Happy Birthday Jolie!

Happy Birthday our sweet Jolie. You were a beautiful baby and now you are beautiful tween!
Wow, only 1 more year and then you are in Young Women's. I am tearing up just writing this because I can't believe how fast time really does fly. You are such a sweet spirit. You told me that your friends say you are the nicest girl in your school. I know that is true because I see how nice you are to others!
Jolie if I have one wish for you it is for you to ALWAYS know how beautiful you are INSIDE and OUT! Beauty is more than just a pretty face. It is asking a quiet girl to sit by you. It is making a friendship bracelet for a friend when you move. It is sending a quick email just to say hi. It is reading your scriptures and feeling that spirit grow.

Middle school is hard for EVERYONE but sweetie you are rocking it. I am so proud of all the hard work you are doing. Principal honor roll is just amazing. Crazy to think you once struggled with reading and now you can't wait for more and more books to come. Keep that hunger for knowledge...it will never let you down!

Your little sisters and brother look up to you so much and not because you are so much taller than them. You are the one that helps them and always makes them smile. They always want to be with you because you make them happy. That is what a great big sister you are.

I love that you love music and drawing. Your fashion designs are fabulous and creative.
I am so excited for your birthday party next week. These little perfume bottles are going to give it just the right touch to go with your Paris theme!

We love you Jolie and wish you the Happiest Birthday EVER!!!!!

Chicago's Navy Pier

Saturday before Easter we took Brett's parents and sister to Chicago. We decided to give this Navy Pier a try. It was a little cold but luckily not freezing. We started off with the GIANT Ferris Wheel. We had to split up into two cars because we had 2 too many people. It was really neat to see the city from so far up. They had Sinatra playing in the background and a tour guide telling you some interesting things to look at. I would love to come at night and ride it again.
Brett was in a car with Jolie, Jacob and Jillian. They are in the Ferris wheel going up!

Beautiful skyline!

Lake Michigan!

Downtown!

Brett and Giselle on the Carousel.

Laura was nice to go on the carousel with Jacob. Jacob loved having Laura there!

Jillian, Jolie and I on the swings. Jolie was so great. Jillian was very excited to go on and she barely was tall enough but once we started going she got pretty scared. Jolie though kept telling her to scream and put her hands up.

Jillian feeling braver and sitting up. She also started putting her hands out!

Jacob was too short for the swings and Genna had NO desire to ride it. So they rode this cute ride called the lighthouse!

Grandpa Fox was nice and rode the swings with Jolie and Jillian. They wanted to ride it again so bad! You can see Jillian is really getting brave look at that wave!

Grandma and Grandpa Fox with Aunt Laura and kiddos waiting for the water taxi to come!

Brett and I with the city in the background waiting for the water taxi!

Aren't they cute?

On top of the boat. The water taxi was really neat but a tad chilly too!

More water taxi pictures! We got to see a drawbridge up, that was pretty cool!

A view of some the buildings from the boat! The kids loved the BIG buildings!

The wind blowing Genevieve's hair all over her new glasses!

Jacob was so good on the boat. He loved sitting there and watching the water, people and BIG buildings. He also was super happy to sit next to Grandma. He was so happy to have here!

Giselle and I on the boat. She really liked the boat but didn't like that she wasn't allowed to walk around. She also wanted to hang over the edge...NOT allowed! Really though she did like it!

Pretty girls!

Aunt Laura wanted in on the picture too!

The beautiful Jolie with the wind in her hair!

We didn't get any pictures but we saw the Sears tower..which is now the Willis Tower. We thought of going up but the weight was over an hour and a half..no way! Then we went to lunch at Al's something place...really yummy food. Looks like a dive on the outside but inside it's nice!

On the way back to our car we pass this little Train ride. Jacob and Giselle were so excited we had to let them ride it. It was so cute. They had to put their hands on each other's shoulders. Giselle did have her hands on Jacob's but took them off right when we took the picture!

Giselle and Jacob were so excited to go. Jacob was a great big brother and made sure to look after Giselle. He had his arm around her and hugged her a bunch of times!

Two very happy and very cute kids!

Kristi's baby shower!

** NOT IN ORDER!**
My sister is having her 5th child. A boy. This will make her 4th boy! So funny that we have complete opposite. I was excited to be close enough to not only come to her shower but actually put it on. Although not close enough to have it at my house. Thank you Mom for letting me use your house and a lot of your stuff!
The decorated food room. I was lucky to borrow this super cute fabric from a friend here in Illinois. I also stole her idea of individual 7-layer dips..that's a little farther down.

Kristi's closest friend and an old friend of mine just had a sweet baby girl. This is Abby. Isn't she just a doll?

Jolie stayed for the shower and loved being with the big girls. Here she is helping to set things up!

Oh how I miss a normal size oven. Mine is teeny tiny...:(

Aren't these the cutest? Individual 7-layer dips...in mini mason jars. I also cut out the food tags from my cricut..oh how I LOVE that machine!!

I got this punch off of pinterest a while ago and I loved it right away. It's now my go to punch for showers and events...SO yummy! Here is the recipe!http://www.nobiggie.net/2010/07/the-best-party-punch.html

I didn't get to see my sister in law very much on this trip so I was very happy she was at the baby shower. Crystal is taking a turn with sweet baby Abby!

My wonderful Mother! Thank you Mom for letting me take over your kitchen and house while we stayed there!

Me, Melissa, Kristi and Penny! Melissa and Penny are Kristi's best friends and they helped me SO much with the shower. THANK YOU so much and THANK YOU Melissa for taking all these pictures!

These were not the original favors. I made super cute little blue bags filled with candy and little tags..once again from my cricut. BUT I was freaking out about driving the morning of the shower to Michigan because I didn't want to cut it too close. So instead I drove up Friday night at night and still managed to forget something...the favors. So at the last minute we got these instead..luckily I brought my cricut machine and we were able to cut the cute buggies out.

Kristi opening a few of the cute outfits she got. She also got a new swing from the group gift. She was super surprised and really excited. She wanted that swing SO bad!

A group shot of everyone at the shower. Love you Kristi and can't wait for you sweet cheeked baby boy to come!

a little nature doesn't hurt...does it?

This morning I walked out the front door to take Jolie to the bus stop and a duck squawked and flapped it's wings and flew away. Scared the jeepers out of me. Than I left a little while later to take Brett to the train and the same duck did the same thing and flew farther. So I decided to take a peek at where it was and sure enough..a nest with an egg. At least ONE egg. I haven't moved anything so I don't know if there are more eggs or not. I think the baby ducks would be cute for a day or two but then the baby duck poop would start and the mommy duck poop and that's just more poop than I would like. So I have called a few places and so far no one "deals" with ducks. I am waiting for a call back from one place so hopefully they can help me.
The weird thing is I haven't seen the mommy duck all day and I haven't touched anything so I have no idea why she hasn't come back. I really don't want the baby duck to die.

Do you remember sleepovers as a kid?

Genevieve had a really good friend from church come spend the night. She is just as obsessed with Harry Potter as Genna is. They got their Hogwarts robes on and popped popcorn and drank butterbeer. Life is good.

We also did a little Bertie bott sampling..well our version at least...no ear wax or booger flavors.

Getting close the end so we finished with ice cream sundaes!!! Jillian was super excited to be included.

Jacob and Giselle were not to happy about going to bed but decided to do their own sleepover for a little while. We found Jacob in Giselle's crib.

She was happy to have him there. A quick hug before going back to their own beds.

Sleepovers is not for every family and honestly I'm not sure how long I will let them have them but for now I am OK with it. They had so much fun and it was so cute to see them enjoying fun things together. Especially because this friend is moving in a few weeks. In fact the two friends Genevieve is the closest to is moving and she is so sad. I have to say I am sad for her too. Luckily we have so many options to keep in touch and fun memories to last forever!