Ron + Silvia {rehearsal}

My brother and his stunning wife were married on Sunday! But before we could have the real party, we had to do a run-through.

We started with church practice at St. Catherine's and then headed over for a delicious dinner with amazing food and drinks at Joseph's in Mt. Greenwood. The bride & groom gifted their wedding party with custom made Vans for the guys and dramatic Stella + Dot necklace's for the ladies.

Enjoy the pics!

Ron + Silvia {rehearsal}

First Day/Last Day

We are enjoying our summer immensely, but before we know it, it's going to be time to head back to school. I still have tons of pics to share from Lola's end-of-the year picnic, and one of these days I'll have time enough to finish editing them! But for now, a quick look back at just how much they change in one short year!

With Mrs. Carrie, her first teacher. 

We loved Mrs. Carrie and were sad to see her go at Christmas break, but we were thrilled with Ms. Kelly, her awesome replacement. I feel like we sent a baby to Nursery school and picked up a little girl at the end :)

Grocery Shopping

My little cuties, helping Mommy grocery shop at Walt's. They love when I take the turns Mario Andretti-style. 

Independence Day

Hope everyone had a great 4th! We had a blast and somehow managed not to melt, despite being outside for a good portion of the day. Our friends, the Noonan family, had a BBQ at their house right after the Mokena parade. We sweated it out for about an hour at the parade before locking ourselves in the comforts of their air-conditioning. The kids passed out from the heat and fun play as soon as we got in the car.

In the early evening, we headed over to Mimi & Papa's for some water fun--sprinkler in their yard and swimming in the neighbor's pool, before a dinner of grilled beef tenderloin and fireworks compliments of the Village of Orland Park.

Enjoy the pics :)

Meeting Baby Garrett!

Our good friends, the Stine family, welcomed their 3rd beautiful child in June...Garrett Louis! We had a wonderful and relaxing hangout on Sunday at their new home in the city. Holding baby Garrett was sooooo wonderful. He is a perfectly precious little peanut. He fits right into their awesome little family and we couldn't be more thrilled for them. The story of Garrett's arrival is so awesome--Tracy went into labor pretty quickly and Chris had to pull over to ask a cop for a police escort to the hospital because traffic was so bad. A few more delayed minutes and he could have been born on Michigan Ave!

Lola was so into the baby...

 He was really alert towards the end of our visit and I just had to snap a pic of his sweet angel face!

 Big sister Ryann took it upon herself to feed her baby, just like Mommy does. Just adorable!

4th of July

Before we headed out to the parade and a BBQ with our friends this morning, I wanted to snap a few pics of the kids before they melted (literally) into a puddle of sweat. Good Lord, the temps in Chicago are brutal this 4th. 

We had planned to take them to downtown Frankfort to capture them this morning but decided to just snap a few on our back property last minute. Lola is such a little girl, as you can see from the pics...less than a month shy of FOUR! And our 19-month old beautiful boy is well...all BOY! We are so proud of his arm already. Just look at it!

66

66 years ago today, my grandmother, Rose Mary Mirocha, married Edmund McCormick...the grandfather I never got to meet. He is where my Irish comes from. Mom just sent this picture over, and while I thought I've seen all my old family pics, my eyes have never crossed this one. Amazing to think that if their union never happened, I wouldn't be here.

I haven't seen many pictures of him in my life. They divorced when my mother was only 2 and he passed when my mom was in her early 20s. But it's amazing to look at him and know he is very much a part of me.

Our Little Archer

Last week, Nonna + Papa sent Lola a special card in the mail for all her good work in school this year (Straight "A's"). She, Daddy + Johnny took her special gift straight to the Disney store, for something Brave-themed, of course. Never in our wildest dreams did we think she'd get her hot little hands on the super hard-to-find archery set (which is selling for double retail price on eBay!)

Daddy spent Saturday afternoon during Johnny's nap explaining the fundamentals of the sport. Even taught her how to say "I am Merida of Dunbroch and I'll be shooting for my own hand!" in a perfect Scottish accent. Ha!

Like everything, she picked it up lightening quick and is becoming quite proficient. I have TONS of suction cup marks all over my sliding glass door...and I love it. We cannot wait to watch Archery in this year's olympics.

 Daddy as Mor'du. Such a good sport.

Her handiwork. 

And finally, some raw video footage. Not the best quality, but watch it to the end. It's worth it! Hitting the target never gets old.

Foo Fighters @ Summerfest 2012

Yesterday afternoon, John & I headed up to Milwaukee to catch the Foo Fighter's concerts at Summerfest. Huge thanks to Mom who hung out with the kids from Noon---until we got home at 2:30 am. You can read a review of the show HERE--something I love to do after a concert we attend. 

We have been to many a Foo Fighters show together. Last year, John & Ren got to catch their Lollapooloza show from the stage--and even with that once-in-a-lifetime experience, according to John, this show was "epic". No argument from me. We rocked out for a good 2.5 hours. Dave promised they'd play until they couldn't play anymore. And play they did.

Their catalog of music spans 20+ years and is quite expansive. They opened with "One by One" and closed with "Everlong". Countless favorites were sprinkled in between, as well as samplings of The Police, Cheap Trick and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

We are utterly exhausted today, but it was well worth it. One for the books.

John's shirt of choice for the evening...

 A stop at Kopp's before the show for an insane burger, fries and custard. A Milwaukee must.

 Entrance to Summerfest.

We look calm now. We looked like teenagers jamming once the sun went down and the show started. The crowd was amazing. Such a mix of people, with one common denominator.

 Stole this awesome pic from the Summerfest site.

Everlong, the finale. View from our bleacher seats. Pretty sure Kenosha heard them last night.

And finally, the song Dave said he was most proud of in his life, which just so happens to be on our Saturday morning kitchen family playlist. The song he said he'll "take to his f-ing grave"...There is no better stage master. (And we just have to laugh and smile with pride--as we play this on YouTube, Lola is signing along, word for word. I grew up listening to my parent's music. Our kids will grow up listenting to ours.)

Summer Hang-outs

We may not have a backyard of our own, but when it comes to outdoor space, Mimi & Papa's can't be beat. And, conincidently, we get to use it to entertain our friends whenever we want. It's on a 1/4 acre wooded lot, with tons of shade from the mature trees and grass for the kids to run in. We put the pool, sprinkler, water table and bouncy out and the kids have a blast! It's the next best thing to having our own. We are very lucky!

We didn't get to see much of Preston this year because of our opposite school schedules :( but we are making up for lost time and so glad to see our best bud on a more regular basis :)

Here's an album of a bunch of pics Tiff snapped:

Summer Hang-outs

Tiff brought Popsciles. They had 3--each. 

How is this BEAUTIFUL boy of ours 19 months old already?! His new thing is to throw balls...and hard. Out of nowhere today while cleaning up I got pelted with a foam baseball that actually startled me and I said "Ouch!"...I looked up and he was grinning and laughing. I had to smile, too. An arm like Daddy...