We Just Got Back From the Windy City

April actually started out a little bit sticky at our place.  April Fools Day has been a holiday of tricks and tears some years.  The friendly googly eyes taped to food in the fridge gets a quick smile, the expressions of horror when someone sees a 'spider in my hair,' etc.  However, there was a year in times past when Grant put some Karo pancake syrup (not to be confused with the regular corn syrup!) on the bathroom potty and Brenna was traumatized as she was the victim of the prank. Well, this year, she thought she would return the favor and she honey-ed the entire bathroom-toilet seat, faucet, light switch etc... It was quite the endeavor to clean up.  

Good thing she is the best cleaner in the house,I put her right to work.  April is so busy for her-not just her scrubbing duties,but dance competitions seem to take over the weekends.  

This is her jazz outfit after a comp in Saratoga Springs.  She also preformed her Hip Hop 

and contemporary routines.  She is such a fun dancer to watch, we were super proud of our little lady! 

 Harrison has been obsessed with football since the fall.  So, we signed him up for Flag Football with some preschool friends.  They are the Ravens.  He is slightly frightening on the field. 

He attacks like a mad man.  He has scored some touchdowns,but the most hilarious parts are when he is called off the sidelines and he runs screaming on to the field, pumping up the crowd and his teammates with his arms.  He yells, "Wahoo, Lets Go!" or when shouting at the other team, "I'm gonna get your flag!" So far, he has not been punched or beat up, we are going to keep our fingers crossed for the rest of the season! 

We were so happy to get a week long break, so we decided to head to Chicago and Nauvoo!

  We started off in Nauvoo

Grant, Katelee and I went inside the temple and did baptisms for the dead.  It was a cool experience-one of the members of the temple presidency had a little devotional with us and talked to us about the miracle of the Restoration, how special that temple is etc.  Meanwhile, Dave, Brenna and Harrison played at the visitor center.  

We got out of the temple and toured Historic Nauvoo.  The kids' favorite part was when we went on a carriage ride and the wagon scraped up against a pole.  The screeching sound spooked the horses so badly, those hoofed creatures took off on a sprint and we were eating their dust...literally.  It was so funny and we were all laughing, but the missionary/horse master was not as amused!

We went to the blacksmith shop, Lucy Mack's Home, the brickyard, the printers shop

and because we are in the pioneer spirit this year with Grant getting ready for Trek, I have signed us up to work/volunteer at This is the Place park.  Grant and Katelee will both be apprentices there.  Grant will be doing the Tinsmith apprentice, so we thought we should give him a preview when we were in Nauvoo.  The sisters gave him a little lesson...I think he will be a master Tinsmith for sure! 

We saw Joseph Smith's grave, along with Hyrum and Emma's.  I think it is a cool place, but maybe I had my expectations too high because the kids did not rate it as highly as I would have liked!  The next day we were at Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.  The spirit there was pretty incredible.   We wrapped up the church history sites and headed to the big Chicago Metropolis!

The skydeck on the Willis Tower is pretty fun!  Harrison, was not so sure of its safety, however. 

While the other kids were taking as many crazy photos as possible, (they only give you a few minutes for your turn)

Harrison was huddled in the corner, much like this face Katelee is faking...

Katelee coaxed him out (by bribery that she later did not fulfill, which maybe caused a bit of a melt down)  But, we did get a family photo, so it was worth it.  

 

We walked over to Giardino's for some authentic deep dish pizza that was amazing.  Brenna was less than impressed and asked the waiter if they just had "normal" pizza.

They did have regular crust and gf, so everyone was sufficiently fed! 

It is so hard to cram everything into a few days, but we knew we wanted to do at lease one museum-we settled on The Museum of Science and Industry and boy was it awesome!!

Plenty to keep little kids busy..

and teenagers busy...

Ha!  Really, the entire museum had something for everyone-weather, transportation, carnival, farm, chemistry, hours and hours of fun.  I have always wanted to do a mirror maze and this was was trippy and everything I ever dreamed of!  We loved it. 

  Dave hits a museum limit and Grant is currently experience typical teenage moods (I will limit it at that, but it needs to be documented for his posterity!). So, we didn't stay quite as long as I could have, but bellies were aching and we needed sustenance.  Dinner and the hotel were next on the list.  Portillo's is probably a one time deal for us, but we did it and Harrison had a melt down under the table, so we prefer to keep the PTSD to a minimum and steer clear if we are ever back! 

Chicago is a really clean and neat city.  The parks are so fun!  It was pretty cold, but we could have spent hours walking on the riverwalk and exploring the parks along the water.  We had to see the Bean, of course, aka Cloud Gate.  It is a hip and unique structure and we really enjoyed it! The fountains nearby were not on, but we loved the displays that flashed on the screens.  

 The kids had some swimming time at the hotel, but decided it wasn't enough.  So, the next morning when I asked them who wanted to go to the Art Institute of Chicago and Dave proposed whoever wanted to stay and go swimming, I was left on my own to explore the Art. 

 Best hours of the trip!!  haha!  Really, the Art Institute has some incredible pieces and I could enjoy them on my own while the other people swam.   I walked back to the hotel and we took an Uber to the Cubs game.  We'd all been looking forward to Wrigley Stadium.

But it was SO COLD.

We just tried to prevent hypothermia and keep moving.  That humid, freezing wind almost did us in!  I feel bad we only made it through the 4th inning (or 4th ending as Harrison refers to it), but it's all we could do!

Harrison was in sport fan heaven...looks like we have an MLB obsession coming on.  

Because we left early, we thought it would be a good time to get together with our friends the Thompsons who live in Wisconsin, just an hour or two out of Chicago.  So glad we did!  We had such a fun dinner catching up with Clark, Tori, Ezra and Finley.  We went back to their house after touring the cheese aisle of their grocery store...wow, Wisconsin cheese is no joke.  I mean, I'd heard about it, but it has to be experienced!!  

They were so nice to meet us at the Aquarium the next day.  It was pretty busy, but such a fun location right on the lake.  

And unfortunately, we had to leave without seeing quite everything.  We had a plane to catch.  Chicago-you definitely lived up to everything we had heard!  Maybe we will be back, without tantrums and teens!  haha!

Sharing the Love

The same weekend as Grant's eagle happened to also be Brenna's birthday.  It actually worked out well because Grandma and Grandpa McArthur were able to come and be here for it all!  Brenna chose to have a movie party this year with friends.  It was lovely-minus the epic nervous breakdown Harrison had during the the show due to the seating arrangements not being as he insisted.

Lego Movie came out just in time to take a little crew of friends.

Brenna invited Madison, Lilly, Kate, Kinley, Brinsley, Keira, Natalie and Audrey.   The movie was funny and indeed the Catchy Song was stuck in our heads for months. 

 Brenna is lucky to have a friends that can appreciate her exuberance-few can match it and few can handle it, so we are grateful for these buddies!

We got a kick out of the gift Kate gave her-she made wrapping paper out of a huge strip of butcher paper and she also typed up a poem for Brenna...

She knows her well, down to her fear of creepy dolls-those ventriloquist dummies may haunt her dreams forever.

The Sunday of Brenna's #9, Grant was ordained a teacher.  It was a jam packed day-we had the bishop over to do the ordination, because it was stake conference.  We started baking the drumstick dinner and sure enough, we set of the fire alarm, just as I warned would happen. But, no fire was started and we enjoyed the chicken as well as the chocolate strawberries and everything else she chose.

Brenna has a love for life and and intensity that does not quit.  She can out play/outlast/out talk nearly anyone and she is a gifted dancer.  

 We love having her in our family and learn a lot from her!  

 She has been asking for ages when she will get to have her room decorated, and it was finally her year!  Our neighbor extraordinaire Taryn, helped me decorate and paint and pick everything out.  

We painted one full day a week or so before her birthday and  rearranged the furniture, but we kept all the decorations as a birthday surprise.  She was definitely a happy gal!

Every person that came in would be asked to take a tour of her new room.  It did turn out really cute!

Harrison was happy because he inherited her old desk and now he has a station to display every football helmet 

and work on coloring pages from every professional sports league.

Her room was her big gift, but she still had to lay out and display every birthday item-small and large.  

Brenna girl is quite the organizer and very orderly.  We definitely appreciate that about her!

It will be so interesting and exciting to see where this girl goes in life.  This piece of art seemed fitting for her..

Of course, we have to give a small shout out to the day of love, the day Dave and I met, the day we almost had Brenna-Valentines Day.  We had our annual fancy dinner and school parties.  The last few years a boy name Bryson has asked Katelee to be his Valentine, this year someone beat him to the punch. When Jono asked her this go around, she said, "Sure"  She has had to tell someone she didn't like them 'like that' but that she liked Takkies (the spicy hot gross snack kids are eating these days).  She is totally trying to work the system.

Brenna took love into her own hands and asked Braxton to be her Valentine and Harrison made the best card in the history of cards to his 'girlfriend' Aria.

He wanted to make her a card and remembered that Charlie Brown had a pretty sweet poem he wrote to the Little Red Haired Girl, so Harrison copied it!  He prob didn't give credit to Charlie Brown when he was wooing Aria, but now we have that cleared up!  

 Katelee and I got to spend the evening together seeing Wicked.  

 I didn't want her to know the whole story so that she could be surprised with the conclusion of the production. She loved it.  I'm a clever little witch like that.  

Harrison continues to spout NFL statistics and color all helmets.  At our farewell family dinner for Blake and fam, he had some good conversations about the glory days of the NFL.  We will definitely miss Blake and his family, but are happy for them with their new adventure...and excited to have somewhere awesome to visit!!

New Year and a New Eagle

We started off 2019 with a determination to make it better than 2018...we are still going to shoot for 2020 to be exceeding 2019 because life seems to be kicking our trash! Sometimes we are just trying to stay in the boat and not be whisked away down a river of fear and circumstance.  We finished Christmas break and tried to continue life as usual-one such "usual" event is a cavity filling.  I never had any cavities growing up, so the status of our children's pearly whites never ceases to surprise me as we keep our dentist busy!

At least they have great movies and friends, what more could you ask for?!

We have had a good snowy winter thus far and Grant loved starting his Snowblitz program again.  He's becoming a great snowboarder.  We thought we'd branch out in the winter sports arena and attempt ice skating-it wasn't too shabby!

Harrison had preschool and the other peeps had the day off, so it worked out well, I don't anticipate Harrison taking to the ice so well!  

His cute preschool did have a fun field trip this month, so he still had fun times without skating.  We went to the library and did a little hunt and watched them sort books in the back room.  

While Harrison and friends were fascinated, it just gave me all the feels-someday I may just get my dream job there.  Ha! 

Because January is so bleak for many people, I guess I thought it would be a good month to be born in-just to add some color to the grey skies.  

Dave tried to have my mom make a surprise cake-my favorite angel food cake with a balloon inside that would pop when I cut through it.  It was a great attempt at a surprise/prank, but I had the last laugh because my knife just moved off the frosting and didn't slice through.  It was still a happy birthday to me!

Grant's birthday happened to fall on a day when Dave was a way on a convention.  It is the first time he has had to miss a birthday and he felt badly about it.  

Fourteen! Half way through junior high-Hallelujah!  I hear High School gets better?!  

We dined at Cheesecake Factory 

and came home for donuts and presents.  

The day itself was pretty low key, but that's partially because we had a huge celebration in honor of Mr Grant

 just a couple of days later- his eagle court of honor.

Hours of service, countless merit badge groaning, super fun camp outs and experiences and this kid did it!!

Grant has been so lucky to have the best scout leaders anyone could ever ask for-they were consistent, reliable, examples, fun and genuinely cared about him and every scout in their troop.  This is Jason Nigbur, Adam Van Leeuwen and Eric Harrison helping get his Eagle award on the newbie.

Their leadership, Jason's in particular, has influenced so many young men in our neighborhood.  There was a good handful that welcomed Grant into the Eagle's nest...

It was so fun to have so many Eagles there, this is only a portion of the line up.  It was neat having so much support from neighbors, family and friends.  

The program

was the perfect length.  We maybe gave a reminder to the grandpas to keep those prayers concise!  Haha! 

Grant's eagle project benefited the Kauri Sue Hamilton School that he has been volunteering at for a couple of years.  The Vice Principal that he has been working with came and spoke at the court of honor and was so complimentary of Grant.  We hope he never forgets that night-the leadership qualities and goodness he has inside can influence so many for good, if he chooses to continue to help in the community.  

Thank heavens for the moms who already had Eagle decor

 and Shannon who put it all together

-it looked awesome!  

One neighbor even made eagle heads to eat, so every detail was covered.  

Of course it was a proud parent moment for us.

No child can feel the depth of love you have for them.  How I wish my kids could see themselves through my eyes.  We love Grant so much and will always be here for him. My hope is he taps into his potential and makes choices so that he can have the bright future that so easily can be his. 

I had to add this pic-gotta love those goofballs in the back.  This is about when Brenna's friend Kate was telling us goodbye.  She knows all the extended family and was saying, "bye Shannon, bye Brenna's grandma."  Then she added, "Bye David James McArthur, you son of a Gun!"  Well, then!  If Dave is a Son of a Gun, I don't even want to venture what that makes Grant! Whatever he is now, we know he can and will be awesome!!!!