Definition of privilege

Me: Watching TV is a privilege - do you remember what that means?
Jackson: Yes. Don't mess up!

The boys' first baseball game

We can't wait to take the boys to a White Sox game, but the DuPage Hounds (a farm league team) offered 100 percent of any tickets sold to benefit Brett so it was twice as special. We all had a great time and there was so much to keep the kids entertained. Tate and I are baseball people and it was so fun to share it with the boys.

One of the highlights was a young boy named Ian. He was a guest through my sister Amy. He caught a foul ball and just as he was leaving brought the ball over to Brett and said "I wanted the little boy to have it." A wonderful remembrance from a super fun day!

Grammy, Poppy, Sophie, Jackson, Caroline, Peyton and Brett waiting for the game to start.

(Below) Peyton and Jackson get their gloves ready for any foul balls.

Brett enjoyed some popcorn.

 Pictures with the mascots. The "guy" on the right is promoting some restaurant and the Hound is named Page - don't you love it?

Playing baseball!

Jackson

The kids got to run the bases after the game and the boys could not wait to slide into home. Tate stopped to talk to one of the players. Peyton stopped to hang out too - they were in awe of the players and even high fixed a few of the guys from the visiting team!

Fourth of July

The boys made it through the fireworks, but next year there will need to be a nap!

Here are some photos from our fun celebration:

The boys decorated for our cook out!

Brett was all smiles to have Grandma and Granddad over.

 The neighborhood parade - becoming a favorite tradition.

 Water balloon fight!!!! It was over 100 degrees so I don't think anyone minded getting soaked.

Jackson, Sophie and Rhonda waiting for the fireworks to start!

 Auntie Kerry and Brett waving their glow flag from Aunt Mo & Uncle David.

Summer, so far

We are really enjoying our summer. We've had great warm weather and lots of fun.

I can't seem to keep up with blogging when it's so nice outside so I thought I would do a highlights so far.

Here is Brett on his last day of school. He loves school but was ready to kick back a bit - officially on summer break:

Last year we started a new tradition of starting our first day of no school with a visit to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. The boys LOVE to read and it's always been one of my favorite parts of summer. We also went to a little local book store and they each picked out a summer read and we capped it off with a walk over to a local ice cream shop. The boys are very excited about summer reading and have already earned a sheet of stickers and a free book from our library!
We seriously have the best library. The summer reading program theme is Pizzeria Read: Carry out a good book. They set up a corner of the library like a pizzeria:

I love to garden and the boys helped me dig and till the soil and Jackson "helped" me shop for a few supplies:

Hanging out at Grandma and Granddads for Father's Day was so much fun. Here are some of my favorite guys:

The boys all love to swim. They spend a lot of time in the small pool in our yard as well as at grandma and granddad's.

Auntie Kerry has a big pool in her yard and this summer we all pitched in to help get it opened and ready to go. We have been in it a bunch and have all gone there after church the last few Sundays for Family Fun Day and just had such a great time relaxing, swimming, eating and hanging out together.

The boys' swim skills have really advanced with the additional pool time!

The boys have been waiting all year for our town's summer fest. We went last week and they had a great time. Peyton had swimmers ear and started to melt down a bit, but once he got fest food he was feeling much better. Uncle David and Aunt Maureen met us there and joined the boys on some of the rides, which made it even more special.

We have had the opportunity to get together with several friends for play dates, which are increasingly more difficult to plan with preschool thrown into the mix. So we are spending summer catching up with friends. Last week our triplet friends invited us over and then took us to a train restaurant to celebrate our 4th birthdays (birthdays were in March and May, but who doesn't love stretching the celebrations out?! Thanks S Family!) Me and the other mom sat at the end of the counter and talked - all the boys were so well behaved and are becoming so self sufficient we actually had a conversation - what a treat!!!

True Peace

A few weeks ago while getting lunch ready for the boys Jackson said: "Mommy, do you know true peace?"
I stopped in my tracks and looked at his earnest face. I thought for a minute and told him "I've known it in moments throughout my life, but don't experience it on a regular basis."
He nodded and said "OK well, I'll show you True Peace."
This is what he showed me:

It's a cheer they learned at Vacation Bible School. The theme was SonRise National Park and they were exploring True Hope, True Peace and True Love.

This was the first year we sent the boys to Vacation Bible School. They had a blast! They go to Sunday School, but this was super high energy and I was so impressed with how much they retained.
At the end of VBS they sent each family home with a CD of the songs they had learned and we have listened to it NON STOP for more than a week now.
This was the first morning after getting the CD - the boys asked if I would wake them up with the VBS CD so that would be the first thing they heard. They showed me some of their moves.

One of the biggest blessings for our family was Brett's buddy. We asked a church family if any of their children would be interested in being Brett's buddy during VBS and one of their sons jumped at the chance. He is a middle school student and so amazing with Brett and so loving and each time I picked up the boys another mom asked me "Who is that boy?"They were so impressed by him. His name is Frankie and you just mention his name to Brett and he lights up. We all adore Frankie. It was so awesome to have him there enjoying the experience with Brett and such a blessing to have such an amazing role model for our boys.
Here are a few pictures a friend shared of Frankie and Brett enjoying VBS together.