The Parrillo Family

After we returned from our European Vacation, we took some time in our own backyard.  With a little staycation.  That also allowed us to take on a small DIY project with the building of a gravel firepit area that makes the BEST s'mores.  Here I am enjoying some quiet time in the yard - one of my favorite places.   

We arrived home one evening to this unique and beautiful sunset outside our house in Downers Grove.  Here's Sadie and Frankie pausing to take a moment to take in the wonder of nature.  They won't be this small for too long, but it is awesome to see them pal around together.  They're three years apart, but The Big Beef is catching up with SD in height.  I bet she's due for a growth spurt soon!

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:

Take just a second to go back to this post in September that shows Frankie heading off to his first day of Preschool as a (then) two year old .  Today, he had his last day - and performance - as a three year old Preschooler.  He's made friends and learned (sometimes the hard way) about how to play with others.  He's also...not wearing diapers any more!  And, that's pretty awesome. At three and heading into Summer, I can confidently tell you that Frankie is ALL BOY.  He wants the blue plate at dinner.  He wants to watch Mighty Morphine Power Rangers.  He watches sports with me (sometimes).  And he's alternately so, so, so polite and demanding.  He listens (when he wants to) and expresses himself in good ways and bad ways.  He's also so smart.  Listen, folks...we have a baby genius here.  (LOL). I'm so proud of him for taking on school for the first time and can't wait to see him grow. Here's Frankie in his chair particip...

One of the experiences that Natalie has been pretty serious about is exposing the kids to the voting process and being involved.  Most recently, she worked with the girls to join #TheResistance .  And we've done it quite a bit in their early lives.  There's a whole bunch of posts here on the blog showing the various times we've taken the kids along with us to vote .   This Spring, we had the primary election to vote in and it was the first one in our new house.  Which meant a new polling place.  After work, we took the kids to the new place and had them engage in democracy with us.   The kids scored stickers, of course.  But, I also brought SD into the booth with me, where she helped fill out my ballot.  I told her how I skip non-contested elections.  And then...(gasp!) had her help me fill in the "no" vote on the tax increase referendum.  Start 'em young, right???  (welp...the referendum passe...

In what has quickly become a fun family tradition, we took the kids along with both Grammy and Granddad as well as Noonie and Papa to meet Santa and his reindeer at Wannamaker's in Downers Grove.   Here's the photos of the same event last year.   And here's the kids in 2015 meeting Santa .  If you look back through those, you can see how much each of them has grown! The program starts with a stop to meet the reindeer.  You can see all the kids above petting Peppermint who is just six months old.   Below, you can see Sadie - the animal lover - petting the six-year-old Glitter.  Then it was time to meet the big guy.  Sadie, of course got up there right away.  The other two were a bit more hesitant.  Eloise made sure to keep her distance.  Frankie?  He decided to put on his 'Batman mask' with his hands to protect himself from Santa! Check it out in action below: But...what happens when Sa...

Just like we've done in years past, we had some family photos taken this fall.  Here's the ones from last year.   Here's the ones from 2015 .  This year, we had a new house and a new neighborhood.  And kids that are growing like weeds.  Nat found someone who could help us capture this moment in time.  I'm so glad we did. Eloise is 7. Sadie is 5. Frank just turned 3. And they're just awesome human beings.  Hope you get a kick out of these photos as much as Nat and I both do!

Who says you can't hike in Illinois?  One early evening on our way out to dinner, we spotted a forest preserve in Downers Grove that we wanted to explore.  The kids were eager (well...SD and Frank where!) to explore, so we burned off some calories and explored our new town just a little bit more before the trees all are set to lose their leaves this fall. 

Seems like every few weeks, we find out something new about our new neighborhood that is going on that makes us love our new home even more.  This time?  Turns out...the neighbors run an annual soapbox derby that the whole neighborhood participates in.  For real. Just look at some of the entrants into the race in the photos below.  Kids and Dads work together to build out their car for race, but since we didn't know much about this, our kids didn't have a car.  That didn't stop them from riding with their friends! Here's SD and one of our neighbors in line ready to race. They're loaded up on the ramp! Frankie got in on the action, too. The girls were joined by their bestie cousin and enjoyed the snow cone machine while they sat on a hay bale and watched the cars run down the hill. Here's a short video showing SD running all the way down the hill:

Frankie, Eloise and SD pose in front of our mostly done house. Oh, happy day!  We have sod installed at our #NewOldFarmhouse.   This is just after we have the inside MOSTLY finished .  The kids couldn't help themselves and wanted to pose for a photo in *their* yard.  After being restricted on where they can walk on the jobsite due to the enormous amount of mud, they can now run free in the front and backyard!   Do you think Eloise was excited?

The floors are done!  You can see that the counters aren't in yet.  That didn't stop the three kids from doing some ballroom dancing in the kitchen. You'll remember that we bought this house/lot back in July of last year .  In March, the siding was done .  Less than one year later and we're *almost* done.  Looking for more real-time updates?   Follow along with Natalie on @NewOldFarmhouse on Instagram . Sadie loves giving a tour.  Here she is showing off the stairs going up. And in the closet: And she is taking in the window seats in *her* own bedroom! She can't wait to move in!

Close to the end of July, the girls were able to spend a day with their cousin before she shipped back off to Switzerland for another year of school at the International School with her family.   In June, we took a family trip and were able to spend some time with our family in their house in Switzerland (which I haven't posted photos of quite yet), but following that trip, my Sister and her family came home to Elmhurst for almost a month this summer.  And they got to see all their friends and family.  Including us! The last day before they went back to Europe, the girls took their cousin on a little adventure where they showed her around a few places in Downers Grove including Everyday is a Sundae in the photo above.  Who doesn't like a good summer ice cream cone? And then they took her by our lot where we're building our house - that you can see the in the backyard below: These girls were so, so close when we all lived down the block and see...