the steps of our porch, watching the Mama Bird sit on her eggs and telling her she was a good Mama. Unfortunately the eggs never did hatch, so we had to tell Eva that they moved to a new tree.
Luckily, another much smarter Mama Bird built another nest higher in the tree a couple of weeks later. Although it was too high to see the eggs before they hatched, it was just at eye level when we sat on the porch so Eva could see the little baby birds when they were born. She was beyond excited and visited them several times a day before they grew big and flew away. Now every time Eva sees a robin -- whether she is playing outside or riding in the car -- she calls out to it, "Hi Mama Bird! I missed you!"