Josh's 5 year video interview

We went and recorded another video for Josh's birthday this year.  Most notable is how much calmer he is, sitting still is much easier for him.

And here is the link to last year's video.

http://silverfamilyil.blogspot.com/2013/05/joshs-4-year-old-birthday-video.html

Swimming at Aunt Sara and Uncle Brett's pool

In anticipation of our new pool, we eagerly accepted Aunt Sara and Uncle Brett's invitation to be their first guests in their pool for the season.  It was cold though

Last time at the Chicago botanic gardens

Such a beautiful day!

Last Couple of Days of School

Josh and his classmates giving their teachers their gifts

The class

 My, how Caitlyn's hair has grown!

September 2013

May 2013

Caitlyn and her friend Leigh

Miss Stephanie, Caitlyn, Leigh, and Miss Coleen

Tree Pictures

Since we won't be here for the next couple of years to see the trees and kids grow together, I made sure to capture what they looked like before we leave.

Moving! and new house pics

As I mentioned on Facebook, we are moving to Connecticut for 3 years for Jared's job.  He'll be working in Manhattan and commuting.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our new (rental) house.  Some pictures (the furniture-less ones) are from the MLS before the current renters moved in.  The others we took when we toured the place.  We move 7/1 and we are excited to have a basement and a pool! It's a 3 bedroom Cape Cod, 1 car garage with a finished basement.

from the street

entering the house is the living room; in the background you can see the dining room, and the door to the kitchen

another view of the living room.  We are excited to have a fireplace again.  behind that lamp is the hallway to our master "suite"

the dining room

the kitchen.  It's not eat in, but the appliances are nice and it's got good cabinet space

I am excited about having a real pantry!

It doesn't seem like the current occupants park their car in the garage, but we will, so we'll probably have to get a shed of some kind for all the stuff we currently keep in the garage.  

the deck, with built in grill, and I think firewood is covered by a blue tarp.

the pool.  Good thing it's fenced in and the yard is also fenced.

there's plenty of running around space, and still room for their swingset.  We are sad about leaving ours, but glad this one still has one. 

another view of the yard

From the dining room, there is a hallway with a door, a coat closet, a bathroom, and a bedroom.  Even though the largest bedroom is upstairs, we are going to put both kids upstairs, and we'll have a sort of a suite downstairs.

the downstairs bathroom, which will also have to double as a powder room when we have playdates or dinner guests.

another view of the bathroom

 The Basement

we'll use this side for a playroom.  Behind is the washer and dryer...hence the iron in the forefront of this pic.

and perhaps this side for an office.

Now come along with me up the leopard stairs.

the first room on the left will be Caitlyn's.

Another view.  Notice the dresser is built in to the eaves of the house.  

the current owner uses this room's closet as a shoe closet

along the hallway is the upstairs bathroom.

This will be Josh's room

they will probably have to share closets

It is smaller than our current home and we'll have to adjust to eating in the dining room, sharing bathroom sinks and the kids sleeping on a different floor, but in ways it's better.  We are real excited that we got the house, since there were multiple offers.  Our personal statement won them over, even though we weren't the highest price.

We also listed our house to be rented while we are gone.  Here's the link to how great the house looks, before the Silver tornadoes run through.