Millenium Park in Chicago!

We met Jorge for lunch downtown and then I took the kids to Millenium park. It was so much fun! I have about 50 pictures,.....but here are a few highlights!

The YARD sale

It must be a spring cleaning thing and a desire to make extra money that gets people to insanely think that it would be a great idea to put all their extra stuff from inside their house to their yard or garage and put colorful price stickers all over it!

So I decided to have a garage sale back in April or May and started pulling things from every nook and cranny in the household and purging of all extraneous, duplicate or non-essential. It feels good to clean out everything, especially with dreams of making big bucks on the stuff! I made a decision to sell the kids clothing from size 18 months and up, 6 tubs of newborn and baby sizes is plenty! Many hours of free time were devoted to this preparation over the weeks, but I still spent all day Friday getting everything upstairs and ortganized.

So the night before I was giddy excited and the morning of....I think I woke at the 5 o'clock hour....which I probably have not done spontaneously since I had to drive my dad to work before going to High School. I jumped in the shower and quickly staple-gunned my mark on the neighborhood (illegally).

We started getting the house and kids awake before hauling stuff outside. Rain was on the forecast so we were debating the location of the sale. Meanwhile....the dog starts freaking out and running around. And I hear some unfamiliar voices. I had a big sign on my front door saying "Garage Sale HERE" with dates and times. Apparently a sweet older couple thought I meant in my LIVING Room! They asked if it was 1st floor only adn I kindly informed them it was going to be outside and was nowhere near set up, and 2 hours prior to start time. Then I freaked out and jumped into hyper-drive setting everything up outside! I knew garage salers came early but WOAH!

We had one customer show up early and ask about the sewing machine I mentioned in the ad. She paid full price and then ....well no one else showed up! Then it started raining. Then it started pouring and my neighbors and I started wondering what we were thinking! By then it was 9:15 and the kids were already bored with the "Yard Sale."

We all survived until 4 pm and the big highlights were....

*The fact that a double storm passed by and we got white clouds and it was so beautiful!

*My faith in human nature was restored watching a sweet hispanic family fawning over this beautiful 1 year old on mom's shoulders named Benny. They put on a hat from Logan at that age and I made them keep it....it was perfect for him. So cute!

*I met some of THE cheapest people alive. One woman looked lower income and wanted to pay $3 for items that originally cost $20-60 each. That's garage sale prices for you! But she bought two of my vaccuum cleaners, so that was good! Another family was horribly cheap and my neighbors were bartering with them on some furniture and it got ridiculous. They wanted everything for nothing and it just grated on my nerves so I didn't give in to them. Some of the things they wanted, I later gave away.

*Men love a good deal too. Jorge had a computer there and there were probably 4 very interested people but they ALL wanted to pay next to nothing. A computer is not really a garage sale thing, but we had it and it sure attracted some interest! We lowered the price, but no one wanted to pay that....so forget it!

*People all bought used shoes. And ignored the clothing I spent hours labeling and hanging so it looked nice. Hours. And Hours.

*Pets are fun at a garage sale! Especially turtles. They were a HIT! My nieghbors were trying to sell them. In the end, they went for free to a family down the block. So they have a new home but the little girl who owned them was pretty upset. The most interesting part was seeing all the other kids discuss it...they were talking about how sad the original owner was and how exciting it was that they stayed local.

*The last thing I learned is that the next time I want to make some money....I will NOT be having a garage sale. It was soooooo much work for what the gain was! We had so many people come through and the average person spent $4. Not a whole lot! The biggest hit was some boxes of candy my kids don't eat. Everyone bought 1-2 boxes!!!

McLatte

Jorge brought me a Latte. From McDonalds. It's a sugarfree "Large" latte. I don't think Starbucks even makes a coffee this gigantic! I told Jorge and he said "Starbucks is for wussies." Seriously now....this stuff is very chuggable and sweet and good and refreshing on a summer day. But does it NEED to be this large? I got their "free sample" the other day and it was the size of their yogurt parfaits. Probably a good "Small" size. This one in comparison is so huge!

Here you go.....enormous and tasty! With our nasty tile and countertop that are kinda "retro" cool but still scream 1967 dontcha think? The Diet Coke is obviously for comparison's sake.

She can blow bubbles now!

First...she gets ready...


Breathe in deep....


Then she blows the bubbles- such a big girl!


So dainty....




She's imitating the "Baby Mozart" Dragon - Bump Bump Bump - BLAH!!!!

Adventures in the Kitchen

I was multi-tasking as usual. Making steaks on the grill and baking sweet potatoes in the oven to make a sweet potato casserole. I came in from outside and went to grab the sweet potatoes. I had a cookie sheet in the level below them so it could catch any drippings (which seems to happen). So I grabbed that first with my potholder. Well...or so I thought. Make that....I grabbed that flaming hot cookie sheet with my left hand! Aaah!!!!! Ouch! I dropped it right away and quickly got the potatoes out and my hand under water.

Meanwhile the kids came in with me so they started barraging me with requests for everything - juice, certain tv shows, a pony, a massage....you name it. I had to tell them I was hurt and needed to take care of my hands first. Logan quickly said "I'm a good boy and I'll sit here." Sylvie was relentless and I was starting to freak out from the pain. She wanted juice. She wanted mommy to hold her. She wanted marshmallows. She wanted attention. AAAAAAHHHHHH!

I started thinking of the recent stories of moms I have read about who had their kids present during childbirth and how the hell they dealt with a whiney child during those worst pain moments. And thought....that's what the deep breathing is for. To block out the whining. I get it now.

So I, who have apparently not mastered the techniques of the hypnotic childbirth methods, threatened a time out, asked her to please please please go find something to play. And when all that failed and the "Mommy....Mommy....Mommy....Mommy" started I asked her "WHAT!?!?!?!" and she said "Mommy,....I'll be like this 'shhhhhhh.'" Meaning she would be quiet for me. Thank goodness she was and she got her hug as soon as I got some massive ice packs on my hand. It took all evening but now the pain is almost gone, just a weird sensation in my hand.

But....in true supermom fashion I will let you know that with an ice pack in my left hand and in a lot of pain I managed to skin the sweet potatoes, guide the kids in putting the chunks into the kitchenmaid mixer. Warm the milk, melt the butter, mix it all together, spray sweet potatoes OUT of the mixer all over the place, cook it in the oven, cook the steaks on the grill and clean up toys. Oh, and play outside and give the kids baths. I am truely the supermom I was meant to be tonight. Now let's hope I can go back to regular old MOM tomorrow!!!!!

We hit a milestone.....

It's morning....we are all half awake and trying to eat some breakfast. The tv is on kids tv and the sweet quiet show cuts to loud, obnoxious commercials. I glance up and see the Polly Pockets Pool Party. Complete with 6 giggling girls and what looks like a LOT of fun. Quickly followed by....

Sylvie: "Mommy....oh I LOVE that. I NEED that. We could get that? I really really like that. It's so pretty...Mommy? See that?" and the look of sheer awe on her face wondering if anything could possibly be so wonderful and could we possibly have one of those in our house?!?!

Oh boy.....it might be a LONG 16 more years til she gets to college.

Happy thoughts

Here are happy thoughts of the day.......We have been blessed enough to experience some cool weekends lately. One was a weekend at my parent's cottage in Michigan. The kids were thrilled with the beach. My husband came and when he took his shoes off to feel the sand, and encouraged the kids to do the same, I think I fell in love with him all over again.

Melding two families is difficult. And if you have two different cultures and upbringings, can be even more difficult. But the fact that he loves my family and I love his family, this is fantastic. Do they drive me crazy? Sure! But heck, his lazy brother who has things handed to him got a JOB. Yes a job. So we celebrate the victories and try to overlook the rest, no?

Oh, and here is Logan's t-ball experience for today! How exciting! He is doing a very low-key tball thing through the park district.







My dad, my son, my husband



Oh, and can I whine that Photobucket was RIDICULOUSLY slow today?

Here's Logan's t-ball pics

Been too long

So does every blog have one of these posts? I would say "I've been busy" or some other lame excuse but I really have been trying to decide...do I pour my soul out to the internet or post pretty pictures for grandma to see each week? So, I decided I'll email grandma pictures and I'll drink a glass of wine and see what comes out of my fingers:)

So, the first big thought I remember thinking I should blog about was about a week ago. I got a chance to ride my bike. This is my passion. For sure. And if nothing else it brings me back to my teenage years when I was able to do this every day if I wished. But I biked all the way until I moved to Seattle - when HILLS and mountains got in the way. We did haul our bikes around sometimes, and if we lived near a path, I rode on it. But as far as regularity...not so much. I was riding around in springtime thinking about this and that and it dawned on me...oh my gawd I am a bit of my father. He has all these stories of how he goes in his "think-tank" AKA "hot tub" and comes up with these fabulous ideas on what the next step of his life is. The one I love best is "I will be a farmer." So he bought land and an antique tractor and hired out people who knew what they were doing. I love it. I love being like my dad. So I was riding around on my fabulous bike path that I am still mad I never discovered for the first 2 YEARS I lived here, and thinking "There is so much more to me than this. I am not living my full potential." You know when people have pass away and their eulogy is all about losing this fabulous life on the earth...well I feel like I COULD be this fabulous person. I try to be the best possible to my kids. And really you would probably puke at how much fun I have with my kids. I really do adore kids. I offer to babysit other people's kids, but they usually turn me down:)

I guess I turn on the mom guilt sometimes and feel like I need to do more. But at the same time I feel like I'm kind of biding my time and it hit me a week or so ago that there is something BIG waiting for me. I'm an architect. I love it. It makes me happy to draft away, to create space. I interviewed for this job downtown and I wanted it so badly. I wowed the interviewer ( a partner in the firm) to the point that she said "wow!" after I finished speaking about architecture and what it means to me. She kept pushing me to see if I would go full-time and I would not. I had gone from a SAHM and moved from Seattle and that life to Chicago and this life and it was not the time. I got the call that I did not get the job based on not letting go of my part-time dream. So I got a slew of part-time jobs that have not fulfilled me completely. And the last job, I was really getting into it, and work slowed down to a crawl and he let his employees go. A huge life event I got through.

Did I mention yet that I have this fantastic husband who is truly my soulmate? When he is gone, I don't worry about how I will survive two crazy children like most people do, I worry how I will survive my days without him. 11 years and counting.

So it's been slow in my current office and it's hard to decide whether I should move on. I think I should stay. Now is not the time to move. Yet I see it there someday. Something big. Something that will overwhelm me and fulfill me. But it will be hard to leave raising my kids to someone else. But it is me. I see it...and I hope when I need to jump on that train, I am ready.

Sylvie...what's your baby's name?

Me:"Sylvie, what's your baby's name?"
Sylvie: "Banana candy." This might be the first time she ever answered me to that question. I'm wondering if she was trying to be all subtle in suggesting that SHE could eat some banana candy. I'm thinking the given Cabbage Patch Adopted child name might be appropriate. I believe it was Campbell and the middle name was something along the lines of "shamalamadingdong." On second thought, Banana Candy sounds pretty good.

Water Gun Fight!!!!!

Logan got a water gun from his friend as a birthday favor. We needed at least one more to fight back so I got 3 more. Daddy got stuck with the little ones...we got the big ones!

How Sylvie lets me know she's sick....

She says "Mommy...I can't FEEL better!" "I need medicine!" and she calls bandaids a multitude of things and I never know what she's referring to them. But her latest is "Mommy I need a 'Bad Guy."(Bandaid). Too hilarious.

A Black and White Glimpse

It was very humid out so Sylvie's hair curled up and she was wearing a crown, so of course I took pictures. What a cutie!



He was so proud to bring Clifford home from preschool for the weekend!



Remember when the evening just wasn't complete without a comfy set of jammies? Remember when jammies weren't just flannel pants and a t-shirt?



And lest you think my kids are too angelic, this is how Sylvie spent our evening coloring time.....coloring her legs! Aaah! Thank goodness for Waterproof markers. The hardest part is getting her all the way to the tub without her touching anything else, including me!

Secret confession

I still listen to Christmas music on Itunes in the summer:) My favorite is the Sarah McClachlan "Wintersong" - it's the BEST music to clean the house to......Time to go do just that!

Logan's idea for Mowing our Lawn

Like the rest of the midwest, I woke up one day and the snow had melted and our trees had leaves! Our grass went from dormant to hyperactive, and jumped to a foot tall and the flowers are about to bloom. Since it keep raining on the weekends, I haven't had a chance to get out the lawn mower yet.

I was telling Logan "I need to mow the lawn! It's getting so tall!" He was trying to form some words to tell me something important, and finally said "We need an animal to cut the grass." I said "Really? Animals?" He said "No. Only one animal." I said "Which animal would eat our grass Logan?" excited to have a real conversation! He said "A Llama." I seriously have NO idea where he learned about llamas. When I asked he said "When I was a baby, I saw a llama. He was big and fuzzy and smiled like 'this'." What a conversation!!!!

Anyone have an extra llama to spare? I think it would be a lot more fun than the lawn mower. Environmentally, we'd probably get some brownie points too right?

"Grandpa"

Well you know my kids are spoiled by young grandparents- 4 of them! They are supremely lucky to have such wonderful "playmates." Logan and Sylvie were playing dollhouse with me and Logan decided that this was "Grandpa." Maybe the mustache? When I played with this figurine when I was young, he was the dad!

Gotta love cable

I went to record the "Biggest Loser" from cable. You can scroll through all shows alphabetically to set a recording, so I did that. As I was in the tv shows and movies starting with "B" I came across "Babes in Toyland." I clicked on the info wondering if it was the Drew Barrymore version but it was most certainly NOT. It was definitely some adult movie so I am glad I didnt' set THAT recording! We're definitely going to need parental controls once the kids know how to turn the tv on themselves!

The crazy neighbors

My neighbors next door are a stitch. They are well-intentioned, and sweet but the husband has been remodeling the house for 5 years (perfectionist who can't get anything to look even decent!) and the wife must have ADHD because she's pretty flighty. But we love them anyhow and thier two kids. We did an egg hunt at their house and they mentioned they were going to DisneyWorld.

They recently got a hamster and my husband chimes in that "we'll" watch it for them while they are gone. Now they have done us one favor and let our dog out once while we were out, but not like we're doing favors for each other all the time. I knew they would wait til the last minute for details on the hamster. I called on Monday and the neighbor husband said they were leaving Wed so Tuesday night I said they could call me and explain the hamster and such.

So fast forward to today and I have answering machine messages saying they are leaving in an hour and hope I'm still on board with watching Sandy the Hamster. A second message asks if I could please move their 4 cars to the other side of the street on Monday night. NO WAY!! Oh my god. Seriously now. They have 2 little normal cars and then bought this nasty old truck to haul lumber in and their Sister in law's car is there as well. We are not allowed to park on certain sides of the street on certain days around here. We park our cars in our garage. They have a garage full of junk. No cars park there.Oh and then there was a third message about how often to feed the hamster. No note, no mini-how to care for a hamster lessons, nothing. Goodness they are trusting!!!! And the fourth message finally told me when they were returning from their trip.

Gah! I left a message on their phone saying I was working all day, I was still planning on watching the hamster, I got the massive number of keychains in my mailbox and that they will need to find someone ELSE to move their nasty cars because we won't be around to do it.

Maybe I should make a copy of the key for the truck and randomly start borrowing it without asking whenever I need to do my own home improvement projects!!!!

Entertaining the kids....in the neverending winter months.

After Sylvie obsessed about her "Sucker fish" we came across this gem of a toy in Walgreens for much less than a fish in a glass bowl costs. It was very cheap and very effective and when she wanted to "hold Nemo" she was unable to because there is a lid on him.



I put Logan's favorite toys of the day on the couch for a photo session for you...
The lion puzzle is stuck together with stickers so the pieces won't get lost. All ziplock bags and tupperware in our house are fair game for filling with treasures of any sort. Today it was rocks from the alley.
And his favorite and I'm pretty proud of this one. He learned to make a pirate telescope by using blue painter's tape and a piece of paper. Then a few weeks later, he started making multiple scopes and taping them together to make them "big." Needless to say, I am missing an awful lot of construction paper and blue tape! And then when we ran out of paper, he taped his baseball bats together. I LOVE these kids,...they keep me laughing every day.



When the evening is winding down and the kids have become bored with their toys they get inspired by messy toys. As in...lets make a mess out of all household items. Here is one example.
I'm sitting here cleaning, computer-reading or on the phone and I turn around to see this....



Followed by this...



Followed by someone getting soaking wet, someone almost falling and splitting their head open...followed by me telling everyone "No more water!" and frantically cleaning it all up with big old towels.

Today I got smart and put all the obsessions with water to good use. I have a spraybottle filled with vinegar and water and I use it everywhere. Vinegar is edible, so even if they squirt it in their mouths, they will still survive. We cooked bacon tonight for BLT's, so the stove definitely needed a good clean-up.



I even got her to dry!



And even though they fight like cats and dogs, they are so darn cute when they love on each other! She was hugging him, not strangling him. Always worth the clarification.

Easter Pictures!

For those not on the once a week email list....

Sylvie's Sucker Fish

This is the ongoing saga about the "Sucker fish" at the library. Our new library has an aquarium, complete with a cookie monster doll inside and a fish that sucks on the glass which we have labeled "Sucker fish." We were watching Mr. Sucker fish and he chose to go under some rocks. Sylvie was all concerned so I told her "Sucker fish went into the tunnel so he could sleep." Well geez louise, she has talked our ears off about that sucker fish going into a tunnel and going to sleep for 2 weeks now! All day it's "mommy, today we go to the library and go see Sucker fish go sleep in tunnel!"
So she talked about it so much to my mom and my MIL that they both went to the libraries (different ones) this week with the kids! I took Sylvie when Logan was in school and she ran over the the sucker fish. She said "Sucker Fish! Come out and Play with Sylvie!" "Sucker Fish, come see the rocks! Look, I have a rock for you to play with! Wake up sucker fish! Come play with Sylvie!!!!" Durn that sucker fish either went to fishie heaven or was hiding very well. Think the library would be okay if I showed up wiht a new sucker fish in a bag for them to add ot their tank?

Logan discusses the Next Presidential Candidate...

Background- you have to realize Logan is not one of those 4 year olds asking where babies come from or why the sky is blue. I never hear him say question words and his conversations are usually limited to things he's intrigued by. They discussed Presidents at preschool for President's Day, so apparently it is an "interesting" subject for him

Today Logan found a dime in the couch.

L: "Who is that mommy?" (pointing to the face on the dime).
Mom: "A president."
L: "No!"
Mom: " Well, not our president now, a president from before."
L: Eyes real big.
Mom: "Do you know who our president now is?"
L: "No."
Mom:"George Bush"
L; Shakes head with disgust.
Mom: "Don't worry, we'll get a new president soon. We're electing one right around your birthday."
L: "Good."
Mom: "Who do you think will be our new president? Clinton or Obama or McCain?"
L: "Obama." And that's all he had to say about that.:)

A St. Patrick's Day message from Sylvie to Daddy

Jorge is out of town until Midnight tonight so we won't get to see him for St. Patrick's Day. Here is Sylvie's message to Daddy...




And a kiss from Logan....

"Drama" - Logan and Sylvie style

Logan and Daddy go to Preschool
Today was "Daddy and Child" day at Logan's preschool (on a Saturday). We were all prepared with matching jerseys (upon request) and dad and son were off. The parking lot is teeny tiny so they asked that the moms drop off the dads and then pick them up 1 hour later. So 45 minutes later, I get a call from Jorge to come get them. As I was waiting for the inevitable freight train to pass, I got more info on a call to Jorge. Logan had been crying for the past 1/2 hour and was miserable.

My little guy....he is doing so well with school and all these fun activities it's easy to forget that once upon a time (like, for the last years before he turned 3-1/2) he was quite likely to NOT enjoy these types of activities. He just doesn't like all the fuss, all the craziness and in this case, I don't think he liked preschool not being a regular preschool day. So poor Jorge had Logan on his lap refusing to throw a football, play floor hockey or eat a snack. He wanted to go home and that was that. He just kind of "shuts down." Last year we went to a St. Patrick's Day parade and he decided he did not want to be there. So literally he tucked himself into a stroller, covered himself with a blanket and took a nap over participating in the parade. As soon as the parade was over, he perked up and was ready to "Go Home. "




Fighting over a pillow
Logan and Sylvie are hilarious to watch together. They talk, fight and play all day long. Sometimes one of them is cranky tired, and things get a bit out of control. This is a series of pics I couldn't help but snap of their little "tiff" the other night when they were both too tired to play nice.

First I looked over from the computer to see this.....Yes ,that's Sylvie on TOP of Logan. Then I grabbed my camera!


When I pulled Sylvie off of Logan, I saw how happy he was to see her


She wanted the pillow. Guess who won....My messy Sylvie. Logan just gives into her 90% of the time.

And the montages we've made of the kids!

Here is our baseball player Logan!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7228333171862447657&q=logan+baseball&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

And here is Sylvie's First Year Montage.....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3459459791639374315

What is on our computer "Favorites?"

Me: Babycenter. I follow all these crazy women who have kids born in January 2006 and then I get to pretend I know a lot to my other real life mom friends because even if I haven't gone through it,,...someone has! I love it!

Logan: PlayhouseDisney.com he's getting really into it. He's a lefty so using a mouse hasn't come easily but we've been working on it. Each time he plays, he gets a bit better. He loves "Little Einsteins" the best!

Sylvie: I went hunting on Youtube for some clips of the Disney princess movies. Let me tell you, be careful! I used to go looking for Elmo and he's the worst! People will use the Elmo song and video and before you know it...they cut to a Tickle me Elmo on fire! So I always try to check these things out after the kids are in bed. So...we did find some clips of princesses, but we also found two fabulous video montages with video of the movies and appropriate non-disney songs. I enjoy them...but I am a sap. Sylvie watches over and over. She's very into the Sleeping Beauty and the Prince Slaying the Dragon but I don't think we'll own that movie for a bit longer...it's pretty dark and intense!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKm58OsPsAM A Cinderella Montage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRle_kLoUQ0 A Sleeping Beauty Montage

Enjoy!

What did you dream about last night Sylvie?

My Sylvie is a dreamer. She tells me about the dragon in Sleeping Beauty, about the mice in Cinderella. So out of habit I often ask the kids "Did you have a good night? What did you dream about?". This afternoon she got up from a nap and told me right away "Me dream Papua and Mermaid." (Papua is her pet name for her favorite princess, Cinderella). I said "Wow" and she said "We swam with bubbles!" How cute!

She just came running in saying "oh no, me puppy!" She had hidden him in a piece of dollhouse furniture and was pretending she "lost" him. Of course I had to play along until she miraculously found him! She cracks me up.