the cereal aisle

i have started to realize that dave and i parent through bribes. if i was honest, i'm sure i swore i would never say things like, "if you are good, i will give you something special", like my own parents did on occasion, which drove me crazy. and yet there we were last night running errands all over town, passed bed time and before dinner (we did have mc d's around 9:45pm), asking our kids to be good so they could get "a special treat". dave, in all his wisdom, announced in the car what the special treat would be as the kids screeched a squirmed in the back seats, "we are going to meijers and you each can pick out your own cereal". the screeching increased as the kids enthusiasm and excitement escalated with thoughts of marshmallows, chocolate and funny shaped cereals.

once in the aisle, i realized what we had done. we had opened flood gates. as i looked down that aisle and squatted down to my kids perspective i thought, we are going to be here forever - how are any of them going to be able to make a choice, let alone a "good" one. granted, i went into this knowing full well none of my kids were going to choose Raisin Bran or Cherrios, but there was a little bit of me that hoped that one my many lessons on good eating habits would ring between their ears. watching my kids run up and down the aisle, grabbing a box, giggling, holding onto it for a minute until finding another intriguing box to switch it with reminded me of the crazy world we live where the healthy and good things for us are overshadowed by the dramatically bold and bright which typically have little to no nutritional value.

life is hard and full of choices and consequences. i'm so thankful i walk with a God who is there to help me make better choices and in turn experience good and healthy consequences. i sit here this morning overwhelmed and broken hearted for my family - knowing that i am unable to make any decision for them, that they must make it on their own. i hate that i am unable to scoop them up and rescue the innocent ones caught up in this mess. i hate that all i can do is pray, because it doesn't seem like enough. i hate that my faith doesn't seem big enough to believe God can restore this family. my heart is broken and yet i know i must persevere, for the sake of my beautiful husband and kids.

as you can see the kids made great choices :)

two wheels!

we are so proud of luke - riding on two wheels for the first time!

pouty lip service

we spent the afternoon at the beach today! wow, it was a gorgeous day. the last few days have been very blaahhh, and i was beginning to think fall was closer than i wanted it to be. however, today was an awesome reminder that summer is still here. the water was even warm enough for mommy to go swimming :) even with all sorts of fun going on lilly still found a need to put on her pouty lip. i'm not sure what she wanted or was mad at, but i love that i got a picture of it!

Birthday Girls!

we celebrated ally and lilly's birthdays together this last saturday. ally turned 6 on the 27th and lilly turned 4 on the 31st. it was a beautiful day full of family, friends and laughter.

when i asked lilly what kind of birthday she wanted, she requested a "baby birthday". she told me, "everyone has to bring their baby to the party, and if they don't have a baby they can bring a baby doll." lilly loves her babies, she plays with them virtually all day long. it was so much fun watching her open all of her new "baby" things.

SURPRISE!!

on july 24th dave turned 30 years old. the kids and i took him to a great dinner where a few of our dear friends met us. then we came home for cake and ice cream where we surprised him with a lot more dear friends and family. thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us. we all had a blast!

bye, bye

after 7 years we are finally saying farewell to this lovely piece of furniture. it is so weird to think that we no longer have a need for a crib. lilly will be four next week and is ready for her "big girl" bed. she is soooo excited! i feel like i say this all the time but, where does the time go?

FIRE...FIRE....FIRE....FIRE.....FIRE....

the song is still ringing in my ears. last night we took the kids to a Chicago Fire Soccer game. they are playing in their new stadium (dave was completely geeked). before the game i asked if they would show me their emotions for the game. as you can see the boys are very excited, lilly isn't quite so sure. after the game we bought the boys their first official soccer jerseys, they both asked if they could sleep in them and still wear them the next day. we compromised and said, "you can sleep with them, not in them." although the fire lost 4 -0 we all had a blast!!

Happy Birthday America!

for almost as many years as i can remember we have celebrated the 4th of july at our families cottage up north. this year was no different than others except that my dad and his wife, suzie, now live there and have made it very, very homey instead of just cottagy. it is wonderful! my brother took all of us tubing, the pic above is lilly's first time. she loved everything but falling off.

caleb turns 7

it is really hard for me to believe that caleb is 7. i know it sounds corny but, where does the time go and how do you make it stop! he is getting so big. he had so much fun playing in the sprinkler, getting his first webkinz, and fishing pole. we are heading up north for the forth of july and he can't wait to go fishing in the lake and catch a "keeper". when i asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted he asked for blueberry pie and a cake in the shape of a 7. he is so proud of his age :)

Let's go to the Zoo!

so, as many of you know we have been in chicago for the last two weeks. dave has been in class at north park and the kids and i have been staying at my in-laws (aka: mimi & papa) in naperville. we have had so much fun seeing old friends, hanging out at the pool and going on excursions! yesterday i took the kids and their best bud nathan to brookfield zoo. when the kids were younger and we lived here we had a membership and came often - however in all those years we never spent an entire day there. we arrived around 10:30am and left at 5pm. we all had a blast!!

a few more pics...

where does the time go...? we have already been back from vacation a month and i am just now putting up a few more pics. we had a blast in florida and feel so blessed to have friends that would allow us to use their condo for a week.

Family Vacations

Considering my last entery included snow - it has been a while since i last updated.... however, i figured there wasn't a better time to update than now. we just got back from our 2nd annual family vacation to florida. i have tons of pictures (i will post more later) however, i thought this one would be an appropriate one considering it is the only one we have as an enitre family!

Sledding Fun

after all the snow we've gotten over the last few weeks we haven't gotten in as much sledding as i would of liked - it has just been too darn cold. however this last monday, the kids were off school and it was a balmy 30 degrees and we had to go out! we had a blast on the sand dunes near our home (a.k.a. sugar bowl).

All products are from the NYC Urban Beat Collection by Trace Industries.

U R B A N B E A T

- Chicago Blues -

this is a layout i did real quick to show one of our fun new paper lines. more to come!

BLIZZARD 07

i have lived in the midwest all my life and can't ever remember a snow storm like this. you know it's bad when church is cancelled!

Trace Industries - CHA SNEAK PEEK!

Here is a little sampling of what we will be premiering at CHA this next week. If you will be going to Anaheim please stop by and say Hi - we will be at booth #5359. I will be uploading more images of our other new stuff later today - so check back!

the christmas dress

lilly and her cousin ally received matching christmas dresses from their grom jennie. we had so much fun watching the girls twirl and show off their dresses on christmas eve. both girls felt so special and looked beautiful! thank you grommie!

especially for grommie....


or anyone else who wants a peek :) mom, i thought you might enjoy seeing a few more pics from the last couple of months. we love you and miss you!

DYLAN LESLIE POHLAD

Welcome to the family! On December 13, 2006 little baby Dylan was born. He was 8 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and as cute as can be. Holding my sweet nephew was such an awesome blessing and privledge.

Annie said labor and delivery was a breeze. One contraction and one push - who is that lucky!! Ally and Logan were loving having a baby to hold. They were both adorable to watch as they interacted with their new baby brother.

SNOW DAY!!!

The day after we got home from our Cruise we found ourselves in a good old Michigan snow storm. School was cancelled and we all had a blast playing in the snow. I must admit it was a little wierd thinking about how we were all playing outside a couple of days earlier in our bathing suits and today we are in snow suits :)