Been Awhile!

My intention is to add new posts to this blog regularly, but it's been hard to keep up with life lately. And I guess that's a good thing! Things move fast at the Hay house, and down-time is a precious and seemingly scarce commodity. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, and sleep have all taken priority over posting pictures lately.

The girls are both growing fast, and schedules and expectations are always changing. Madeline is experimenting with dropping her nap, so even though she still has "rest time" in her room every day, she'll only fall asleep half the time. If she doesn't sleep, it means an earlier bedtime, which has been okay. Evelyn is a pretty light sleeper, and even when she's exhausted, a 5-10 minute nap in the car or rocking chair followed by some loud noise or disturbance will wake her up and reset her nap clock for another 2 hours. This can make it difficult to go out or plan activities, since I don't know exactly when she'll be sleeping. And of course, the day is rare when both girls are asleep at the same time and I have a few minutes to catch up on whatever needs to be done around the house.

But we're all thriving! It's exciting to watch the girls enjoy each other. Evie lights up when she sees Madeline enter the room, and Madeline can't get enough of her little sister. ("Give Evie some space" has become a frequent phrase at our house. I bet I say it 100 times a day.) And Dan and I are trying to soak up these moments!

Stay tuned for a month's worth of pictures and videos coming soon!

New Pictures

Happy Anniversary

9 years! Could it really be that long ago that we said, "I do" ?

We celebrated by having a great bison burger downtown Naperville... by ourselves! Neither of us can remember the last time we had a "date night", and it was especially nice to enjoy an uninterrupted meal, adult conversation, and time to reconnect. We also took a leisurely walk downtown, stopped in for some Haagen Daaz, and perused Barnes & Noble. For a brief moment, we remembered what it was like for so many years when it was just the two of us.


But of course we also looked forward to returning home to our precious girls, the highlight of our lives!

...and make sure that Evie (who is beginning to have separation anxiety) didn't give Grandma and Grandpa Schmitt too hard of a time! :)

Camping 2010

To continue our playgroup tradition, six families braved the wilderness and camped for the second year in a row. This time we ventured a little further to the Warren Dunes in Michigan, and stayed two nights rather than just one. We've had a lot of severe summer storms around here lately so we were a little nervous about weather predictions, but it ended up that we only got a shower early Saturday morning, and the rest of the weekend was beautiful.

Notice that we also have a new tent! As our family has grown, so has the need for more room. We would no longer fit in Dan's little tent that we used last year, so we invested in a nice 7 person tent with screened in porch. Although we weren't planning on getting a fantastic night's sleep, we were comfortable. And so were the girls!

After breakfast Saturday morning, we went down to the beach. Water was cool but not too cold, and the sand was beautiful. Except for missing palm trees, I could almost imagine that we were somewhere tropical! Madeline loved playing in the sand, but roasted in the sun, despite multiple applications of sunscreen. (She now has a new sunguard swimsuit- short sleeves and a longer skirt).

Here she and Dan are collecting smooth rocks.

Evelyn's toes got dipped in the lake

...but she was not a fan.

After coming back to the campsite and resting for a bit, we enjoyed a sing-along.

We had lots of yummy food, and adults all laughed and swapped stories around the campfire when kids went to sleep.

Most of all, we enjoyed the time together! Although moms and kids get together several times during the week, it's always nice to have the whole family there.

Giggles All Around

Magical Two

Our morning routine starts out with breakfast in the kitchen, followed by some playtime in the Living Room. We usually read, do puzzles, or just relax and start the day out with some fun. Lately Madeline has been donning all of her girlie stuff and dancing around, with or without music. Here are a few snapshots of a recent morning's performance.

My favorite part of this outfit is the "Science is Awesome" t-shirt!

Notice the roller in her hair that she found in a bathroom drawer. :)

Nalco Baby Shower

Dan's co-workers generously hosted a baby shower for Evelyn. We were touched that they wanted to have us in again (they did it for Madeline too!). Usually showers are only held for the first baby, so this was a treat!

They organized a "food day" so everyone brought a dish to share. Yum!

Madeline enjoyed coming in to see Dad at work and meet all of his friends.

And Evelyn's closet is now stocked with many NEW and not hand-me-down clothes!

We feel blessed that Dan enjoys coming to work with these people every day!