Chica-GO!

October 3rd was a crazy and wonderful day. Just five minutes after Matt and Jude got home from Utah, our friends the Bischoffs pulled into our driveway from Boston. So many of my favorite people showing up all at once!! We had a really fun evening together. We made delicious food, caught up on each other's lives, played a game, watched the debate, and stayed up late. I LOVE all the people in this picture.

It's a good thing we packed so much excitement into our evening because Matt had to leave town again the very next morning. (Story of my life lately.) Boo-ooo! 

The rest of us stayed home to relax and play! Sorry Matt.

I'm so lucky to have a talented photographer for a friend. She takes cute pictures of my kids and shares them with me.

On Friday, the eight of us piled into the Bischoff's van to make the six hour drive to Chicago. (Matt met us there.) We had pretty good little travelers. It helps that these munchkins love each other so much.

That night we dutifully ordered Giordano's pizza right away, and let the kids get tuckered out in the hotel pool.

Saturday was spent in the city! There were an extra zillion people in Chicago that weekend for the marathon, but that didn't spoil our day. We walked Michigan Avenue with the boys, stopping to look at every flower, sculpture, horse, bus, everything. We made it to the Lego Store, which was Josh's only request that day, and the American Girl store for our little friend Brooklyn.

On our way into the mall we saw some people walking with these beautiful styrofoam cups, and had to find our way to Jamba Juice! (Is it silly that we get so excited about that? You wouldn't understand unless you lived in a town with no smoothies! You mock my pain!)

After swimming again that night and picking up some yummy Mexican food, we went to bed early for the sake of Linc. He (and his family) had to get up at 5:00 and be well-rested for many hours of running the next day.

The marathon made it really hard to drive downtown, but when we finally caught up with our friends, we found a great spot right before the finish line to watch for Linc. Of all cities to run a marathon in, I must say that Chicago is a lovely choice. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful city!

Apparently, Josh didn't agree. He was sprawled out on the sidewalk, covering himself with every spare piece of clothing he could find. In his defense, he was feeling sick with a cold, but it didn't make him look any less homeless.

Linc finished his run in amazing time! Here is Matt taking in Linc's post-marathon musk. Because that's what friends do. And they like it.

This is my love, Carina. I wish she still lived two floors above me and could bring me a hot loaf of delicious "Carina-bread" when I have a bad day. She made all the difference in Chicago.

After Linc cleaned up, our friends needed to hit the road for the long drive home. But not without stopping at Portillo's for some good grub and reminiscing. 

The next day, Matt had meetings and I was left to party with the boys Chicago-style! (That means no ketchup.) Also, with no stroller. Because of this, our walk to see the Bean (Josh's request) took up a good chunk of the morning. You can't tell from his cheesy grin here, but all Jude wanted to do was run directly into traffic. Not exaggerating. We were stopping for time-outs all the way up Michigan. 

After taking some pictures, high-fiving our reflections, and stopping at Jamba Juice again, we caught the train to Hyde Park. I think the boys would've been happy if we had spent the whole morning on the train, but another few stops would've put us in a bad neighborhood, and we didn't pack our switchblades.

Hyde Park is a neighborhood in South Chicago where we used to live. It was fun and nostalgic and bizarre to be back there, but weird not really recognizing anyone anymore. It's not the same place without our old friends. But, we ran into Ivan (the wonderful building manager) and had to take a picture with him. Also pictured below: our old mailbox, and the one and only Tot Lot.

Another important reason we revisited Hyde Park was to see Sarah and her family. Her husband interned in Midland over the summer, and we became good friends. They might even be moving back here next year!

After Matt's meeting and lunch at our beloved Prosecco, he met us at the Tot Lot. We said our goodbyes and headed home to Midland, with two extremely tired boys. They were so good on the way home. But with lollipops and glow sticks, who wouldn't be?

The moral of the story: Go to Chicago more! I can't believe it was our first time back!

Something New: Weeks 40 and 41

September 30 --  Opened a new puzzle! Did you know I'm a puzzle freak? This one was 1000 pieces, and it was a gift from Matt's sister Michelle. She brought it back from Italy for me because I'm in love with the Sistine Chapel. It was definitely one of the hardest puzzles I've done. I always like to set one up during General Conference weekend because it's the best way to keep me focused on the speakers. Puzzles keep my hands busy and my mind un-busy so I can listen better. Kind of like a five-year-old.

October 1 -- Drove an hour and a half for a shopping trip just for ME. This was when Matt was still out of town, so I arranged a play date for Josh after school so I'd have time to shop. I picked up a couple girl friends and drove down to Great Lakes Crossing Mall. It was not a successful shopping day (I think I actually spent more on gas that day than on merchandise), but it was fun to be with just the girls for a while.

October 2 -- Took Josh to Big Boy for free pie night. With just the two of us at home, I let him choose where to eat.  For some reason, he thinks Big Boy is his favorite restaurant, even though he's only been the once. I thought it was gross dinner, but the pie wasn't bad...for being free.

October 3 -- Played a new strategy game called Dominion. Our Bischoff friends came to visit us from Boston, and introduced us to this game the first night. There's nothing like play time with excellent friends while the kids are unconscious.

We've all missed our buddies.

October 4 -- Ordered tamales from a lady at church. She makes a bunch of Mexican meals and sells them to people around here. Her tamales are pretty dang good! As soon as I opened the corn husk, I could smell the delicious Mexican authenticity. If you like tamales, and you're bothered by this wasteland of non-Mexican restaurants, you need to call Sister Reyes!

October 5 -- Drove to Chicago with our friends and stayed in a hotel in a suburb I had never been to. The kids loved the pool.

October 6 -- Ate food from a new taco place near the hotel. Oh how I miss miss miss good rolled tacos and burritos. I also went to the Water Tower mall for the first time. Can't believe I never went there while I lived in Chicago! Can you tell I'm really bad at shopping?

October 7 -- Attended a marathon event. The reason we went to Chicago was to support our friend Lincoln in the marathon. We saw him 200 meters from the finish, and though this was his very first marathon, he looked like it was nothing but a regular morning jog. Easy peasy. It turned out he was definitely hurting, but still finished in just 3:56. Way to go, Linc! It was really fun to be back in Chicago and to be part of the crowd in this huge event. Made me miss Chicago.

October 8 -- Saw my friend Sarah's apartment for the first time. She lives in the same building we lived in when Matt was going to U of Chicago. We met her family in Midland over the summer, and went to visit them in Hyde Park. You can tell a lot about a person by visiting their home, and I learned that Sarah is a crafty little thing! It was surreal to be back there in our old neighborhood.

October 9 -- Filled out a Picture Day form for my Joshua! I didn't buy school pictures for him last year, but this year I just couldn't resist. He's so grown up now, and I really want a funny preschool picture so we can tease him about it forever. Here he is in his handsome shirt showing me his nice photo faces.

October 10 -- Finally used some of the stevia I grew over the summer. I dried the leaves and ground them up into a powder, then I sprinkled a little into some herbal tea. It was delicious. That stuff is surprisingly sweet and powerful.

October 11 -- Met two new women at Bible Study -- Vicky and Tina.

October 12 -- Ordered Boy Scout popcorn for the first time. My neighbor is selling it, and I've heard it's amazing. I hope so, because it's not cheap!

October 13 -- Finally watched "The Avengers" with Matt. We kept meaning to go see it in the theater, but we are cheap and lazy about getting a sitter. So he found it at a RedBox and we watched it at home (which I prefer anyway). It did not disappoint! Speaking of Avengers...can you guess who Josh is going to be for Halloween??

Thor was his fetus name, so I think it's very appropriate.

Green Apple Barn

This was a few weeks ago. Once we decided to finally admit that summer was over and fall had begun, we went straight to the Green Apple Barn. The boys (all three of them) were at the perfect ages to enjoy every bit of it.

Leaman's is an apple farm where they make their own amazing apple cider and donuts. They have a big play area for kids with a huge sandbox, slides, animals, toy tractors, a corn kernel playhouse, an ABC maze, a bigger corn maze, an educational area about honeybees, a haystack to climb, mini-mini golf, a delicious shop, and a kiddie train ride pulled by a lawn mower. Kid Heaven.

For the grown ups, the best part was the scavenger hunt (which I'm sure was not meant for grown ups, but we pretended our kids were interested too). If you went around the whole farm, reading all the signs and learning enough to answer a page full of questions correctly, you got a free six pack of cider donuts. I know! 'Heck yes' is right! Here is Matt holding our ticket to sugary goodness.

I'm thinking about making a T-shirt that says "Will Work for Donuts". 

Because obviously, I will. Scrumptious!

Something New: Weeks 38 and 39

Alright. Three months left. That's roughly seven more of these posts. I can do this...

September 16 -- Learned a new word I had never heard before, and this is terrible because now I can't remember it at all. Septa....something. No idea. Can't even remember where I read it. I'll think of it eventually. I also watched some new episodes of Prison Break. Does that count?

September 17 --  Started reading Taking Back Childhood. It's about how childhood these days is saturated with media, violence, and too much time indoors. It explains things we can watch for and things we can do to give our children a better childhood experience. I like it so far.

September 18 -- Bought a slide toy for my boys. I've been looking for one for more than a year, and finally found one that happens to be (again) the exact model I grew up with! Dejavu from last week! It was a great week for used toy purchases. I tallied it up, and for only $43 total, I brought home a bike for Josh, a play kitchen, food and dishes, a kid picnic table, a basketball hoop, and a slide. Not bad. Not bad at all.

September 19 -- Made doll clothes for Jude's new baby doll. We had to make sure it looked like a boy, so I took some scraps and threw something together. It's amazing how much more that doll gets played with now that he's not naked!

I also tried a new recipe: pineapple salsa chicken in the crock pot. It was pretty good, and super easy. A jar of salsa (or whatever I could cook up in the blender, in my case), a can of crushed pineapple, two cans of black beans, and some chicken breasts. Shred and serve over rice. Easy peasy.

September 20 -- Took Jude to a new pediatrician, Dr. Grossman. I like her SO MUCH, and so does Jude, which is what matters. He's still a "midget", according to Matt, measuring just below the 50th percentile in weight and height, but his head is still huge in the 90-95th. Like Sputnik.

September 21 -- Tried a new recipe for dinner, using quinoa. I've found that healthy stuff really just doesn't taste as good as unhealthy stuff. But I have to keep trying, and this recipe wasn't awful. At least I get this nice view from the stove:

September 22 -- Went to Leamann's Green Apple Barn with our whole little family. We've been there before, but this time we completed their scavenger hunt. They send you all over the farm to read posters and fill in facts about bees and apples. It was actually really interesting to learn about. And guess what the prize was for correct completion? Six free delicious apple cider donuts. Worth it!

September 23 -- Started reading the new book for book group, God's Smuggler. It's a true story about Brother Andrew who was a secret Christian missionary behind the Iron Curtain. I've really enjoyed it so far. The fact that it's true makes it so much more interesting.

September 24 -- Checked out the new Galaxy III Samsung phone at the Sprint store while I was getting my piece-of-trash phone fixed. It looks really nice. It has this feature where your phone will only unlock if it takes a picture of your face and recognizes you as the owner. How cool is that?!

September 25 -- Watched part of an episode of "The Mindy Project", a new TV show with Kelly Kapour from "The Office". (Don't tell Matt. We watch all our shows together, and he was out of town when this came on.) I'm sorry to say that it's not anything exciting. Disappointing even.

September 26 -- Tried a few new recipes for dinner. We were feeding the missionaries, and one of them requested steak fajitas as his last meal from us before he went home. I'm not a big fan of steak, but the guys seemed to like dinner. Here are the links to the fajitas, the rice, and the beans.

September 27 -- Got a new book in the mail, Eat This, Not That for Kids. It talks about healthier food choices for kids in different restaurants, at the supermarket, and just in general what they need. I like it so far, and Josh surprisingly likes to look at the pictures too. He's already telling me what cereals I shouldn't buy for him.

September 28 -- Watched a trailer for the new Les Miserables movie coming out on Christmas. I cried twice! What is with me lately?! It's going to be amazing. I can hardly wait. I was so excited that I went on Amazon and bought a book of Les Mis piano music, a CD of the original Broadway cast, and  downloaded the looooong book on my Kindle just to prepare myself. Obsessed? Seriously though, you have to watch this!

September 29 -- Sent Jude away on an adventure with his daddy. I've never left Jude to Matt's care for more than a few hours at a time, so this is kind of a big thing for me. Matt left for Utah to recruit at BYU, and since Jude is free and Matt has family in Utah, he took Jude along. Grandma Cheri met them in Provo and took care of Baby Destructo while Matt worked. I hardly knew what to do with myself! Josh is such an easy child right now, so to have only him was like a vacation. A very weird vacation in my own home.