The Parrillo Family

Sadie continues to get involved in making the world a better place.  This year, she was a leader in the school Environmental Club where they learned about the impacts on the Earth of our behaviors and how to best recycle.   She also continues to be our animal lover.  All sorts of animals.  She DESPERATELY wants a ferret.  Not going to happen.  But, she does love her Lizzie. And, she's still involved with Girl Scouts.  Here she is (below) sorting her Cookie orders to get them ready for delivery. And, 2022 marked the first ever FULL 5K that Sadie ran with Nat.  They ran 'the whole thing' during the Downers Grove Turkey Trot this month.

Eloise has had a hand in a couple of local theater productions - for her school and local theater companies.  But, she has historically taken on a 'behind-the-scenes' role.  Stage crew, production, etc.  But that all changed this year with the annual SMG musical for the middle school kids.  This year they produced the show Frozen (the Disney story) and Eloise joined her classmates and friends in an on-stage role.  Yeah!  She was on stage.  And great!  Here are a few photos of her in her costumes - she was on the stage for various numbers.   I couldn't be more proud of her.  Very brave.  And...if you know Eloise, you know:  she was perfect.    

This is what 6th grade, 4th grade and 1st grade looks like for Eloise, Sadie and Frankie.  Look at those BIG smiles.  This year, our kids are back in what I'm calling 'normal school'.  And we're so grateful for that.  We're grateful for being able to take the bus to/from school, staying a full, normal day, eating lunch with their friends and being kids.  Sure, they're wearing masks and staying safe, but it feels so nice to have some normalcy in these three lives.  We're also so happy that Nat is back at SMG working as a 2nd grade aide.   They've navigated this period of time incredibly well.  That's thanks to Nat.  But, these three kids are smarter, stronger and more resilient today than they were when COVID started.  Hard to believe all three kids are on the same schedule.  And that we have both a middle schooler (eek!) and a first grader (wow). Oh...and they're not the only ones smiling today.  So am I!  So happy fo...

2021 was supposed to be the first year of Nat looking after SMG's (where our kids go to school) annual fundraising event.  It traditionally takes the shape of a black-tie(ish) gala with dinner, dancing and a big live auction.  But...being the season we're in (Thanks, COVID), the school had to pivot.  And, Nat was in the captain's seat to help deliver a world-class outcome for our kids and their school.  She worked with her team to dream and execute a whole new "New Normal" fundraising event that not only raised a ton of money for the school, but also rallied the SMG community in a whole new way. Today is the final day of this new week that Nat created called We are ONE.  Here below is Nat and the kids all proudly wearing their We are ONE tshirts.  She couldn't plan the big, fancy event.  But, Natalie did was she does best:  stayed calm, worked together and made the world a little bit better today than it was yesterday.  I'm proud of her....

COVID might have delayed the event, but our SD had her First Communion this weekend.  And she did it wearing pants.  That her Grammy sewed for her.  Along with a custom-matching mask.  'Tis the season for COVID, I guess.   As for the Communion, she was so excited.  Both by the little high heels she was wearing, being the center of attention for a day, but also because of all the kids, she seems to have taken her faith the most seriously.   For a quick flashback, here's Eloise on her First Communion back in 2018 .   Here she is - on her big day.  So glad that NOT all of the photos are with masks.  Look at that big smile. Instead of one BIG First Communion, St Mary's decided to offer a series of much smaller ones - to enable social distancing.  That also meant that we were limited in who could come with us to the church.  Both Noonie and Grammy made the list.  Here's Noonie with the First Communicant.  ...

That's Sadie and her 2nd grade SMG soccer teammates enjoying the fruits of their season-long labor:  Dairy Queen on the curb.  This was SD's first time on a soccer team and she worked hard.  Hung back on defense a little too much, but she was a great teammate, had a good attitude and we had so much fun watching her run around on the field.  Here's a post from 2017 when she was first taking soccer class back in Elmhurst . 

These two athletes got it done with the SMG 5K and 1 miler race for their school.  The last time I posted about the race was in 2017 with photos here .  

The tans tell the story of a great Summer, but all good things have to come to an end.  And today, that Summer has come to an end with the girls going off to St. Mary of Gostyn school for their first day. Eloise is in 4th grade. With Ms. Zinnie.   Sadie is in 2nd grade.  With Mrs. Nolan - who Eloise had. Here's photos from the same day last year.   What a change! Frankie's turn is coming up soon.  

This past weekend was my absolute, hands-down, favorite night of the year:  The annual Daddy-Daughter Dance at St. Mary's of Gostyn in Downers Grove.  This year....if you couldn't tell from the photos,  the theme was a Luau.  Loved that.  No suit.  Just a Hawaiian shirt and the girls were able to get all doll'd up in their most colorful flower dress, too! Here we are out on the front porch: We went out to a nice dinner with some friends (see the photo of the girls and their two classmates - well...Ellie's classmates!) out after dinner right before we headed to the dance.  I love being able to spend the evening with two of my favorite girls all alone, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do it with other Dads.  With Eloise being in 3rd grade, in some schools, they start to taper off in terms of older girls attending the dance with their Dads.  The good news is that at SMG, they have plenty of eighth graders there!  So, ...

Another school year dawned for these two.  Eloise in third grade.  Sadie heading off to first grade.  Both at St. Mary's of Gostyn.  Above you see them smiling and ready to take on the world.  For a quick reference of how much they've grown in a year  peek here at the same pose of these two on the VERY FIRST DAY of school l ast year. 

My, how much she's grown.   That's her, on her very last day of 2nd grade.   Here, below, is her on her first day of 2nd grade last fall.  Remarkable the change, isn't it?  Same outfit, but tighter sweater and shorter skirt! Eloise has always been a good student.  But this year?  She really excelled.  Between a great place at SMG and a really great teacher, Eloise's growth over the school year has been remarkable.  I'm so excited to see her grow.  And I'm excited to see her spend some down time this Summer. Here she is, down by the curb, waiting for the bus on the final day:

Just a few days ago, Sadie went off to Kindergarten for the last time .  Today, she is a Kindergarten Graduate!  Here she is, in her gold gown, entering the Church at St. Mary's for the ceremony. Sadie is still her loving, caring, silly self.  But she's also now becoming a kid.  She loves her friends, her teachers and also nature and animals.  She cares about her siblings and always wants to make people happy.  This was her first year at SMG and she certainly made her mark.  And her brain?  It is growing leaps and bounds.  I already told you this month about all the reading she's doing. But she's also so creative.  I'm so proud to be her Dad and to see her conquer this milestone of Kindergarten Graduation. It was only two years ago that Eloise hit the same Kindergarten Graduation milestone.  She was, however, at Immanuel Lutheran in Elmhurst.  Here's the photos from that day in 2016 . Along with a few of her fellow cla...

Just a day or two before Kindergarten Graduation, here's SD enjoying a sweet treat on "Park Day" at St. Mary's. 

Ahead of her upcoming Kindergarten Graduation, Sadie went off to school for the last time as a Kindergartener this morning.  That's her on the last day in May 2018 above. For comparison's sake, check out the photo below of her first day of school this year.  As Nat said on her Instagram post with these photos :  " Their skirts are a little shorter and their smiles are a little brighter. " I'll be posting photos of her Kindergarten Graduation in the coming days.  

It literally feels like yesterday that we were baptizing our first born child Eloise.  Here's the post from all the way back in February of 2010 when we posted about that event .  But, now, eight years later, our wonderful Eloise has now had her First Communion.    As you can imagine, there's a lot of dress and shoes and outfit details, but I don't know any of them.  Natalie can fill in the blanks, but what I can tell you is that Eloise looked perfect.   We arrived at St. Mary's (where Eloise goes to school) to find her banner hung on one of the pews.  Eloise put this banner together - and despite us having to audible from fabric glue (which, folks, just doesn't work!) to hot glue - came out nice.   Eloise takes school and her religion very seriously.  And she's created a special bond with Fr. Shaun at SMG who gave the First Communion Mass for the school kids.   After the Mass, we (of ...