Roommate Reunion

I'm so happy that my Purdue girls are still all able to get together every few months.  It's getting harder and harder now that there are seven kids in the group, but it's great that we're all still willing to make it work!  This time we stayed at Kelly and Pat's house in Naperville, so it wasn't too far for me.  Half of our group came in from Indiana, and Divya and her family came all the way from Houston.  We really appreciate Kel putting up with all of us and our little rug-rats in her new house.  We made quite a mess! 

I posted all of these pictures on Facebook already, but I wanted to blog about it, too, so I wouldn't forget...

Here is Kel trying to get Tessa to color on paper instead of her table.

Hannah (Martha's daughter) and Annika (Divya's daughter)

The three youngest playing together

Hannah, Lucy (Amy's daughter), and Annika

Kyri and Connor (Martha's son)

Kyri was in charge of pushing everyone on the swing and kept looking for volunteers...

We went to a nice place for lunch that had good food but bad service.  The kids were great for the first hour and a half, but they got pretty restless as the meal approached two hours.  I was happy for the YouTube version of Baby Einstein on my phone to calm Tess down!

Beth and Tessa

Kelly and Kyri

After the long lunch, we attempted to do a little shopping...

All the kids wanted to do was run around and get their energy out after sitting for so long.

Kyri and Connor hiding under a clothes rack...

So we gave up on shopping and decided to head back to Kelly's backyard for some outdoor fun.

Connor, Kyri, and Tessa

Tessa never really got into the pool.  She just wanted to drink from the fountains!

 Erin let Annika take a little dip, too.

Some group shots...

While we were together, everyone got to see the many faces of Tessa B.  She can be quite the character these days.  She changes moods in a split second, and Erin summed it up by comparing her to a commercial for Sour Patch Kids.  The commercial says, "First they're sour, then they're sweet."  That's so Tess!  She switches back and forth all day long depending on if she's getting her way or not!  After Erin joked about this, Kyle and I have been calling out her moods in the same voice the commercial uses.  

Sour...

Sweet!

 Posing for a pic

Kyri entertained the group by performing on her "stage".

Sunday was Father's Day, so we spent the afternoon at Morton Arboretum's BBQ.

Kyri and her daddy - We couldn't get Tess to sit with them for a picture.

But as soon as Kelly and Pat sat down for a picture, Tessa put her arms up to sit with them.  What??

Divya, Annika, and Alex 

(Alex's first Father's Day!!)

 Waiting for lunch

Tessa kept pointing to the flowers and saying "wowers". 

My girls

Family shot

Beautiful Annika

The rest of our group had to leave to get the Houston crew to the airport, but we stayed for a little while longer.  After playing in the pond, the girls needed an outfit change and then a snack.

I caught a special moment while Kyle was telling Kyri a story.

We played in some of the other areas.

And then headed home.  Kyri, Tessa, and I all fell asleep in the car!  We had a fun weekend.  Can't wait to see everyone again soon.  Miss you guys already!