Summer FuN!!!!

Chicago...

We set out a few weeks ago for Chicago on the South Shore Train hoping to spend the day at Shedd Aquarium. For the most part, all went as planned...James enjoyed the train ride (although it was long!) and he enjoyed the animals at Shedd (for about 30 minutes...yep...you read that correctly...but we know James' attention span is short, so we weren't too shocked), ate at McDonald's, fed the ducks, rode the water taxi, skipped a nap, and had some of his favorite people with him for the entire day: Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa Carpenter, and uncle Andrew. It was a really fun, exhausting day! We hope to take James back to the aquarium when he's a little older and when there aren't hundreds of people there.

Here we are on the water taxi...we WALKED to Navy Pier from Shedd (about 4 miles) and it was good exercise, but we opted to take the water taxi back...Thank the Lord because I might have gone into labor... ;)

One of James' favorites parts of the day was feeding the ducks all of his snacks ;) Of course we needed to go to Chicago to do that! ;)

He finally fell asleep about 10 minutes from home. It was sweet. I'm not going to lie...I enjoyed every second of my sleeping "baby."
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Imagination Running WILD

So, we have had the joy of seeing and hearing James' imagination run wild these days...and it is SO much fun. Here is just one of the many pictures I have of James letting his mind run wild...Here is the scenario, so please let yourself imagine with him...

Here he is on his motorcycle (a.k.a. hot wheels) with his helmet (a.k.a. gas mask) on...on his way to work. He has on his work jeans (it was 90 degrees that day) and his work shoes. After work he was going to give plasma and then he said he would be home. Usually he rides with the gas make covering his face and I literally cannot stop laughing. You should see people looking at him as they drive past...PRICELESS! He tells me all about what he does at work all day and that he will be home later. One day I said, "I'm going to miss you after you are at work all day. When are you going to see me?" He said, "I will see you for 2-5 minutes mom..." So precious...

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Keeping Cool in this Heat....

So the last few weeks have been HOT and you all know how much my kiddos LOVE to be outside and how easily I get warm and sweat, so the fact that it was 85 degrees by 10:00 a.m. , I have raging hormones and am carrying about 18 extra pounds has been tough for me. I run through the sprinkler and sit in the kiddie pool (sorry....no pics of that..hee hee). We have been trying to do things that involve allowing me to fully immerse my preggo body in the water. Last week we spent a few hours at the lake with some friends and it was p-e-r-f-e-c-t! Lauren loved it! She just floated in this the entire time! And James enjoyed every second of the water...I was a bit unsure how he'd do, but he loved it. He has told me many times since then that he wants a lake! :) We will get right on that James!

My water babies...

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Last, but not least...my ever growing belly....

Here is a picture of me at 28 weeks! I am getting BIG!

I'm getting to that uncomfortable stage where it's tough to get off the couch quite as easily or bend down quickly and I have found my belly running into things that I "think" I can squeeze through. I haven't been sleeping real well at night either...it is coming quickly....James asks frequently when the baby is going to be here and has been taking care of his "own" baby. One night he stayed up til 11:15 "feeding" the baby. He is going to be such a big help! Right now we are trying to finalize a vehicle... (which I think will end of being a minivan) Yes, laugh at me all of you who know me so well...I said it... a MINIVAN!!!! It's a tough decision....

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I have beautiful pictures of the kiddos that my friend Darcy took, but I am not sure how to get them off of my computer where they are at now and onto my blog, so I will post again soon...PROMISE ...and with that I will update you on my sweet little 19 month old fireball, Lauren.

Don't give up on my blog readers! ;)