Early Thanksgiving

We had fun with family this weekend for our early Thanksgiving.  It was as cold as January.  The snow birds from Arizona did not care for this.  The Minnesota travelers thought it was balmy.  I thought the snow was beautiful, the kids thought it was fun,  I think Jason cried a little.  The turkey was delicious!

Halloween

Snow and sleet were on tap for Halloween, but we braved it anyway.  Layla got a load of candy at every house. So few kids were out they were giving her handfuls!  Jayden loved trick or treating but got cold really fast, he and Jason headed home after only a handful of houses to make the first fire in the fireplace of the season. 

July!

So, it looks like I didn't post at all during July!  What the heck!  

We had a great July kicking off with a short trip to the lake house for Beth and a long visit with Grandma and Papa for Layla.  We got to hang out with our NOLA family and relax for a few days.  Layla got a long vacation with turtle racing, mini-golf, and something about buried beans.  She had a blast and worked on her swimming.  No jumping off the boat yet, though!

Back in Chicago, JJ enjoyed his first fireworks show from a rooftop party and watched the parade with some of our preschool friends.

On July 19th, we celebrated Layla's 5th birthday!  She had a great time with family and a few friends from school came to celebrate as well.   This past weekend we had a big bash with four of her classmates; the girls all turned 5 within a couple weeks of one another.  We rented a field house from the park district and had a big party with their whole class, about 70 people!

Jason's birthday was one of the busiest days of the year with baseball, another birthday party, a mystery beer party (yes, it's as fun as it sounds!) and then dinner at Sepia and drinks at Mastro's for us. 

In other news, Allie and Ryan sold their house and bought a new one.  Closing on both within a couple of days (in the right order, thankfully!).  The kids and I are headed to Minnesota next week so we are excited to be the first house guests and make sure that we will hide Cheerios in places they won't find them for years.

Layla spent a lot of time one day creating different photos with rocks, leaves and twigs. 

Posing with one of the many blue oxen in Nisswa. 

Bathing beauty

Birthday friends in the bounce house

One of her favorite gifts, a 'real' lego set. 

Dora castle cake, again! 

 Family Pic

 5 girls turning 5!

All the kids got their picture taken with Olaf!  Jayden was smitten. 

Memorial Day Weekend

I guess you can tell life is getting busier on the whole as I post less and less.  We have been doing a lot of fun stuff and making progress on our landscaping so I hope to get some more photos up.

Last weekend Mom, Dad and Allie joined us for the long holiday weekend.  We had a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful which made it even better.

Our now traditional Mother's Day tea was at The Peninsula this year.  It was fancy.  We had champagne and lots of beautiful snacks.  The spread for Layla was amazing!  They even brought her a kiddie cocktail in a champagne flute to toast with us.  

 

Saturday morning at the Zoo!  

Jayden's first carousel ride and he LOVED it, of course.   Layla initially chose a stationary Lion and wanted to switch to moving creature.  Then got freaked out by it.  This carousel moves a lot faster than the one at Brookfield!

Chicago Botanic Garden on Sunday morning, beautiful as always. 

We also went to see that model railroad at the CBG.  We have been to the indoor exhibit at Christmas but this outdoor one is open April - Oct. and let me just say that it is little boy heaven.  Jayden could've stayed for weeks!

On the less glamorous side of the weekend, we finally got the trim painted on the garage door and front door as well as the back door painted in its entirety (thanks Dad!).  And Mom helped me cut back all the rose vines that had dies off and left a mess of woody thorns behind.  Another brutal reminder of the winter we had.  We relocated some plants in anticipation of the landscaping work in the backyard, starting tomorrow!

Eggs!

Easter Egg Hunt at the UMC in Glenview, the weekend before Easter! 

Lots of events during the Easter season, so we can hunt for eggs and get a lot of candy stockpiled. 

Pretty in Pink

Jayden found one egg in the bottom of this downspout and spent the rest of the allotted egg-hunting time rolling the egg back into the downspout! 

Our beautifully decorated eggs!  I thought I had a picture of Jayden's blue and green hands too......

Happy Easter

It reached 80 today on our car thermometer! That's a bit warm for April, but it was such a beautiful day and everyone has been tired of the cold weather for awhile now. 

We headed down to the U of C campus to Rockefeller Chapel today for Easter service.  There was a lot of music, an egg hunt and everyone enjoyed the beautiful setting.  Lunch was at the Parrot Cage, which made Layla giggle every time we said it, she thinks the name is hysterical.  The Parrot Cage is at the South Shore Cultural Center, an historic Park District building right on the water.  We went for a little beach walk after lunch.  Our littlest water baby would have gone all the way in, if we had let him!

Letting the dust settle

We have now finally come the end of our holiday events.  Last night was my annual Christmas date night with Carrie to a lovely fondue place in our old neighborhood in Lincoln Park.  We have been going for 12 years now (though we did miss last year - we blame the babies!).   I took down the tree and watched the garbage man pick it up this morning.  It's a little bittersweet: Christmas is fun and exciting and also overwhelming for both us and the kids.  I am ready for life to go back to its usual level of chaos. 

We had such a fun month with marvelous parties, our beautiful tree, dozens of cards arriving each week showcasing our friends and family and, best of all, travels to Minnesota and Wisconsin to spend time with our family.

Laurie, Katy and Ben graciously hosted us and we had a great time.  Katy gave up her room and migrated around the house to different locations each night.  I guess after sleeping on a dirt floor in Africa just about any place will be fine to sleep.  We were very grateful for their hospitality and it was fun to hear about Katy's travels, Laurie's students and Ben's college plans.

Ben, being typical of a teenage boy, made himself scarce and when he was with us made polite smiles at my attempts to humor him.  I have officially become one of those people that talks incessantly about 'the good old days' and 'when I was in college......'  whenever I am around someone under 25.  I was Ben's age when Ben was born and I didn't listen to a darn thing anyone said anyway so I doubt I have permanently scarred him. 

Layla had a wonderful time playing with Katy's Barbie house, made by her own father when she was a girl.  It really was cool (I think we all enjoyed playing with it).   I think both Katy and Laurie got to read plenty of books and color with crayons.

Here are a few photo highlights of the last couple of weeks:

Christmas Eve with Lindahl (Haack) cousins. Jayden is not pleased about the photo but otherwise had a great time, especially with the two newest family members: rescue puppies for both Uncle Bob and Aunt Lynne and the Haack clan.

Layla and Allie on Christmas Eve

A new zebra scooter from Santa for Jayden

Christmas Day at Laurie's house

The Edberg cousins including Jim, who flew in at the last moment to be with us for Christmas!

Our traditional day-after-Christmas trip to the Dayton's Auditorium was cancelled due to it being CLOSED!  We have always gone the day after, but I guess they close it early now.  We hit up the Children's Museum in St. Paul and had pizza at Cossetta's instead.  

Wonderland Express with Aunt Rachel

 

Jayden really loved all the trains.  He would have stayed for days. 

 A BIG gift from us, the kids got a bounce house to burn off energy.  It's not too big though: it fits in our basement play area!

 I haven't uploaded Wisconsin pics yet, so I will probably add a few here!

Christmas Wish Lists

As in previous years and posts, this is not a request for gifts, but just an effort to share what the kids would like should you be inclined to get them something for Christmas.

Layla
This is the first year that Layla has asked for something specific and that is "Dolls, big and small".

For big dolls: We are a few years away from American Girl dolls, so I think soft baby dolls and related accessories are appropriate.  She has a baby doll stroller already, but a baby cradle/crib would be fun.  Circo brand at Target is the doll she has now so anything that went with that and also a few more babies.  I saw Melissa and Doug have some 12" dolls which would be right up her alley.

For small dolls: We are looking at Calico Critters.  She does not have any but will be getting a dollhouse so any families, accessories, etc. are up for grabs.

She like blocks and would really like on or both of these Cindarella Block sets with Carriage and Castle:
 

Any other Duplo sets are great too, we have some already and both kids enjoy them.  Once Jayden is a bit older we will get real legos, he still likes to put things in his mouth!

Books: She loves Berenstain Bears, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Curious George, Clifford, etc.  I know this is a little tough since we have a lot already!

Art supplies:  Good thick paper for painting and paints.  Some kind of portfolio or keepsake album to keep artwork in.

Clothes 5 or 5T

Money for college is always appreciated!

Jayden

Jayden is going to be getting a train table and will be looking for tracks and trains to go along with it.  I'd like to have some of the wooden train tracks that are compatible with the various trains and cars out on the market.  We haven't got anything right now, so choose whatever.

Duplo blocks 

 Clothes 2T for all seasons.

Money for College

Gingerbread Party

We were invited to go with our friends to a wonderful family event and fundraiser on Sunday at the Four Seasons downtown.  Our friend, Scott's parents were chairs of the event and it was quite the production.  There was gingerbread house decorating (each kid got their own house) including a 20' long table of every candy, pretzel and other decoration you can imagine.   There was a huge brunch spread, including mimosas and bloody Marys.  Ralph's World (a children's band) performed which the kids really enjoyed.  My favorite song: M-O-M-M-Y needs C-O-F-F-E-E!   We got to sit right in front and there was a stage for the kids to dance on.  They had a blast!

Decorating our gingerbread house was a lot of fun.

Layla had to be convinced, over the course of an hour or so, that Santa was not scary.  She finally agreed not to sit on his lap but to stand near him.  Jayden was feeling less compliant. 

Kate and I with our sweet boys. 

Mamas and all the kids together after the show by Ralph.

We're Going on a Tree Hunt

The season of Christmas is upon us and our first tree in our house is up and [mostly] decorated! 

Jayden's first ride on the tractor trailer, heading out into the tree farm.

He came to the farm last year, but it was raining so he and I stayed inside. 

Balancing Act

 We are all bundled up and off to find a tree.

Here is our tree. 

Tree decorating, eggnog, and a fire!