Happy Halloween!

Our little monkey is crazy about her "Monkey George", aka Curious George. I credit the Gerbers who gifted her a stuffed Curious George, a dvd and a book with several George stories earlier this year. She has been hooked ever since. George is her most favorite stuffed friend, often gets pushed in her stroller, and taken many places with us. She also likes to watch the show on pbs. We kind of like it too.

When I asked Jason one night a few weeks back what she should be for Halloween he immediately said, "Curious George!" How perfect. And so she was.

The school parade was Friday afternoon and we enjoyed seeing Layla (complete with her banana prop) parade with her friends. The teachers put on a skit of 5 little monkeys, which all the kids loved. Plus the teachers were dressed as monkeys and Layla loved that.

Saturday we attended a Halloween party but she wasn't interested in dressing up. The party was at the home of a friend with two older boys. Layla was quite taken with all the trains and trucks I don't think she realized that other kids were wearing costumes!

Tonight started off slowly, lots of two-year-old ideas about how things are done. Eventually, we got out the door. Layla was terrified at the first few houses, but after the third one got the hang of it and was going right up to ring the bell. She also learned that she loves KitKats. Let's be honest, who doesn't?

This is the first house she wasn't clutching to be for dear life.

Daddy's turn!

Her school outfit for today thanks to Aunt Allie.
It's glow in the dark!

Divide and Conquer

The people who owned our home were clearly gardeners. You have probably noticed this with the rose bushes and the vegetable garden. There are also irises and peonies in abundance. Since the patriarch of the family had passed on in 2008, we knew that basic maintenance, both inside and outside the house had been neglected for some time. Plus the man was 96 when he died, so the house was ready for us to be able to tend to its many needs.

One of the challenges I wanted to take on was dividing up some of the perennials that are overgrown. I signed up for a class at the Chicago Botanic Garden call "The Great Divide". The woman teaching the class spent some time explaining plant science and how perennials propagate and so on. Then we had a hands-on session of dividing several different kinds of plants.

As both my husband and father asked, "What did she teach you other than to get a sharp spade and dig in?". It's a fair question, and I did learn more, but what I really gained was the confidence that I could tackle my very overgrown iris cluster.

It started out in one big mass about 30" x 48". No lie, it was huge. After I cut back all the leaves, I could see that it was several different 'mother' plants and their offspring. Admittedly, there were a number of casualties involved in unearthing the whole lot, but I had plenty of bulbs and also gave about 30 to my neighbor next door.

Before

After

I planted them in a nice long row (after I got the whole bed cleaned out). Irises are naturally from a hot and dry climate so they need a sunny area. By the way, the bulbs are supposed to sit out of the ground like that and there are roots that trail underneath about 6 inches. Mom had helped me do some preliminary research on that as we had both initially thought they was something really wrong with the plants!

I also transplanted my new rose bush over between two others. It's kind of small so you might not be able to see it well. This rose bush was a house-warming gift from one of the daughters that grew up here. I planted in another spot, but it wasn't getting enough sun (although it did grown some blooms).

Behind the irises and between the roses I will spread out the peonies. But, with everything that is going on I decided that project could wait until spring. Hopefully my irises will have "vigor" when they return in the spring. That was a popular word with my teacher at the CBG.

Get yer square dance on!

A week or so ago, while Jason was off in Wisconsin, Layla and I went to the first ever Design Harvest Street Festival. They had an amazing tent filled with furniture, rugs, and other housewares stuff that I love to ogle and never buy. Let's be real, it's not in my budget to by this awesome type of artist-made furniture. Maybe someday I'll buy a $2000 coffee table, but I doubt it. Also, the food vendors scheduled were worth the trip alone. At Caroline and Ed's recommendation I had Cevapcici Chicago. Delish, they were right!

At any rate, my dear friend, Jeanine, was going to be playing with one of her bands, Golden Horse Ranch Band, and I have been wanting to see them play. They play square dance music and Jeanine promised us a hoe-down. She wasn't lying!

Layla was a little nervous at first and holding her and trying to clap hands and do-si-do is hard to do simultaneously. But, once she got started we could not stop her. She's a dancing fool.

Here we are on the dance floor. Jeanine is on stage (on the left).

You may recall this earlier post where we saw Jeanine and Caroline play with the 1900s at the Taste of Randolph Street. Layla is a big fan of Jeanine's work, or as she's known "Ms. Neen". I have to say that I am too.

Layla and some other dancing buddies. Although some kids were more interested in eating the straw than dancing, I guess that's to be expected.

It was such a beautiful evening to spend time with friends. Courtney was kind enough to take a few photos of us. She and Layla got to dance together too! I am not sure who had more fun.

The FPDCC Bike Trail

Layla and I went out in search of nature this weekend and found it on the bike trail for the Forest Preserve District of Cook Country. From our new house we are less than a mile from the Blue Star Memorial Woods where you can get on the North Branch Trail System. Here's the link if you want to see the map North Branch Trail System (North)

It's a pretty incredible trail and of course, we are amateurs so we didn't make it that far. Plus there was a little person behind me yelling, "get out, Mama!". That was pretty short lived, actually most of the time she was yelling at me to go faster. There was also a brief period of bossiness when I did not go to Wagner Farm, her favorite local destination.

We did go the farm and get a few pumpkins. These are small, we are heading to the big pumkin patch this coming weekend if the weather is nice.

So, you may be wondering how we did this? Another family from Layla's school and our church were kind enough to loan us their trailer for the weekend. They don't live too far from the new house and it was easy to get there and get set up on the bike. Jason and I had been talking about getting a trailer, but not being avid bike riders, we weren't sure we would really like it.

This one that our friends have is really nice. It's a two seat 'carriage' with the option to convert to a jogging stroller.

Layla is getting ready to ride. She likes her new bike helmet. It's hot pink with a cow on it. Sort of weird, but that's what you get for $6 at Play it Again Sports. It was slim pickings in the toddler size.

Off we go!

I have to admit I was pretty sore on Sunday. We rode pretty far and I haven't ridden since I was pregnant with Layla so it's been a while. I didn't dare complain since Jason spent the afternoon on a ladder taking the gutters off the house!

While we are eating lunch Layla just gets up and tells us she is going to sit in the bike. She like to just sit in it even if we aren't going anywhere.

Pumpkins selected on Saturday. Layla decided the orange and green striped one was pretty. I think they were happy to sell one that another kid had already ripped out the stem on. The gourd was about the size of a orange. She threw it on the floor when we got home. I said to her, "Hey, that's not a ball, it's a pumpkin." For the rest of the day she was like a little parrot, "Hey Mama, it's not a ball, it's a pumpkin."

Grilling out on the driveway, 'Monkey George" is getting driven around in high style (thanks to Maddie for the gift to Layla, she loves the dollie stroller).

Truly, Layla has inherited Jason's inability to open her eyes during posed photographs. I tried several times, and they all look like these.

Just 'cause she's cute

Layla figured out how to carry her stool, though it's pretty awkward.
Now she brings it around with her and exclaims, "Mommy, this heavy, I strong".

Or, if there is some Kitchen action (baking/cooking/chopping) happening:
"Mommy! I'm the good helper. I get stool."

"Look Mommy, TOUCHDOWN!!!"
I knew Snow White had some skills.
My favorite thing is that she calls them her "little dollies".

Our Old House

So the story that the buyers of our house told us was that the house was originally the rectory for the big Catholic church in our town, about a half mile away.

I have been trying to figure out if this is true, without going to the church and asking them. I am a little concerned that someone might want to landmark it or something crazy like that. Keeping a low profile in my 'research' seems like an appropriate thing to do.

A month or so ago one of the daughters that grew up in the house came by and brought us a photo of the house before it was moved. She told me the street that it was on and I walked by there with Layla a couple of weeks ago. There is a house immediately across the street from where I think our house was. It's for sale and has a sign that says IT was the original church rectory.

After that I was a little perplexed. So I have been hunting for photos online and found this website: http://www.historicaerials.com/

It's fantastic. I can see my house before and after the move. Don't get crazy, we are talking about aerial photos from 1938. It's not Google Earth. But, I am pretty sure I can see where my house was and that they needed to move it in order to make room for the new church.

In the 1938 photos it is on the church property and in 1951 (the next available photo) it is in its current location. This fits with the timeline we figured. I found one timeline that says the new church school was opened in 1945. This seems to work with the timeline as well although I couldn't determine exactly when the new church was built. I guess there must be a plaque or something over there I could check on.

Below is the photo that she gave us and a couple of the house now. It appears that this is the Master Bedroom wall, which was the front room of the house. But our house is considerably longer than this, so again, I really don't know what to make of it. It looks like the east and west end of our house, with the middle section plopped in. Weird!





Also, in the 1938 photos, that OTHER house isn't there. So, I suspect it was the rectory after our house was. Or maybe our house wasn't the rectory? The daughter said that her in-laws were married there (in the Master Bedroom (previously the front room)). Sort of odd to learn that your in-laws were married in your parents' bedroom, but there you have it.

If I can figure anything else out, I'll be sure to tell you!