Welcome home Gabe

Gabriel Jack Hessling was born July 16th at 12:03 AM at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital. Gabe weighed 7lbs, 7 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Mom & Gabe are doing great, as are the kids. Parker especially adores Gabe, and wants to hold him all the time. We're so thrilled to add another miracle to our family.

It's our Birthday!

Iris and Tia are spending a rainy day inside, but enjoying making cakes with playdough. Doesn't Iris look cute in her new glasses?

A pre-Birthday party picture, full of silliness and sass!

Music with Mindy = Tons of Birthday party fun! They had a great time, singing, eating, cake and of course, the pinata!

Spending a beautiful summer day at the Morton Arboretum, Children's Garden.....the hideout under this evergreen bush is the best ever! A great day!

Our Birthday Girl

We spent the night downtown after the 4th to see the fireworks from Navy Pier, the kids had a great time and begged to go to the beach. Iris enjoyed her special day, time at the beach, the zoo, opening her presents, going out for pizza and...well when we made it to the birthday cake we were all a little tired so a few tears were shed but overall a great day!

Sleeping Soundly

Parker, Iris and Tia are enjoying all of their paints and markers at the art table. They love making pictures and BIG MESSES!

Nope, she is not praying....Tia is wiped out from a day playing outside and swimming at the pool. Even with Parker and Iris dancing around and making plenty of noise she still gave into the Sandman.

Busy Days

Here is Parker on his last day of school at his beach party. His teacher is holding her new baby. Parker is talking about when he goes to school again and doesn't realize it is over and next year will be a whole new adventure for him.

Here we are at the Museum of Science and Industry with our friends Ryan and Matthew. We had lots of fun seeing all kinds of new things. Parker really enjoyed the submarine area. Iris enjoyed being in the big airplane and climbing on the train. They all enjoyed seeing their own Gravitron Top being made and following it down the assembly line.

A rainy day calls for a special day out to Parker's favorite place....Chuck E. Cheese. We had lots of fun, used lots of tokens, got a few tickets and cashed them in for our favorite treat...candy! Here we are with our friends, Katelyn and Sean (who we see all of the time and act like siblings sometimes).

Our Dancing Stars

Iris enjoyed her end of the year school picnic with her friends. It was a bit cold for popsicles but the kids didn't mind.

Happy Birthday to the Best Daddy...the kids were so excited to help decorate the cake and sing Happy Birthday to Daddy.

Our dancing stars....Parker had to be bribed to go on stage (and not cry) with a stop at 7-11 for gum and a slurpie after the show. He did a great job and Iris was a natural up there. Hopefully we will get the video up on the web soon. It brought tears to my eyes watching them up on stage and a Great Big Smile!!! Tia is excited to get a turn next year.

Happy Memorial Day

We've had a fun few days. Parker and Iris had lots of fun playing in a big box from a recent package. Everyone always enjoys licking the beaters while Mommy is baking. We all went to the Shedd Aquarium on Saturday, and we were excited to see the new Oceanarium. We also really enjoyed the Memorial Day Parade...the candy was the favorite part. We are so excited that summer is here and we've made our first trip to the pool already...we are ready for hot, sunny weather everyday!