January

The last day of January deserves a post when it's a day like today. It's going to be in the mid-50s today. Whaaaaaaaatttt???? This has been such a strange winter. The birds are out chirping, the sun stays up late (well later every day at least!), it feels like Spring is here already. Does this mean it will be 80 in March and 110 in July? I hope not. It find it very unsettling to not have winter, but I think we might still have more snow.......

Making a Mess

Allie was in town this weekend! At her suggestion, we spent Friday at the Brookfield Zoo. I haven't been there in about 10 years, so I was excited to go and see if it was expansive as I remember. It was. The weather was very mild so we had no troubles walking outside to see the bears, buffaloes, wolves, and other creatures that live outdoors during the winter. Layla enjoyed the barnyard area although the petting zoo area was not open. I am sure we will be back in the spring (we got a family membership).

Penguin hat in a Penguin head

Tracks of a Polar Bear

As we did when Allie visited in the fall we spent some time working on the house and also took Layla to Make-A-Messterpiece. This place is really quite inventive. They have experiments, cooking, and art all rolled into one place. It is specifically designed to make a mess at every turn. Many of the activities are geared toward older kids, but just painting and making a mess appeals to children of all ages. These pictures are from our first trip, but I don't think I posted any the last time we went.

Science Experiments

Making "toothpaste"

Painting

Painting

Excavating 'fossils' and making an art project out of dirt

Layla Speak

Our family communication has dramatically improved as of late. Mostly, Layla has started talking to us in complete sentences and has a good vocabulary. Some of her words are still sweet and abbreviated. I don't try too hard to change them...

gubs = gloves (mittens)
boordies = blueberries
curdle = turtle
nannie = banana
puter = computer
tdd = TV

She also understands us so much more clearly.
For example, tonight at dinner:

Layla: Mommy, can I put cheese on my nannie?
Me: Sure, as long as you eat it.
Layla: (After coating her banana in shredded cheese) Oooooh, it's yummy!
Me: Cheese and bananas, what a lovely combination. I can't say that I've tried it.
Layla: Mommy, you want to have some? (holding it out to me)

Note to self: sarcasm is totally lost on toddlers. She does this to me all the time!

Mmmmm, cheese-covered banana!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to the most wonderful parents in the world. It is amazing to think that you have been together for 39 years! All the best on your special day.

Milwaukee and Other Fun Things

This Monday my colleagues treated me to a trip to Milwaukee to see the Marquette v. Louisville basketball game. Since I regularly choose Marquette in my March Madness brackets (showing support for the Midwest) I was excited to go.

We had great seats, about fourth row behind the basket. It was nice being so close to the floor, although you don't get the same perspective on the court. Those are some BIG guys!

We saw some sights around Milwaukee, mostly of the Bar and Restaurant variety: We went to Solly's for lunch. This place is home of the original butterburger. I swear to you they just put big lumps of butter on the burgers. The guys loved it and I ate about half of mine. Gross! I should have ordered a regular cheeseburger, but when in Rome......

We had pre-game refreshments at the Hofbrauhaus, which brought back fond memories of my visits to Munich. In the back they have a 'game' you can play with your friends. I guess the quotes are unnecessary since it's an actual game, but I cannot imagine how their insurance allows this: There is a big stump with a mallet attached to it by a chain. For ¢50 you can buy a nail (and one for each friend) and take turns hammering the nail to see who can get it in first.

Did I mention that they sell real steins of Hofbrau here?

Post game refreshments were at Benelux and then Horny Goat Brewery for dinner. Benelux, in the historic Third Ward was really too nice for our outing, but I definitely want to go back there. This is such a nice area of Milwaukee. We had a beer and an appetizer there and both were fantastic. Also they have a lot of books and knickknacks from the Benelux region, which I obviously enjoyed. since I would like to go back to Belgium some day.

The Horny Goat Brewery was, not surprisingly, not my choice. It was just ok, but the architecture/atmosphere in the back pavilion was pretty cool.

Last night I had Mom's group and it was much needed. We got some good laughs in and my friend Julie came for the first time. She has a son in Layla's class and they just bought a house nearby to our new house (Yeah!). We look forward to play dates in the future. While I was out Jason and Layla worked on a new family portrait:

I am glad to report that I am not the potato with the mustache.

Let it Snow!

Finally, Winter is here! Layla and I were so thrilled that the snow was finally flying. I cannot speak for Jason here, I don't think he was that excited about it. But he will admit Christmas didn't feel quite right without snow. It was not a repeat of Snowmageddon from last year, but we did get a few inches and had a really slow rush hour yesterday. Layla was so excited that when I picked her up she went tearing down the hall to her cubbie screeching, "boots, boots, I wear my boots!"

She left school with an unusual absence of lollygagging and went right outside. Despite my suggestion that she wait until we got home, she laid down on the sidewalk (right at the bottom of the steps) and in the snow to do a snow angel. She was so excited she was jumping our of her skin!

We proceeded to the grass to do a few more snow angels and surprisingly, not a peep was heard from her about her pants (which must have been soaked) or snow down the back of her neck. This girl is a real Scandinavian!

Snow Angel!

A sidewalk snow angel has a lot of bootprints in it.
I encouraged her to try the grass area instead.

That's a pretty good one!

As an interesting side note, this morning when I was packing up her snow pants for school (it's probably going to be too cold to play outside but just in case) she told me that these are the snow pants she wore 'on the tractor' when we went to pick out our tree. Given that she's only wore them that one time and it was more than a month ago, I was pretty surprised. Her memory is growing better every day.....but then she didn't remember that she lost privileges with her 'puter last night and asked to play with it this morning. Ah, I guess it's selective.

House Update

We have been working on the mechanical systems over the last couple of weekends, getting a lot of work time in now that the holiday hulabaloo is over. The electrical is nearly complete and we were able to have the insulation company come out and spray foam the ceiling/roof. Just in time for real winter to get here!

We have been considering replacing the windows so we are holding off on the walls a few more weeks while we make that decision. However, the insulation in the roof makes a HUGE difference already in both the warmth and noise from the outside. No big surprise, but still thrilling. Especially with the gas bill creeping up every month.

North Bedroom: The old rafters are now completely concealed. The foam filled up to the edge of the new 2x8 rafters we installed.

It's actually a little hard to tell that this is the gable roof, there is so much insulation in the rafters!

View from the North Bedroom across the Play Room to the South Bedroom. Sorry I didn't have the lights on, that would have helped. I think you get the idea, though.

Jason was very excited to have a few days cold enough to build his first (two) fires! We have been cutting up and stockpiling the wood from the demo throughout this project. The shed is completely full, to the roof (!), and there is some wood in the basement as well. Jason endured A LOT of eye-rolling from me on his need to keep all this wood. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the awesome fires he built, but not quite as pleased as he was.

Very proudly he told me this was his very first fire in his very first house....and also that I should up my excitement level. So I did. Layla enjoyed the fires as well; we set her up at a craft table in the rec room downstairs while we worked on the mechanicals in the basement. She is an excellent helper and enjoys play-doh in her "down time" when she is not using her hammer to "do knocking" or help Daddy by holding various straps, hooks and screws.

Daddy and Layla enjoying the fire in the Living Room.

Raging fire in the Rec Room, Layla's Craft Table

p.s. For those of you who might worry about such things, we did have the chimneys inspected and cleaned this fall to ensure that Jason could build his raging fires. We need a little tuckpointing, but otherwise we are good to go. And we took advantage of it.

I-L-L.....I-N-I

On Friday, December 30, my colleague asked me to attend a meeting with him on the upcoming Monday. Not a big deal, except that the office was otherwise closed and we all had the day off as most people did in order to observe New Year's Day.

In thanks, he offered me his tickets to the Northwestern v. Illinois basketball game on Wednesday night. Needless to say, I was more than happy to attend the meeting.

Wednesday night all three of us headed to Evanston for the game, Layla's first live sporting event that didn't feature one of her parents. We arrived about 10 minutes before game time and the fieldhouse was packed. Even though school was not in session at Northwestern the game was, naturally, a big draw.

It is easy to say that Layla enjoyed the game. She sat wide-eyed and barely spoke a word the first half. Basketball is a fast moving game, we sat near the band and there was a lot of action in the first half. She loved it! The second half of the game was disappointing, both teams were shooting poorly. The last few minutes were very exciting, especially given some very outspoken Northwestern fans in our row. Fortunately, the Fighting Illini pulled off the victory with a free throw shot at 6 seconds left in the game!

As we walked back to the car, the only disappointment Layla expressed was that she didn't actually get to play in the game herself!

Oh so hard to get both of these lovely people to smile with their eyes open at the same time! Here they are at the end of the game. Score: 56 to 57

The halftime performance was by a Cirque d' Soleil acrobat who could bend her body in some really crazy ways. I wish I had taken a few more pictures but mostly I was standing there with my mouth hanging open.

Excited Illini Fans

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Layla and I are learning Spanish together and so I wish you a Feliz Año Nuevo! One of my painters taught me that. Layla has an actual Spanish teacher at school and has already taught me several words. She wants for me to sign her Spanish songs with her but so far all I can figure out is one about her head. Between the toddler-speak and an actual foreign language it's hard to figure out the songs. Maybe Ms. Debby can give me a few song sheets?!

We got Layla a few Spanish books, as did Mom and Dad. They seemed to have a better selection in Arizona than we do in Deerfield, no big surprise. I will have to head to a more Spanish speaking area when we need more. Dad was able to find "El Gato Sombrerado" and "Jorge Curiouso" (that would be "The Cat in the Hat" and "Curious George" for your gringos.) Everyone got great joy listening to me try and read these books on Christmas morning. Being the only person in our family who has not actual taken Spanish classes, I didn't think this was quite fair. Some of my pronunciations brought Allie to literal tears, but she still didn't offer to read!

At any rate, we were back in Illinois for the New Year. It was a pretty uneventful weekend for us, we worked at the house mostly, but did get out and enjoy the holiday weekend in the city. That meant Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo and dinner at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder. Two of our favorite places to go in Lincoln Park when I lived there and we had not yet taken Layla to do either. Of course, she has been to the Zoo, but zoo lights is another event in itself. It was a big hit!

That smile tells you the pizza pot pies were a big hit with the littlest DeBaker!

Excited faces for the tour through the zoo and all the light displays.

Outside the apes house - they were open, but all the apes were already asleep for the night. We did get to see them curled up and sprawled out, it was pretty funny.

Christmas Catch-Up

Preparing for our trip by making Aunt Audrey's cream wafers, Yum!

We spent a lovely Christmas in Minnesota this year. We shared an unexpected gift with my parents: the stomach flu. Layla had tummy troubles on Thursday before we left town and we just figured it was gas. Christmas Eve I was sick, Dad on Christmas and Mom and Jason on the day after Christmas. I have not heard that Allie or anyone in our extended family has fallen ill, thank goodness. Allie does not have the luxury of getting sick. Ever.

I used to be one of those people who was never sick, but this fall/winter has kicked my butt. Beginning in mid-October I have been fighting an on-going cold. When it finally ceased I got this stomach virus and when the lingering effects of that finally wore off (after about 5 days I felt normal) I felt good and well-rested. One might even say I was well. That lasted for all of 3 days.

Saturday morning I woke up with a new sore throat that has turned into a new full blown cold for the last 5 days, culminating in the near complete loss of my voice today. So, needless to say I have been sleeping in and taking advantage of the slow work week. Fortunately, Layla and Jason seem to be fine. Although I have to say the stomach bug was the first thing Jason has been sick with in many years. The man is made of steel. He rarely even gets a sniffle.

At any rate, back to our trip: We had an easy drive up to Minne on Friday evening and enjoyed decorating and preparing for Christmas Eve at Allie's house, which we spend with my Dad's side of the family. (I was feeling icky all day, but got worse as the evening wore on.) The kids all enjoyed their presents and we had fun drinking strawberry dacquiris and catching up with one another.

Cousins!

Getting the hang of tearing into the gifts

Santa spoiled us all on Christmas and we were lazily opening gifts and lounging all morning. We headed to Mom's side of the family for the afternoon and loads of food: turkey and ham, potatoes, stuffing, and lots of fun salads and veggies. It was more food than we could eat, but Laurie has two teenagers so I am sure the leftovers didn't last very long. Ben is on the swim team now and could probably eat about 10,000 calories a day like Michael Phelps.

Opening our stockings on Christmas morning

Layla has discovered Laurie's Christmas Village

Daddy's Girl

Her 'Leaptop' computer (or 'puter as she calls it)! We've got it programmed to send her emails and everything. She loves it!

Penguin hat and mittens knit by Cousin Jill were a big hit

All the Lindahl ladies on Christmas day

The day after Christmas we made our annual trek to the Dayton's Auditorium to see 'A day in the life of an Elf.' Now, when we were kids this display changed every year, but it seems they gave up on doing that (budget cuts?) because it was the same as when we went two years ago. Either way Layla was enthralled and much more interested this time around, naturally.

Lounging around

It was a short trip since none of us were feeling great. Layla took a very long nap and everyone else slept and rested all day. Allie, of course, worked like a maniac and was out of the house by 5. Jason and I met up with Mike and Danielle and had dinner at Blackbird. You Minne folks ought to check this place out. It was delicious! We headed back to the Deer on Tuesday. Back to work and school for us on Wednesday! As always, it was too short of a visit and we were glad to get to see so much family.