The people & things we'll miss about Illinois...

Phew! What a whirlwind of events the past 3 months! As you all know we made the transition from Illinois to Oregon in July. So we're a little behind on the blog, but this is our first step in getting you all caught up on our lives. There are many things that we will miss about Illinois......

This sign in Sycamore, IL says it all (Isn't that funny that there's an Oregon in Illinois?!)

We'll miss our dinners with the Aichers & Gilsons...
...and our many visits with the Gilsons...

*sadly, we missed the birth of lil' Eliana Elizabeth born on September 8th*
...and with the Aichers.
We'll miss our trips to the zoo & visits with the Flewellings. The girls will definitely miss Morgan & Ayla...
We'll miss our trips & visits with our adventure buddies, the Wogens. The girls will miss Ben dearly...

*sadly, we also missed the birth of miss Katherine (Katie) Shay born on September 17th*

We'll miss our Moms & Kiddos on the Go playgroup friends...
They were SO sweet & got us a cake...thank you Lindsay!
...and our Mama & Me playgroup friends.
We'll miss playdate visits & pregym classes with Regina & Vincent (We both started a pregym class at the YMCA when Kaila & Vincent had just turned a year old! A big thank you to Regina for introducing us to the playgroups)...
We'll miss playdate visits with Gretel, Javier, & Tea...
We'll miss playdate visits with Yuni & Austin...
We'll miss our neighbors, the Faivre's, and playing with Olivia & Natalie...
We'll miss the Newman Catholic Student Center, all our church friends, and Cisco's Men's Bible Study/Softball team. They so kindly got this cake for Cisco at their end of the season BBQ.
We'll miss the park right down the road from our house that the girls call "Castle Park"...
We'll miss seeing & catching fireflies (sadly, Oregon doesn't have them)...
We'll miss the possibility of seeing more Cubs games & watching our good friends' brother, Darwin Barney, play...
We'll miss the great city of Chicago & all that it has to offer...
...especially the many Lake Michigan beaches.
Lastly, we'll miss the very reason we were introduced to the Chicagoland area = Cisco's job at Northern Illinois University.

Empty desk :(
Cisco with some of his students for a farewell dinner...
A card from his students...
Class of 2011 KNPE students...
Cisco's department so kindly threw a farewell dinner for him & another one of their colleagues who was also leaving. I'm sure he will miss them all.

Thank you to everyone who has made our 3 years in Illinois very memorable. We learned a lot and grew a lot as individuals and as a family, while there. We will forever cherish the people, the experiences, and the place we called home for the past 3 years.

Camping at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park...

One of the things we wanted to do before moving from Illinois was to go camping. SO since we're leaving soon, we decided to take advantage of the few days of beautiful weather, pitched our tent out in the woods with our good friends the Wogen's, and made some awesome Illinois memories. Boy was it a blast!!

Camping, here we come!

The fun tree fort, complete with a dirt slide...

While the kids played, Sissy ate!

Checking out his blisters after chopping some firewood. Him and Bryan did some damage to the wooded area: lots of firewood.

They were lucky they were able to sleep in. I was always the first one up :(

Our campsite...

The pond/stream/river we biked to. Reminded me of being back home.

Being pregnant didn't stop her!
Us...
Bryan & Ben trying to catch some HUGE fish that we think were some kind of Carp.
Skipping rocks with his girls...
The sweaty betty's...
They LOVED skipping/tossing rocks...
A beautiful, hot day in Amboy...
After cooling off in the pool = naptime!
Kaila had to carry her sissy back to the campsite, all the while giving her lots of kisses...
Bike ride + pool = very tired girls!
SMORES!!
One last picture in the tree fort...
Swingin' sissy...
Her biggest smile yet!
Ready to jump in one last time...
Our last pictures with Yogi Bear...

Tutu Look-Alike...

This one is for you Mom. I couldn't help but notice that she looks like you here, so I had to snap a shot of the sleeping Kenna that looks like the sleeping Tutu :)

Kenna is 18 Months!!

I cannot believe it!!! As usual, time has flown right by us. Kenna is now 18 months old, although a very tiny 18 months old. When she went in for her check-up, she was 32 inches, putting her in the 50th percentile, and weighed 20 1/2 lbs. , putting her in the 3-5th percentile! She will be quite petite, just like her Tita Megan. Her new favorite things to do are to sing her 'ABCs' (by far her favorite song), count to 10, & play hide 'n seek & 'Rosie' (Ring Around the Rosie). She LOVES music. She mimics just about anything you say and her response to calling her name is, "What!" We're trying to change that with "Yes, Mommy/Daddy," although it's really cute (for now; it won't be in a few years)! Another cute one is her response to a yes or no question, in which the answer is usually 'yes.' Instead of saying 'yes,' which Kaila would do, Kenna says, "Yeeeaah" (a drawn out 'yeah' with a slight Chicago accent). She is quite the character.

Kenna-Rosie

Kaila's Last Day of Pre-School...

Kaila had her last day of preschool at the end of May. They had a little party for the kids and after we captured some photos for the memory books.

When it all began. Her very first day of preschool! I can't believe how much she has grown!! We were in diapers in this picture & now she is such a big girl!!

The Y-Bit preschool class...

The kids with Ms. Dana & Mr. Dave...
Kaila with her friends Millie, Charlie, & Miles...
A picture with Ms. Dana & Mr. Dave...

Mel's Baby Shower...

Kaila & I attended a baby shower that was thrown for Mel by the department that she works for over at NIU. It was nice to be able to attend some sort of festivity for her & the baby being that we will be leaving soon and won't get to see the new baby, which is due August 30th. Unfortunately as I was taking pictures of everything else, I forgot to get the most important picture of all - one of us & Mel!

The mother-to-be...

Some friends Kaila made at the shower. Believe it or not, they're twins!

How appropriate...a husky!
Kaila playing with one of the baby's dollies...