Trip to the Library

Kyrie went to the library this afternoon with Amy and her mom and was nice enough to bring home books for everyone.  Declan, especially, was thrilled with all of the truck books she picked out for him, and Lari greatly enjoyed the fairy books Kyrie chose for her.  They spread them all out on the family room floor and had a big book party, swapping one another's books and checking out the pictures.  No real reading happened, but at least they were having fun with books!

Pretty in Pink

In Declan's defense, the girls saw me laughing and taking pictures of Declan in my heels yesterday and thought it would be funny to dress him up today.  Of course, he didn't seem to mind it, but I just want to make it clear that it wasn't his doing.

Heels

Ummmm..so, when you're two apparently it is pretty cute to put on your Mommy's heels and parade them around the house.  We hope this isn't a sign of things to come, but if it were, Declan we love you just the way you are.

St. Dom's Festival

Summer is for festivals, right?  We attended our second this evening and brought neighbor, Delaney, with us.  The kids enjoyed a few rides, and especially liked the fun house again.  It was a very hot evening, though, and relief came in the form of slushies and watermelon. 

 Declan was hilarious as he ate this entire piece all himself.

The Final Movie

As you may be aware, I am the teensiest little bit obsessed with Harry Potter...okay, that may be the understatement of the decade.  I am quite the fan.  You may also know that today, July 15, 2011 was the day the final movie came out - "Deathly Hallows Part 2".  I have to admit - I have actually already seen the movie.  How?!  Well, I went to the Midnight showing, of course.  For the first time since I can remember I actually kind of liked this film.  It almost stuck to the book and I loved that they used several of the more memorable quotes from the book in this film.  In general, I have not loved any of the movie versions of the books, but I may have liked this one better than the rest.

Regardless, whether I liked it or not, I still planned to see it twice - the Midnight showing and then the 7pm showing, both with my Book Club girlfriends.  As there is always quite the line for seats, we arrived early for the 7pm showing (despite purchasing our tickets a week ago) and I brought Kyrie with me so that she could do some fan watching.  I am not sure if I have blogged, yet, that I let Kyrie read the first book ("Sorcerer's Stone") a few months ago.  Kyrie is now quite the fan as well and was thrilled that I was letting her come people-watch in the theatre before the movie (though, she was certainly NOT allowed to come and see the movie with me).  We were a bit disappointed that most people came in their muggle gear, but my good friend Steph had her Ravenclaw shirt on, so we decided to get a photo of Kyrie with her before Kyrie was picked up by Matt and siblings to head home for bedtime.  (Sorry about the smudge on the camera lens.  Bummer.)

Pile-Up

Declan, Kyrie, Amy, and Breanna all piled up in the family room.

Lemonade Stand

Kyrie and Breanna got to go to Amy's this afternoon where they held a lemonade stand.  Sue sent me this photo saying they had a lot of fun and even split the quarters they "earned" amongst themselves.  Kyrie sure is blessed to have such wonderful friends!

T-ball Trophies

Lari received her first ever trophy this evening for playing in the Elm Grove Lutheran T-ball League.  She had a lot of fun, and even figured out which way to run on the bases after hitting the ball.  If only we had figured out earlier that she thought she was supposed to hit the tee instead of the ball, it would've been a much better season!

Da Man

I swear this was in no way coached and/or prompted.

Me:  You the man, Declan.
Declan:  No.  You the man, Mommy.

Berrall Pool's Open

Good weather is finally here, and with it the ability to go swimming at the Berrall Pool. New this year was the addition of water-squirters (for lack of a better name) to the pool. The kids think it is a blast to try and get anyone within the pool as well as without, and when Pop-Pop turned on the hose for Declan to retaliate, I thought I might die of laughter. He really got his revenge! And, no one could get that hose away from him!

This may go down as one of my favorite photos of the summer!

Shere Kons

This letter was sent today to our closest friends and family, but we would like to share it with you as well.

Hi all --

We are both excited and nervous to announce that we are expecting to welcome another addition to our family sometime around January 20th of 2012. "Shere Kons" is now 12 weeks along and appears to be doing well. We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and were relieved to see a healthy baby with a strong heartbeat (see attached photo).

Some of you may not be aware that we experienced a loss in February and were very heartbroken -- so much so, that we almost decided not to try again. But, after too much thinking we just felt in our hearts that we were not going to feel good again unless we tried again. So, here we are, and so far all is well.

Kelly is feeling pretty good and can't wait to tell Kyrie, Lariska, and Declan the exciting news tomorrow morning. Kyrie has, of late, mysteriously been saying that we should have another baby and even said she might change some diapers the next time around. Ha! We won't hold our breath.

We would appreciate your prayers and support and are looking forward to finding out boy or girl hopefully sometime in September.

Lots of love,
Matt & Kelly and family

P.S. You may remember Kyrie was "Chaka Khan", Lariska was "Kubla Khan", Declan was "Genghis Khan" and so finally we have "Shere Khan" (or Shere Kons) from The Jungle Book - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shere_Khan

P.P.S. In the photo, the baby's head is on the right and there are some feet on the left - which was amazing to see, since the ultrasound was at 8.5 weeks and the feet do not tend to protrude so much from the body, so they don't usually show up so well on that early of an ultrasound.

More T-Ball

Happy 4th of July!

The problem with Independence Day is that it involves all kinds of loud noises.  The types of loud noises that Kyrie absolutely hates.  We made it through the parade without too much trouble...although, I have to say, I am not sure I will ever take Kyrie to a parade again.  "Not too much trouble" involved me covering Kyrie's ears very tightly for almost the first half of the parade, very uncomfortably I might add as she basically sat on top of me - I was practically pinned to the grass.  But, the real trouble came in when we attended the Ice Cream Social after the parade and Kyrie noticed there was going to be a gun salute.  She failed to tell any of the rest of us what she saw and we were all too busy trying to sort out our ice cream to notice...until the full-on panic attack that ensued for what we thought was no apparent reason...until we heard the gun shots.  Then, I booked Kyrie out of there, but in my haste I ditched Matt, Declan and Lari with the backpack holding my telephone.  Being separated in a crowd is not the end of the world, but on the other hand, Kyrie got her issues from somewhere (eh em...Matt), and I wasn't sure just exactly what Matt was going to do, since he rarely does the expected thing (for example, follow me or simply meet me at the car).  Needless to say, it was a mess of me trying to get Kyrie to stay put in a place I felt she was safe by herself while I tried to find Matt and the other kids so we could all get home together.  Seriously, never again.  Kyrie will be locked in a room for the entire Fourth of July next year.

Fireworks?  Ha!  I haven't seen those in over seven years.  Don't even say that word around Kyrie unless you want to witness one of her panic attacks.  And, if you test this, I promise you, I will walk away and leave you with her to calm her down...and good luck to you then, I say.

Regardless, the rest of us really enjoyed the parade and almost had fun at the Ice Cream Social.