A Getaway

For the first time since having Addilyn, Tyler and I went on vacation without the kids. Tyler's parents came and played with the kids in Albert City for a few days so Tyler and I could run off and play in Chicago. It was so fun!

Tyler always makes this face when I take a selfie in the car. I actually have multiple pictures of us with these exact faces. Goober.

Alone in a restaurant!? What are we going to do with ourselves?!

We went to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks.

A Bigfoot sighting...if Bigfoot liked to hang out in extremely well-lit walkways.

The Chicago River!  I forget how much we love wandering through downtown Chicago...and without a stroller it's pretty enjoyable too.

We brought our bikes so that we could bike the Lakeshore trail. It was pretty fun being able to bike our favorite trail again (but without each of us having two kids on our bike).

Chicago pizza!  Granted it was gluten-free but still delicious. Tyler loves me so much to forgo Giordano's so that I could get some Chicago-style pizza as well.

Ever time we used to bike up and down the trail on a hot day, we would see people jumping off the pier and want to try it. We finally did!

Silly kissy face (just to make our kids uncomfortable some day).

Dive!
This was not only super-fun (if not cold), but we were jumping in right next a celebrity's kids. She's a talk show host and her kids and husband were pretty hilarious. Fun times!

Kissy face by the Bean.

Wandering Millennium Park in the evening.

Sitting and enjoying watching all the people. There was a concert going on just east of us.

After we played in Chicago, we stopped in Galena for a night on our way home. We wandered up and down the very cute Main Street area and then ate dinner in a local restaurant (with a surprisingly extensive gluten-free menu). After that, we grabbed some pints of ice cream from Walmart and headed back to our hotel to eat our dessert in the jacuzzi (we got a great deal online to stay in a honeymoon suite so we had a jacuzzi in our room)! It was an awesome ending to a wonderful little vacation!

Our New Addition

We bought a new van!! It is very much like the van we purchased in Houston before seminary but about 2 years newer.

Here Tyler and the kids were washing it up and getting ready to wax it up right.

I'm not sure I told you all the stories about our previous van. It was a Chrysler and it served our family beautifully for just under 5 years. Maybe I should caveat that: it served our family for nearly 5 years; it served us beautifully for a little over 4 years.
There was the worn out rear strut that plagued us for a while (finding an appropriately-sized replacement for under $300 proved very difficult). Then there was the wheel that fell off in the middle of our big move to Albert City. And then there was the time I got rear-ended in the middle of a blizzard. That last one was more on me than the van but it did result in the back hatch being bashed in. It still worked (once Tyler drilled a hole which allowed us to unlatch it with screw driver) but since all the weather-proofing and sound-deadening had been compromised, there was a ton of road noise. All-in-all, it wasn't all that comfortable to travel in for the last 9 months of it's time with us.

This van, on the other had, is very, very comfortable. It is super quiet, the kids all have a bit more space, and the seats are right down magical!

Our first ride in the new van! Check out our very happy crew.  Notice how Albert got promoted to a "big boy" seat. Pretty exciting. Here's to many years filled with adventures with our newest addition!!

Last Day of School!

Yesterday was Addilyn and Asher's last day of school!

They seemed pretty happy about it.

Don't look too close at this picture; it's a little bit gross. (But funny.)

Last day as a Kindergartner (and with Mrs. Frederick...sniff, sniff).

Silly boy.

Last day of second grade. It was a bit of a rough year, with a new school and the loss of her beloved Mrs. Decarlo mid-year, but this girl still looks pretty smiley on her last day.

I'm not sure where she got this pose from but she all-of-the-sudden pulled this out.

Off to school.

Waving them off.

Watching them go one more time before summer.

Last day with Ms. Manneman.

One more pic and squeeze with Mrs. Frederick!

The traditional Last-Day-of-School cake. This year it was gluten-free but still delicious. Yay for another school year complete! Now for a fun-filled summer!!

Yet Another New Frontier

Just as we are getting past the majority of Asher's many food allergies and therefore food restrictions, we are embarking on a new set of them in this household. Addilyn has just recently been diagnosed with celiac disease. Since celiac disease is a hereditary autoimmune disorder and I was diagnosed just before Christmas this past year, this finding doesn't come as a complete surprise. It will be an adjustment to us all in some ways.

We did a blood test at our regular doctor's office which indicated that she might have celiac. To confirm this diagnosis, she had to have an endoscopy to see if there was the characteristic damage to her small intestine. For this, we had to travel to children's hospital in Sioux Falls to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. The rooms at the hospital had video games which Addilyn enjoyed trying out.

If you've seen the movie Big Hero 6, you might enjoy, as Addilyn did, the reference to Baymax. "There, there."

After her official diagnosis, we went out to eat her first gluten-free meal at Five Guys. If you ask for your burger without a bun, everything else including the the fries are gluten free. Yum!

Here she is trying some of the gluten free pizza I have been eating for the past few months on pizza nights.
While we weren't aware of how much she had been suffering throughout this school year until recently, it will be nice to see her recover and get some pep back in her step. She is understandably saddened and frustrated, but seems to take solace from the fact that she and I will be able to do this together. She is really a pretty amazing kid.
If you are interested in learning more about celiac disease and the diet restrictions that come along with such a diagnosis, check out https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/what-is-celiac-disease/

First Cookie Bar and some Milkshakes

I don't remember what they were watching but they were definitely enthralled.

I think they are going to find it! If only they would look this hard for their shoes in the morning.

Waiting for Daddy to get home for lunch.

Practicing writing.

So smiley!

It's a hat!

Reading with Daddy.

Tyler was trying to get all four kids balanced up in the air. Albert wasn't real into the idea.

Now, for what you have been waiting for... Asher's first ever cookie bar!  This is his first time trying the ever-famous cookie recipe (which includes baked eggs). He was pretty excited to finally be able to partake.

And it was a delicious as he hoped it would be!!

How about some post-soccer milkshakes?

Daddy makes the absolute best chocolate chip milkshakes. Actually all his milkshake concoctions are delicious (chocolate, strawberry choc chip, peanut butter choc chip, etc) but this is our current favorite.

Slurp.

Two slurpie boys relaxing on the stairs.