Pictures of the Week -- Week 29

I love braiding Mattea's hair and thinking of new, fun things to do with it. She is extremely patient and loves to be surprised at what I come up with. I watched a YouTube video on how to do fish braids because I think they look so cool. I never realized how simple it is to do!

After a LOT of begging and negotiating, Jeff and I decided to let Josh play tackle football this year. We picked up his helmet and shoulder pads at Play It Again Sports. He put all of his gear on when we got home and Jeff had him running plays. He can't wait for football season to start!

Elise babysat the kids again this summer and she kept them pretty busy. They got out the car wash stuff to wash my Jeep and pretty soon she had lots of extra helpers!

Mattea drew a picture of EVERY SINGLE KID in her class. She loves to draw and while I might be biased, I think she is quite talented!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 28

Josh's baseball team played in the World Series championship. His team had an amazing season and the boys were really excited to play this final game. It was a great experience for them since each player on the team was announced, the National Anthem was sung and there was an announcer for the entire game. Although, the Spartans lost, they held their heads high and were proud of their great season!

We ordered "EduKits" online (packaged school supplies) instead of fighting the crowds at Target. It's a genius idea really and I'm SO glad our elementary school lets us take advantage of it. Mattea was beyond excited when her box showed up. Josh... not so much!

Mattea loves bugs. I'm so curious if this will change as she gets older. She found this ladybug and had so much fun letting it walk around on her finger. I love the look of fascination on her face.

Pictures of the Week -- Week 27

Long post alert!!! Consider yourself warned.

We were SO excited for Julie, Kevin and Trae to come for a visit. We had a great time while they were here... hanging out at the pool, playing cards and celebrating Indy's 14th birthday!!!



After cooking up some amazing steaks for a 4th of July linner/dunch (lunch/dinner... call it what you want), Jeff turned off the grill and cleaned it. While we were finishing cleaning up the kitchen, a guardian angel rang our doorbell to tell us that smoke was coming up from behind our house. Jeff ran out the patio door to find the grill engulfed in flames that were shooting up the back of our house. I was on his heels and he immediately told me to call 911. Although, Jeff & Kevin were able to put the fire out with our fire extinguisher, the fire rescue team showed up to ensure there were no smoldering fires in the grill or under our siding. They also took a look at Jeff's hand that was burned when he pulled the grill away from the house to turn off the natural gas line. Thank goodness he thought of that or who knows what might have happened. Julie did a great job herding the kids and dogs away from the backyard. It was a scary situation, but we are so glad that the damage was relatively minor.






I took Alex to the airport this week to fly back to the Midwest for an extended visit with "the grands" as he calls them (that would be Grandma & Grandpa to the rest of us). I was a bit nervous about him flying solo, but he seemed to take it all in stride. Grandma Judie & Grandpa Bob met him at the gate in Milwaukee, WI and all went well. They spent a night at a hotel and then drove to St. Charles, IL to visit with the North Aurora Harron's, Aunt Jenny & Tyler and the Hawkins family. It was a great start to his trip! He is having SO much fun!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 26

Mattea & I had a great time on her end-of-year field trip to the farm. She rode ponies, walked a llama, fed horses and had a picnic lunch. What a great way to spend the day!!!


Alex found it quite funny that Indy was resting his head on Cody's chicken, so he had to snap a picture!


We all attended Mattea's kindergarten graduation. We are so proud of her!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 25

After much begging and constant nagging, I made an appointment for Josh to have an eye exam. We decided to also let Josh try contacts since he is such an active boy and would definitely benefit from not having to wear his glasses all the time. The eye doctor was amazing and after he finished the exam, he popped contacts into Josh's eyes and told him if he could take them out and put them back in by himself (after watching the training video), he could wear them home. Piece of cake! Josh excitedly watched the training video and was anxious to prove to the doctor that he was more than ready to be responsible for contacts. He was a pro right from the start and hasn't looked back since. His first baseball game without contacts was very memorable! We're so happy for Joshie!



The kids decided to do a lemonade stand. They did pretty well, too... they made about $18.00. They were quite surprised that one person came up to their stand, gave them $5.00 and didn't even want any lemonade.


Mattea talked me into buying her these sparkly high tops. She has quite a shoe fetish (thanks, Aunt Julie!), but the shoes were too darn cute and I just couldn't say no!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 24

WARNING: This post is long because I have a lot to say about my super awesome 12 year old son!

On June 12, 2011, Alexander Robert Dolan turned 12. It was a golden birthday for sure! At 5:30pm, his friends showed up for pizza, drinks and his favorite Strawberry Pretzel salad. The kids sat out in the yard and ate, which was GREAT for me... no mess in my house! As they were finishing their pizza, the Game Truck showed up. It was so cool to see them all stand up and start screaming in excitement!



The "Game Coach" had me go in and check out the Game Truck first. I took one peek inside and then stuck my head back out and yelled to the kids "This is totally awesome"! I know, I'm just mean. I knew they were going crazy with anticipation and just wanted to get in the truck and start gaming, but I couldn't resist teasing them!!! Once I approved the video games the kids could play, we let them on the truck. Inside the truck is a row of couches and four flat screen TVs on the wall. The TVs are hooked up to multiple gaming systems. Here's an inside look of this pimped out trailer...


Next on the agenda was an outdoor movie. By the time the Game Truck left, it was 8pm and it wasn't quite dark. So, we improvised and had a huge Silly String fight and then did snaps & sparklers.


While the kids were goofing around, I set out a huge spread of snacks and Jeff & our neighbor, Kevin, set up the movie screen and projector. The rest of the neighbors showed up for the movie and we had a pretty huge crowd. We sang Happy Birthday to Alex and then watched the Green Hornet.


After the movie, the boys stayed for a sleepover, Alex opened his gifts (lots of GameStop gift cards... they know him well!) and they got in some more gaming time. It was a fabulous birthday party for Alex and he was definitely feelin' the love! He was very grateful that we made a big deal out of his "golden" birthday.

Alex is a remarkable young man and I'm delighted and proud to be his Mom.

Happy 12th Birthday, Alex!!!

Pictures of the Week -- Week 23

Every night, Cody sleeps in Alex's room and that dog sure loves to be comfortable when he sleeps! Jeff caught him totally hogging all of Alex's pillows!!!


Field Day was rescheduled for Mattea's class due to lightning. This time around, they had great weather and all the kids had such a fun time.


Mattea attended her friend Jordan's birthday party at Jungle Quest. It was a really great place for kids to burn off energy.