Summer Chicago Photo Shoot

We were overdue for family pictures, and we really wanted to get some Chicago-themed pictures.  Our friend Liz Hansen took the pictures for us, and she did an amazing job!

 

 

 This is Liz in action!  She seriously made the whole family picture process much easier than anything we have ever experienced!  She was silly and creative and perfect with the kids.

The Molly's cupcake bribe probably helped a little too... :)

The Music Man

School being out means that we've got more time for other hobbies, and for Ellis that means more musicals! For three weeks he went to daily practices for a kid's production of one of our favorites: The Music Man!

This production was especially fun because Ellis is now old enough to be in the plays where they enter and exit and the stage, and the kids are starting to get better at being in character. Ellis was cast as Marcellus (Harold Hill's old friend) for his main role, but he filled in for several other roles as well. Our favorite was as a member of the school board, who form the famous barbershop quartet. Ellis was, of course, ecstatic to be on stage again, and he certainly shone brightly up there!

The cast

Ellis' friends are always so good to come see his performances! Pictured here are Daniel, Ellis, Jake, and Hank.

Ellis in costume

Hamming it up!

Isn't he the BEST music man?

Farewell to the Seversons

In our three years in Evanston, the Seversons have basically been family. From the day we arrived, their boys and ours hit it off, and play dates and babysitting and carpooling have happened several times per week. 

So, we did not take it lightly when they announced they were moving to Midway, UT. Of course, it's partially our fault, since we told them they should look into Midway in the first place...bad move on our part!

Of course, Jenn was put in charge of planning the farewell party. And, of course, it was all Chicago-themed:

Chicago cookies

Illinois wall hangings

For the third wall hanging, we had everyone at the party sign their name in gold ink within a stencil of Illinois. It turned out looking really cool!

These boys...they just love each other!

Silliness in the back of the van

Trampoline time!

 

Snack break

Girl's night farewell party

One of our favorite things about the Severson boys is how much they love Archer. He's always surrounded by 6 entertaining boys when they are around...

...and he loves it!

Sam and Andrew have perhaps had the most time to hang out together, since they weren't in full-time school and went to the same pre-school. There was a time when Sam thought Andrew was way too young for him, but in the end these two became great, goofy friends.

This was the summer of Pokemon, and we got in lots of trades with the Severson's before they left! (and have been trading cards via mail ever since...)

 We were so happy to have the Severson boys at our house a lot in the last week before they left as Sarah and Ben packed up their stuff. We needed to get our fill before they left!

Eventually, though, the time came to truly say goodbye.

 

The boys in front of the Severson's house

Last joint-selfie!

Luckily for us, FaceTime has allowed the boys to keep up their friendship pretty well even since they left, but it's certainly not the same without them!

Friends All Around

 Man, these boys have a lot of fun friends!  Which is exactly what I have prayed for, so it fills my heart with happiness.

This is Ryder and Jake, two of Ellis' best friends from school.  I think these are the two friends whose hair Ellis was trying to emulate.  

And Ellis' Recess League soccer team.  This is the group that he was "The Ref" for this year for so many games, spent countless nights making yellow/red cards, lineups, and game plans for, etc.  Ellis also planned play dates with almost every kid in this group.  He is lucky to have such a fun group of friends at school!

Here are Henry and Ellis with a few of their Cub Scout/church friends.   

 And Sam with his preschool friends on the last day.

 This is Henry's soccer team and his amazing coach who had such a great mix of yelling and giving sincere, positive feedback.  At first I wasn't excited about the yelling, but I actually think the boys really responded to it. I don't really understand boys, but I think yelling motivates them somehow?  :)  He gave Henry the "most improved" and "hardest worker" awards, because Henry really got in there and worked this year!

 Good game, good game!

 Ellis' soccer team buddies.  Orange CRUSH!!!  Missing in this pic is Harry, the kid who scored like a million goals.  These guys had a great season and pretty much dominated every team they played.  Ellis really got into it and developed a few versions of his signature victory dance for any of his goals.

And I had to add this picture of Henry and the friends he made during the week at Apps & Coding camp.  I never heard anything about these kids during the week, but on the last day, they were all super friendly with Henry.  They were all saying they can't wait to see him again and hang out other times and in other classes (which I doubt will happen, but you never know!).  I think they had all bonded over their computer-geekiness. :)

Recent Cuteness

The latest cute moments are as follows:

The time when everyone gathered around Archer in the gym after church, and H, E, and S showed him off to their friends.

All the times when the boys carry Archie around like it's no big deal.  He's not quite half their size!

Like this time - when Ellis chose Archer as his buddy at the playground.  Ellis is really loving his role as Archer's caretaker, which is SO great for everyone involved.

Sometimes we call him Archie-boo.

The time Sam made this cute diagram to document the life cycle of a butterfly (at preschool).

The time (which is nearly every time) that Archie just looked at the camera/phone and gave the perfect smile.

The time Sam was in denial about summer, and he wanted to wear long sleeves and long pants every day, even though it was in the 70's and 80's.  So when I pushed him on it, he pushed back by getting in his winter gear because he was sure he would be freezing on this 78 degree day.

The time when Henry's friend Jamila put a Henry sticker on Archer's head.

And the time when Ellis and Sam took to pushing the baby swing like maniacs, and the boy in the next swing over was fascinated/jealous.