The Carroll Family

Family Blog

2009-01-15T15:29:00.005-06:00

I've decided to keep both blogs going because I think each will serve a different purpose. I may get overwhelmed by the task and just do one but for right now, I'll try.

This blog will be my family blog, the blog where I share bits about our days. Ministry is our life so I'm sure that will appear here too but most people may not be interested in what new things our 2 year old is doing.

So for you family & friends that keep up on our lives through here, here is an update!

Natalie's friend across the street moved last weekend. They have played together and been buddies since Alexia moved in 2 1/2 years ago. We are very sad to see her go. I was even a little teary. In some ways I wonder if God orchestrated it this way so it's easier for Natalie to leave this house? God always knows what's best for us.

Here's a picture from their last playdate:

The 3 of them making funny faces:

And here's what my kids do while watching morning cartoons- they sing & play along with the songs. Yep, we're a musical family!

France Here We Come!

2009-01-13T22:26:00.003-06:00

So the reason I haven't written on this blog for a while...

We are moving to France to start churches.

I am such a tell it like it is person that I couldn't sit and write on this personal family blog and not talk about the biggest thing going on in our lives!

We have had such a crazy year full of wonderful ways that God has spoken to us, telling us it was time to go do this.

I will write you more about this journey soon. It's late and I should sleep but I wanted you all to know. We have a france blog at www.carrollsinfrance.com

We are moving to France in July 09 to fulfill the dream God put on our hearts 10 years ago.

We are so excited!!

Our Disney Trip

2008-12-27T10:04:00.018-06:00

Hello Everyone!

Yes, it has been a LONG time since I posted on this blog. It's for reasons that I will be sharing with you in the next few weeks. So stay tuned! But first, I will update you on some of our latest adventures!

Dec 14-19 we went on a big family trip to Disney World! We had a great time! Here's some of what we did:
Finally arriving at Orlando airport!

Day at Hollywood Studios

Osborne Festival of Lights

Day at Epcot

Lunch at the Germany Restaurant- my kids make friends everywhere they go!

Day at Animal Kingdom

Playing at the pool

Night at Magic Kingdom

Will loved the Christmas Parade!

Our last day:

Seeing the princesses

Will LOVED the princesses. He's quite a charmer!

We had such a great time! It was so hard to leave, especially all that nice weather! We are so grateful we had the opportunity to go!

Birthdays and First Day of School!

2008-08-21T11:43:00.015-06:00

The whirlwind started Saturday with Will's 2nd Birthday party. We had an outdoor pool/slip & slide party.

Here is Will drenching his babysitter Rachel with a bucket of water.

Yummy cake!

Then Wednesday we went to see Backyardigans Live (Oma's birthday present to Natalie).

We had a great time! Thanks Oma!

Then today we put Natalie on the school bus for her first day of Kindergarten. Yes, I cried.
Here's the buddies, all ready to go!

Gotta have the front door picture.

We love Daddy!

Waiting for the bus...it was late.

Here we go!

She's a champ. I'm probably more nervous than she is.

There she is, 3rd window from the left. I think she's taking her backpack off and settling in.

I can't wait until 4:00 to hear all about her afternoon.
I miss her a lot today!

Will is 2 today!

2008-08-15T17:03:00.008-06:00

At my 40 week appointment (on our anniversary), I was asked to stay at the hospital for some further tests. I was on machines for a few hours to monitor and then the pitocin began. He waited until 9:30 the next night to make his appearance. I'm learning now that's just how he is wired. It's all in his own time and when he's ready, he lets you know. He's such a smart, independent, sweet, loving boy! From the day he was born he's been my snuggler. He gives the best hugs now and even pats you on the back while he's doing it. I love this little man!

Hours after birth- we can't take our eyes off of him.

Our new family!

Here he is just a few months ago. He loves to climb in boxes!

And he adores his big sister. They will be buddies for life.

Our 10 year anniversary!

2008-08-14T12:54:00.016-06:00

I am blessed to have married an incredible man 10 years ago today. He is exactly what I needed in a life partner. God designed us to be together and I'm so grateful. It's been an amazing 10 years and I can't wait to spend the next 70 years with him!

Here's some memories from our special day:
Before the wedding started, Bill & I had pictures taken separately with our family & wedding party.

I was so nervous that day for everything to go right. I had so many great people helping that day. For most of the pre-wedding time, I was stuck waiting in this closet of a room that was hot. Someone (I can't remember if it was my Aunt Bev or Julie's dad) went to Walgreens and got me a fan. We still had that fan in our guest room until just this summer.
Of course Bill's dressing room was upstairs and he was able to hear our pre-wedding music- which was fabulous. Bill got Jerry Tietz and his trio to come down and play for our wedding. They were amazing.
Here's my dad walking me down the aisle. One of my favorite memories with him. Right after he gave me away, my dad & Bill's dad said a prayer for us. I still cry when I watch the tape.

Dave Ferguson married us. I still remember sitting at Dave & Sue's dining room table talking about our LifeMap personalities and budgets. We had so much to learn!

Bill wrote a song for me for our wedding and had Troy sing it. It's called "The Story of Our Lives". It was sweet and funny and so loving. It talks about some of our first moments as a dating couple but also talks about the future God has planned for us- "God as our guide, He will love us till the end."

We had Eric, Troy & my good friend Tamiko sing "Shine On Us" as we lit our unity candle. This song said everything I think that moment is about. Lord let your light shine through us, no longer as two individuals but as one.

The official announcement as husband & wife. I remember beforehand wanting to know how he was going to kiss me, being the planner I am, and he wouldn't tell. It was beautiful!

Finally married! Did I say that we were going to have a December wedding and decided we couldn't wait that long and moved it up to August?! We love each other. (don't you love all this goo!)

The staged kiss by the photographer:

Our wedding party. I love all these people dearly!

One of my favorite moments was our carriage ride to the reception. (The church & the reception were in downtown Springfield.) I remember Troy's kids on the sidewalk outside the hotel yelling & waving at us.

Our reception kicked butt! We had appetizers being served while we were getting all our pictures taken. We came in, did toasts, cut the cake & danced all night. It was a blast!!

Our first dance to our song "The Gift" by Jim Brickman.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity of so many people that day--my mom's friend who did all the flowers in the church, people handing Bill cash all night for our honeymoon, tons of people driving from Chicago to be a part of our day, our parents footing the bill for so much, people picking up after me, helping me, all sorts of things I didn't even see. We have been blessed in so many ways. I now have 2 wonderful children who are a great mixture of the 2 of us! Thank you God for providing me with an amazing life partner! Thank you for our beautiful day!

Thanks Oma for the Wiggles Show!

2008-08-11T08:31:00.010-06:00

Last night as we were walking into Allstate Arena Bill said to me, "Have we ever gone to 2 concerts by the same artist in our lifetime?" Nope! Just the Wiggles!

For Will's birthday, Oma got Will tickets to see the Wiggles. He had the exact same reaction Natalie did when we took her for her 2nd birthday. He was super excited for it to start, yelling "Yeah Wiggles" and then when they came out it was total awe. He didn't move. He just sat their staring as if 2 worlds collided.

Here we are attempting to eat something before the 5:00 p.m. show. Will kept getting up and yelling "Let's Go!".

Now we're in our seats and as you can see, Will can hardly wait!

Here they are in the Big Red Car!

Will is amazed! He loves the Wiggles!

Natalie had a GREAT time too!

Finally they got up and were dancing!

Another Fun Week

2008-08-09T08:07:00.013-06:00

On Wednesday, Aunt Alicia & Mr. Tracey took our family to the Shedd Aquarium as a present for our 2 kids' birthdays that are within weeks of each other.

We had a great time!
Natalie's favorite thing to do was to play with the new touch screens they've added all over the place.

Will really got into watching the fish!

Natalie's special treat- a $5 airbrush tattoo. It's supposed to last for 7 days. We'll see.

After fish, sharks, whales and lunch, we walked over to Millennium Park for some fun in the Crown Fountain.

Here's us and the City Skyline!

Aunt Alicia & Mr. Tracey with the kids:

The Bean:

Will wasn't sure if he liked the water or not.

Now he's convinced! They had a great time. Chicago is so fun!

The week of birthday celebrations!

2008-07-29T09:13:00.020-06:00

I guess we don't take birthdays lightly.

Tuesday was Natalie's actual birthday so we started our day with her favorite- chocolate chip pancakes & bacon. Then later we hit McDonald's for lunch. For dinner we took her to Chuck E Cheese.

Natalie was so proud because she was finally able to do this bike thing herself!

Will went up in the tubes for the first time and loved it!

Thursday, just for fun, we went to Cantigny in Wheaton. It is beautiful. We took a picnic lunch. We'll have to do that again!

On Friday, the grandparents arrived. We had a birthday party Saturday morning for Natalie's friends. Our theme was Disney World. (She had originally asked for a princess party but since we're still inviting boys to our parties, I convinced her to go less gender-specific and include all of Disney World - which she loves!)

Below check out Daddy's contribution to the party decor-

Hot Potato but with Mickey:

Sugar Cube Castles:

Games:

Birthday Cake:

I "called Disney World" and invited Sleeping Beauty to our party. She read a story and sang a song with the kids. You should have seen all of their little faces! You would have thought it was Jesus walking into the room!

Aunt Alicia & Mr. Tracey got Natalie her first pet- a goldfish she named Johnny.

Grandpa's present was a princess fishing pole- that afternoon her took her fishing for the first time.

Oma's gift was tickets to see Backyardigans Live! We'll upload pics after the show in August.

Then Sunday, we did lunch with Grammy, Oma & Aunt Alicia at American Girl Place downtown. (That was Grammy's gift for Nat and she got to pick out an outfit for Olivia-the doll.)

We all crashed hard on Sunday night!

Our baby is 5 today!

2008-07-22T20:38:00.005-06:00

I'm incredibly sappy lately. I just can't believe how quickly it's all slipping away. I'm working myself out of a job every day.

This beautiful baby is so independent now. She's grown into such a loving, sweet, friendly girl. Who knew she'd be so outgoing? Who knew she'd be so brave and daring and yet sensitive and thoughtful?

God created something very special 5 years ago today- our sweet Natalie.

The Carroll Summer- Part 3

2008-07-18T13:52:00.012-06:00

At the end of June, Bill & I went to California.

Here's Santa Monica- where we got engaged.

Malibu Beach:

Some of our new friends.

Christy & Me:

Here's Christy & Laura:

Then we went camping at Pere Marquette State Park with Grammy & Grandpa for 4th of July weekend.

But because of the horrible amount of bugs, we spent most of the time playing other places.

Here we are at Six Flags St. Louis:

We also went to a water park not far from the state park. You can see the flood waters right in front of the park. The waters had just receeded from the road right in front and we were there for their first day open since the floods.

So that's been our summer so far. Pretty eventful and fun! Can't wait for the next few weeks. Natalie's birthday is next week, then Will's in August and then Nat's off to Kindergarten.

Hope you enjoyed our summer pictures so far.

The Carroll Summer - Part 2

2008-07-18T08:21:00.013-06:00

Here's your next installment of Carroll family fun!

We got free tickets from someone at church and took the kids to their first White Sox game.

Will watched every part of the game but did not enjoy the fireworks. After shopping for hats and ice cream, Natalie was ready to go home.

We met Grammy & Grandpa in Bloomington for Grammy's birthday. We had dinner and fun at the park.

Here's Six Flags "Great America" with Aunt Alicia & Mr. Tracey.

Then we went to Six Flags with The Girdwoods:

The Carroll's Summer- Part 1

2008-07-15T10:08:00.011-06:00

So far we've had a great summer. It's been busy so I haven't blogged very well for awhile.

Since there's so much to catch up on, I'm doing this Summer Catch Up in parts. Enjoy!

Our summer fun started in May.

Here's a trip to the zoo with the Girdwoods & the LeDuc boys.

Here's Charissa, our friend and one of Natalie's first babysitters. This was at her "Good Luck" party as she is moving on to a new job.

Of course Bill's birthday was a super party celebration. Will just couldn't handle all the fun.

Daddy's cake

Then Bill & I went into Chicago for an overnight to celebrate him turning 35!

Then there was Natalie's dance rectital (which I already blogged about). Here's their dress rehearsal day. This is Andrew, her best buddy!

A visit from Grammy, Grandpa & Oma. Grandpa is so much fun! He gives horsey rides!

Baby Ben's 1st birthday party (Ben Tuck). Ben is burying himself in the sand.

Natalie's Dance Recital

2008-06-05T15:35:00.008-06:00

This was Natalie's first year in dance. She was in a class with other 4 & 5 yr olds. It was the cutest thing ever! This is Natalie's buddy Andrew:

All the grandparents:

Natalie got beautiful yellow roses from the grandparents:

Aunt Alicia:

Our family:

Natalie dancing during the 10:10 service that morning at NNHS:

Natalie graduated preschool today!

2008-05-23T20:10:00.010-06:00

I can't believe it, but it's true! Where did the last 5 years go?

The walk across the bridge:

Yeah Natalie!

Her teacher Miss Jing:

Her teacher Miss Kathy:

Her best buddies at school- Amir & Olivia:

Thanks for coming Aunt Alicia!

Natalie star struck

2008-04-18T08:45:00.004-06:00

About a month ago we went to WVHS's Show Choir concert. Our friends, The Lueder's have 2 sons in the group and it was a fundraiser for their trip to Nationals. After the show, Natalie asked if she could go meet one of the girls. We were in an aisle and I asked the closest high school girl if she would mind if Natalie met her. It was the cutest thing. To Natalie, this girl was a superstar!

Afterward, Natalie asked if she could someday be one of those girls in the sparkly dresses. I said absolutely yes! A girl after my own heart!

Around the house...

2008-04-02T09:29:00.005-06:00

Big Boy!

This is how we found Natalie when we went in to check on her one day during a nap. She loves to read and she is totally asleep holding this book.

My Birthday- Natalie & Oma decorated the house, bought party hats, etc. We went to dinner at Red Lobster and Natalie wanted me to wear this crown so this is how I looked pretty much the whole night. Gotta love being a mom!

Oma got a new coat that looked almost identical to Natalie's and they were modeling their "same coats".

Bill was so proud!

2008-03-31T08:46:00.005-06:00

This was a day in February where Mom was working and Dad was home with the kids. Bill was teaching them about something near & dear to his heart (video games) and they LOVED it. Here they are playing Pac Man:

How cute is he?!

2008-03-05T12:25:00.001-06:00

I love this man.

Congrats Plainfield Campus!

2008-03-03T19:22:00.002-06:00

This past Sunday, COMMUNITY launched its 9th campus- in Plainfield!!
They had 642 people show up! We're so proud of them! Great job Plainfield team!

Plainfield Launch this weekend!

2008-02-29T13:34:00.006-06:00

In 2 days, Community Christian Church will launch their 9th campus, in Plainfield!! Whoo Hoo!

Their team is absolutely fantastic! You couldn't ask for a better group of staff & leaders!

We're so excited for and proud of Brad, Brian, Chris & Cathy! (Poor Cathy with all those boys!)

Did you know Plainfield is the 5th fastest growing suburb in the nation right now? That's a lot of families moving in that may not know Jesus. We can't wait to see how God changes this city in ways we couldn't imagine.

Check out some pictures & videos from the practice services the last 2 weeks.
http://billcarroll.typepad.com/multisite_arts/2008/02/plainfields-fir.html
http://billcarroll.typepad.com/multisite_arts/2008/02/one-more-week.html

Please pray for this team, their leaders and all the families in Plainfield that are far from God. We pray that we can help all people in city of Plainfield find their way back to Him.

Oh yeah, if you'd like to go, they are meeting at JFK Middle School on Essington Rd, by the new, but not yet finished, Plainfield East HS. Services are at 9:30 & 11:00 a.m. on Sundays.
http://www.communitychristian.org/locations/plainfield

a 2nd Honeymoon

2008-01-26T09:46:00.000-06:00

On August 14th, Bill & I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We wanted to do something special so we cashed in our timeshare points for the year and went to Atlantis, in the Bahamas! It was so beautiful & warm & relaxing & fun & serene & everything you could want in a second honeymoon.

Here's Atlantis, the hotel's royal towers,

Here's where we stayed- Harborside Resort- the Atlantis timeshare

Here's what we did pretty much every day:

Walk or take the shuttle over to the royal towers

Walk down to the beach

lay on this beach for a few hours

Then have lunch and move over to the pool area for Sudoku and reading and maybe another nap.

Then around 5:00, we'd go back, get ready and go out to dinner. It was a hard life.

We also saw all the aquariums with sharks, stingrays, mantarays and every kind of fish you can imagine.

Plus, they have this harbor with all the big beautiful boats docked there.

We did do one excursion off the resort. We went to the Exuma Islands. It was the softest beach I've ever been to.

Then we fed wild iguanas on our way back.

It was an amazing vacation.

Happy 10 years Bill!

It's been a little while...

2008-01-26T09:10:00.000-06:00

So as you can see, I'm a little behind in blogging. We had a busy month. First, on Christmas day we drove down to Chatham to have a Carroll family Christmas. Bill's Grandma came up from Benton. She's 87 years young and loves life!

We went to the mall and rode their train several times,

And dinner for Aunt Alicia's birthday.

One of the funniest things I'll remember from this Christmas is my daughter wanting so badly to play Mary & Joseph. (She was not cast as Mary in her preschool Christmas production and wanted to be Mary so much!) Grammy made Mary & Joseph costumes for the kids and they had a ball. (That's such a PK thing to do!)

We had dinner at our favorite Mexican restuarant in the Springfield area.

Then a few days after Christmas, my brother Cort, his wife Amy & their daughter Aubree came to visit. We only get to see them about once a year, since they live in Connecticut. We had a great time! Here we are at the Brookfield zoo- it was very cold that night!

Uncle Cort!

Cousins!

2007-12-24T21:17:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Staff Christmas Party

2007-12-20T20:20:00.001-06:00

Last Monday night was the CCC staff Christmas party. We had so much fun hanging out with some of our best friends. The party almost didn't happen because our church budget is so bad right now but an anonymous donor said they loved this staff so much they wanted to pay for it. Isn't that the best present ever?! Sometimes I'm just so surprised at how generous people can be! We had the best time! Thank you anonymous donor!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-18T19:28:00.001-06:00

So I'm totally lame and just now getting pics from Thanksgiving weekend up on the blog.

Here's the family attempting to take a picture. Unfortunately it's impossible to get us all looking at the camera at the same time.

Here's Natalie & Grammy putting a gingerbread house together.

They had a lot of fun!

A Night Out with the Tucks

2007-12-05T09:40:00.000-06:00

So I didn't get a picture with all four of us, (sorry) but here's Bill & I right before we left. November 11th, we went on a double date with John & Christine Tuck. It was so much fun! We went to a creperie in the city and then watched the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (thank you Jamie Liu for the tickets!) at Orchestra Hall. They were incredible. It was a great night!

Our Latest Disney Trip

2007-11-12T09:39:00.001-06:00

I have to start by saying this was the LONGEST trip we've ever taken to Disney. We decided to just go for it and take the long vacation after such a hard summer/fall. We had such a good time on our trip! It was well worth it!

We arrived on a Thursday evening. We were wiped out from traveling so we had dinner at the hotel and crashed. Friday was our first full day and we went to MGM for the day.

Oma & Aunt Alicia (for the first 4 days) joined us for this trip.

We saw Dan Zaines in concert. (Unless you have a preschooler who watches Disney channel, that probably means nothing to you.) Then, we had dinner that night at Mama Melrose's. It was yummy and the kids were really fun at dinner!

After dinner we went to see Fantasmic! Will wasn't too sure about it but I think it's now one of Natalie's favorites.

On Saturday, we went to a water park (Typhoon Lagoon) with Aunt Alicia. Oma & Will stayed at the hotel. No pictures from that. We went to Downtown Disney that night and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's cafe. That's one of Bill's & my favorite places to eat.

On Sunday, we hung around the hotel most of the day, playing at the pool.

That night we took the kids to "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party". It was so much fun!

On Monday, Alicia headed home and we went to Epcot. It rained a lot that day. We ate lunch at the Coral Reef. It was our first time there. It was pretty good!

After lunch we took Natalie on "Soarin" for the first time. She really liked it.

The next day, Tuesday, we went to Epcot again. It was the food & wine festival.

Here we are in Peru.

Here we are getting food at a stand in Italy.

The area on the U.S. had something about Pears. I'm not really sure what it was about but Will had a good time.

Our family in Mexico (well, Disney Mexico)

Natalie saw this woman (a Disney cast member working in the Mexico pavillion). Natalie said Hi to her and then asked her if she could take a picture with her. I think the lady was very flattered as our daughter just gazed at her like she was a superstar. It was a sweet moment.

The next day, Wednesday, Bill, Natalie & I went to Blizzard Beach, another water park. Bill loves going to the water parks. Then we went to Epcot for dinner at the French restaurant. That day was Halloween so the kids wore their costumes again.

On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom. We had lunch that day at Liberty Tree Tavern. It was our first time there and it's really good!

Our last day, Friday, we checked out of the hotel

and went to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. It was hot but fun!

That's all folks! Now back to the real world.

We bought a new camera.

2007-10-13T12:24:00.000-06:00

Since our old camera was no where to be found and we are going on a big family vacation soon, we thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and buy a new camera. Bill picked it out. I still have to learn how to use it.

Here's Natalie in the car right after Bill bought it.

Here's Will the next morning.

No Pictures

2007-10-07T06:28:00.001-06:00

Well it seems someone stole our camera. Bill had it in his desk at work and it is there no more. The same thing happened to one of my office mates a couple of months ago. For some reason our church is a huge target for this kind of stuff. (guitars, purses, etc stolen) Hopefully we can replace it soon and add more pictures to our blog.
Hope to be blogging again soon!

Will's first haircut

2007-09-14T12:44:00.001-06:00

He's not a baby anymore! Look at this big boy!!

Bill's Favorite Pic of Natalie

2007-09-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

Bill wanted me to post this because its his favorite picture of Natalie. It's from last winter.

Natalie's First Day of School 2007

2007-09-12T19:59:00.001-06:00

This past Wednesday (9/5) was Natalie's first day of school. This starts Natalie's last year in preschool. I know, it's sappy. Last fall was sad because she was starting preschool. This year is sad because she only has 1 year until Kindergarten. Then I don't know what I'll do. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know. I'm just a mom. What can I say?

Trying to get the 2 of them to sit still for a picture is nearly impossible.

Natalie is an amazing big sister to Will. We're so proud of the girl she's become!

My favorite picture:

In front of school:

Her new teacher, Miss Kathy:

Happy Anniversary

2007-08-18T13:05:00.000-06:00

Nine years ago last Tuesday (August 14) we said "I do". I wouldn't trade a second of the last 9 years for anything!

Last night we celebrated with dinner at Suzette's Creperie in Wheaton. Yummy french food!

Thank you Bill for being the most amazing husband a woman could ever ask for!

American Girl Day for Natalie

2007-08-17T06:12:00.000-06:00

Grammy loves dolls and her special treat for Natalie's birthday was a trip to the American Girl Place in Chicago.

All the girls were good sports and came with to celebrate Natalie's birthday! (You can't see Aunt Alicia in this one.)

We went to see a little musical about Bitty Bear. Here's Natalie holding her ticket about to go inside the theater.

Here's Natalie after the show with all the characters and their autographs:

Then we went to lunch in their cafe. Very girly!

Here's Grammy & Natalie:

Aunt Alicia & Oma:

Natalie & Mommy (& baby):

Natalie's new American Girl doll:

They knew we were there celebrating Natalie's birthday so she had a candle in her cake and we sang "Happy Birthday".

It was a great day!

The Family Birthday Party for the kids

2007-08-17T05:51:00.000-06:00

We haven't had a lot of time to blog lately so this is a little late. Last Friday we had a family party for the kids' birthdays. It was fun!

It was a luau theme. These are the outfits Grammy & Grandpa brought back from Hawaii.

Grandpa's such a good sport!

Baby Ben was decked out in style and being so good with Aunt Alicia!

"Happy Birthday Natalie & Will"

Will's first time eating cake!

Presents galore!!

Look at me! I'm a big boy and my sister is such a good helper!

Grammy, Grandpa & the kids- all decked out Hawaiian.

Yesterday I turned 1!

2007-08-16T08:30:00.001-06:00

Eating Pizza for dinner:

Oma & Natalie celebrating:

Singing "Happy Birthday":

Eating cake:

All clean!

Times are a changin'

2007-08-08T07:28:00.000-06:00

Will's first birthday is still a week away but since he weighes as much as a 2 year old, we have moved his carseat to face front and he LOVES it.

Also yesterday, our little man climbed all the way up our stairs unassisted.

Here's the proud big sister.

He'll be walking soon! UGH! I don't know if I'm ready for this! Where did my baby go?!

Kids are funny!

2007-08-06T12:43:00.000-06:00

Lately Natalie has wanted us to sing a song to her when we put her to bed. Last night she requested "One Pure & Holy Passion" (one I've been singing to her since she was born). So Bill & I are both in there singing this song and Bill sings the line "Your truth" and I sing it "the truth". We finish the song and she says:

"Daddy, you sang it wrong. It's not your truth it's THE truth."

Here's this little 4 year old telling the worship director how it should be done.

She's going to be president some day.

Here's Will. He's into everything right now.

He was proud to have gotten into the bottom drawer of this little chest and found Oma's curling iron.

10 years!

2007-07-29T20:24:00.000-06:00

It's been ten years this weekend that Bill has been on staff at CCC!
He wrote his own take on this anniversary on his work blog- http://billcarroll.typepad.com/multisite_arts/2007/07/july-28-1997.html

I just have to say, Bill is amazing at what he does. Someone once called him the Tazmanian Angel cause he moves so fast but he's so good, you can't call him the devil. If you ever need something done, you want Bill on your team. He's super creative, a problem solver, determined and a really hard worker. He is always inclusive. He always wants more and more people to join whatever it is he's doing. Plus- he is just the nicest guy I have ever met. Really he is. He loves people. He's really good at making people feel important and valued. He's an incredible husband & father too! I'm so lucky he married me!
(I can brag about him, right?!)

I really can't believe how fast time flies! It seems like just yesterday we were dating. Now, 10 years later we are fortunate to say we've lived a lifetime of dreams. We really feel blessed by our life!

Congratulations Bill! We're so proud of all you've done!

He's Fast Now

2007-07-28T07:14:00.000-06:00

He's crawling on all 4's. I don't know why, maybe because he's my last, but moving through milestones in Will's life has been a little sad for me. He's getting to be such a big boy. He's even starting to look more like a little boy and less like a baby. I can't believe it was just a year ago that I was wishing & praying him out of my belly!

Here's my baby trying out the stairs:

He likes Natalie's pony!

Natalie's Birthday

2007-07-23T08:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Natalie's 4th Birthday. We had a Peter Pan party and she was Wendy. All kinds of friends came over to celebrate. Everyone was dressed up for the party.

It was a great day!

We turned our backyard into Neverland. Here is Mermaid Lagoon (with bubbles):

The Indian Camp (with face painting):

Pirate Cove (with water balloons and tatoos):

We decorated telescopes & treasure chests:

Ate Pizza & Apples:

Then cake and ice cream:

Then presents:

After the party, here's Natalie sharing her smarties with Joey & Andrew in her new playhouse from Oma:

Natalie's 1st Musical

2007-07-23T08:10:00.001-06:00

Last week Natalie was in her first musical. It was a 2 week camp with School For The Arts at CCC. She had a great time!

She's so funny though. She sang all the songs and did the motions at home but the night of the show she was completely distracted by the lights, the microphones and the media that she just looked at everything else almost the whole time and forgot to do her motions. It was cute. Every once in awhile she'd remember what she was supposed to be doing and she'd jump right in.

There was another 4 year old, her friend Joey, and the 2 of them were comedy on stage together. You'll have to see the video.

Last Night In the City

2007-07-14T13:10:00.000-06:00

Last night we took the kids into Chicago for Gino's East pizza and fun in Grant Park.

Our Trip to Springfield

2007-07-09T10:02:00.001-06:00

We had a great time last week, visiting family & friends in Springfield! Grandpa & Will playing in their backyard.
We arrived a week ago Sunday and saw The Muni's production of "Peter Pan". It's community theater but the stage is outdoors, down by the lake. It's beautiful! The show was a little long for Natalie- 3 acts with a 20 minute, then a 15 minute intermission between them all. Being outside, it doesn't start until about 8:30 p.m. so it was a late night.

Monday evening Grandma & Grandpa watched the kids and Bill & I went shopping, had dinner and saw the movie "The Evening".

Tuesday we just hung out with the family.

Wednesday Bill took an early flight to Kansas City for the NACC and we played and grilled out before going to watch fireworks.

Thursday we picked up Bill at the St. Louis airport and played in St. Louis (went to The Magic House) before meeting the grandparents for dinner at Fin Inn in Grafton, IL.

The kids LOVED the Magic House.
Will playing in the infant area.
Natalie LOVED playing restaurant!
In the Louis & Clark exploration area.
It's tradition. Bill & I both did it as kids. We'll have to go back and get Will on it too someday.

We took 2 car ferries- one to cross the Mississippi River & one to cross the Missouri River. Natalie thought that was really fun!

Fin Inn is so fun- total river town- but the restaurant is one giant aquarium. I remember coming here as a kid with my parents and my dad having turtle soup. I thought it was so gross that we were watching all these fish & giant turtles while we were eating fish & turtles.

Friday we met up with my best friends from high school. I love that I can be with these women and it's like time hasn't passed. We just pick up where we left off and they love me just as much as they did 20 years ago. Can you believe it was 20 years ago since I was in junior high?! Julie I've know since I was really little, maybe 5 or 6, when our brothers started playing baseball together in little league.

Saturday we went to Springfield's version of "The Taste". Didn't care for having to pay to get into the event and then also buy food but it was good for where they are at. I believe in you Springfield. You can grow! (Oh, and Bill & his dad went to see Transformers that afternoon. I opted to watch the kids.)

Church on Sunday at Cherry Hills Baptist. I really like their new building. They are growing and I'm sure changing but it still felt like home to me.

We've Got An Army Crawler!

2007-06-30T10:19:00.000-06:00

Aunt Alicia's Triathlon

2007-06-25T17:05:00.000-06:00

Isn't she the coolest?

Great job Alicia!

Great Night Out

2007-06-22T21:52:00.000-06:00

Wednesday night we had a fantastic dinner with Alicia & Brian. Our local wine & cheese shop (that we LOVE) partnered with The Lazy Lizard restaurant in town for a french food & wine night. It was a 4 course meal, each course paired with a perfect french wine. The meal was unbelievable but even better was hanging out with Alicia and Brian.

2007-06-18T19:08:00.000-06:00

Bill is in Dallas and we miss him a lot!

Last Night's Arts Party

2007-06-16T11:53:00.001-06:00

So last night we had all the arts staff over for a party. It was basically anyone that attends a big idea meeting at CCC. It was a lot of fun- bean bag toss, bocce, horseshoes, and live music by Kevin Conlin. I hope everyone had a good time.

Natalie's First Dance Class

2007-06-16T11:36:00.001-06:00

Getting Ready:

Side view of the bun:

Playing after class:

Day at Home

2007-06-07T19:09:00.000-06:00

Our friends, the Girdwoods, came over this morning to play. It's great because we both have kids the same age.

Then after naps, Natalie put on a puppet show for Will.

Natalie found some fun things in Rachel's Kids' City props.

Will eating pizza for the first time!

Updating our blog- # 4- Natalie's graduation

2007-05-31T13:52:00.000-06:00

Will waiting patiently for it to start.

Yes, she has one more year of preschool before Kindergarten but all the kids go through this "crossing the bridge" ceremony. She was so cute that day and mom cried. She got to wear the Cinderella easter dress Aunt Alicia got her (and then afterwards dripped red popsicle all over it) but she had lots of fun!

Miss Betsy:

Miss Terri:

Popsicles!

Our good friend Rachel:

Updating our blog- # 3- Bill's Birthday

2007-05-31T13:45:00.001-06:00

After our original plans (a Saturday night White Sox game) were rained out, we celebrated Bill's birthday with a fun plan B. Since we were downtown on the south side, we went to Chinatown and ate at Bill's favorite Chinese restaurant, The Evergreen. Then we went to Michigan Ave and finished the night off with dessert at Ghiradelli's. Ironically, 20 minutes after they canceled the baseball game, it never rained again. We had a fantastic night!
Here's Bill's Parents, Rachel's mom and our friend Beth (also celebrating a May birthday)

Updating our blog-# 2-Will's first swing

2007-05-31T13:38:00.000-06:00

This was Will's first time on a playground swing. He loved it!!

Here's Natalie playing Doctor's Office.

Updating our blog- # 1-Visit from friends

2007-05-31T13:22:00.000-06:00

Around the beginning of May, our friends, Jer & Shanelle Johnson from Colorado came through town and we had lunch. We miss these guys a ton! We were in small group with them for 3 years when we were all first married. It was so much fun!

Recent Will Pictures

2007-05-05T21:19:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted any recent pics of Will. Poor second child...

Christine's Shower

2007-05-05T21:08:00.000-06:00

I hosted my friend Christine's baby shower last night. Isn't she cute?!

My friends- Julie, Pam, Beth & Karen.

Conversation with Natalie

2007-05-04T22:13:00.000-06:00

Mommy: Natalie, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Natalie: I want to be a doctor.

Mommy: You'd be great at that! You're so smart and you love people and you have the determination to do it. Sorry, we're only saving for your undergrad though.

Daddy: What does a doctor do?

Natalie: I want to take care of you (pointing at daddy) and you (pointing at mommy). I want to be a mommy doctor so I can take care of you guys.

Our Trip Last Week to Disney World

2007-04-28T08:01:00.000-06:00

Will sleeping

2007-04-16T08:17:00.000-06:00

Isn't he the cutest?

The New Tent

2007-04-16T08:12:00.000-06:00

We've been trying to get rid of the paci for awhile now and we have succumbed to bribery. Last night Natalie slept for the first time without a paci in exchange for a new princess tent. (We have been trying to use the tent as incentive for a couple of months and finally it worked!)

Here she is trying it out this morning.

Recent Quote

2007-04-16T08:10:00.000-06:00

Sitting at the stop light at 59 & Ogden.

Natalie: What does H-O-O-T-E-R-S spell?
Daddy: owl

natalie noticing the owl on the sign.

Natalie: Oh! You're right!

Easter Pics

2007-04-11T20:16:00.000-06:00

Ok, I know there's a ton of pictures here but I'm so in love with my kids, I couldn't help it!

We went down to Grammy & Grandpa's after church. The Easter Bunny went there instead of our house. Natalie did an egg hunt outside.

me, my mom & Will

Grammy & Will (sorry Grandpa, we didn't seem to get a pic with you in it!)

It's been a little while

2007-04-11T20:00:00.000-06:00

But here's what we've been up to...

Andrew Girdwood's 3rd Birthday party

Natalie- pin the headlight on Mater (Andrew LOVES the CARS movie!)

Natalie & Andrew- they really are like best friends. That makes me so happy!

Natalie holding Will on her lap. I think he might be bigger than her!

I love my family!

2007-03-26T20:08:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks:

This is Natalie's friend Rachel. Natalie LOVES playing with Rachel. They are good buddies. (We have lots of Rachels in our life. Natalie's babysitter, who Natalie also loves dearly, is named Rachel.)

This was our tent in the living room.

Not sure why we put the colander on our head?

Will played until sheer exhaustion.

Daddy had to do Natalie's hair for preschool one morning when Mommy was at a conference. Not too bad Dad!

Meeting Grammy & Grandpa in Bloomington for Dinner.

Bath time for Will!

Our Little Trip

2007-03-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

This past week Bill & I went on a research trip, visiting churches in Las Vegas & LA. Here are some of our down times...

Dinner in Las Vegas

On the beach in Santa Monica (where we got engaged)

On the pier

Recent Conversations & Quotes

2007-02-26T22:48:00.000-06:00

Natalie:

"Halloween, Halloween, Jesus is born today"

"I wanna go see Diego" (when told that Daddy was going to San Diego)

"I need my god toys back. I think Grandpa Fritz is playing with them."

"I don't have to brush my teeth. I did that last year."

"Years and years ago..."

"Daddy, we should be friends forever."

"I love your ____...Who got that for you?...That's so nice of them...We should say Thank You to them."

Will is babbling a lot lately. I think he's trying to say HI. We get a lot of ba, ba, ba; aaahhh; and raspberries (spitting).

Bill was in San Diego

2007-02-26T22:42:00.000-06:00

Bill was in San Diego last weekend with Sean B & Eric M checking out some churches and getting ideas for going multi-venue.

Dr. Beth

2007-02-23T14:59:00.000-06:00

Check out an article about our friend Beth Bartlett in the Lisle Sun:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/lislesun/news/wilmoth/266619,6_1_NA23_LSJANET_S1.article

Sorry it's been so long!

2007-02-16T23:40:00.000-06:00

Things have been a little out of the ordinary lately. Sorry. Schedules have not been normal so life just gets out of wack. Here's what we've been up to (well the kids at least)...

They are silly at bedtime. Natalie loves for Will to lay down with her and they just laugh!!

Will eating solid foods- very pureed solid foods

Just playing in the morning

Will is such a happy baby!

Lots of snow landed on us this year. Natalie is having a ball playing in it!

Will rolled over!

2007-01-27T20:01:00.000-06:00

A week ago Friday, Will rolled over by himself for the first time. Poor second child...it takes mom a week to get it on the blog. We love you Will and we're so proud of you!

Natalie's Half Birthday

2007-01-23T20:39:00.000-06:00

Today's was Natalie's half birthday party at preschool. Since her birthday is in the summer, they celebrate their half birthdays for them at school. She had a really good time today!

Our Little Teacher

2007-01-21T21:52:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of Natalie playing teacher with Will today. She was teaching him to draw a circle.

Disney World

2007-01-13T21:47:00.000-06:00

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T21:23:00.000-06:00

Our New Year's "party" with the Girdwood's. We had a midnight countdown with the kids around 9:45 (shhh- don't tell them it really wasn't midnight). Then we put the kids to bed and the adults played cards. Man, times sure have changed since kids came into our lives!

The babies just hanging out. Will's on the left. Alexa Girdwood is on the right.

Carroll Christmas

2007-01-01T20:53:00.000-06:00

Before Christmas Eve Service:

Going to bed Christmas eve night:

Christmas morning:

At Grammy & Grandpa's house- Will's first feeding of cereal:

Aunt Alicia got Natalie a treasure chest full of princess dresses & accessories:

Christmas dinner with the Fenstermaker family:

We had a wonderful Christmas! Hope you had a great Christmas too!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2006-12-23T16:47:00.000-06:00

Have a wonderful & blessed Christmas!

A new phase

2006-12-18T13:37:00.000-06:00

This is Natalie's babysitter most of the time when grandparents aren't available. She loves Miss Rachel! Last night Miss Rachel got Natalie a Dora Candyland for Christmas and Natalie is addicted. We have reached a new phase in our playing- games! Bill got Natalie a memory card game last week it was so much fun! It was really cool to watch her learn how to play a game for the first time. I think it'll actually be more fun to play games than just dollhouse but have you played Candyland in awhile? It can go on and on and on. The cutest thing about Natalie is that she cheers for everything anyone does in a game. If Daddy or I move forward or win she is just as happy as if she did it for herself. She is the best!

Christmas Program

2006-12-14T13:52:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday Natalie had 2 Christmas performances. She sang at church and her preschool. At church she sang 1 song during the adult service and for preschool they had a 20 minute telling of the Christmas story with songs and stuff. Natalie was a shepherd. It's the first of many of these I'm sure.

Snow Day

2006-12-06T11:19:00.000-06:00

So I'm a little late in posting this but last Friday we had a snow day. Lots of ice & snow making it impossible to get anywhere. So we played inside and Natalie made her first Gingerbread house. It was cute! (Although I think she really just enjoyed eating the candy!)

This week was fun!

2006-11-30T19:45:00.000-06:00

For the first time since we've been married, we spent two consective nights in Chicago. Monday night we took Cort, Amy & Aubree to see Marshall Field's, oh wait, Macy's windows. Then we ate dinner at the Walnut room beneath the Vera Wang Christmas tree. And since it was 60 degrees early this week and we knew it was going to drop drastically, we went back Tuesday night, just the 4 of us, to hang out on Michigan Ave. It was so warm, we ended Tuesday night at Ghiradelli's eating ice cream outside on their patio, right next to the watertower.

The Carroll's

2006-11-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

The Carroll side of the family at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving week

2006-11-26T21:41:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been too busy to blog this week. How do you sum up 5 days in 1 blog? We've had a great time with Amy, Cort & Aubree visiting! & Oma too! Here's some pics from the last week.

He did it!

2006-11-20T14:15:00.000-06:00

Last night Will slept from 11:30 p.m to 6:00 a.m. That is a huge & wonderful step in parent-land! I think we might sleep again! Love it!

I'm a little behind in blogging

2006-11-18T12:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry. We've spent most of this week working on organizing and cleaning the house. We have house guests coming on Tuesday- YEAH! We've been wanting to organize the basement since we moved in and we just haven't taken the time. Since the winter is coming and Natalie will need the basement to run around in, now's the time. Bill has shown his construction skills by building a "thingy" (can you tell I know nothing about that stuff?) to keep our new plastic bins off the floor (should we ever get water down there). He's such a man!

Now we just wait for our cute niece and her parents to arrive!

Cutest baby!

2006-11-10T10:47:00.000-06:00

Not much going on today. It's yucky outside- grey & drizzly. But doesn't this picture just brighten your day?!

59 days, 4 hours & 18 minutes...

2006-11-09T19:40:00.000-06:00

Date Night

2006-11-09T08:48:00.000-06:00

Last night Bill & I went to see Marie Antoinette and we LOVED it! I'm not sure of the accuracy of all of the events but it was shot at Versailles and it was like an all-access tour of the place. It was amazing to see how each of those rooms were used and how life at court might have been. You might have to be in love with France to truly appreciate this movie (it can feel long at times because there is no typical plot line) but we thought it was incredible. The way they used music to express Marie's young, undisciplined spirit was so smart & creative. I think this will be a DVD purchase we'll make.

It was one of those nights.

2006-11-07T08:07:00.000-06:00

We had a great dinner party last night with our friends the Doles & the Prosapios. Natalie watched t.v. very well while we ate and Will slept in his swing the whole time, apparently for too long. When he got up to eat around 3:30, he did not want to go back to sleep. He was wide awake and didn't fall back asleep until 5:15. Do you ever sleep as a parent? Will it be 18 years until we do? Even being sleep deprived, watching him smile & coo at me at 5:00 in the morning makes it all worth it. He's such a happy, sweet baby!

How cute are they?

2006-11-06T13:20:00.000-06:00

One of our goals as parents is to help create a family where our kids are friends. You should see the way that Will lights up when he looks at Natalie. And she is so incredibly sweet to him! She gives him hugs & kisses, reads to him, makes him laugh- it's adorable. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family!

Trip to the ER

2006-11-05T13:21:00.000-06:00

Well last night we had our first big trip to the ER. There was an accident at church and Natalie hit her head really hard on the concrete floor in the basement. Then she starting getting sick so we knew we had to go to the hospital. The CAT scan came out normal so she was ok. It was a very scary parenting moment. Not one I hope to have again anytime soon! All is well and she woke up this morning just as normal and chipper as could be. God is so good to us and I am so thankful He protected her head! We love that sweet little girl!

A Year Later

2006-11-02T14:01:00.000-06:00

It was just a year ago that we spent 5 weeks living in Paris. We've been reminiscing a lot lately about our time there.

What we miss...

outdoor/sidewalk cafes, the metro, historical buildings, Seine river, bridges, walking everywhere, Jardin du Luxembourg, watching "Friends" in french and trying to guess what they are saying, crepes, La Tour Eiffel, Disney World Paris, free wifi at every McDonald's, walking everywhere, bustle of the European city, markets, our favorite cafe on Ile de St. Louis, shopping for groceries at Ed, carousels, all french food, wine, Parisian Chinese food, Versailles, the marionette show in the park, shopping, walking everywhere!

What we don't miss...

dog stuff on the sidewalks, risque (to say the least) advertisements, public bathrooms-gross!, carrying your groceries from store to the apartment while pushing a stroller, cigarette smoke, every thing's expensive, stores open whenever the owner decides, 3 channels of t.v. and nothing appropriate to watch after 10 p.m., the customer is never right and should feel privileged to even be let in the door, red tape, riots, sub-par Disney World accommodations.

3 more weeks...

2006-11-02T13:41:00.000-06:00

Cort, Amy & Aubree will be here in 3 weeks! We're so excited to have them out. Now that they live out east again, it's super hard to see them and we don't get to as much as we'd like. The girls love playing together and we miss them all so much! We can't wait for their nice long visit coming up very soon!! Isn't my niece the cutest?!

Our Recent Trip

2006-11-01T14:21:00.000-06:00

We recently went on a trip to Southern Illinois to visit Bill's grandma. She is an amazing woman. She's 88 and still volunteers 3 days a week at a hospital and nursing home. Here she is meeting Will for the first time.

We also got to run around down in Shawnee National Forest for a day. We drove to Golconda and found the house my dad grew up in , went to Garden of the Gods , and did some swimming at the pool.

Our Princess & Our Pumpkin

2006-11-01T13:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was a great day! Natalie had a Halloween party at her preschool, including the costume parade outside for parents. I wish it would've been 15 degrees warmer! Then we went trick-or-treating last night with the Girdwoods. We had lots of fun and too much sugar!

We have begun

2006-11-01T13:24:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone!
I thought it was time to start a blog for the Carroll family. We'll keep you posted on what we're up to and fun things the kids are doing.
Thanks for checking us out!