Here are all the kids together. You recognize my 3 sillyheads. But, that's their oldest Trevor in the back and Ty in the front by Livie. Trevor, believe it or not, is actually 6 months YOUNGER than Madie. You'd never guess it to look at him though. He's so tall!! I can't get over how tall he is every time we see him. He's in 1st grade and is up to my chin. Isn't that wild?!! Both boys are absolute sweeties and I just have the best time with them. We played a lot of Wii when we were there. Pete played Mariokart and unlocked new people and carts for them, while I played with Ty and opened up some new levels on Lego Star Wars. :-)
Trevor's been taking piano lessons and is doing SUCH a good job! I can't believe that he's already playing with two hands. He played several melodies and even threw in a little Darth Vadar theme song for us. ;-) It was really neat!
When it came time for bed, we put Livie in her sleeping bag in Ty's room, since they are just best buddies. Livie says Tyson is her "best friend". :-) Ty didn't want to be all the way in his bed, so he snuggled in her sleeping bag with her and read her some stories. It was adorable! Eventually we had to move them into different rooms, because they were a little restless, but that only lasted while they slept. When they were awake, they were together. You'd hear Livie calling from the other room "Tyyyyyssssoonnnn!" She wanted his full and undivided attention. ;-)
Madie and Noah slept in their sleeping bags in Trevor's room. They read some books, then we shut out the lights. We were downstairs chatting and we could hear the giggling from upstairs. Noah being the main culprit. :-) Pete went up and did a little "go to sleep!" threatening, but it didn't work much. Jill finally laid down with them and they eventually fell asleep around like 9:30. Not too bad.
The next day was a nice, leisurely morning, but after lunch we headed to Woodfield Mall. It's like the biggest mall in IL and it's literally down the street. It was PACKED there though! Couldn't believe that many people decided to drive through the rain to get there, but guess they all had the same idea we did. We stopped first at the Rain Forest Cafe. Adam's nephew Brendan had sent this little paper guy named Stanley for them to take on adventures and photograph for his class, then they send it back a week later. So, they took pictures of Stanley by this alligator in the picture above and all over the mall. Wish I had taken some pictures too, because it was so funny! The kids LOVED seeing the alligator too. It opened it's mouth and growled. It was cool!
They also had these tall aquarium things that had really cool and BIG fish in them. All the kids were fascinated with it.
The main reason we headed to the mall yesterday was for the kids to use their Build-a-Bear gift card that they got from Jill and Adam for their birthdays. We had never been to a build-a-bear store, so they were super-excited! First they picked out their animals. Livie picked a frog that she aptly named "Dinosaur Frog". :-)
Noah picked out a black bear, since black is his favorite color. He said the bear has no name. Just "Bear". Makes sense.
Madie picked out a puppy. She's still deciding what to name her.
Then they had to get them stuffed. The question was "do you want it soft, medium, or hard?". Noah isn't one to make decisions lightly, so he had to really mull over this .... as the line behind him was growing!! So, we kind of helped push him along to decide and he decided that medium was too his liking. Then yet another question, after he picked the heart to put inside the bear, she asked him to make a wish. Oh man! A wish?!! I could hear the Jeopardy song playing in the backround while he decided. Again, much thinking went into this request. FINALLY he made his wish, got it stuffed, and was able to take his wonderful bear with him.
Livie was next. I thought we'd have a repeat of the question dilemma, but she knew exactly what she wanted - a soft frog and a wish for dinosaurs. :-) Here she's putting the heart inside.
Madie also knew what she wanted, so she got through very quickly as well.
Then we were off to the showers. Noah brushed his bear and showered him with the air fountains. "Bear" was ready to go! He was off to find an outfit. He opted to NOT get an outfit though. He found a reall cool army tent and he knew immediantely that's what he wanted.
Here Livie is washing her frog with Ty's help. He helped her push the air button thing on the floor, since she didn't seem to want to stand on it for more than a second at a time. She then went and bought a glittery frog shirt with matching glittery pink flip-flops. Both Jill and I agree that they should make the same clothes/outfits for the kids to wear too. It would be so fun to have them match - yes, MATCH Michelle. ;-)
Later a giant Bunny came and met the kids. I tried getting all their pictures with the bunny, but keeping track of the 5 kids wasn't easy while trying to pick out outfits and take pictures and all that. So, here's Livie, looking a little sneaky. Don't know why when you say "Smile!" they choose to look at some invisible thing on the side of the room and not actually AT the camera. But, that's what my kids do every single time!
Here they are with their pets, inside their box homes. Madie ended up picking out a really cute dress with a matching bow for her dog. They were all so thrilled and thankful to Aunt Jill and Uncle Adam for such a great gift!! The experience alone was super! Trevor and Ty opted not to get anything for their bears and went next door to the Build-a-Car shop and get stickers and jet engines for their cars instead. Pretty cool!
While Jill was buying the boys' car parts, she sent us all down a few stores to the Lego store. I told Adam this mall is like an amusement park for my kids. All they get is Walmart in Ottawa, so the Lego Store and Build-a-Bear store is just awesome for them. :-) Here Trevor and Madie are looking at the different projects that have been built and are on display.
Here Trevor, Madie, Livie, and Ty are looking at the Star Wars Legos. Noah's there too, he's just behind Madie. We got them each a little something at the Lego store as well, then headed down for ice cream. After that they were tired and ready to go home to play with their treasures. Jill and I helped them get out to the van, then we left and did a little shopping of our own. Got to go to Costco for the first time and boy was it awesome! So much fun! It was just a short overnight visit, but we packed in a lot of fun and can't wait to get up there again to hang out and enjoy each other. Especially our fantastic nephews that are just about the best boys around! We love you guys and thank you for letting us come up and play with you. :-)
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