Happy Birthday, B-man!

B-man turned five at the end of April. He was SO excited. I mean really. 

Last night as a four year old.

Birthday dinner at BJ's Brewhouse...his favorite.

Cute little transformers partying it up before swimming at the Y for B's birthday. I tried to get a pic of ALL the kids swimming but they wouldn't slow down long enough! 

Make a wish!

With Nana and Papa!

One of his favorite gifts!

Chicago!

So we went to Chicago for the NRA show.  No, not that NRA...the National Restaurant Association. It was a "work" weekend for Erick and a play weekend for me. Yay!
The first night, we were treated to dinner at Joe's, listened to music at the Hideout, and experienced Second City (so darn funny). The next day, I slept off my headache while Erick worked. We then went to the Cubs game! Had beer, nachos, hot dog...got sunflower seeds spit on us...good stuff! We went to the Menu Masters awards ceremony and ate even more fabulous food, drank a little more wine. The ladies and I walked Michigan Avenue for a while on Sunday, then met the guys for brunch at Shaw's Crab House. We pretty much ate ourselves silly. Omg. Thank goodness we had some time afterwards to walk it off. We walked around Millennium Park and Navy Pier, taking everything in and thinking that next time, we'd bring the kiddos. We then had one more party on our last night. It was very cool...more food and beverages. We had some yummy cheesy pizza before we made it back to the hotel to pack so we'd be ready to leave early the next morning. Such a wonderful second trip to Chicago! And so much work to get wined and dined. :)

Dinner at Joe's. Fabulous seafood, steak, chicken, wine, everything!

The Hideout...so fun!

Cubs!

Cubbies game with the Freddy's gang

All dressed up with somewhere to go.

Random street guy. 

The Bean

Navy Pier

Seriously? We bought a red velvet cupcake from the ATM. Super yummy.

We Made It!

We made it! It's officially summer break!

I had a fabulous year as a reading intervention teacher. I loved working with small groups (though some were a little tougher than others), testing students for intervention, analyzing data, celebrating growth, working with my teammate, etc. What a great year!

Kelly and I after a work day. A much needed afternoon off!

Ava had a good year in first grade, although she had been counting down the days until break since December. :( She had a bit of a tough class this year and was pretty sensitive about it...just wanted it to be over. Made me kind of sad, especially since I've had the same kind of class and I felt bad for the "good" kids. She did have fun with friends and did very well academically...it wasn't like it was SO awful. Here's a first and last day picture for ya!

Brecken's PreK year was super and he had lots of fun with his buddies! B loved playing in centers and outside on the playground. He is very excited to start Kindergarten in the fall, although I'm a little nervous. I'm sure all will be well. Here's his first and last day picture!

We will definitely stay busy this summer! The Littles are both playing summer ball and taking a couple weeks of swim lessons. Ava will still be climbing at the Y and will also do another week of CYT summer camp. B was doing karate in the spring and may go back to that when ball is over. They have two games a week! 

So I've obviously gotten way behind on my posts...hopefully I can get caught up over the summer! :)