The Squibb 4

Guess what Santa brought?????? A new computer! I will begin blogging as soon as we get back from our trip! Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! See you soon!

Callum the lumberjack says “Happy New Year?”

Sorry!

Hello everyone. I am so very sorry for the lack of blog updates the past two months, holy cow! I thought the iPad ap had solved the problem but blogging his still proven difficult so I am taking a blogging break until I can figure something else out!

Illinois visit: Squibb family gathering

Another tradition, which has come about since our cross country move, is the squibb family summer shindig. Cousins, aunts, uncles, close friends and really, anyone walking by, is welcome to stop on in.
We knew the bounce house was a must after it was such a huge hit last year. This year, Mike went the extra mile and rented horses! Unfortunately a crazy rainy storm blew in and the guy was only able to get one horse out…in the garage. The kids still loved it and thought it was super fun getting wet and running around the rain.

The party was still tons of fun and we were so appreciative of everyone who made the trip to Salem to visit!
Here is uncle Phillip giving all the cousins rides on “the mule”

The bounce house has arrived!

Caught in the act, the adults and their phones…..

Sweet girls, Finley and Hazel

Rain delay

The horses have arrived!

Well at least they got to sit on a horse…

Although we were all quite soaked by the end of the night, we still had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends!

Illinois visit: uncle Dorian! (Technically Arkansas visit)

We left from the zoo in St.Louis and drove over 5 hours to visit uncle Dorian in Fayetteville, AR. I was so glad Patty was willing to come along.
(Uncle Dorian knew no personal space for the duration of our visit.)

We went to the campus and saw Dorian’s name in the senior walk. Callum insisted this leafy stick be in the picture.

Keeping with the natural theme….

Then patty stayed home with the kids one night so Dorian and I could go out for dinner and to the MALL! Nights like this are few and far between. We had to snap a photo to document!

We took a Sunday afternoon drive out to Devil’s Den. It was HOT but the kids had a great time. Obligatory group shots….before we turned into hot messes.

The kids played in one of the streams.

Hazel was the butterfly whisperer. They were flocking to her! It was pretty neat.

Callum did not want to leave

Illinois visit: Cousin lovin’

The kids LOVE their cousins to pieces. We could not get enough time with them, even though we played from sun up to sun down most days.

We rode bikes…a lot. Hazel learned to ride without training wheels!

And of course they spent lots of time in the Barbie jeep

Aunt Kendra made a water blob by using painters plastic, ironing the sides together, and filling it with water. It was like jumping on a huge water bed. The kids had an absolute blast with it.

We also went to the St.Louis Zoo one day. Another fun outing.

More trip pics coming soon!

Illinois trip: Laura and family

My bestie and roommate from college picked us up at the airport when we flew in to st.louis. She lives in New Zealand but just happened to be back for a visit and luckily we were able to spend a day and a half together. Hazel and her boy, Elijah are just a few months apart in age.

The kids played magnificently together, Elijah was a perfect little gentleman.
We read bedtime stories…

Went out for custard, jumped on the funflatables at monkey joes, went to the awesome o’fallon splash pad and park, AND had a picnic in the park with some dear college friends and their kiddos. We crammed a lot in our one full day of togetherness. I was to glad we were able to have that time together!

Such cuties!

Let’s see if this works

First things first let’s catch up a bit. My parent sold their house in Illinois and moved here the end of June! Here is the ginormous moving semi with all of their worldly belongings in tow.

The company only had sent one dude to unload the truck, it was a pretty shady operation I would not recommend elite moving out of Skokie, just an FYI. Dad and my uncle john did a lot of heavy lifting that day….

I made some desperate “please we need a favor calls!” And about an hour and a half in 4 more strapping young men showed up to help, thank heavens!

Ironically enough the truck came from Chicago ridge, where we used to live! Small small world. Mom and dad are storing their belongings on a friend’s property close to us just until we move in September! We bought a home with two seperate living spaces and are going to share one awesome house that I am so stinking excited about and can’t wait to share more soon!

Sorry!

I apologize to everyone who has been anxiously awaiting a blog post! I have had some bad luck with computers lately. Mine bit the dust then I killed phillip’s too. I am a computer murderer. I hate blogging from the iPad but I installed a WordPress app so hopefully I can figure it out and blog about our wonderful trip back to Illinois in the near future!

Overwhelmed

I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to blog about!

Where to begin…. the month of June has been a blur.

We started the month golfing at the Arnold Palmer course at the running Y resort with some friends.

I was nervous as I have only golfed once before in my life and I remember being especially terrible. Apparently no practice makes perfect, not to brag, but my long game was awesome. 🙂

Then the kids were in a friend’s music video, I will share when it is finished!

I participated in a fund raising event for the pregnancy hope center

Then onto Little Sprouts camp. A week long performing arts camp I run through the theater for 5-10 year olds. We had two camps and 43 kids total this year! Crazy!

The day after camp ended I was off to Casey Battern’s wedding in Colorado. We have been friends since elementary school. She is such an incredible person and friend. I am so happy for her and Mike. It was a beautiful wedding and a ton of fun.

The DJ was great both young and old danced the night way,

Casey, Jamie and me

My friend Anne, from Chicago who moved to Denver two years ago, was my date. We had an absolute blast. I also got to catch up with Jamie another HS friend.

Parents and family of the bride and groom shared marriage advice during the ceremony. It was so sweet.

Then as my parents were traveling across the country (moving to Klamath after selling their house in Illinois) they picked me up in Colorado and I drove back with them. We quickly grabbed the kids in Klamath then turned around and drove down to Sacramento to watch Dorian run at the USA track and field championships. He made it into the finals and took 8th overall….8th in the nation, not too shabby for a guy who has been injured for the past two years. We are so proud of him and grateful to have been able to attend!

It was HOT!

Name in lights!
on the inside track

I think this was from his prelim race.

cheering section

He needed some alone time to gather his thoughts.

My bro and me!

Yasmeen even drove down from Redding to watch Dorian race. It is always such a treat to see my BFF for so many years. I still can’t believe we moved across the country ended up so close to her. Just chillin’ in the hotel lobby with uncle Doe Doe.