Happy Columbus Day Weekend!

I know that we really shouldn't celebrate a man who didn't discover much of anything and was responsible for killing and enslaving the natives, but who doesn't want a nice long weekend? So, the heck with Columbus....and hooray for 3-day weekends! We had a great one!

We celebrated my mom's birthday this weekend with my entire family sleeping over. It was great! Jackson was thrilled to show his cousins the el, being the el-taking veteran that he is! We headed down to Millennium Park for Country Music Festival. Not because we love country music, but because we love Millennium Park! The kids were awed by the bean, ran in the Crown Fountain and danced to the country music. It was great. The kids spent hours giggling in their beds and stayed up way too late, but we didn't care. They were having fun!

Waiting for the el....

...Having some splash time in the Crown Fountains...

...and dancing to the music with Daddy!


Sunday morning we headed to the farmer's market, snacking on smoothies and honey sticks. The kids played at the park and threw the football around. It was the perfect ending to the birthday celebration!

Luckily for us, the weekend wasn't over yet! Sunday afternoon we went to see the Midnight Circus at Portage Park where clowns, dogs and acrobats thrilled the kids with their silly acts. And today, we headed up north to Apple Holler for some Apple Picking. Apparently we weren't the only ones who thought Apple Holler was a good way to spend the holiday. We fought the crowds to get our tickets, take a wagon ride, pick some apples and eat more than our fair share of apples and apple cider donut holes! It was busy, and a little crazy, but the kids had fun. Isn't that what really matters?

It was a really great long weekend, even it was Columbus Day!

Too cute not to share

Last night we were playing Ghost in the Graveyard, a fantastic game from my own childhood that Jackson is now obsessed with. I was standing on base (a tree) counting with my brother Justin, my friend Lizzie and Abby while Jackson (the ghost) was off hiding (in the graveyard). In the middle of our count Abby looks up at me and says, "I really really like you!"

That's all...that's the whole story. I just thought it was too cute not to share!

Big Brothers & Little Sisters

Today I am wondering: Are big brothers naturally wired with the genes to annoy their little sisters? I may have also wondered this just about every day in the late 1970s and 1980s, but that's another story....Today, I'm thinking about Jackson, not my big brother Jeff who did seem to have a natural talent to annoy me.

Every morning during breakfast Jackson works out different strategies to make Abby scream. It doesn't help that she is an easy target, so he probably wouldn't have to work that hard, but he does. He really does. Sometimes, if one little song isn't annoying her enough, he starts to sing louder, or moves closer to her in an effort to get a rise out of her.

Well, this morning was no different. As they sat across the table from one another eating their breakfast, he began to sing silly songs (the topic of which are generally poop, something poopy, or include the word pooper). At first Abby ignored him. Not one to be ignored, he crawled across the table so he could sing the songs directly into her face. As you can imagine, Abby began screaming, "I don't like that! I don't like that!" Then, I scream at Jackson...he responds with, "But I wasn't doing anything!"...and on it goes.

But this morning, Abby got smart. She got up from her chair at our dining room table, carefully crawled down from her booster chair and carried her bowl of cereal and poptart over to the little table so she could sit by herself, away from her tormenter! Jackson was besides himself. When he tried to follow her, I wouldn't let him and explained that when you annoy someone that they generally won't want to sit by you or spend anymore time with you. "But I want to sit with Abby!" (in a whine) Well, then perhaps you should have thought twice about annoying her. Now, I told him, she doesn't want to sit with you and you will have to sit and eat breakfast all by yourself.

Abby: 1
Jackson: 0
Let's hear it for little sisters! :)

Bubbleheads

You can tell this is an old picture because it was taken at our old house on Aberdeen Street and we haven't lived there since the end of June.
But who care? It is a cute picture!

Pool Time

This summer Jackson and Abby might have spent more time in the water than out! Jackson learned to swim, can now do a pretty impressive cannonball and may have logged over 100 jumps into the pool. Abby has no fear of the water and will happily join her brother in jumping in the pool. She goes underwater without a thought and does the fiercest doggy paddle in an attempt to keep up with Jackson.




Abby even pitched in and helped clean the pool!

Tractor Pull

Back in the City Again

We have moved into our new house!(sort of)

We are currently residing at 4020 N Springfield Avenue, but only on the top floor while the construction continues downstairs. Every morning we wake to the sound of contractors, plumbers, electrians and painters working away on our soon to be new house! It is great to be back in the city despite the noise and dust and it is even more fun to watch the progress of the new place as it gets really close to being done. Jackson and Abby are having fun in their new bedrooms, their new backyard and their new neighborhood.

We can't wait to be officially moved in!