7 Kevin!

What a BLAST! Last night a local band called 7th Heaven (Giovanna calls them 7 Kevin) played at Norridge's Island in the City Festival. It's walking distance from our house, and we really enjoy their music, so we took the family for an evening of fun. Joe also had a friend in the band who did a special dedication for Giovanna. He dedicated her favorite song to her, "Hey Soul Sister." It was awesome! Below is a video of her dedication and some pictures from the evening.

Giuliana waiting for 7th Heaven to play.

Mommy & Giovanna at the concert.

Daddy & the girls at the concert.

I love this picture of Gunnar & Giovanna!

Frankie & Terra feeding Giuliana funnel cake.

Giovanna going through 7th Heaven's Newsletter with daddy.

Nick Cox, 7th Heaven, dedicating
"Hey Soul Sister" to Giovanna!

Happy Belated 4th of July From The Lees!

July 1 & 2 2011

What a great start to the 4th of July weekend! On Friday, Joe and I were both off of work, and we took the kids downtown. The weather was supposed to be a scorcher, but luckily it stayed in the mid 70's for our day. Then on Saturday the girls had their friend Isabella over to play and we had a blast. Tomorrow is our BBQ, then Monday a relaxing 4th.

This picture was actually from Thursday night.
This is the first night Giuliana gave us a hard time
going to bed. She kept coming in our room, on Joe's
side of the bed saying, "Da da." We would take turns
putting her back to bed. This is the last time. We heard
her come in our room, we heard a thunk, then silence.
Both of us peeked over the edge of the bed to see this!
We knew we had to capture a picture. It was so funny!
The girls and I waited "upstairs" while Joe and Gunnar went
"downstairs" to get info about tickets for a boat ride.

Daddy & the kids in Millenium Park.




Gunnar & Giovanna sitting on a ledge in Millenium Park.

Giuliana & Giovanna sitting on a lower ledge in Millenium Park.

Mommy & Giovanna on the boat.

Dad & Gunnar on the boat.

Mommy & Giuliana on the boat.

The kids "going under water" in our pool.

Giuliana splashing away!

Giovanna & Isabella dumping buckets of water on
their heads!

Giovanna's big splash down the "waterslide."

Giuliana's big splash down the "waterslide."

15 Months!

Last week Giuliana turned 15 months, so we had her 15 month well visit with Dr. Vassmer. Giuliana is 31 inches tall, weighs 23.5 lbs, and her AFP level is 3. That's a good number, anything under 8 is good. Dr. Vassmer is happy with how she's growing and how social she is. Unfortunately, she had to get 2 shots, but took 'em like a champ!

Giuliana's first time eating corn on the cob!

Giovanna's first corn on the cob of the summer!


Gunnar's first corn on the cob of the summer in Chicago!

BIG Beds!

I know, I know, I've been neglecting the blog. I'm sorry. Since we got back from our trip to Georgia, things have been pretty hectic. A quick up to speed: Gunnar spent spring break with us, Giuliana turned 1 and we had a wonderful party with friends and family, we had a bunch of doctor's appointments with Giuliana turning 1, Easter, Mother's Day, other family birthdays, Memorial Day, Gunnar returned and is now with us for 6 weeks, bringing us to today!

For a few months now, Giuliana has been crawling into Giovanna's toddler bed and basically claiming it as her own. The other day I found her with her chubby little leg over the rail of the crib, she was trying to climb out! That's when I said, "it's time" to which Joe responded, "oh she's been doing that for weeks!" WHAT?!?! I wish I knew that!

So we spent a family day and went shopping to get the girls all the necessary bedding for the big transition night. Giovanna moved to the bottom bunk of the bunk beds, and Giuliana moved into the toddler bed. Night 1 went VERY well. Giuliana only came out of bed one time and slept til 8:15 am. I knew Giovanna would be fine because she naps in our bed all the time. Joe's test was nap time today, and it was a success! He said he put Giuliana in her bed for a nap and she fell right asleep. He even had to wake her up 2 hours later! Let's hope this luck continues!

The bunk beds

Giuliana in her big girl bed.

Giovanna in her BIG big girl bed.


3 kids up on top!

I love this picture of Giuliana peeking through the slats

of the top bunk!

Another picture I think is cute, Giovanna on the top bunk.

Atlanta 2011

We had a FABULOUS vacation to Atlanta/ Lawrenceville, GA last week. It was great to do some site seeing with the girls, as well as spend time with family we don't get to see very often and miss dearly. While the drive was long, 14 long hours, really long hours, it was well worth it and I would definitely do it all over again!

We went to Imagine It Chidren's Museum in Atlanta.
The girls had a blast playing in all the different themed sections.

There was a section dedicated to the little ones where the
girls were able to fish and play with all sorts of toys.

The section for little ones had equipment for them to climb
with slides, and windows to peek out of.

We like to watch the Travel Channel and between Man v Food
and the different Paradise shows, we have our next several
vacations planned out based on food spots we'd like try!
The Varsity was on our list, so we gave it a go. Eh, it was

just ok. More hype on tv than what it actually was.

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium. Giovanna thinks
this fish is Nemo, but his name is actually Deepo!

I just really like this picture!

Throughout the aquarium, there were different tunnels
so you could pop your head in and be part of the exhibit.

World of Coca Cola was in the same area as the aquarium,
so we visited there the same day. At the end of the tour
you finish in a room with soda fountains of all of Coke's
flavors around the world, and you get to taste as much
as you want. Giovanna kept saying, "More Coca Cola Mommy!"

Joe gave up drinking soda back in 2003. He hasn't had
a drop of soda since then. That is until we went to
World of Coca Cola! I mean, how can you be at World
of Coca Cola and not drink a Coke?!?! This was a room
dedicated to Coke flavors. If you ever go to Italy, DO NOT
try a Coca Cola brand soda called Beverly. It tasted like
the worst cough medicine you can imagine. I felt sick for
hours after trying that one. No amount of Cherry Coke
could cover that one up. I regret trying Beverly!

There was a 4d movie at World of Coca Cola. It was

pretty cool except for the fact that Giovanna cried to
go home throughout the entire thing. The lady next
to us tried to give her a Tootsie Roll to shut her up,
but the only thing the lady got was one less Tootsie Roll
in her purse!

We found out Babyland General Hospital was about an
hour away from our hotel, so we decided to make the drive
to see where Abigail, Kaleigh, and Christa were born.

How could we visit Babyland General Hospital and not

let the girls adopt a baby? The newest members of the
Lee Family: Melba and Iola. Where do they come up
with these names?

2011 Blizzard

Oh. . .My. . .Gosh! I cannot believe this blizzard actually happened. It was like being in a movie. I cannot believe how violent and angry this storm was, with no relief. Straight high winds, snow, THUNDER & LIGHTNING for hours. The girls and I were lucky to get home by 5:15ish, but unfortunately Joe was just beginning his shift. Just after we walked in the door, I was making calls to family letting them know we got home ok, and our power went out. Luckily it was short lived, and came back within a half hour.

I was sending Joe's mom text messages about it, and jokingly said, "I'm making dinner right now so the girls can eat before it happens again." Well, at 6:15 we lost power AGAIN. And it stayed out until 2:30 a.m. My concern was keeping the girls warm, but luckily, they fell asleep pretty early, and blankets were enough to keep us warm. The temperature in the house got as low as 57 degrees.

With the power being out, I had no way of keeping tabs on the storm or distracting myself from worrying about Joe being out there in the blizzard. It's not like he was away from home at an office during this blizzard. . .NO. . .he was driving up and down Broadway getting people to their homes. So I heard and saw every whip of the wind, iciness of the snow, thunder crash, and lightning bolt; everytime worrying more and more about my husband out there in the harsh elements.

We were able to keep in touch with eachother through a few text messages, but both of us wanted to conserve our batteries on our phones. Joe was down to one bar, and while I had 3 bars, with the power being out, I wanted to make sure I had a way of calling for help if there were an emergency. Finally at around 2:30 I get a phone call from him that he's in his van and on his way home. (Don't worry, the van has bluetooth so the phone call goes through the speaker system throughout the car) He had so many stories about his hellish night, neither of us could believe he was making it home. About 2 blocks away from home, dun dun dun, the van got stuck! So in those blistering winds, he trudged home through the snow to get shovels to dig the van out. By the time he headed back to the van, his footprints from coming home had completely vanished.

It didn't take Joe long to dig out the car, but it was clear he was not going to be able to make it down the street to get home. It turned out that St. Monica Church (about 2 blocks from home)had its parking lot plowed and he was able to park there and walk home. He was in the house for good at 3:45. By then the house was warming up and we were able to doze off watching the news for the blizzard news we missed all night long. Now that my family was home, I could sleep. Until 8:15 am when the girls woke up that is and our day of shoveling began!

Now that it's over and done with, and everyone is safe, what great memories. We got 20.2"!

At about 11:00 p.m. I opened the front door to try to take

a picture of the storm, and this is all I got.

The snow drifts were up to 4 feet tall, so our little

snowblower couldn't touch it. We had to shovel mostly

everything, then snow blow towards the end.

The snow was waist high on me, but when I stood in the

middle, I only sunk to my knees.

This is our house.

Our street. I don't know how a car made it down to make

these tracks. I think it was one of the city's tanks. Our

neighbor directly across the street works for the city, and

the city came and picked him up at 5 am to go out and

operate a front loader to help remove snow. So it was

probably their tank that made these tracks!

We brought Giovanna out to experience the blizzard

clean up. I took this picture right away, the wind gusted

once, and she was done. She cried and asked to go inside!

Shoveling, there was so much snow, we didn't know where

to put it all! The mounds were over my head (I know that's
hard to imagine) and I had a heck of a time lifting the snow

that high to get it off the driveway.

Later in the afternoon when things drastically calmed

down, we brought the girls out to play in the snow.

Giuliana loved it and I think was upset when I

brought her back in the house.

Giovanna & Giuliana in the snow. Doesn't Giuliana look

like the kid from "A Christmas Story?"

Jack & Gunnar came over too!