A Storybook of Grace

 Let’s see.  Ryan just got back from camp.  He went last Thursday and we picked him up yesterday.  He went with his Salt and Light youth group through our church at the Salvation Army Wonderland Camp in Salem, WI.  He had a blast.  He was so missed!   Jessica has potty trained finally!  The last two have been over 4 years old.  Why?  Oh well.  We are all celebrating lol  Lucas is starting to drink from a straw sock I think we we are going to try to wean him off tube liquids and just use his tube for his cardiac meds.   Natalie is a big girl!  She had her one year appointment and she is doing great.  We moved her to a big girl car seat, too.  We thought she was going to love it, but she doesn’t know how to fall asleep in it so she gets frustrated.  She’s sleeping through the night in her own room and she is slowly weaning from nursing and learning how to drink from a cup.   Sean had his 25th, no wai...

 My mom visited us from California for close to two weeks and we so enjoyed having her here and spending time with her.  She left early this morning and we are missing her already and can’t wait to see her again!  We were fairly busy with going out and about and eating out, as well.  AND of course celebrating Natalie’s FIRST birthday!  So here goes the pictures!   Went to Six Flags yesterday afternoon.  It was fun, except for some major complaints with the theme park.  :(.  Simmons Beach in Kenosha, WI.  We ate dinner at Ashling on the Lough after beach time.  SO delicious! My mama :)  Natalie’s first haircut.  We went to Kid Snips at Hawthorn Mall to celebrate the big milestone.  She did great, until she didn’t lol  Love the face! First birthday outfit! Smash cake time!  She was pretty dainty about it.  Illinois Beach State Park  Natalie’s elephant birthday party  Dinner picnic at the beach...

 Thought I would give the link to my old blog.  I had it for a very long time!   http://alittlepeaceinourheaven.blogspot.com/   I will post again soon!  I’ve got lots of baby’s 1st birthday pictures!  <3

 First of all, thank you to all those who gave their lives for our freedom.  That is the most important thing of the whole long weekend.  I hope everyone was able to stop and remember them and their families.   We had our first overnight trip with some of the kiddos.  We took Hunter, Addison, and Natalie.  We got a hotel room at The Zachary, which is literally right across the street from Wrigley Field.  The hotel was really nice.  We went walking around Wrigleyville Friday night in the cold and rain trying to find a place to eat, which we finally did and let’s just say it was unique!  Lol. We were on the no plan plan and that made me a little uneasy to say the least.  :)  Saturday we were lazy at the hotel until checkout time and then walked around the stadium and then got to our seats for the game.  IT WAS COLD!  I had my winter coat on and gloves!  It was windy and our seats were in the shade.  That was all fi...

 We finally made it to Six Flags for the first time.  My dad had given us season passes December 2019, but because of COVID of course, we couldn’t go.  Until yesterday. We had fun.  It was hot here!  86!  And I was amazed that our oldest four, ages 12, 10, 8, and 7 went on their first roller coasters.  Well, it wasn’t Ryan’s first, but it was for everyone else.  They were so brave!  And they had fun.  The park could use some TLC around the property, but the rides seemed to be in really good shape.  Thankfully!  It was a pretty long day and we all crashed last night.  Lucas, who only really eats puréed foods that we spoon feed him and who doesn’t take any liquids by mouth, and doesn’t really care for food, out of nowhere, started grabbing fries yesterday and sticking them in his mouth!  He does not put food in his mouth, he rarely even touches food.  He is usually scared by it.  I don’t think he actually ate ...

 Hello there and happy Monday!  Hope you had a great weekend.   Ryan did his 3 hour oral challenge test at the allergist’s office on Thursday.  We cooked up some shrimp and bagged a shell and took him in, where he ate some shrimp and had the shell rubbed all over his arm and then they waited for 3 hours to see if anything would happen.  And nothing did!  He is so excited to be eating shrimp again.   Friday Sean and I and the four girls went Sam’s shopping.  We have started to leave the boys a little bit now since Ryan is older and can babysit now.  They have been doing great with that extra responsibility/ freedom.  Sean felt totally outnumbered taking all the girls and me to the store!  HA!  Saturday Sean and Ryan went to a church BBQ after my therapist session.  Then it was off to Dunkin’ for a ginormous iced coffee with mocha and a drive around town.  We also stopped at a park in Wadsworth or maybe it was Waukegan....

 The kiddos and my husband helped me to feel special for Mother’s Day.  We went to church and had a dedication for 7 of our children.  Dedications are simply giving children back to God, but also pronouncing that we will do our best to raise them to know and love God.  The church family in turn says that they will be there to help and support us on this journey.  It was really sweet.  The pastor read verses we picked out that our meaningful to our family and then prayed over each child.  Ryan was the only one to not get dedicated because we did that with him already when he was a baby and we lived in Florida.  We had not done the rest because our last church family in TN didn’t really do dedications.  They may have done one that I can recall, but that’s about it.   Hailey bought me a dozen roses and I got both store bought and handmade cards.  Sean bought me a Dooney and Burke purse and an Orca cup.  Ryan bought me the game of ...