Busy, busy, busy!

Not too surprisingly, we came home from vacation and picked right up where we left off with our busy lives. In fact, the day we got home from vacation (Sunday, July 4th) we got home, unloaded the van, changed clothes/freshened up, and then drove to watch East Peoria's fireworks. When we got home that night, the van's odometer read 901.2. Greg had reset it before we left Philadelphia. Kinda crazy that we drove that much in one day! Anyway, I was glad we went to the fireworks. Even though East Peoria is significantly smaller (pop. 22, 760) than Philadelphia (pop. over 1.5 million), the fireworks were very impressive! Plus, it was fun to be with family. Dad and Mom Beutel and Katy came, and we met Dad and Mom Rassi, Caleb, Phil, Nic and Amanda, Chad and Laurie, and Laurie's parents Bruce and Lauretta there. Dad Rassi had gotten there early to ensure a spot and had about three blankets spread out to reserve enough space. :) I think he felt rather conspicuous. Thanks, anyway, Dad!

Our little family (Yes, we dressed all red, white, and blue. It was July 4th!)

Love Nora's flag dress...even if it is too short.

She was SO happy to be out of her carseat! Can you say, "FREEDOM!?"

Max loved running around, eating snacks, and playing with his cousins.

We were glad for so much family to help keep track of him!

As anyone who's been in central IL lately knows, we've had our fair share of thunderstorms. I usually don't mind them, but I was getting a little tired of them. They did make for some pretty pictures, though.

Gotta love living in the country! Plenty of sky to see.

These are Greg's two beautiful aunts, Trish and Diane. Mom Beutel spent a couple nights in the hospital after an operation and Greg visited her while they were there.

One of the main things keeping us busy are, of course, our kids! Nora has started pulling herself up to a standing position just this week and now climbs over/on things, too. She loves playing by Max's bed or crawling over a couch cushion on the floor.

Katy and I put her in the bed, but she stood up by herself!

Max loves to play with her.

Such a big girl! It is unreal to me that she is already nearly eleven months old.

One of Max's favorite things to do: Jump on his bed (like "Gig-ger!")

For those of you who know what Nora's bellowing sounds like, you can probably hear it just by looking at this picture!

See that CD tower? They both know it's off limits. That doesn't stop them unfortunately, as you'll see later.

Another random picture. This little yellow plane has been quite busy in the fields surrounding our house, much to Max's delight. (Not so much Nora's). He LOVES watching the "a-pane!"

Last Friday, Greg and I woke up at 5:40 and drove to Dwight to pick blueberries (thanks to Mom R. and Caleb for also getting up early to keep the kids!). It was alot of fun, even though we only picked for an hour and a half. We wished we would have had more time. All in all, we picked a little over 26 pounds.

Oh, yum. Some of them were huge! Most of them were mid-sized or smaller, which is fine for using in baking.

My little work station. The last pile to put in freezer bags! Hooray!

Plenty of berries for us enjoy!

On Friday night, Greg took Max to Father-Son night, and I went to Laurie's to hang out with her, Hope, and Troy. We went to Hobby Lobby, Payless, and Culver's for dessert. Back at their house, I was helping Laurie peel some cooked potatoes for breakfast casserole. Troy kept sneaking up to the table and nabbing potatoes and taking big bites out of them. Finally, Laurie stuck him in his high chair with one of his potatoes he'd started. He didn't finish it, but he had fun!

Troy and his potato (and a mouthful!)

What a cutie! I think the word 'mischievous' was made for this boy!

Oh, and speaking of mischievous...

Believe it or not, I really CAN wait until Nora walks...they already do this kind of stuff and she's only crawling! And this was a joint effort, I do believe.

I will admit: I heard them when they were about halfway done, and at that point I thought, "Eh, I've been meaning to organize that one anyway...they might as well finish."

This was on Sunday morning. Nora didn't like her bath once she got in, but when Max was in, she wouldn't stay away!

Last picture...also Sunday morning. Usually when Max wakes up, you know because you hear him SLAM their bedroom door and he comes and climbs into our bed. This morning, Greg was out running and I was still in bed. I heard Max say, "Hi, Nora," and then a SLAM. I kept waiting for him to come into our bedroom, but he never did. Then I heard him talking in their room and thought, "Well, maybe he wanted to be with Nora," and stayed in bed. When I went in their bedroom later, I saw this. And the bottom of the CD tower emptied. I took the picture not so much because he emptied the CD cases (it's been done many times before), but because of the neat little grid he had on his bed. Accountant, anyone? This kid doesn't stand a chance. :)