what's going on around here -

We have been busy doing a whole lot o' nothin around here.

The last few weeks consisted of:

July 7 - Isabella's first visit to MI. I took the gals up for a few hours to swim in the lake at Lolita and Johnny's. Kaylin of course had a blast swimming with the kids (Heather, Gianna, Christine and Syd). Jill was kind enough to take them out for a paddle boat ride (Kaylin's first I believe, she LOVED it!) and then we headed back for a yummy dinner (it's always even more delicious when you don't have to make it!) and later for a campfire and s'mores. Kaylin got to light her very first sparkler of which I think she was amazed and scared at the same time!
July 8 - Abby and Dan's wedding (Abby is Brian's cousin). It was a beautiful ceremony : )
July 9 - Mom and Dads - Since everyone had flown in for the wedding, we all went over to Mom and Dad Engler's for a "mini" party. It was great to see all the family we don't get to talk to on a regular basis.
July 14 and 15 - Homewood Days. The usual festivities - mostly eating Pulled Pork Sandwiches from Glenwood Oaks and walking in an endless circle... But it's always a good time! My Mom and the kids joined us as well. The 15th - Isabells turns 1 month old!
July 20 - My Grandma Harms' Birthday - We all went over to her house and my mom brought dessert. I can't remember exactly, but I believe this was her 97th! It's always great to see her, we were very close when I was young. But it's also hard to see her at the same time - she has a really really hard time seeing/hearing these days...
August 12 - We took Kaylin downtown for a "fun day" - she got to go there on what she calls "Daddy's choo-choo train" (from when we used to drop Brian off at the train for work). Our goal was to go to this childrens book fair at Grant Park - but we took our time getting there. First we went and saw "the bean", then we went to those big fountains with the faces/water falls. That was by FAR her favorite! First of all, she is obsessed with fountains of any kind - and second she loves to play in the water. So this is somewhere we will be going back to next year! It was hard to get her to leave here though... But she was fine with it once she got to the book fair. She loves to read books, and there was a whole tent full of them : ) Then we headed over to the "stage" where they had some popular childrens artists singing/reading stories, etc. She had a great time singing and dancing. Then she almost had a heart attack when we took her to see Buckingham Fountain! All in all, a great day for all of us : )
August 14 - Shanna had her baby (Shanna is my cousin)! A boy - Robert Jaidon (hope I spelled that right!). We haven't got to see him yet (they are living in another state) - but in the photo he looks adorable!
August 18 - Dominick's 26th Birthday - had a nice dinner/cake at my Mom's house
August 19 - Took the kids to the Zoo - she is of course, still talking about all the cool animals she saw that day! We also ran into Kevin, Hanna and Thor there! So we visited for a bit and after the zoo, we met back up with them for dinner at Portillo's.
Labor Day weekend - We went up for the annual visit at Lolita and Johnny's in Michigan - only this time we actually stayed a couple of nights. First night we got there after work (around 9:30) and had s'mores and turned in. Saturday Brian and Dave went to play a round of golf while me, the kids and my mom went garage sale-ing. Then later Kaylin went to the lake with Marie and everyone while I stayed back with the baby. Sunday we headed out and visited St. Joseph, and the Lighthouse Mall. It was a nice little vacation.
The end of August Kaylin also had her trip to the "tooth doctor" to get the chip in her front tooth fixed. It was a bit difficult for us all (she pretty much screamed the whole time, but it only took about 2 - 15 minute visits). They had to give her a "baby root canal"! Horrible... but it's fixed now!
I have been spending alot of my "extra" time (yeah, right. extra isn't exactly very often!) trying to make these really cool cloth diapers for the kids. It's been tricky, but I am getting there!