IN LOVING MEMORY

Today is the anniversary of my Mother's passing. It feels like it has been much much longer, it has been an emotional year. I never imagined that I would be going through life without the help of my Mom this early in my life. On almost a daily basis I find myself with a question I would have liked to ask her or wondering how she would have done something. I have tried to fill her shoes as much as I can where I can with my children, making birthday cakes and sewing halloween costumes has been difficult but much easier than trying to share her love and wisdom. Anyway I love my Mom and I will always miss her and I wish with all my heart I could do something to bring her back. I love you Mom.

The Windy City

A couple of weeks ago now we went to Illinois for my cousin Liz's wedding. We had some bumps in the road because we were sick on the drive up there but we had a good time. We took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo and saw the dolphins, which was just terrific! We did not realize how pink her bellies are. The kids got to the the spectacle bears like on Diego which was just so exciting for them. The hotel we stayed at was very nice and it was where a lot of my family was staying and that was nice. We got to have breakfast together and we took the kids swimming. The wedding was of course beautiful. It was outdoors and you could not have imagined a more perfect weather. Christopher and Eli put on a show while we waited for the wedding to start and at the reception all of the kids danced and sang and were quite the life of the party. Monday before we left we went into Chicago and hit Navy Pier. Our fun was hampered because it decided to rain while we were there. They do however have a very cool stained glass museum we went through and we did a little shopping. We also went way down to the end of the pier to get pictures of the lighthouse. Christopher was ridding on my back and at one point fell asleep on my back. It was pretty funny, I'm sure, watching me walk around bent in half with him on my back. We got home late Monday night we were exhausted but it was worth it.

Camera work-out

Today we went to the zoo. One reason was to get the kids out and active. The other reason was to give my new camera a work out. It was sooooo fun. I took about 500 pictures. I narrowed it down when we got home to 350. The kids had a ton of fun climbing on everything and feeding the fish. Kristen had a bit of a teenage I'm too cool for this tude going on but even she had some moments of fun. All of the kids ran through the sprinkler they had going and then played in the fountains a bit but Christopher got soaking wet. We go on vacation to my cousins wedding near Chicago this weekend and I cannot wait to use my camera again. We plan to visit the Brook Field zoo there. I am excited about that because they have dolphins!