Happy Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

We had a pretty laid back day. Ethan and I got home from Galena, rested and then joined my parents and Tim's family for dinner at Francesca's. Bryan received a golf outing to play with some Eagles players in Byron, IL from the boys and I. He got some SWEET Cubs tickets from my parents, an Eagles Flag from his parents and a round of golf from my brother. I think he was THRILLED with his gifts!

Galena Weekend

The girls headed to Galena for the weekend. We rented a house and spent all day Saturday shopping and dining...We had relatively nice weather and everyone went home with something.

Ethan in the car...smiling as usual.

Jill living it up on the sun porch. Doesn't she look like a wild woman?!
Check out her sister, Tracey. I love that Ethan is in the background, checking it all out.
The Paparazzi
My aunt...she just wet her pants. HA HA HA! We were obviously having too much fun!
The next morning...she even made us breakfast!
The group
(l to r - Kathy, Ethan, Stacy, Jean, Suzie, Jill, Grandma, Anna, Tracey, Rena and me)
Me and my mom...
Our rented home

On the way to the game...

I was just playing around in the car, sitting in traffic, headed to the game...Thought they were some cute pictures of the boys!

This face is a VERY familiar face that Ethan makes QUITE FREQUENTLY! It makes me laugh just about every single time I see it.

But then he does have a nice smile...

And then he turns the cheese on...

Then the big one gets in on the action. He usually won't let me take pictures anymore. When I do decide to take Ethan's pictures, then he begs me to take his. Reverse psychology!!

Matthew and my cousin, Alex...He made the All-Star team!! CONGRATS, ALEX!!

Just a couple more...

Just because I can't stop at just two pictures of my boys...

sunkissed.

Ok. So maybe not necessarily sunkissed, but they are sweaty, nonetheless. Did I mention dirty, too? This was the first time that I really noticed that they looked like they were bit with the summer bug. Matthew's freckles came out in full force and Ethan's pink sweaty, flushed face and curly hair was too cute!

Should I order it or not?!

I can't decide if I want this hanging in my living room or not. But I really do like it, so I am going to share it here with you. Wouldn't this be cute in a thick black frame, sized to a 10x20? Hmmm...Might have to try this little arrangement again!

To catch you up to speed...

Some videos, just in case you were still wanting more.

:o)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Zoo Meets Brookfield Zoo

We finally had a beautiful, appointment free, warm Sunday to have a family day. We decided to go to Brookfield Zoo, alonng with TONS of other people. We had so much fun and both the boys really were excited to see the animals. They both had favorites and both of them were SOOO well behaved. It turned out to be a perfect day!!

Matthew is stylin'. The birds, as usual, are Ethan's favorites. He screeched and screamed so loudly in this little room. The roadrunners kept him entertained and I'm sure he would have been content to have stood there all afternoon. Howlin' like the wolf.
I thought this was a great picture of the baby giraffe. This was an aardvark in the play area. They had an odd smell to them and Matthew made it obvious that he did not like the smell.

The boys in their matching shark shirts. They really look cute here, only because you can't see the stains from their food, Ethan's throw up and lord only knows what else they found to smear on themselves.
Matthew's hand compared to an adult gorilla.
The Ward Boys finding their relatives in the monkey house.
A 'must-have' picture when you go to Brookfield Zoo.
The alligator was Matthew's favorite animal. He was very upset that they only had one. He was complaining most of the afternoon that there were no crocodiles either. He was bummed!
Can you see Matthew's expression? This pretty much summed up the end of our zoo visit! He was finished! Ethan thought the fit that Matthew was throwing was hilarious and I was less than amused.
A last attempt to get in a picture with the baby...and it looks good!
Honestly, this was within 90 seconds of getting him buckled in his car seat. He was O-U-T!!
Matthew wanted in on a sleeping picture too...Too bad he didn't actually sleep! He was awake the entire ride home.

infested. with mice.

Matthew and I had an aggreement that when he was a good boy and listened well, I would let him get a hamster. Well, much to my dismay, instead of a hamster Bryan and Matthew "adopted" 2 mice. The pet store gave everything including the things in the cage to him for $4. What a deal. So, it is my (dis)pleasure to introduce to you, Matthew and his mice, Bindi and Spike. (Yes, Bindi is named after the Crocodile Hunter's daughter. He really likes her show.)

Check out Guinny, standing on her hind legs. She's just waiting for a chance to get at one of them.

The Proud owner...Matthew and his mice!

Ethan, looking for a mouse...But no, there were no loose mice.

THIS IS BINDI!
THIS IS SPIKE!
Aren't they hideous!? Ewww, and you should hear them squeak! YUCK! But he loves them very much! In fact, Matthew was up at 5:45 AM asking if he could feed them and clean their cage. Good thing mice don't live that long!! :)