Memorial Day Parade...

This morning my parents joined us for Naperville's Memorial Day Parade. This was actually Grace's first parade experience and she seemed to love it! We got downtown nice and early to reserve a spot, so there was some time to kill before the parade began.
Grace and Papa watched the ducks...

And then we walked over to the fountain so Gracie could dip her feet in...

The parade seemed to take forever to actually start, but Grace was very patient. She enjoyed some relaxing time and a snack...

 Once the parade started Grace loved clapping for all the Veterans and waving to all the old fashioned cars that drove by...










And then the bands started coming and that's when the DANCING began! This girl loves to dance!

We left before the parade was actually over to beat the crowds, but by then I think we had all had enough of the heat. Thank you to all those that serve and protect our country!

Splash Park!

To beat the heat today we headed to a Splash Park in Oswego and boy did we have fun! We got there nice and early so it wasn't crowded yet. Grace wasn't hesitant at all to get in on the water action.

Checkin' it out before the fun begins

She had so much fun running around the Splash Park and trying out all the cool sprinklers! We heard so much laughter and giggling from Gracie that it made Bryan and I feel like kids again too. We got in on the action and got just as wet as Grace :)

One of Gracie's favorite parts was putting her feet over the water spouts...she found this pretty funny. Her other favorite was running through the misters, but we had to go with and we had to say "1, 2, 3, GO!" And then we would hear, "Again!"

 

After the Splash Park we dried off, had a snack, did a quick change of clothes, and went the the park nearby. The slides were already way too hot, but Bryan braved it to take Grace down the big slide. I don't think we realized how hot it was outside until we got away from the water!

 

Grace was nice and tired when we got home and she took a long nap...actually we were all pretty tired! I am sure we will be back to this fun place in no time! Summer break is just days away :)

April showers bring May flowers... to the Goodwins!

If there is one thing I am not good at, it is gardening! Every year I have good intentions of bringing life to our backyard, but in the end it fails. This year however I got my parents involved! They have 'green thumbs' and my parents' yard always looks beautiful. This morning they came over and helped us layout where we wanted everything and then Bryan and my Dad did the planting. We LOVE our backyard now and look forward to spending a lot of time in it this summer. I promise to water the flowers :) Thank you Mom and Dad for your expertise and help with this project! Here are the after pictures...

Gracie's very own special spot

Pool Time!

Our whole weekend was spent outdoors and with the weather being so hot, we brought out Grace's pool for the first time this season. She LOVED it! Last year Gracie would last maybe 10 minutes before wanting to get out of the pool and now we have to actually pull her out. Grace had so much fun splashing around and playing with her pool toys.

Happy Mother's Day!

To continue our fun weekend, we hosted brunch this morning for Mother's Day. It isn't often that we get both sides of our family together at the same time, so it was very nice to have both of our mom's with us to celebrate this special day. Brunch was yummy (thanks to Mom and Anne's help), the mimosas were delicious, the weather was beautiful, and most importantly we celebrated Mother's Day with our family.

Me and My Favorite Girl

Thank you for my special gift, Gracie!

The Mom's!

Wons Crew

Goodwin Crew

Milestone Birthdays!

We had quite a fun-filled weekend, so I will get right to it! On Saturday Anne, Cliff, and Matt came in for a visit to celebrate Bryan's 30th birthday and Cliff's 70th birthday. Our day was spent inside because of the weather, but we got in a great visit and Grace loved her playtime with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle 'Batt.' We had a cookout for dinner and then afterwards came Grace's favorite part...singing Happy Birthday! This is one of her favorite songs and we sing it just about every night. Grace will insert her family members and friends names, even if it isn't your birthday :) For the birthday dessert I made homemade peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate butter cream frosting (I know...we were drooling too.) It was great to be able to celebrate both of these milestone birthdays for two special guys in our lives! Happy Birthday Bryan and Cliff!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

The Birthday Boys

Our Little Family

Yea, for Birthdays!

Finger lickin' good!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Yesterday Grace and I headed over to the Able's house to help celebrate Miss Taylor's 2nd Birthday! The party was a Mickey and Minnie Mouse theme, which is Taylor's favorite. All the kiddies are at the 'there's no way I am sitting long enough for you to take a picture' phase, but getting a picture of the birthday girl is the most important picture to get anyways :) Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day Taylor!