Our Days in S-Wood...

Here are a bunch of random pics from our days at my parent's house...

Auntie Mal always has some fun tricks up her sleeves...1st up- Poppers! The boys loved throwing them and stomping on them to hear them POP! 

Next, Beach Ball fun! 

She also gives a mean bath...accompanied by the lyrics to "Red Solo Cup". My boys now know all the lyrics to the chorus and sing it regularly! Good thing they don't really know what it means! They fill their cups with milk and PARTY! 

Relaxing with some iPad time...it's amazing to see the boys use the iPad so independently! I don't think I even touched a computer until I was at least in 5th grade! 

We went to the park one night.

It's always fun to explore new playgrounds! 

Auntie also broke out some new play dough! 

Brooks was a happy camper with so many willing snugglers all week! Nap time with Grandma! 

One evening Mark and I got a date night out with my dear childhood friend Kerri and her husband Joe! It was SO WONDERFUL to spend the night sipping margaritas, chatting, and laughing with them. 

We had the best time! Thanks to the fam for watching the boys so we could have an adult night out! 

And it wouldn't be a trip home without a stop by Streamwood Florist. I love my Soo and Ik! And they LOVE the boys! We chatted, caught up on life, smelled the beautiful flowers, and were treated to Slushees from White Hen! 

While we were home we got to go to my Mom's End of the Year Preschool Program. It was so fun to watch her with her kids and to hear them sing praises to God. Mark, Nolan, Brooks, and I went. Then we stopped by her classroom to play a bit and snag a few cookies from her party. Nolan loved checking out another Preschool classroom. He felt right at home and loved this Duplo table. And he LOVED when Grandma's class sang his favorite Grandma song: 5 Little Hotdogs! 

The boys really enjoy just being home at my parents house. They have such fun books and toys and they LOVE their cats- Tux and Griffin. They chased them around the house all week, constantly searched for them, and were fearless in the face of their hisses. Not sure the cats felt the same way about our boys! They weren't quite sure about these little people invading their quiet space. 

"Sleeping!" Ha!

On Friday night the whole family went out to dinner at our favorite Chicago style pizza place- Lou Malnati's! It was delicious! 

Then we came home for more Auntie Mal fun! She and Erik picked up balloons and an air pump and all the Non-Bloods practiced making balloon animals! You should have seen their faces blowing before we had the pump! It was quite the sight! They made flowers and snakes and puppy families and hats...pretty much anything the boys requested! 

Uncle T. and Nolan getting low! 

Grandma brought home all her finger puppets from school. Nolan had a blast with them! He mastered putting one on each finger! 

Mallory and I were talking about how our Mom never knew how to French Braid our hair when we were younger. So I tried my best on Mal. I guess I will never need to know how to perfect this skill either. The first side was much looser. I improved on the second side. She looked pretty cute! 

Playing Little People with Uncle T. and Laura! Laura was a stellar playmate for the boys! They love fresh meat! Ha! She has quite the imagination and she and Nolan really hit it off! 

We finished the night off with some games and drinks. 

And a drink just wouldn't be complete without a glowstick straw! So classy! 

We had the pleasure of having a nice lunch with my high school friends Don and Jocelyn and their adorable children- Brianna and Eli. It is so hard to see everyone when we come home because we are always so busy and also trying our best to keep the boys on a somewhat normal schedule. So we were so happy that it worked out for us to have a few special hours with the Vogel fam! We definitely missed seeing some of our oldest and dearest friends though.

Auntie made sticker charts for the boys for the week! They earned stickers for good behavior and long naps. Heath also earned them for going potty and staying dry! 10 stickers = a toy from Toys 'R Us! 

They did it! Nolan picked a Penguin Submarine and Heath picked...can you guess? Another Buzz Lightyear of course! Can you believe there was one that we didn't have already?! 

We all took my Grandma to Portillos for lunch and to celebrate her 91st birthday! She's a good ol' midwestern woman- still loves her burgers after all these years! I must take after her, because if you ask me what my favorite restaurant is- it's Portillos, for sure! LOVE their burgers! Nothing like 'em! Their Italian beef and hotdogs are pretty awesome as well! (Unfortunately, this trip I did not get a beef, but I did have a Nana's Hotdog! Gotta fit in all the Chicago style food I can when I'm there!)

It was so nice for the boys to be with their Great Grandma! She gave them each a special stuffed animal that she won from playing BINGO! Nolan got a little puppy, Heath got a black cat, and Brooks got a horsie. We will always treasure these special animals because they are from her! 

We also celebrated Tyler's birthday a week early. The boys had been eyeing this Mr. Potato head birthday card at Target so I told them they could pick it out for Uncle T. Nolan enjoyed putting the stickers on the "Tato" to dress him up! Uncle T. also spoiled our boys with gifts this week! He got Heath some Star Wars action figures and Nolan some Batman Legos! He is really getting into Legos these days! It's neat to see him build and use his imagination! 

Nap time with Auntie Mal

Tyler and Laura both work for The University of Oklahoma. So of course we had to get a pic of them with Brooks in his OU shirt! 

A goodbye pic with Grandma & Grandpa! 

So I know that was photo overload, but we just had the best time! I couldn't leave anything out! Thanks Fam for loving us and our boys so much!!! We SO wish we could all be together more often! But we deeply cherish our time with you! Can't wait until July when we'll see some of you in Colorado!