a hodge-podge

With the addition of #3 to our family, continued communication & paperwork for #2 in our family, travel & holidays in between...my blog has been sorely lacking.  Sometimes I wonder if it's even worth it to catch up my social site when I get so far behind...

But then I take a deep breath and realize in years to come this blog will serve as an archive of sorts-almost a daily journal for our family and then I re-prioritize my dear blog.  Plus I have lots of friends and family who repeatedly "encourage" me to update.


So now you all take a deep breath, because there are LOTS of pictures to follow :)
Random pictures...Easter, Mother's Day weekend in Iowa, Chicago X2, & Memorial Day
[**they are NOT in chronological order**]

 Easter Sunday pictures

 Why not have a garage sale?  While they are lots of work, it is always fun to de-clutter my basement & go through closets...what is one man's "junk" is another's treasure, right? :)

This is not all mine...I always enlist my in-laws "junk" too!

 Haven loves garage sales because she gets to see friends like Rich & Vicki...

 ...and for some reason, I always get to see former students at my garage sales...T-Rev, you can come without us having a garage sale :)

 ...and Haven loves seeing her cousins & Grandma!

In early May we attended CAFO's Orphan Summit in Chicago.

It was neat to see our Ukrainian friend who is now attending college here in the states...what a testimony!

 ...and I caught up with a cousin of mine I haven't seen since high school!

 Mother's Day weekend we headed out to Iowa...Covenant did great on the trip & Grandma Iowa was ready to love on them both!

 Covenant's first coffee with Grandma Iowa and her friends.

 Haven playing on Lucy & Jackson's play set with Burkelle

It was a quick trip, so this was the only picture we got of the two "new" cousins, Kayleigh (on the left) was born 3/7/14 & Covenant on 3/26/14

 Uncle Butch & Aunt Kathy got to meet Covenant too

 Covenant meeting Uncle Buddy

 

 Ms Aisley meeting her new cousin...she is going to get a new baby brother or sister in Oct.

 

 Haven and Charlee at Logan's Roadhouse

 Haven's last day of preschool...here she is with her Big Kid Buddy, Ms. Jessica

 Garage saling is always fun, but going with the Baners is even MORE fun!

 Haven and Elle with Elle's garage sale purchase.

 Arlan and Haven camped out the other weekend...Covey and I held down the house :)

 

The end of May we headed up to Chicago to spend time with Arlan, who attended a conference for work.  So the kids and I tagged along and went to see the sites during the day and hung out with Daddy during the evening.

 Lincoln Park Zoo was fabulous!

 Haven was VERY determined to find the giraffes...and we did...inside eating!

 another highlight for her was Navy Pier's ferris wheel...so high, so slow & so fun!

 family selfies on the Ferris wheel

 a treasure find & suggested by our friend Tami (who we got to spend the day with but alas, I have no pictures!)...don't be fooled by these Donut Vault prices folks...these donuts are worth every cent & are enormous!

 The Lego store at Water Tower Place where Haven was elated to find one of her Lego Friends as a statue :)

 American Girl Doll store also at Water Tower

 While Rainforest Cafe was probably her favorite experience of this Chicago trip, it was NOT Covenant's...over stimulation, along with animal noises at high decibel levels combined with an interactive thunderstorm every 22 minutes proved too much for our 2 month old.

 Navy Pier

and every afternoon, we would head back to the hotel & rest up so we were ready to go when Daddy got done with his meetings

 Haven LOVES hotels!

 She was fascinated with this juggler in Millennium Park

 Daddy & Haven at the Bean

Covenant's first Bean picture

Easter with the Miller brood at Alan & Theresa's

Covenant and Carter had great seats!

Oh Gabe!  I love how cute & ornery you look all at once!

Yeah for Carissa being home!

Memorial Day Sunday at our place with the family...