Courtney's Job

Harry and the big boys are at camp and high adventure this week. So one night Courtney called from her job and said no one was at the pool and that I could bring the little kids over for a swim. They were so excited. The water was really warm but the air was a little chilly. It was the perfect end to a crazy day. Dan said on the way home that Courtney is a "Nice" Lifeguard. He has divided all Lifeguards into two categories: Mean or Nice. He doesn't like them to blow their whistles. He thinks it's not nice. We are all glad Courtney made it into the "Nice" category:)

Dan's 6th Birthday

Earlier in the month we celebrated Dan's birthday. He is so easy to please. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Go to the beach with my best friend, Jack". Unfortunately the weather has been cold here in Chicago, today was the first day that was beach worthy. So we made all his dreams come true today:)

My Little Helpers

I love Summer! I feel like Summer is a time to pull everyone in and regroup and recharge. The little ones always love to help with the smallest tasks.

Cousins in the Garden

Amy's crew came to visit last weekend. As always the kiddos have a GREAT time together.

Courtney Lifeguarding stories

Courtney has had some fun with her first job, as a lifeguard for a nearby pool. It's a small pool, and she is usually the only lifeguard- some highlights so far:

1) The first two days on the job nobody showed up to the pool, so she was bored
2) She had to threaten some people that she would call her manager because they wouldn't leave when the pool closed
3) Some people were complaining because someone had been smoking in the pool restroom
4) A kid was struggling to stay afloat in the water, and Courtney helped him to get to the side by reaching with her red floatation device

Big birthday for Hal

Hal is 15 years old now! He had an exciting birthday yesterday-- he and I ran in the Soldier Field 10 mile race, and Hal was pretty quick on the first 9 miles, but at the 9 mile marker the medics grabbed him and put him in a big tub of ice water for heat exhaustion and dehydration. He got to spend a few hours in nearby Mercy Hospital.

Afterwards, we had some of Teresa's famous strawberry/spongecake / whipped cream / pudding cake to celebrate Hal's birthday. Yum! It went pretty fast. Hal played his new video game, Portal 2, which looks kind of confusing to me. He also got some new clothes.

The whole family went to see the new Pirates of the Carribean "On Stranger Tides" movie last night, as part of Hal's birthday request. Lots of pirates and swordfights in that movie, by the way.

When we got home, we had Drumsticks and Hal worked on his talk for today on repentance. A pretty big day for Hal.

Courtney had her first real day of work yesterday working as a lifeguard at a nearby pool. She was texting me about how Hal was doing in the hospital, and was very bored because not a single person came to the pool all day. Maybe not so exciting being a lifeguard at times, I guess.

Allie's Spring Vocal Concert

Spring is the time of school concerts. Allie has the best vocal teacher, Mr Nagle. His concerts are always entertaining. We've lived in a lot of school districts and this is not always the case when it comes to concerts. We are lucky and blessed. My favorite thing is that Allie gets to do all of these concerts with her bosom buddy(they just read Anne of Green Gables together) that lives right down the street.