A Whole Bunch of Stuff

This is going to be a long post since I don't post often enough and trying to catch up on alot.  Its hard to believe considering it is only 44 degrees today, but at the end of April we had a beautiful 80 degree Sunday and decided to take the kids to the city for the day. Here are a few pictures from that day.

At Millenium Park

At North Ave Beach

Then Easter came along and it was still a nice day (high 60's low 70's) so we had an Easter egg hunt in the yard for all the cousins.

My girlfriend had a baby girl in April and asked me to bring my camera to take pictures on the day our other friend and I went to visit her at home.  She always sees my Facebook pictures of the kids and wanted me to take some of baby Stella.  I played around and dressed her up and had a blast!  She is SO CUTE!  Makes me want to have a newborn again.  (Not really).  But she is CUTE!  Here are the two best shots.  My friend loved them so much she posted them as her profile pictures on Facebook and got a ton of comments on "where she got her professional pictures done".  LOL!

 A few weeks ago we took the kids to The Shedd Aquarium and I love this shot of Andrei and the kids.

 And then last weekend was Ava's 5th birthday and Mother's Day!  I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted on her birthday due to the fact that I had lots of little girls here without their mothers and it was pretty chaotic for awhile.  As usual the weather did not cooperate although we did take the kids outside for a little even though it was somewhat chilly-especially for May!

Jessie, Buzz and Woody!  

The birthday girl impatiently waiting for her friends to arrive

Singing!

Everyone throwing rocks in the pond

Ava's favorite present!  Her new 16 inch Barbie bike

 Mother's Day morning with my babies.  We took my parents to a wonderful buffet brunch at our local country club

 A Mother's Day kiss from my angel (while the boys were wrestling each other on the floor)

In other news, things have been super hectic around here.  Ava has started practicing twice a week with her ice skating group for her performance on June 3rd and 4th.  She is also practicing for her ballet recital that same weekend.  I am still not sure how we are going to juggle all that especially since her ballet stage rehearsal is the same time and day as one of her ice shows. 

I also just registered Ava for kindergarten!  I can't even believe she is going to kindergarten already!  I am trying to get the boys into that same school in their preschool program called Project Begin.  They can't test for the program until they are officially three so I was told by the woman in charge to check back in June to see if there are still openings.  If so, the boys would be going every day for 2.5 hrs and would start at the same time Ava starts school so I would be able to drop them all off at the same time.  And then have a whole two and a flipping half hours to myself!  If I can't get them in Project Begin, they will go to the same preschool Ava goes to now except for their 2.5 yr kids program which is only 1 day per week.  Either way, I don't know how I am going to get Colton to separate.  We are having major separation anxiety issues with him.  I know the rule is to just leave while they are crying but I know me, and I know I will be crying right along with him all the way home. 

And finally, as soon as the weather gets nice and STAYS nice (its May 15 and currently 44 degrees COLD out), I am starting on Mission PTT (Potty Train the Twins).  It has to be done this summer especially if they start at Project Begin because they must be fully potty-trained.  I  still have no clue how to potty train boys vs girls let alone two at the same time.  I'll have to stock up on lots of hair color since my hair will go gray fast and often.  Wish me luck!

That should cover it for now!