On the move

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T16:44:00.001-06:00

Santa came to our house!

The kids on Christmas morning

I'm not sure Cara really understood everything, but she had fun opening presents.

Lila really wanted a Doodle Bear and Santa knew Cara would want one too, so they both got one.

Drawing on her Doodle Bear

Me too!

Ian really only wanted one thing for Christmas- the new Skyrim XBox game. He was getting a little worried when he had opened most of his presents and hadn't found it yet, but then he got it and the gaming guide too.

Studying the gaming guide.

Lila only asked Santa for one thing this year, a Fur Real dog. It's a fake dog that acts just like a real dog. It doesn't seem to make a difference to her that we have a real dog. She was SO excited when she opened it.

Cara's favorite present this year was her new "cuter". It a My Own Leaptop and she loves it. She's carried it with her everywhere, she hasn't even let anyone touch it to set it up!

The kids dressed for Christmas Dinner.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T16:28:00.000-06:00

The kids were at Chris's house during the day on Christmas Eve and opened presents from Chris's family.

Later that day we all went to the family Christmas Eve service at church. It was Cara's first time sitting in church with us and she enjoyed it. At least she enjoyed the carols. As soon as one was over she would yell, "another song!".

After the church the kids and I went back home for a Christmas dinner of crab legs, cheese potatoes and asparagus. Then the kids got to open one present before bed - Christmas PJs.

Dance Class Christmas

2011-12-22T20:12:00.000-06:00

Lila had her last dance class before Christmas break today. All of the girls got to wear their Christmas outfits and parents could come in and watch the last ten minutes of class. They did one tap and one ballet dance for us wearing reindeer antlers. Lila loved bobbing her head to make her bells jingle!

Christmas Pageant

2011-12-22T19:45:00.000-06:00

This was a big year for our family in the church Christmas pageant- this is the only year that all three kids were able to participate! Ian was an usher and sang with the middle school class; Lila was a Heavenly Host; and Cara was a donkey in the stable. All three kids did an excellent job!

Ian singing

Lila getting ready for her part

Singing Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star

Lila's part in the show! They say "Glory to God in the highest. Peace on Earth, goodwill to all." Then sing Twinkle Twinkle Christmas star/ Over Bethlehem afar/ Up above the manger high/ Dancing dancing in the sky/ Twinkle twinkle Christmas star/ Over Bethlehem afar.

Cara was ADORABLE as a stable animal. They keep the two year old animals in line and in the stable by feeding them an endless supply of animal crackers. Cara ate the entire time and chewed on her cup while she was waiting for refills.

She also got a purple Christmas tree from Nana the day before that she didn't want to put down. That's what's sitting in her lap. Sitting next to her is her BFF Grace.

They video the pageant and put it up on the screen. During down time they show the stable animals. Here's Cara and Grace on the big screen.

A video of the cutest donkey ever!

All the kids singing Silent Night for the finale

Leaving the sanctuary

Cara in her costume.

Lila's Christmas Program

2011-12-22T17:48:00.000-06:00

Lila's school Christmas program was Saturday night. She sang one song with her class and then provided "back up" for the other classes. All of the kids did an excellent job! We didn't have very good seats, so there aren't many pictures, but Lila sang all of the words and did all of the motions.

All dressed up before the program.

Lila and Cara with Nana

My girls

Sitting in her seat waiting for the show to start.

Singing with her class. She's front and center.

Zoo Lights

2011-12-12T19:35:00.000-06:00

Last night I took the girls to Brookfield Zoo to see all of the Christmas lights and decorations (Ian opted not to go). Zoo Lights happens every year, but it's usually too cold for me. But, since it was a balmy 40 degrees last night I decided it was the perfect time to go. The girls loved it! Several of the animals were outside since it wasn't freezing and we got to see even more animals inside. The lights looked beautiful and we all enjoyed it.

All bundled up in the stroller

Lila wanted to go on the carousel at the end. Cara has been on before, but I guess she didn't remember because she was terrified and yelling "Off! Off!" before it started. This picture is when she was terrified. But once it started moving she stopped yelling, looked around and then started smiling and saying "Whee!" Meanwhile, Lila was on one of the outside animals and she spent the entire time smiling and waving Miss America-style to the people standing around the carousel.

Just a Normal Day

2011-12-12T19:27:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday, Lila was wearing her Ariel costume which prompted Cara to ask to wear her Suzy Mouse costume. Once Lila saw Cara in the Suzy Mouse costume she had to have a "soft costume, not a beautiful costume" and changed into her old Nemo costume. Just a normal Thursday afternoon at home!

And one out of order

2011-12-04T20:28:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of November I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K and got a personal best of nine miles in 1:29. Barb and Bryan drove up for the weekend and my friend Kristy and I hung out with them after the race and had a great time. It was 50 degrees and sunny... beautiful weather and much better than the year before when it was 23 degrees!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-04T20:22:00.000-06:00

Blogland is conspiring against me and my flurry of updates, so excuse the partial pictures. The kids and I went down to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving. We had a good time and tons of delicious food! Ian went to his dad's and also had a great time.

Cara and I on Thanksgiving

Lila decided to throw a fit instead of join the picture.

Grandparent's Day

2011-12-04T20:06:00.000-06:00

Lila had Grandparent's Day at her school this month and Mom came up to spend the morning with her at school. Lila was SO excited and they both had a good time.

Mom got to watch Lila in the classroom and was very impressed with her cutting skills.

Then they made a family tree with Lila's hand as the trunk of the tree.

Then all of the classes sang for the grandparents. Mom took some videos, but for some reason they won't load on the blog. Lila did an excellent job singing and doing the motions and really enjoyed the applause at the end!

Ian

2011-12-02T15:49:00.000-06:00

Ian has been doing an excellent job on swim team this year. He has improved some of his times and is enjoying the season. He has one more regular meet and then the final meet of the season left to go. He decided to only do the first half of the season this year and is hoping to find a swordplay to class to take this winter.

Cara's Two Year Stats

2011-12-02T15:46:00.000-06:00

I am behind, which seems to be the norm these days. I'm going to try to get caught up with a flurry of posts!

Cara had her two year check up a few days after her birthday and everything looked great! She is 25 lbs. 6 oz and is 32 3/4 inches tall which means she is 22% for height and 32% for weight. The doctor asked me if she was able to put two word phrases together and Cara answered by saying, "I eat Egg Harbor for lunch. I have mac 'n chese and got a ducky. My ducky on the table." The doctor was very impressed! All of the other things the doctor asked about, Cara had been doing for quite some time so she is doing great!

Cara talks and talks and has opinions about everything from what she wears to what fork she uses to eat. She wears her pink polka dot rain boots every day whether it's raining or not and wears them all day long except when she's sleeping or in the bath. She loves pretending to have tea parties with Lila, playing with Little People, cleaning, and playing the Pigeon app on my Ipad. She is doing excellent at swimming lessons and jumps in to the pool all by herself.

Her favorite things are Nana, her stuffed animals, doggies and being included.

Cara is Two!

2011-11-14T21:19:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday Cara turned two! We celebrated with a Pancake Party with family and Cara had a blast. She was so excited about her birthday. She told everyone we saw all day, "It my birthday! I two!". She also sang "Happy Birthday dear Cara" to herself all day.

More than presents, cake or a party, she was excited that "Nana coming!"

Her very own mop and cleaning set. Lila has one already and it is probably the toy the girls fight over most. They are definitely my girls!

Her new necklace which she has only taken off to bathe and sleep since she got it.

Her stack of pancakes cake.

Happy Birthday dear Cara!

With Aunt Katie

Ipad Generation

2011-11-14T20:47:00.000-06:00

Yes, this is Cara playng with an App on my Ipad using her snack bowl as a stand. And she can do it all by herself.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:37:00.000-05:00

Cinderella and Suzy Mouse

Cara LOVED being Suzy Mouse! She had a Halloween party at Muscle Club this morning and as soon as she walked in she said "I Suzy Mouse!". She has really enjoyed Halloween and dressing up this year. She likes to get candy but so far she hasn't realized that she can eat it.

Lila also had a Halloween party at school today. As a room mom I got to go to the party and help out which was a lot of fun. They trick-or-treated around the school, played games, made a craft and had a spooky snack. Lila is already willing to suffer for beauty. I sent extra shoes to school because her glass slippers hurt her feet, but she didn't want to wear them. She also refused to wear long sleeves or a jacket because she "just wouldn't be a beautiful Cinderella." Oh my!

Waiting for candy

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-10-30T21:22:00.000-05:00

On Friday night Chris took the girls to the Fun Fair at Lila's school. They had a great time and Chris said that Cara was very excited about all of the games.

Then on Saturday, the girls went trick-or-treating downtown to all of the stores. Cara didn't really like the big mouse head, but she was really excited about being Suzy Mouse. If you're familiar with the Disney Cinderella you should recognize Cara's costume as the girl mouse who helps Cinderella.

The girls also carved a pumpkin with Chris, but for some reason the picture will not upload. I will try again when I upload Halloween pictures tomorrow.

Ian had his first swim meet on Friday night and did an excellent job. Then on Saturday morning he had placement testing for HIGH SCHOOL. How is this possible???

Totally Wicked Cute

2011-10-28T22:15:00.000-05:00

Lila had school and Cara had music class today and Monday is a costume day so I took the opportunity to have them wear their Halloween t-shirts. I had intended to have them get a picture together, but Lila wanted to take turns. Not worth the battle, so here are their separate pictures:

Lila goofing around.

And "standing like a tree".

Cara posing without the hat.

And with the hat.

Dance Class Halloween Party

2011-10-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, Lila got to wear her costume to dance class and have a little Halloween party. The parents got to watch for the last 10 minutes of class, our first chance since class started two months ago. They did a tap dance to "The Addams Family" and a ballet dance to a song about a ghost. Lila did an excellent job!

Seriously, how cute is this?

Lila is Cinderella for Halloween, complete with "glass slippers" that she couldn't wear to dance class. Many more pictures of Halloween costumes coming soon!

Fall Fest

2011-10-08T14:26:00.000-05:00

Today was the annual Fall Fest in town. It's great for little kids and Lila was really looking forward to going. It's a beautiful day here today, so the girls and I went and had a fun time with some friends.

Cara and Lila with the pumpkins

Lila and Cara both rode horses, but since I was walking with Cara it was hard to get a picture.

Cara went in the bounce house for the first time ever and had a blast! She was mostly just trying to keep from falling over instead of actually jumping, but she had a really good time. They had a small one for younger kids which is where she was and that made it easier for her to go in and not worry about getting tackled.

Both girls rode the train and did Miss America waves at everyone.

Lila painting her pumpkin

Apple & Pork

2011-10-08T14:15:00.000-05:00

Get out your spoon, get out your fork, it is time for Apple & Pork! Or at least it was a few weeks ago. I'm a little behind posting the pictures. But, the kids and I did go down for Apple & Pork and had a great time. It was Cara's first time going and she was a big fan!

Lila with her gingerbread cookie.

Cara having her first apple fritter.

And her first pony ride. She wasn't really sure about riding a pony, but she was determined not to be left out since Lila was riding one. She had a worried look on her face the whole time, but she never cried.

Fried apples and a fairy hat.

The girls rode the tram with Mom several times and loved it. I think they would have done that the whole weekend and missed everything else.

Birthday Tailgate

2011-09-23T13:23:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we all went down to Mom and Dad's for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and go to the Illini game. It was perfect weather and a great game!

Katie, Tim and I

Birthday cake!

Cara's first tailgate. She loved it!

Chief arms

More Chief arms

Cara playing washers

This is what happens when you ask your 14 year old to be in a picture with you.

That's better.

Cara eating birthday cake. She loved it!

More Cuteness!

2011-09-23T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures Mom took while watching the kids a few different times.

Cara loves her sunglasses

Lila being silly

Tea party

Ian being a good big brother

And being silly with Walter

Lila and Lucy

Cuteness

2011-09-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

My little fashionistas (no idea where they get that...) picked out their own outfits today. You can't see Lila's shoes, but they are pink ballet flats with huge pink jewels on them that she picked out at Gap herself. So, since I'm trying be better about pictures, I thought I would take a couple.

Lila didn't think the first one was good enough of Bolt.

This week Lila started gymnastics and dance again. She has moved up a level in gymnastics and this year is old enough to be in the dance recital. She is taking a ballet and tap combo class and to say she loves her tap shoes is a huge understatement.

And Cara, after all of this time of watching Lila get to go to classes while she has to hang with me, including yelling "I 'nastics!!" [I do gymnastics!] at the top of her lungs outside the gym on Tuesday, finally got to start her first class today. She and I went to music class for the first time today. It is the same one that Lila and I used to do and Cara loved it! She didn't hesitate at all and participated in all of the songs and tried to do all of the motions. And she had an ear to ear grin on her face the entire time.

Football Season!

2011-09-06T13:22:00.000-05:00

We stayed with my parents all of last weekend, where I was chastised by Momoo for not updating the blog enough. So, first, an apology for not updating the blog enough! I feel like we have been busy, but we haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary and I haven't taken any pictures. I am going to make an effort to step it up, even if it means just taking pictures of the kids at home.

But, back to last weekend, we stayed with my parents and went to the Illini game on Saturday. Everyone wanted to show off their new orange and blue.

Katie and the kids

Back to School!

2011-08-20T14:21:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe, but school has started again! Ian started 8th grade on Thursday - his last year of middle school! He has a big year ahead with high school registration, Confirmation class at church and 8th grade graduation. He was not very enthusiastic about going back to school, but he said that he had a good first day.

Ian is wearing a new shirt and new jeans. And I am happy to report that we both survived the back to school shopping experience!

Continuing the tradition I started last year, here is a video of Ian after his first day.

Lila started 4 year old preschool on Friday and was SO excited! All day Thursday she kept saying, "I am SO excited to start school tomorrow. I can't WAIT to go to school. I can't wait to learn new things!" Friday morning she was up and ready to go. When we went outside for pictures Cara looked at me like I was nuts that I didn't want her in the picture and then went and stood by Lila anyway. Here she is trying not to be left out.

Lila with her backpack and first day of school dress.

At school with her nametag. Right after this she said, "Okay Mommy you can go now."

And then she sat down and started playing.

Here's Lila's first day of school interview.

August

2011-08-18T13:35:00.000-05:00

The first part of August has managed to fly by without me posting any blog updates. We have all been busy and trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer! Hard to believe that we are going back to school already!

As soon as VBS ended I left for a girls weekend in Nashville with three friends. I had so much fun! I pretty much didn't eat or sleep while I was there, but it was worth it. I loved Nashville and would move there in a second if I was single and child-free. We sat by the pool and went shopping, but mostly we went honky-tonk bar hopping.

While I was gone, Chris was home with the girls and took them on a trip to the zoo. Here they are watching the dolphins go by.

Lila with the tiger

and with her favorite animal, the buffalo.

On Saturday night a friend of ours from law school got married. It was a beautiful wedding with the ceremony in a basilica and the reception at the Chicago Symphony Center. Here we are with Jim and Jasna on the balcony of the symphony center.

I turned in early though and stayed in a hotel in the city because the next day I ran my first ever Half Marathon. I ran the Rock n Roll Half which was a fantastic race. There are local live bands all along the course which helps keep your feet moving. Plus, the race was very well run and extremely organized. Chris brought the kids in to the city to watch the race. I was able to see them at mile 7 and then again at the finish. Here's Ian with the skyline in the background.

My friend, Lora, and I after the race

My finish time was 2:17 which was slower than I wanted, but I am focusing on the fact that I ran 13.1 miles and crossed the finish line. But I'm already thinking about my next Half so I can beat my time!

Vacation Bible School

2011-07-29T18:31:00.000-05:00

We returned from Portland to a heat advisory in Chicago, so we didn't do much because it was SO hot. Then, just as the heat advisory was lifted, our air conditioner broke. And not just a minor break- we had to have a new inside and outside unit installed. Not fun. So, we didn't do much while the air conditioner was broken either because it was SO hot.

This week was VBS at church. I was a crew leader for a group of first and second grade boys and let's just say they were a challenge. Lila was part of the preschool group again this year and had a fantastic time! She told me all about what she did every day and couldn't wait to go back. Two of her teachers even told me how impressed they were with her knowledge about Jesus! Cara spent the week in the nursery at church playing with her friends and having fun.

Last night was the VBS Finale where the kids could show off the songs that they learned. The preschoolers sang Jesus Loves Me by themselves and then sang two songs with the rest of the group. Lila did an excellent job singing the words and doing the hand motions!

After the singing, everyone had ice cream to celebrate!

Meanwhile...

2011-07-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

While we were in Oregon, Mom stayed here with all three kids. The kids loved having time with Nana! They played at home, went to parks and even tried out a new park!

Cara swinging

Playing with the water table in the backyard

Blowing bubbles in the bathtub

Cara demonstrating her fork skills.

Adam and Molly's Wedding

2011-07-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

On July 16, Chris's friend and college roommate Adam got married in Oregon and Chris served as a groomsman. We flew out to Portland on Thursday for the rehearsal dinner. Then on Friday we drove about an hour to Hood River which is where the rest of the wedding festivities took place. Friday was the rehearsal followed by an outdoor dinner so we could enjoy the perfect weather. Then, on Saturday, Adam and Molly got married at Mt. Hood Organic Farms. The weather was rainy in the morning and a little chilly at wedding time, but the sun came out and everything was able to go as planned.

Chris with the Best Man, Marc.

Chris and I before the wedding. It was a little windy!

Chris gave one of the seven blessings during the ceremony.

The view from the reception.

The happy couple.

Renaissance Faire

2011-07-28T16:54:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, July 9 Mom and Dad took Ian and his friend Owen to the Bristol Renaissance Faire as his birthday present. Ian had a great time!

This is what Ian picked to buy with his birthday money. It's a long leather cloak. I don't really know what else to say about it.

Ian apparently spent most of his time at this booth where you can throw tomatoes at a man who insults you. He had a blast.

Ian's Birthday Weekend

2011-07-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

Technically, Ian's birthday was last weekend, but he was with his dad. He got to go camping and spend time with his dad's family.

On Friday, Mom and Dad came up to babysit so that Chris and I could go see Beauty and the Beast. We had dinner with Katie and Tim first and then saw the show. It was fun, but not nearly as amazing as Lion King! After dinner we had drinks with Emily to celebrate her birthday and then headed home.

Lila and Cara's new thing is to use my foam roller to "stretch".

On Sunday Mom, Dad, Katie and Tim came over to celebrate Ian's birthday. We had lunch, cake and ice cream and presents. Lila got dressed up in her "party costume".

Ian got money, gift cards, a savings bond and a new book. He also got the XBox he's been asking for!

He got some new XBox games from Katie and Tim.

And then we had chocolate mousse birthday cake.

On Saturday, Ian and a friend went to the Renaissance Faire with Mom and Dad for his birthday present. Mom took some pictures and I will add those as soon as I get them from her.

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-05T15:44:00.001-05:00

We had a fun and busy 4th of July weekend! Katie moved into her new condo on Wednesday so on Friday I helped her shop for some essentials and clean. Then, on Saturday morning, I had a brutally hot training run followed by furniture shopping with Katie.

Then on Sunday we went to the Taste of Oakbrook for the first time. We loved it! First and foremost the Jesse White Tumblers were there, and as a life long fan I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see them up close. It was awesome! I had only seen them as a half time show at Assembly Hall, but here we were so close we could touch them. Lila was amazed and Cara said "woooo!" while we watched.

After that, we tried some food and enjoyed the beautiful day. The girls had lots of fun running around and playing Ring Around the Rosie.

Cara and Chris eating our free fries.

Cara and I

Lila and Cara eating gelato

Later that night some friends came over and we enjoyed the weather some more, sitting outside to eat and play bags.

On the 4th I ran a 4 mile race (4 on the 4th) here in town which was a lot of fun. I finished in 35:30 which was ahead of my goal time of 36 minutes and meant I kept an overall pace of 8:53. Plus, because the race was short and in town the girls got to see me go by early on and again at the finish. In this picture I am waving and yelling at the girls to make sure they saw me. They did!

Lila's 4th of July outfit

Cara's 4th of July outfit

After the girls got up from nap, we went to the pool. They continue to amaze us with how well they can swim and how much they enjoy it. Cara jumped off the side of the pool over and over again to Chris and I yelling "Two! Jump!" (like One, Two, Three... Jump) and walked around in the shallowest end sticking her face in the water to blow bubbles. Lila jumped off the diving board five times by herself!!! Not just little jumps either, running big jumps off the end. Chris waited for her in the deep end to make sure she got to the side safely, but she did all of the jumping and swimming by herself. Then last night, Lila got to stay up late and go with Chris to watch the fireworks. She had fun watching them and naming them as they went up.

This and That

2011-07-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

The last couple of weeks have had a lot going on. Two weekends in a row, Mom and I had a garage sale. It was my second, and most likely my last garage sale, but I had a lot of baby stuff to get out of the house and that did the job.

Mom is Cara's BFF, so Cara thoroughly enjoyed spending all of that time with her while she was visiting.

Then, during the week between the two garage sale weekends we had a major storm go through the area. Funnel clouds were spotted, trees were uprooted and 300,000 people lost power. Including us. We were fortunate and were only without power for 24 hours. Some of my friends were without power for 48 hours and I even know a few people who were without power for four days. We were fine without power and just had to keep the freezers and the fridge closed. But since being without power isn't enough, my car battery died and my cell phone stopped working. Not my favorite 24 hours.

Chris happened to be out driving when the sirens first went off for the storm and a tree branch fell on his car!! He was very fortunate that the heavy part of the branch hit the front of his car and only the leafy part hit the windshield. It was after that that he called me and told me to get the girls out of bed and take everyone to the basement. We were in the basement for about an hour and everyone handled it very well.

The next day Ian headed out for a summer visit with his dad and the girls opened their new shoes from Erin!

Random picture of Lila

Father's Day

2011-06-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

Father's Day was a beautiful day even though thunderstorms had been predicted, so after the kids woke up from nap we headed over to the zoo. Our zoo membership is probably the best money we spend all year.

For the record, the Diet Coke is in the parent cupholder.

Lila riding a zebra on the carousel.

Cara's first carousel ride!

After the zoo we went to our newly discovered favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Chris finished the day by playing his new Mario Kart game with his new WiiMotion remotes.

Chris's Birthday

2011-06-16T15:56:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday was Chris's birthday. We celebrated at home with presents and apple pie, then Katie and Tim came over a little later (after a car accident on the way- they are fine, thank goodness!) so we could all go out to dinner. After dinner, they came back to our house along with Jim and Jasna to hang out and celebrate in low key, we're not as young as we used to be style.

Chris showing off his Princess birthday card that Lila picked out for him. No matter how hard I tried, Lila would not be convinced that he wanted anything other than a Princess card.

A little help with the opening

Blowing out the candle on his apple pie

Feedback!

2011-06-10T20:08:00.000-05:00

I just updated some of my settings on the blog and enabled a mobile version of the site. So, if you're reading this on your phone or other mobile device it's going to look different. If you usually or sometimes check the blog on a mobile device can you please let me know what you think - positive or negative? Leave a comment or email me. Thanks!

Or if there anything else you like/don't like about the blog you can let me know that too!

Fun with a new Camera App

2011-06-10T19:40:00.004-05:00

I bought a new app for my phone yesterday called Vignette and I am hooked! It's basically the Droid equivalent of Instagram and it lets you take pictures with your phone and add fun effects. I have warned my family and my Facebook friends that I will be annoying with this. It might make its way to the blog from time to time as well. But the upside is that when I forget my camera and use my phone the pictures will at least have fun effects. For example...

Vintage 1970s Summer- Cara in her pjs

Toy Camera - Lila in dress up clothes, not real clothes

Old Yearbook Photo - Ian eating breakfast

1930s movie - Chris eating breakfast

Vintage Oversaturated - ~~My true love~~ My fountain Diet Coke

If you ignore the annoyed looks of my family those are really fun, right?!

We had a hot and humid start to the week. I had two bootcamp classes and a Half Marathon Training Group run, all outdoors in 90+ degrees and 100% humidity, not fun. But we also made it to the splash park and the pool this week which was much more enjoyable. Unfortunately me alone with three kids surrounded by water does not = pictures. But it's only the first week of summer, so stay tuned!

Week In Review

2011-06-05T20:51:00.004-05:00

At least I left you with a cute video when I took a blog break, right? We've had a busy week with a lot of different things going on. Last Saturday I ran the Soldier Field 10 mile race which was really fun. I finished in 1:36 which was pretty close to my goal time. We finished on the 50 yard line of Soldier Field with people cheering in the stand which was really awesome! Tim ran the race also and finished in 1:31. Way to go, Timmy!

Chris brought the kids in to watch me finish. One of my friends whose daughter is in Lila's class at school also ran the race, so the dads and kids met up to play while they waited for us to finish. This is Cara at the park outside of Soldier Field.

Lila, Adell and Julia cheering in the stands.

Click here to see a video of me finishing and a couple of pictures (at least I hope that works). It's a little hard to spot me in the finish. Another problem with being so short. But I'm wearing a red tank top and am right behind a guy in a bright orange shirt.

After the race we had brunch with Katie and Tim and then I had to rush off to get ready for my friend Tricia's baby shower.

On Tuesday I helped chaperone Lila's class's "field trip". All they did was walk two block to Jamba Juice for smoothies and play by the fountain downtown, but they all had a lot of fun. Here's Lila and a few kids from her class enjoying smoothies.

Cara tagged along and helped Lila finish her smoothie.

Here is Lila with her teachers on Thursday, her last day of school.

After school, several families from Lila's class went to a nearby park for a picnic to celebrate the end of the school year. Here's Lila with her friends Ryan and Tyler.

Ian had his last day of school on Friday and is thrilled to be on summer break. Lila is not as thrilled and is already missing school, Sunday School and dance class. I've promised her we'll do lots of fun things this summer, so I just need to make it happen!

On Friday night I went to a bachelorette party for my friend Christine and then yesterday I had a baby shower for my friend Nazli. Last night we went to a cookout with a few families from church and had a lot of fun watching the kids play together-- between us we had three one year olds, three four year olds, a six year old and a thirteen year old.

This week we are hoping to make a few trips to the pool and splash park!

Cara Cuteness

2011-05-26T13:34:00.003-05:00

The laundry shoot is prime playing space at our house. I am asked almost daily to sort laundry so that the girls can play in there. Cara was playing in the laundry shoot the other day and was opening the door and saying peek-a- boo ("pee boo"), so I grabbed the video camera to catch it. As soon as she saw the camera she froze and smiled because she loves having her picture taken. So, that's what's going on at the very beginning. After that I decided to catch some of her fun tricks since I had the camera out.

18 Month Pictures

2011-05-25T16:55:00.002-05:00

Cara also got her 18 month pictures taken today and also did great. As soon as it was our turn she walked out in front of the backdrop, stood up straight and smiled. It was hilarious! Plus, the photographer remembered us from last time because Cara had insisted on wearing her hat in the pictures.

Four Year Old Pictures

2011-05-25T16:42:00.002-05:00

Lila got her four year old pictures taken today. She did a great job and they turned out super cute. Here is a sampling.

Last Twinkle Toes

2011-05-25T12:51:00.003-05:00

Today was Lila's last day of Twinkle Toes class. She is taking a break from dance over the summer and when she starts again in the fall she will be old enough to take a recital class. So exciting!! (And making me very nostalgic for Nancy Sommers, truth be told.)

Here is Lila walking like a duck- her favorite song in dance class.

And dressed as a bumble bee for a very cute ballet song. There may or may not be a video of this coming soon. I brought the video camera to class only to realize the battery was dead. I took a video on my regular camera, but after waiting for two hours for it to load to the blog, I gave up. I might try again later.

Confirmation

2011-05-25T12:32:00.006-05:00

On May 15, eleven 8th graders were confirmed as church members at our church. I was a mentor during the confirmation process this year, so I met with one of the girls each month throughout the school year. We did a lesson each meeting, read the book of Luke together, attended worship together, and participated in a service project. I really enjoyed my experience as a mentor and even learned a lot from the lessons!

The confirmands with their mentors

Jessica (who I mentored) and I

18 months old

2011-05-11T18:42:00.003-05:00

Cara turned 18 months old yesterday! She had her check up today and she is doing great! She is 30 inches tall and weighs 22 lbs 11 oz. That means she is 14th percentile for height and 25th for weight. So, she is still rocking the short and round look!

She is still obsessed with dogs and would spend the majority of her day looking out the window for "woof woofs" if she could. She is doing amazing in her swim lessons and can now float by herself for 10+ seconds without anyone holding on to her. As soon as there is space available she is going to move up to the next class and graduate from parent/child class! Out of the water she is running everywhere and still loving accessories. She asks to wear her tutu almost every day in addition to picking out her own shoes and hat/headband. She adds new words and phrases every day - today she said Bible.

I am behind on getting Lila's 4 year and Cara's 18 month pictures taken. I hope to get that done next week and get them sent out to everyone.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T20:05:00.003-05:00

The kids and I on Mother's Day

Elayna's Bridal Shower

2011-05-09T19:25:00.003-05:00

My cousin, Elayna, is getting married next month so Mom, Katie and I hosted a bridal shower/shopping weekend for her. She and her fiance are buying a house so she spent most of her time at IKEA and other home stores. On Saturday we had a brunch at my house.

The place settings and centerpiece.

Future Mrs. banner

Elayna in her bride shirt and veil

Opening presents.

Nana and her Velcro baby

Just for Fun

2011-05-06T08:25:00.001-05:00

Lila and Cara dressed up for a parade. We have a parade, festival or picnic almost every afternoon at our house.

"Can I have a banana?"

Last Weekend

2011-05-06T08:15:00.003-05:00

Erin had to come to Chicago for a work training last week, so she decided to take advantage of the opportunity and extend her stay for a few days to visit us. And, as an added bonus, Joe, her fiance, came out as well. Chris had met him before, but the rest of us met him for the first time.

The visit was very low key, but we had pretty good weather, so we did make it out to the park one day and the zoo the next. Erin and I also Tivoed and watched the Royal Wedding, of course!

Ian, Joe, Erin and Cara with the polar bears. Lila was being stubborn.

Because everything happens at once, I had signed up to run a 10K in Champaign last Saturday so I had to miss part of their visit. It was a really nice race though and ran through campus, downtown Champaign and Chris and I's old neighborhoods which made it a lot of fun. And we finished on the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium and they showed the finish on the scoreboard! Plus, I had a personal best in the race finishing in 56:59! I finished 23rd out of 206 in my age group, which is clearly not amazing, but since I was the slow girl in softball it makes me pretty happy.

Lila is 4!

2011-05-06T08:03:00.003-05:00

Lila turned 4 last Wednesday! After what seemed like a week of parties and celebrations we kept it pretty low key on the actual day. She did talk to my mom and Momoo and Popoo on the phone and Face Timed with Gary and Sue. She had a shirt with the number 4 on it, but she changed when she opened her present from Gary and Sue and I never got a picture.

Wearing her new dress from Gary and Sue and holding flowers from Chris.

We opened presents as soon as Chris got home from work.

And after supper we had a big cookie for dessert.

Lila is 28 lbs 12 oz and 39 inches which makes her 5th percentile for weight and 25th for height. She has gained a whopping 6 oz since her last check up. She is a very fun, sweet little girl. She is very into princesses and playing dress-up. She also likes to quote Disney movies saying things like "It's a wonderful dream come true!". She can write her name and recognizes all of her numbers and letters as well as identify many letter sounds. She is also a little GPS-- she knows how to get everywhere in town and knows if I deviate from a route at all. She also loves babies, real and pretend, and told me last week that her job at Kids Club (the gym daycare) is to take care of the babies.

Now that's love

2011-04-25T14:22:00.002-05:00

The ever accomodating Uncle Tim agreed to swordfight with Ian after Easter dinner. And let Chris take pictures. I had a VERY good laugh last night looking at the pictures, so I thought I would share a couple.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T14:03:00.004-05:00

Easter morning started off with presents from Gary and Sue. Here's Cara hopping her hand looking at the bunny on the card.

Lila with her new stuffed sheep.

Ian's card

Ready for church

Ian found his Easter basket!

Cara really enjoyed hunting eggs and putting them in her basket as long as they weren't on the grass. She does NOT like walking in grass!

Lila showing off an egg she found

It is apparently impossible for the five of us to look decent in a picture, so here's one where no one looks good.

After nap Cara wanted her paci, her shoes, and her hat. Then she was ready to color.

Gratuitous Cuteness

2011-04-25T13:54:00.004-05:00

Where's Cara?

Peek-a-Boo!

New Bike!

2011-04-25T13:33:00.003-05:00

Lila also got a Pinkalicious doll from Aunt Katie.

Then, we told her there was one more present in the basement and Chris brought it up. As soon as she saw it she started yelling "Bike! Bike! Bike!"

It was a new Pinkalicious big girl bike from us.

She immediately wanted to go outside and ride it. It took her a few minutes to get the hang of it, but the she figured it out and could really go. There is even a seat on the back for her Pinkalicious doll.

Here's a video of Lila's first time on her new bike!

4th Birthday Party

2011-04-25T12:45:00.004-05:00

On Saturday we had Lila's 4th birthday party with Mom, Dad, Katie, Tim, Jim and Jasna. For an inexplicable reason, she wanted a Diego party-- as in Dora the Explorer's cousin. We started off the party with presents. Lila got a bag of dress up clothes including the kitty outfit complete with ears and a bowtie.

Her new Dora umbrella

Cake Boss I am not, but Lila wanted a Baby Jaguar (Diego's sidekick) cake so I did my best to make it happen.

Making a wish

Blowing out her candles in her Belle dress.

And a video!

Party Week

2011-04-21T19:11:00.002-05:00

Lila has had a big week! And it's not over yet. Her school is on Easter Break next week, so she got to celebrate her birthday at school on Tuesday. She looked through my Fun Cupcake Ideas book and picked out pink princess cupcakes. They had sprinkles in them and they were delicious.

She also wore a Princess shirt to match the cupcakes.

Then, today was her Easter Party in her class. Her teacher assigns snack by week and makes sure each kid brings a snack on their birthday week, so that meant that we had snack responsibility for the Easter Party as well. So, cupcake round 2 was yellow cake with cream cheese frosting and Easter egg sprinkles.

Here's Lila in her bunny shirt holding the Easter bucket she decorated at school and the eggs she found.

Next up is Lila's Birthday Party on Saturday and she wants a Baby Jaguar cake. We'll see if I'm up for the challenge!

My Turn

2011-04-16T19:06:00.004-05:00

The kids are all doing great! We've tried to take advantage of the few nice days we've had to get outside for bike/trike rides and walks. The girls and I went to a friend's house for a backyard playdate this week, which brightened everyone's day. Otherwise, we've just been carrying on with our same routine with no pictures to show for it.

The rest of this post is going to be about me, so if you only come here for pictures of the kids you can skip this one. :)

Now that you've been warned...

I have had a busy few months that culminated in a very busy weekend. I co-chaired a community project for Junior League called Kids in the Kitchen. You can click here to see the press release, but, in short, we worked with about 80 kids teaching them about nutrition, healthy cooking and exercise. It was a lot of work to plan, but I loved every second of it and the event was a success! And if you'd like to see the recipes that the older kids used to prepare their meals you can click here.

And just for fun, here's a picture of my co-chair, Jessica, and I.

Then, as if that wasn't enough in one weekend, I went out that night to celebrate my friend Tricia's 30th birthday. We went out to dinner and then the rest of the group saw a comedy show.

Me with Emily and Shannon at dinner

I skipped that part because the next day I ran the Shamrock Shuffle. It was a beautiful day to run and a lot of fun, but I was TIRED. I finished in (according to my watch) 47:12, which was slower than I'd hoped. But I finished and hung out and had a beer with some friends and Tim who also ran and finished in a fantastic 44 minutes! Then Katie met up with us and we had lunch before I headed back home.

After the race with my friend Jill and one of her friends.

It's Opening Day!

2011-04-01T11:45:00.002-05:00

Go Cubs, go!

Swim Lessons

2011-03-31T08:20:00.003-05:00

Chris had to meet with a client in the suburbs on Tuesday and was able to be home early in time for swim lessons. He swam with Cara and I got to stay dry and take some pictures. Lila has been taking swim lessons at this school for a year and Cara started in October. The director has said both girls are natural swimmers. And they both love going to swimming!

Lila waiting her turn to jump in.

Cara floating on her back. Chris is only holding her with one finger!

Lila practicing dolphin kicks.

Cara's favorite part of swim lessons- playing on the mat and jumping off!

Odds and Ends

2011-03-29T12:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a little bit of what's been going on the past couple of weeks.

St. Patrick's Day!

I had a Groupon to use so the girls and I went to the Children's Museum in Naperville. We had never been before and it was a lot of fun! Cara was completely overwhelmed at first and Lila kept wanting to run to the next area without telling me, but once they settled down they really enjoyed it. Here they are using teamwork!

Lila in the wind tunnel. She loved this even though she is terrified of the hand dryers in public bathrooms. She even went in the wind tunnel to dry off her pants after she played in the water area!

Cara had fun watching Lila play in the bubbles.

The last day of the gymnasitcs (or germastics as Lila says) session was last week so I got to watch and take some pictures. Here she is practicing her rebounds.

And her letter T.

Ian is on Spring Break this week and left to go to his dad's this morning. Lila still has school, but all of her other classes are off this week, so I may have to get creative to fill in some of the extra down time!

And to end on a funny note, a dinner table conversation from a few nights ago:

I bent over to pick something up and apparently groaned or made a noise.

Lila: Mommy, why did you make that sound when you bent over?

Me: Because I'm old.

Lila: Oh yes, you are very old.

Ian: You're not old. You're in your prime.

Me: Thanks, Ian. That's nice to hear.

Lila: Mommy is 30.

Ian: Oh, you're 30? I thought you were 29...

Me: So, I'm not in my prime?

Ian: I guess so. At the very end of it.

Blah. Winter.

2011-03-12T20:21:00.003-06:00

When we moved back to Illinois I told myself that I was choosing to move back and wouldn't complain about the weather. And overall, I think I do pretty well, but this time of year is rough because IT'S TIME FOR WINTER TO BE OVER BUT IT'S STILL HANGING AROUND. I hate that. I don't think asking for 50+ degrees and a little sun is too much by the middle of March, but apparently it is. The reason I'm telling you this is that the aforementioned weather has made me less than enthusiastic about picture taking. And what pictures I have taken have been sitting on my camera, not being uploaded or posted.

I finally uploaded pictures today, though, so this is what we'll call a catch up post.

Ian had his last swim meet of the season on President's Day. He did a good job in his events and had an overall successful season. Up next, he'll be going back to Fencing and giving Archery a try.

I remembered to bring my camera to the last day of the dance session. Lila knows first and second position and all of the moves to her songs!

Katie turned 29 and we went out to celebrate. We had a very fun time, even if I am getting too old to party like my younger siblings.

Lila was sad that she didn't get to go to Aunt Katie's birthday party, so she sang Happy Birthday to Aunt Katie instead.

Chris and I dressed up for the Junior League fundraiser.

Today was the St. Patrick's Day Parade! Due to the cold temps and the 30 mph wind gusts, Cara and I sat this one out, but Lila, Ian and Chris went and had a great time. Here's Lila looking to see if the parade has started. She does have green on under all those layers!

And Ian with the bagpipers in the background.

Yay!

2011-02-23T11:22:00.000-06:00

Exciting news happening over at Cutest of the Bunch.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:16:00.002-06:00

This and That

2011-02-12T16:15:00.002-06:00

Lila's Curriculum Fair at school was this week. I didn't take any pictures, but we got to see all of the projects they've been working on in school. They made melting snowmen, penguins and polar bears and did some science experiments with ice. We also got a chance to check out what the 4 year old class and the Kindergarten class have been working on as well.

Then, on Thursday, I got to help out with the Valentine's Party in Lila's classroom. I really enjoy being a room mom and having the chance to see the kids interact and meet all of Lila's friends.

Cara also had her 15 month appointment on Thursday. She weighs 20 lbs 13 oz and is 29 inches long. That makes her 25th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. The doctor was impressed with her verbal skills and how social she is as well as her fine motor skills, so she's doing great! She is getting more independent every day. She walks all over the house and is perfectly content to explore on her own, but she still likes to be in on all of the action and to keep up with her siblings. I took her to story time at the library this week for the first time and she LOVED it. She listened to the story and clapped along with all of the rhymes- it was adorable to watch her have so much fun!

Cara can say Mama, Dada, Nana, Pa, Lila, Ian, shoe (still a favorite, she's obsessed), cheese, chips, thank you, paci, drink, more, bowl, this, sheep, ball, pool, yay!, hi, bye bye, boo, okay, and yes. And she knows quite a few animal sounds too: woof (probably the word she says the most), quack, baa, oink, neigh and moo. Plus, she can make a fish face and knows that a bunny goes hop hop hop.

Sail Away

2011-02-12T13:47:00.005-06:00

Last week, Chris and I went on a week-long Caribbean cruise on the Freedom of the Seas. We stopped at CoCo Cay, Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten and had three days at sea. It was fantastic! We both love cruising- this is my fifth cruise and Chris's third- and this trip just demonstrated why we loved it so much. The weather was amazing, the ship was perfect and overall we just had a really good time.

The view from my beach chair in CoCo Cay.

In St. Thomas we went shopping (of course) and then that night we had a sunset harbor cruise around the island. It was really low key and fun and may be my favorite cruise excursion ever. It doesn't hurt that champagne was included!

The sunset

One night the ship entertainment was a magician. He asked for volunteers and Chris immediately rasied his hand. He was picked, so he got to assist during the "cut the woman in half" trick. He said it was very cool and he still has no idea how the magician did it. Chris is on the far right.

Chris with his three dinners on lobster night--prime rib and two lobster tails.

One of the the professional ones we had taken on the ship.

While we were gone, Mom and Momoo stayed at our house and took care of the kids and animals. We are SO grateful that they were willing to do that. And everyone had a great time. The girls got lots of one on one attention during the day and everything went smoothly. Except for a little thing like a record breaking blizzard, maybe you heard about it? I've heard it called several things, but my favorite is Sn...O.M.G. We got 22 inches of snow and everything was shut down in a city that never shuts down for weather. I'm glad we missed it and glad that everything here was fine.

Mom took pictures of the snow and of the kids during the week, but I forgot to get them from her camera before she left.

Oops! It's been a month!

2011-02-12T13:32:00.004-06:00

Um, oops. I know I said January was a slow blog month, but I really didn't intend for it to be the middle of February before I updated. It's been pretty much the normal routine around here.

Lila did a winter animal unit at school and then at home had to make an animal out of clay to take to the classroom. She chose a penguin and did a fantastic job making one! Here she is making it out of clay.

And here's the finished project after it dried and she painted it.

My friend Shannon celebrated her 30th birthday with one of the most fun parties I've been to. It was a bar crawl with the party trolley taking us around the city. It was a blast! Katie joined in the fun and Tim even met up with us for awhile, including a nostalgic trip to La Bamba!

Emily, Me and Shannon

Fancy Lila

2011-01-18T15:01:00.003-06:00

I am afraid I am creating monsters. Shopping monsters, that is. Lila has always loved clothes and shoes and always enjoyed going shopping. On Monday, we made a family trip to the mall to do some shopping and help Chris pick out some new clothes. As soon as we walked in to Von Maur Lila said, "I like to try on shoes here. Let's go try on some shoes!". We made her wait until we were done shopping and she kept asking to try on things in her "own little size". So, as a reward for being patient I took her up to the toddler section to look at clothes. She informed me that she had to try clothes on, just like me. She tried things on and, of course, we bought a few things. Her favorite were these Fancy Nancy pajamas with matching slippers. They are satin and the slippers have feathers on them, they are very fancy.

New Camera

2011-01-14T14:13:00.003-06:00

We got a new Canon Powershot last week! I was never happy with our last camera so I am very excited to have a new one. Plus, this one is much smaller and lighter so it's easy to carry in my purse and diaper bag, so hopefully we won't have any more events that are captured only on my phone's camera.

This has been a fast month, but a slow blog month. We've been very busy, but nothing has been all that blog-worthy. Today Lila wanted to have a birthday party for her pink bear and we all had to dress in our fancy clothes. Cara and I had pretend fancy clothes, but Lila dressed herself in a tutu, butterfly wings, a big pink bow and a pink blanket aka a beautiful scarf.

Cara checking out the party food.

Singing Happy Birthday to Bear.

And an update since the blog has been lagging:

Ian's grades are all up in school and he's been keeping very busy with school, swim and youth group. Last weekend he participated in a service project for Feed My Starving Children and described it as "really awesome. I could have saved a life today." He and I also took on the job of organizing all of the books and papers in his room and after some grumbling (me) and sighing (him) we finished it and his room looks much better!

Lila moved up to Turtle 2 at swim lessons last week! She started swim lessons at this school last March and has already moved up four levels! The director said she is a natural swimmer! Lila was very bored over Christmas Break and was thrilled when school and all of her activites started up again. This week was Spirit Week at her school (it's Preschool through 8th grade) so she had Pajama Day on Tuesday which she loved and Sports Team Day on Thursday.

Cara is fully walking! She is also learning new words every day and is learning more animal sounds. In addition to dog, a long time favorite, she knows sheep, cow and bunny (hop, hop, hop). She can also point to her tummy when asked where it is.

A Little More Christmas...

2011-01-14T13:59:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know it's January 14, but I had to wait to get pictures from Mom and then the picture CD sat on a shelf for awhile... And here we are.

This is the best family picture that we have. It also counts as Six Days of Christmas Outfits-Day Six.

Sibling picture after the kids were in bed and before the adults opened presents.

Momoo and Popoo with the grandkids and great-grandkids before we opened presents with them on the 26th. Ian was already at his dad's.

Lucy took a nap on this present for about an hour. Christmas is exhausting for dogs too!

Lila and Cara intently checking out Cara's new basketball hoop.

More Christmas

2011-01-01T14:36:00.003-06:00

Mom has more pictures from Christmas Day, including some family pictures, but I forgot to get them from her before we left. Here are a few that I took, though. We had Christmas Dinner at Mom and Dad's with extended family, then Ian opened his presents before going to his dad's. After the girls were in bed the adults exchanged gifts and then the next morning the girls opened their presents and we exchanged gifts with Momoo and Popoo.

Ian with his new video camera.

Cara opening a present.

Lila showing off her new Princess crown

Even princesses love Thomas the Train.

Christmas Morning

2011-01-01T14:23:00.003-06:00

The scene when the kids woke up Christmas morning.

I have about five pictures just like this and then I gave up on the getting a picture of all three kids in front of the tree. They were ready to get started!

Cara checking out her stocking presents.

Woo hoo! Candy!

This is THE thing that Lila wanted from Santa this year. Every time she was asked, for over a month, she said "a Thomas Train that you can ride". She was thrilled to see it under the tree and wanted to ride it immediately.

Here's Ian with the number one thing that he wanted for Christmas- a World of Warcraft replica sword. Never in a million years did I imagine I would purchase something like this, but he was very excited to open it. And on his head he's wearing another present, a Link hat from the Legend of Zelda game.

We all had a very fun Christmas morning. Cara stuck her fist in the air and said "yay!" every time she opened a present. Lila wanted to play with everything as she opened and was very excited about all of her new things, even the new clothes.

After opening presents and eating breakfast we packed up and drove down to Mom and Dad's for Christmas dinner and more presents.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T20:49:00.004-06:00

We had a very nice Chrstmas Eve. The kids were very excited and had lots of energy, so we decided to open our presents from Chris's family today. That way they had some new things to play with while I cooked and packed and those presents didn't get lost in the chaos of Christmas morning.

In front of the tree before opening presents.

Ian with his new drawing pads

Cara playing with her new Noah's Ark animals.

Lila was so excited about the new clothes for her Chloe doll! She had to change her clothes right away.

This just might end up being Chris's favorite present this year.

After the girls' naps we went to family service at church and then came home for a Christmas Eve dinner of crab legs, twice baked potatoes and asparagus. After dinner everyone got to open a present- new Christmas pjs!

Then Lila and I put out some cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeers before she headed to bed.

The Six Days of Christmas Outfits - Day 5

2010-12-24T20:46:00.003-06:00

Both girls wore these shirts today, but Lila covered her face with her blankie while I was trying to take pictures. Here's a cute one of Cara, though!

The Six Days of Christmas Outfits- Day 4

2010-12-24T20:21:00.003-06:00

Yesterday for their Christmas outfits, Lila wore a red shirt with a gingerbread man and Cara wore a shirt that said "good things come in small packages".

But, they were much more interested in rocking in the chair than posing for pictures.

The Six Days of Christmas Outfits- Day 3

2010-12-23T12:58:00.002-06:00

The girls don't seem to be as excited about documenting their holiday outfits in pictures as I am... Yesterday's outfit was the same thing they wore to see Santa ,which is a much better picture. Lila is wearing a reindeer sweater dress and Cara is wearing her Team Santa outfit.

The Six Days of Christmas Outfits- Day 2

2010-12-21T12:18:00.002-06:00

Today's outfit is a brown shirt that says sugar and spice and has two gingerbread people. They are also wearing pink pants because that's what Lila picked.

The Six Outfits of Christmas- Day 1

2010-12-21T07:43:00.003-06:00

It's that time of year again where I justify the number of holiday shirts that the girls have by turning it into a series of blog posts. We kicked off Christmas week yesterday with their first holiday shirt. Neither one was very excited about sitting still for a picture, so you can't even really see the shirts, but they are purple and silver and say JOY.

Christmas Pageant

2010-12-19T18:55:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was our church's Sunday School Christmas Pageant. Is there anything cuter or more joyful that Sunday School kids telling the story of Jesus's birth? Lila's class were the Heavenly Hosts, so they dressed as angels and sang Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star. Ian's class sang O Little Town of Bethlehem. Both kids did a fantastic job!

We got SO lucky and were able to sit two rows behind where Lila's class sat. And they stood up and turned around in their pews to perform so we had the perfect view. Here's Lila giving us a wave.

And a smile

Singing all the words! With a blankie in hand for support.

They say "Glory to God in the highest. Peace on Earth, goodwill to all." Then the words to the song are Twinkle Twinkle Christmas star/Over Bethlehem afar/Up above the manger high/Dancing dancing in the sky/ Twinkle twinkle Christmas star/Over Bethlehem afar.

Here she is when everyone clapped.

Ian was in back because he's so tall and he didn't smile much, so I don't have many pictures. But he did a fantastic job and I'm glad he's still willing to participate at the old age of 13.

After the pageant there was a cookie reception. Cara reached over and grabbed a cookie off of Chris's plate without any hesistation and stuffed it in her mouth. She is a big fan of cookies.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2010-12-17T13:52:00.004-06:00

Wednesday was the last day of the session for Lila's dance class so parents got to watch. They did a Rudolph song where they got to dress up, it was so cute! Lila did a fantastic job and is getting much better about performing and not being so shy when people are watching. I forgot my camera so I had to take pictures with my phone.

Dressed like Rudolph and wearing jingle bells.

Cara, the enthusiastic spectator

Christmas Program

2010-12-17T13:39:00.004-06:00

On Saturday, Lila had her school Christmas program. The theme was Christmas Around the World, so each class sang a song from a different country. It is overwhelming to be in front of a church full of people when you're three, but Lila did great. She was shy at first, but luckily they sang each song three times so once she had a chance to warm up she really got into the singing.

Sitting in front of the church.

After she spotted us.

Singing Mary and Joseph, a Russian tune, with her class. The words are:

Mary and Joseph, God has chosen you/Don't worry, don't fear/God is with you/Call him Jesus, he will save us all/Call him Immanuel, God is with you

All of the classes singing Joy to the World as a rock song to represent America.

Swimming

2010-12-17T13:26:00.003-06:00

Ian had a weekend-long swim meet last weekend and did a great job. That's him in the far lane.

Big Weekend

2010-12-05T20:27:00.003-06:00

It has a been a fun weekend here at our house. First, my baking addiction is back in full force this year. I made about 200 cookies this weekend- roll out sugar cookies (maybe my best batch ever!), cranberry orange cookies, spritz cookies and peanut butter fudge- and I still want to make cranberry white chocolate chip and snickerdoodles.

Yesterday, we took the girls to see Santa. Having the baby sit in the sleigh is genius because she cried when we tried to get her to sit on Santa's lap. Lila told Santa she wanted a Thomas Train she can ride and a pink castle with blue turrets. Cara showed Santa her paci and her shoes.

We also had our first snow of the year Friday night and Saturday. Lila got bundled up in her snow clothes (yes, those are the same 18 month sized snow clothes she's been wearing for the last two years!) and played outside for quite awhile. Cara had fun watching through the window shouting "Lila!", "Dada!".

She liked falling down in the snow as long as it didn't get in her face.

Today, Lila and I took a ride on the Polar Express to the North Pole. On the way there we got cookies and chocolate milk and got to listen to the Polar Express story. Once we got there, Santa got on the train and rode with us!
Lila was the third one that talked to Santa so she was a little silly and unsure, but she did give Santa a high five and let me hold her down for a picture.

30 Days of Giving- Week 4

2010-12-03T22:46:00.003-06:00

Final (very late) update on the 30 Days of Giving. I'm glad I did it. It was a great experience and it made it even more clear to me how easy it is to give. Opportunities are everywhere.

Day 24: Text READ to Target (827438) pledging to read to your kids and Target will donate a book to a child in need.
Day 25: Happy Thanksgiving. Honestly, I didn't do anything other than some minimal help in the kitchen, but I was VERY thankful for my family and the chance to spend a couple of low key days at home.
Day 26: Purchased a grocery gift card for the Peoples Resource Center's Christmas present drive.
Day 27: Donated to Toys for Tots at Pier 1.
Day 28: Volunteered for Make a Wish.
Day 29: Scheduled a donation to Amvets.
Day 30: Made a blanket for kids at Mutual Ground.

Cara's One Year Pictures

2010-11-30T14:49:00.002-06:00

Sorry that I never posted a link to Cara's one year pictures. The gallery had our last name in it and I try to keep that off the blog. But, I got the pictures today and they turned out great!

Christmas Card Outtakes

2010-11-29T16:14:00.003-06:00

I ordered our Christmas cards today! I'm not going to give away the pictures that are on the card, but here are some cute and some ridiculous outtakes from the Christmas card attempts.

Ian thinks it's funny to take pictures when you're not ready. Apparently, this is what we look like when we talk to Ian.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-29T16:10:00.003-06:00

We had a great time with my family on Thanksgiving! Everyone enjoyed the chance to hang out and eat. Unfortunately, I was sick on Wednesday, but I rallied on Thursday and was able to put away more than my share of Momoo's stuffing. This is our best family picture--getting five people to smile at the same time is nearly impossible.

Cara LOVED her first Thanksgiving dinner!

Cara Cuteness

2010-11-29T16:00:00.001-06:00

Still not walking, but getting closer

Can't resist the back view

Sharing her snack with the "woof woofs"

30 Days of Giving- Week 3

2010-11-23T13:59:00.003-06:00

Apologies if no one cares about these. I am holding on to the hope that some of you like reading about it. :)

Day 18: Donated a book to Reader to Reader via Anthropologie

Day 19: Technically, I skipped this day, but I did two on Sunday so I hope that counts!

Day 20: Went on a day retreat with the 8th grade confirmation class and the other mentors

Day 21: Helped decorate our church for Christmas and volunteered for Make a Wish Foundation (For an easy and fun way to give to Make a Wish this holiday season go to Macy's and write a letter to Santa, each one earns a $1 donation to Make a Wish. I'm one of the volunteers collecting and counting the letters!)

Day 22: Donated to Girl Effect

Day 23: Donated to the food drive at Lila's school.

Birthday Presents!

2010-11-23T13:41:00.002-06:00

Two apologies: 1. Blogger has been weird the last two times I've uploaded pictures, I'm trying to fix it manually, but I apologize if the pictures are all wonky on the page when you're looking. 2. Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up.

Last Monday, Cara opened her presents from her birthday party. It took most of the day off and on, but she had a lot of fun doing it.

Getting into the idea of opening presents.

Thanks to Uncle Tim for the pony, she loves it. And thanks to Lola for the gift idea since she got one too at her party.

Not a great picture, but Cara got a Jump-o-lene from Gary and Sue and she was SO excited about it. The whole time Chris was inflating it she was leaning against it with a huge grin on her face. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have of the experience.

Auntie Erin with her nieces and nephew. Erin was a HUGE help getting ready for the party and during the party, I could not have pulled it off without her. And the kids had a blast playing with her all weekend!

30 Day Giving- Week 2

2010-11-17T16:41:00.002-06:00

A little late on this week's update too. Here's what I've done the last week.

Day 9: Donated to a pair of snowpants to Frosty's Rack and bought Christmas presents for a 3 year old girl who loves Dora for the Salvation Army

Day 10: In honor of Cara's first birthday made a donation to March of Dimes which helps all babies have a healthy start

Day 11: In honor of Veteran's Day made a donation to the USO

Day 12: Donated to the food drive at Ian's school.

Day 13: Donated to our church's food pantry. Lila's Sunday School class went there for their lesson and she learned a lot!

Day 14: Volunteered for the Make-a-Wish foundation of Illinois.

Day 15: Donated to the Junior League of Kane and Dupage Counties

Day 16: Joined a committee at church.

Day 17: Fundraising night for Lila's school.

Cara's Turtle-y Cute Birthday Party!

2010-11-17T16:18:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay in getting these posted! Cara had a great first birthday party! Thank you to all of you who came and everyone who helped out! I decided to just include a couple of pictures from the party, but I put a link to my Snapfish album at the bottom of the post, so if you'd like to see the rest of the pictures you can check them out there.

Katie also made an amazing movie with pictures of Cara's first year. I think I might be able to upload it to the blog, so stay tuned to see if I can get that done.

Here's Cara modeling her adorable birthday party outfit.

The back view.

Singing Happy Birthday

Checking out her cupcake. She was a big fan!

Family picture.

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=6092935013/a=114363810_114363810/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Cara's Stats

2010-11-11T12:03:00.003-06:00

She is still pulling off deceptively chubby because she is only 15th percentile for both height and weight. She is 19 lbs and 27 3/4 inches long. For comparison, Lila was 18 lbs 5 oz and 30 inches and Ian was 21 lbs 14 oz and 30 inches long. It's looking like Cara is going to be the shortest one in our very short family.

Cara is One!

2010-11-11T07:13:00.008-06:00

Cara's first birthday was yesterday! It's hard to believe that a year has gone by and it's amazing to see what a difference a year makes! Here is Cara the day she came home from the hospital and yesterday, on her first birthday.

Cara started the day with her one year portraits. Hopefully, I'll have a link to share in a few days. She wasn't as smiley as I'd hoped, but I still think we will have some cute ones. Chris took the day off since he'd been out of town most of the last two weeks so we had some family time to celebrate the big day. In fact, Cara enjoyed it so much she opted out of her afternoon nap! When Ian got home from school we opened presents.

Cara with her birthday presents.

That's one way to open presents!

A little something for Lila.

All her presents from Mommy and Daddy!

Singing Happy Birthday

Eating her dairy free banana bar.

Cara's 1 year check up is this morning so I will update later with her stats. However, she had the allergy blood test last week and it came back negative for all food allergies! The doctors were quick to point out that she could still have food allergies/intolerances, but I'm still considering it good news. This week she has had both eggs and soy and had no problems, so that is more good news. She has also been off of her reflux medicine for about two weeks!

She is getting better and better at standing, but still has zero interest in walking. When I encourage her to take steps or give her a toy to push she just sits down. She has learned several new words this month including book, boom, paci, shh! and shoe. Shoe is a favorite word, right up there with woof, she gets excited whenever she sees shoes and starts pointing and saying shoe!, shoe!

She is our family clown, always doing things for a laugh. But she is also very opinionated and "talks" very seriously to us when she wants something and gets mad when I can't figure out what she wants. She loves stacking and sorting and is very good at manipulating small toys and stacking them.

An Update on Us

2010-11-08T16:02:00.003-06:00

It has been a busy week, but no pictures and not much that was blog-worthy. There will be an onslaught of posts and pictures in a few days, I'm sure, as we celebrate Cara's 1st Birthday.

On Friday Ian had a swim meet and got personal bests in two of his events, the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 yard freestyle! Way to go Ian!

On Saturday, I ran my first 15K (9.3 miles) and finished in 1:31:17 which is a pace of 9:48. It was COLD, but once we started running it was actually great weather for a run and the course was beautiful along Lake Michigan with the skyline view. Click here for some unflattering pictures of me running and right after I cross the finish line. I also got a a little Christmas shopping done on Saturday and got to spend time with Momoo on her birthday!

And, as promised, here's what I did for the first 7 days of the Giving Challenge.
Day 1: Donated clothes to Amvets
Day 2: Donated my change to Ronald McDonald House at the McDonalds drive-up
Day 3: Participated in the Huddle for Hunger. If you text HBCU and your zip code to 71717 they donate a meal to a local food pantry.
Day 4: Bought a just because/thanks gift for a friend. Would have done it anyway, but it also helped me check off day 4.
Day 5: Purchased a shirt, part of the proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Chicago.
Day 6: Donated to St. Jude
Day 7: I'm a mentor for an 8th grade girl going through the confirmation class at church and today we attended church and took communion together.
Day 8: Donate to Cure JM, an important cause to a good friend.

A Little Something Good...

2010-11-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

One of the blogs I read is participating in the 30 Day Giving Challenge and after reading about it, I thought I would give it a shot. I know 99.9% of you only come here for pictures of the kids, but I thought I would post about it anyway in case anyone else was inspired to participate.

Today was Day 1 and I conveniently had already told AmVets that I would have some things to donate. So, Day 1--check! I think I might try to post every Monday about what I've done to "give" each day.

If anyone else does decide to participate it would be awesome if you could comment (or e-mail me) with what you've done.

Here's hoping I can come up with 30 things...

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T21:04:00.004-05:00

We have had a busy and fun Halloween weekend! On Saturday we continued our annual tradition of Trick or Treating downtown. We saw lots of friends and had fun collecting candy. Saturday afternoon, Cara and I drove down to Lola's birthday party which was so cute! Cara was perfect and loved spending time with Lola's family. Then today we went Trick or Treating around the neighborhood and answered the door.

Lila was The Little Mermaid

Ian was a "Fallen Angel"

with very big wings.

Not sure what this face is about.

There wasn't a baby Ariel costume so Cara is a mermaid sister.

Fun Fair

2010-10-30T09:13:00.003-05:00

Last night was the Fall Fun Fair at Lila's school. We had dinner there and then played carnival games in the gym. Lila had a blast!

Playing a bean bag toss game. That's one of her teachers running the game.

Ian doing the cake walk

The girls doing the cake walk. Despite having two of the 13 numbers we didn't win a cake. We did buy some cookies at the bake sale as a consolation prize though!

Lila showing off her vampire teeth prize.

Boo!

2010-10-29T14:06:00.003-05:00

Gymnastics

2010-10-29T13:59:00.002-05:00

Today was the last day of the session for "germastics" aka Gymnastics so the parents got to watch. It's hard to get good pictures in a big gym, but here are a few.

Getting ready to kick up to a head stand.

Finishing a cartwheel and getting ready to yell "I did it!"

Practicing pre-back bends.

Happy Birthday Lola!

2010-10-28T16:28:00.002-05:00

Cara's BFF is one year old today! Jaline has a cute post from yesterday and I'm sure more to follow from today and her birthday bash this Saturday. Check it out at http://cutestofthebunch.blogspot.com.

Time to Hibernate?

2010-10-23T20:00:00.002-05:00

Lila put Chris The Bear down for a nap today with a blankie and a buffalo, but apparently the room was too bright so he needed some sunglasses.