1st day of school 2011...

The kids were all excited to be up early and getting ready for school. Steve was able to drive over to the new school with us for the 1st day too which made it extra special!

It is hard to believe that Kendyl is already starting 4th grade and Brityn is in 1st grade this year!



I walked them in to find their teachers and snap a couple of quick pictures.

Sorry Kendyl, caught you blinking!

After school we went to Dairy Queen to use our groupon and get a treat! The girls could not stop talking about how great their day was! Brityn told me all about her Spanish class and the new friends she made and who she sat by and that she ate all her lunch!

Kendyl talked about how this was the best 1st day ever because everyone was so well-behaved! Greatest compliment about the caliber of students that will be going to this school. We're looking forward to a really great school year!

Ryder spent a very happy morning playing with whatever toys he wanted and watching all "his" favorite shows.

Sawyer had fun playing with Ryder all day, but REALLY loved eating his icecream! Great 1st day of school!

Getting ready to go back to school...

The girls are very excited to begin school at a new charter school that is opening here. So far, we are very impressed with the school, teachers, and staff! We got to tour the new school and meet the girls' teachers and they were both very nice and well prepared. They both have several friends in their classes and lots of friends that we know who are attending the school, so again, they are excited.

Brityn with her teacher and checking out her classroom.

Kendyl and her teacher.

After church, Steve gave all the kids a blessing for the new school year and tonight we had our "Back-to-School" dinner. The kids chose fondue. It is really nice when they all like dinner and there are only comments like, "This is soooo good!"

Of course, we had a cheese fondue and chocolate fondue and the kids pretty much went straight for the chocolate!





Sawyer, our "dipper" was extremely happy eating dinner tonight!



Especially when he discovered the dip was chocolate! :)

Baby Sister's 4-D Ultrasound pics...

We wanted a sneak peek at our newest little Hardy, so we went and got a 4-D ultrasound. She was turned away most of the time, so it was hard to get a good, clear shot of her. I don't think any of our kids cooperated well with the 4-D ultrasound! Guess they like to make a grand entrance. I think these pics look very similar to Sawyer, but I guess we'll see who she looks like when she arrives. :)

Happy feet...

We have spent the last week cleaning out and organizing closets and clothes, getting school clothes washed and ready and picking out new school shoes. While on vacation, Ryder noticed a friend had light-up shoes, and he kept asking me if his shoes had lights (the answer was no your shoes don't light-up). So the first thing he did when we got to the shoe section was to go find the shoes with lights! He was not even interested in trying on anything that did not light up. And guess whose shoes ended up being the most expensive? At least they are all happy with their shoes!


So for the next several days all 4 children wanted to wear their new shoes around the house. Sawyer did not want to take his shoes off for any reason and is quite adamant that he wants his new shoes and not his sandals on now! Kendyl and Brityn are quite happy with theirs and Ryder is stomping all over the place enjoying the lights on his shoes! Happy feet, happy children! :)

Chicago - Logan Square Ward...

Sunday we headed to church to attend the new downtown ward, Lake Shore 1st Ward. It was held in a school in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Lots of students and young professionals and a few life-long Chicagoans. Sadly, we didn't see anyone we knew, but it was fun to reminisce.


We did want to show the kids the Logan Square Ward building. We didn't think they would last for 2 church meetings so we didn't go in, but we did drive over there.


It is uniquely up on stilts so you park under the building and then walk upstairs to enter the main floor. Lots of great memories! We drove the kids around to see where the dental school used to be, where I used to work and other places we used to hang out. It was a nice relaxing day and a nice end to a great trip!

Chicago - Sears Tower & Museum of Science and Industry...

Saturday morning we headed out to see the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower. It is wierd trying to remember to call it a different name, I think to me it will always be the Sears Tower.



The kids were excited to ride the elevator all the way to the top, 103 floors!

Lots of great views! They did have a new feature here that wasn't here before. It is called the Skydeck Ledge. Basically they built these glass boxes that stick out the side of the building, yes 103 floors up!

I don't think we could get RaNae out on this lovely, thick, well-bolted in piece of glass! It was quite unnerving to glance down and see nothing below you.

Of course, the kids thought this was great fun and had no problem being out there and looking down!

After the Sears Tower we headed over to the Museum of Science and Industry. Very cool, HUGE museum! They had so much to see and do here.

Our first stop was the farm exhibit where they had these huge tractors the kids could climb into.

Ryder has proclaimed that he is going to drive a big digger when he grows up!

A cool screen that "rains" on you, but the rain drops bounce off your shadow.

Standing by the U-boat.

Playing in the submarine exhibit.

Saw some trains next.

On the climbing wall at another exhibit.

We even found an old-fashioned dental office here.

A model of the Wright brother's plane.

Pictures at a space exhibit.

And in the ships exhibit...this place truly is ginormous! Ryder fell asleep for part of it, Sawyer fell asleep for part of it and Brityn cried about her feet hurting. They also had a bodies exhibit that we went through, but were not allowed to take pictures in. We did manage to walk through the entire museum, but by the end, we were all ready to go home and put our feet up!