Whee!

I don't really KNOW what we have been doing these past few weeks, but whew, we have been busy! I thought I would recap here. First of all let me tell you that we are loving the summer! I have been making peach pies and distributing them around the neighborhood. The mayor's wife says I have a pie ministry going on. :)

Tonight Nick gave the kids Toy Stors 2 to watch while he was at work...they don't look excited or anything do they? Have I mentioned that we l.o.v.e. Toy Story? We basically are consumed. But it is cute so I love it!

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Yesterday we went to Chicago for a free Museum day at the Museum of Science and Industry. Since I am a stay at home mom I am considering it my "job" to snag the best deals for our family and make our money stretch the most that it can. Free days at places are a wonderful way as our kids get to still experience things and saves us a boatload of cash. By going on the free day we saved $40.00...score! Here are some pics from our trip:

We sneak-attacked her with kisses...she looks thrilled, right?

Cal was super excited about the locomotive you could go inside of. Em could have cared less so I stayed out with her but I would have loved to go in it too. Whenever Cal is excited about a train I instantly think of my Grandpa and how much he would have loved taking him to train museums and things. I know my Grandpa must be looking down proudly and someday in heaven I'm sure they'll be checking out trains together :)

There was a Navy exhibit so here is Nick practicing his salute to make sure its smart and snappy like the sign said...in a pink shirt by the way.

Yeah you know you love us in the clown costumes, don't lie ;)

Here they are being cute. Cal has entered the awkward smile phase of life...lets hope its just a phase at least. I think these two are just adorable

All in all we had a wonderful time. We went out to eat for pizza, stopped at Trader Joes (because they suck and refuse to put one in our area, Hmmmph!) and on the way home we stopped at a Candy Factory we had heard about. The kids loved it!

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In other news the other day I came outside to the kids and this is how I found Cal. Now if this doesn't make you laugh then you must not have a soul. Cal ditches his pants all of the time so that was no surprise but the no pants/girls bike helmet was just irresistable...can't wait to show this to a girlfriend down the road, ha!

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And Introducing:

The

New

COUCH!

I'm not excited or anything :)

What do you think and please give me your honest opinion. It has been a little bit of an adjustment because it is quite big. To tell the whole truth it is sticking out a little farther than I would like but that is because the table behind it is too deep. Once we find a new table we like then it will be okay. I just have to keep telling myself that.

For those of you who have never had the "pleasure" of seeing our old couch it was just so gross. We bought it when we first were married. Which was in college. It was denim. That should be enough said :)

Confession time here is that I called Goodwill and THEY weren't going to take it because it was too, well, gross. I held my head in shame and basically gave a sales pitch to the two gentlemen (term being used lightly here) picking the thing up. They took it, I'm embarrassed but denim-couchless.

ALSO....

This was our old grill...isn't it gross? First of all the ignitor doesn't work. We don't even have the button in hopes that it would work. The handle is missing so no your eyes aren't deceiving you that is in fact Nick holding the grill open with a pair of pliers. So a new grill was needed, so....

ta-da! Happy Father's Day and Birthday all rolled into one Brinkmann goodie package. He seems to be a very happy man. We broke the sucker in the other night with little packs of green beans, some fingerling potatoes and t-bone steak. It did a very nice job :)

I think that is it for now. Have a great weekend!