One of our favorite places

This park is one of our favorite places to go. There's something for everyone. It's much prettier in the summer when the trees are full. We picnic there, fish, go minnowing, look for frogs, hike along the river (the Fox River), you can ride bikes along the path. In the summer there's a retired science teacher who's got a little old fashioned hot dog stand, ice cream etc. The playground is appropriate for Gavin sized and Lauren sized kids. Hunter fishes while the little one's play so it works out good when we all want to get out. This is also the park where we had our family picture taken last winter. Off to the right you can follow a path over a pretty wooded bridge and along the river. To the left is downtown Oswego with cute little shops and restaurants. You can easily make a day of it. It's one the "Knill family" retreats :0) Gavin made friends with "Karly" right away so they played all morning while I struggled to stay awake after working all night-Thank God for Starbuck's venti Skinny Vanilla Lattes- :0)

Lauren's horseback riding lessons

. . . are going great! I thought you might enjoy seeing her in action. The video is kind of slow but not too long. She's trotting now and looks sooooooooo forward to Tuesdays! Last week it was raining so Gav and I couldn't wander around the farm to see the other horses. Instead I packed snacks and books, put the back seats of the truck down, spread a blanket, parked right in front of where they had the side barn door opened and we picniced and got to see Lauren as she passed by on her horse. It was actually pretty fun!

I'm becoming one of THEM. . .

A scrapper! I LOVE IT! I can't wait till my first weekend away at one those all inclusive hotels where you just sit around and SCRAP all weekend!! When Aunt Ginny came to town we all stopped in our local scrap book store called "Scrap Addict" (and rightfully fitting) and I was like a kid in a candy shop! OMG! Here is my very first project- a "jacob's ladder" (it folds into a square- ya know) with a few of my favorite pictures from our trip to Great America last summer- we stayed overnight and went to the beach the next day. I chose this because the kids would have fun looking at it too. The very last picture are the kids eating lunch at the overpass. It was Hunter's birthday (hence why we had the overnight in the first place) so we let him pick anywhere he wanted to eat. He picked the Oasis. They loved seeing the cars driving beneath and it reminded me of being a kid. See how these simple things make kids soooooooo happy! Lauren went on the biggest scariest coasters and when we were done I was sitting scared stiff and she was yelling "yeeaaahh" with her fist in the air! Even Hunter opted not to go on some of the big ones- Lauren is fearless. Gav tootled around in his kid's zone and enjoyed the water ride and the train. It was a fun day and now I'm learning neat things to do with all my pictures instead of throwing them in boring albums. I only wish digital cameras were around sooner!

Please say a prayer for Aunt Bernice

This is a picture of all the kids with their Great Aunt Bernice come to be known as "Aunt B". We welcomed Aunt B into our immediate family last year when she moved home from Arizona. She and my mom travel in pairs nowadays. Please say a prayer for Aunt B as she goes in for some (hopefully) minor surgery on Wednesday. All the kindness is appreciated.

Gavin's field trip

Does a trip to the "Family Laundry Center" count as an outing in a baby book? Because it sure was an excursion! Our dryer's on the fritz so Gav and I halled allllllllllll our laundry to the laundry mat this morning. Todd stayed home from work to fix the dryer. I figured I'd get more done with Gavin than Todd could having to be scrunched behind the dryer. Well Gav loved it! He helped me put all the clothes in and loved watching it. Then- just our luck another little 2 year old boy came in! Gavin made friends quickly and the two of them colored, read books and ate snacks that I bought with. I admit I was starting to panic when it came to fold everything. Gav was getting bored by now and there was A LOT to do but then, just our luck, Todd called to see how we were doing so he met us there and folded all the clothes while I brought Gavin home for lunch and a nap. It was quite an adventurous morning! But we got nice smelling closets AND Todd got the dryer fixed so it was a profitable morning after all :0)

Three cheers for Hunter!

I've always said "you can't judge a book by it's cover". Hunter gets his long hair back! One of those certificates is honor roll and the other is "student of the quarter" for being a positive role model- YES- OUR HUNTER! The book phrase suits him because he loves having long hair and we've said "we love having good grades"- so that's our deal. Now, to look at him I think people see a long haired, scraggly kid-little do they know he needs to be on honor roll to have that long hair! We are so proud of him. He was waiting everyday for his report card to come in the mail confident it was good. And I'll tell ya what, he made more money in an hour than I do! Lauren's also got all "E's" which would translate to straight A's and Mr. Tamez said she "continues to amaze him with her ideas". Way to go kids!

A True Friend

Meet Max. Max is our neighbor across the street and one of Lauren's very best friends. He is the sweetest little boy we know. He and Lauren remind me of one of my best childhood friends, Eric Caro, who was also Philipine. Anyway, the school book fair is going on now and as Max roamed the aisles looking at all the books he ran across Curious George. Knowing that Gavin LOVES Curious George- he bought it for him~ on his very own, with his very own money. What's more is that today's weather was the most beautiful we've had in a long time and after Gavin's nap we planned on going "frogging" (aka to catch frogs) at this new pond Todd found- and this book is about tadpoles growing into frogs! We didn't find any frogs but Max came along and we had a wonderful hike through the woods. We did manage to see two deer- I can't believe how close we got. They must be used people hiking around. Even Gavin made the 2 hour hike around the forest preserve- there was so much to see and do. You'll notice he's learned to say "cheese" when the camera's out!