Meg the author

Yesterday Meg's class had an Authors Tea where each of the children read one of the books they had written since January. meg has written 4 so far and chose "In The Mountains". She is dropping some pretty obvious hints in her story that she wants a dog.

I was very proud that she sat up straight and read loudly and with confidence. Zach took a break from his class to come down and give his sister some support.

Mother's Day Plunge

The kids got up early Sunday morning to wake up mom with a collection of mother inspired art (they had been looking forward to giving mom these all week long). We took advantage of the early rise and headed to Blueberry hill for some sweet morning eats and then jumped in the car and headed to Utica, IL home of Starved Rock State Park.

Because we were there so early we practically had all the waterfalls to ourselves. The hikes and views were stunning. The kids really enjoyed the opportunity to find ways around muddy parts of the trail and to climb the rock walls. After a full morning of hiking we took a short breather in Ottawa and then did lunch at Cheddars in Joliet.

The day ended with a relaxing dinner cook out and visit with our neighbors.

Zach scores another goal!

Zach was beaming after scoring another goal. I think he scored 4 goals on Saturday. He loves playing soccer.

A Friendly Battle

This week Meg's Purple Panthers took on a team with a familiar face from school, Meg's friend Kelly. Kelly did a good job defending the 4 or 5 breakaways that Meg had.

Both Elizabeth and I were amazed at how fast Meg was this week!

Meg Builds a Bunny House

Last weekend Meg spent some creative time building a bunny house in out neighbors backyard. She was very excited to show it off so we grabbed the camera and let her give a tour. Her brother Zach swoops in at the end to explain all the work he did on the project.

Sadly, after a few days the carrots were still there so we are trying to come up with some ways to encourage the bunnies to make it there home.

Wedding Bells

Saturday we went to a wedding in St. Louis. Pictured here is my Great Aunt Sis with her grandson Charlie and his new wife Juli. It was a long drive, but the kids did great and we had lot of fun seeing everyone at the wedding and reception.

Game On!

AYSO soccer is once again in full swing. Meg's Purple Panthers ended their first game in a 1 to 1 tie. It took a quarter for the girls to shake off the rust but once they did they were working well as a team. Meg started the game off as goalie and had a save. Then to start the 2nd half she was on offense where she had a few good break-aways and passes.

Zach had the late game. A short rain shower came and went and we were able to get the game in. Zach was excited to get out on the field, and with good reason. He had a great game with 3 goals and a lot of super hard kicks! We don't have pictures from his game because Chris was refereeing the game and Elizabeth was singing at the first communion masses, so we promise an extra large dose of Zach pictures from the next game.

Geocaching with Friends

St. Cletus picked a perfect day for a day off! After dropping the car off for an oil change, Chris and the kids enjoyed the sunny 80 degree day by having a picnic in Harvester Park in Burr Ridge and then finding some geocaches with friends.

Before hunting for the treasure boxes everyone took a trip on the Zipline (even the parents). Then we hunted for two geoacaches: Near the Park cache and the Harvester. Zach enjoyed climbing into a pine tree to get the first one. The second cache took us along the wetlands at the park. Along the way we met a snake which got everyone's attention, but we pushed on and found the camouflaged jelly jar in some tall grass.

All the kids had a great time and we will be sure to do some group geocaching again over the summer.