Party Like A Rockstar!

Mark turned 3 yesterday so we celebrated his birthday with a Rockstar Birthday Party on Saturday. He had a great time seeing family and playing with friends. His favorite present was the Drumset he got from his Grandma and Grandpa J, which I will also post a video of him playing. He actually does very well! The kids also enjoyed playing on the swingset that my parents got Mark for his Birthday as well. He had two guitar cakes. One was a cupcake cake that I got from WalMart and the other was one that my Mother-in-law, Judy, made for him. It was unbelievable how awesome that cake was. Mark loved it and wanted to dig in as soon as he saw it. Overall it was a great day and was mostly a blur to me. All that matters is that he had a great time!

Brookfield Zoo

My mom, Bethany, and I took the three kids to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago on Friday. We met my Mom's friend Marie up there who knows the Zoo well. Marie got us in to see the Butterfly Garden, which was Makenna's favorite thing by far. She also made sure we got into the Children's Zoo, and also to see the Stingray's at Stingray Bay. Mark and Madison tried to pet a Stingray, but never did. However, I had the unfortunate experience of actually touching one. It was the grossest thing ever! Makenna was so fun to watch because she was just in awe at everything. She even loved Mooing at the cow, and actually pointed at the ducks and said, "Duck." The only downfall was she didn't like looking at the Brown Bear and the Polar Bear because all she was focused on was the Ball they were playing with! She just kept saying, "A Ball, A Ball, A Ball!" It was so funny. Although it was a long day, overall the kids had a great time.

Wave Jumpers

Here is a video of Mark and Madison jumping over the waves. They had such a great time!

Beach-Cont...

Here are some pictures of Mark, Madison, and Makenna playing with sand and in the water!

Beach Beauties

Bethany and I took Mark, Madison, and Makenna to West Beach this morning and they had a GREAT time. Before Bethany and I could even get our stuff put down Mark and Madison were running to the water. They both had a blast jumping in the water and running after each other. Makenna was a little unsure at first, but eventually warmed up to playing in the sand. She wasn't too thrilled with being in the water. Her favorite parts were probably watching the birds, helping Madison fill her bucket, and then watching other people throw the football. It was so much fun just watching the three of them!

Daredevil!

Here is a video of Mark climbing across these swinging pods at a park we took the kids to in Portage. I couldn't believe how well he did!

Good Job Micah!

This past Saturday we went to Matthew's Godson, Micah's Tee Ball Game. Mark had a great time watching him and after he ran around all the bases and got back into the dugout Mark ran over to tell him "Good Job!"