Special Delivery.....

Legos!!!!!

Not just any old box of legos but Chris' legos from when he was a child. His parents kept these in their basement for all of these years hoping that one of their children would take them. Chris was a super hyper kid (yeah, shocking!!) and apparently this was the only toy that could hold his attention for hours at a time. When I asked Chris what legos memory first popped in his head his response was "Fights with Mike." I'm sure most of Chris' childhood memories involve fights with Uncle Mike....oh how sweet.

This was Chris and M's first creation of the night....a medieval horse.

Thanks MomMom and PopPop for making Chris' day (and M's)!!!

Chinese New Year (continued)

A co-worker sent this Chinese calendar website to me today. Check it out. I'm a Tiger (roar!!). Looks like 2009 is not a great year from me professionally speaking. Guess I'd better work on that....

The Year of the Ox

This morning we took an impromptu trip to Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We enjoyed lots of different dumplings and potstickers, greens, sticky rice, egg drop soup, hot-n-sour soup and tea at the Three Happiness Restaurant. Afterwards we braved the nasty cold weather and took a stroll checking out the shops. We bought some snap dragons for warmer weather. M remembered the bubble drink that she got last time we were in Chinatown during the summer and only wanted one. We looked in every store/restaurant looking for these delicious drinks. Unfortunately, those drinks are really warm weather drinks so we came up empty handed. M settled on hot chocolate...pretty good choice given the weather! We had a blast.

M's Twinkle Performance

Who knew...the flashlight makes a perfect microphone!

Anybody need a sink cleaned?

Chris' grandmother (MomMom) was known for her meticulous cleaning habits---actually, most would say clinically neurotic in an adorable way! My grandmother, Granny Rose, was a clean freak too but not close to MomMom. This is another gene that we recently discovered M got from Chris (well, from MomMom....this gene must have skipped Chris' generation). She can't pass up a sink without giving it a 20 minute scrub!!

Saying Goodbye

This flyer was at one of our local cafes. Seems fitting today!

Fishies

Chris and I took advantage of our day off together by taking M to The Shedd Aquarium. Although we didn't see Nemo (it cost extra...well, it was a free day but they charged for special exhibits and we were cheap) which was a disappointment for M, we all had a great time. M even told me again at bed that she had fun. We then came home, baked some blueberry muffins (yum!!), napped/watched TV, played with blocks, painted a couple of pictures, ate mushroom risotto and fish for dinner, tucked M into bed and snuggled on the couch to watch Season 2 of Dexter. Un giorno perfetto!!

One of those moments.....

On the weekends our local gym has family swim so M can join us in the pool. M loves to swim so we decided to go today to get out of the house. M and I were in the locker room getting ready for the swim. We had just put our suits on and, of course, M needed to go potty. I though this was a good idea so we both went to the little girls room. M had been talkative the entire ride up the elevator and while we were changing into our suits, etc. M continued her observations in the little girls room and while I cannot go into details as this is a family site, without saying more, she observed something while I was standing from the potty and shouted it out loud (well, it seemed like shouting at the time). I laughed so hard (as did the ladies in the next stall and at the sinks) and changed the subject really fast. This was the first time I've had one of those embarrassing moments in public with M. I'm still laughing!!!! Kids, gotta love them!!!

Finding Comfort in the Cold

Another COLD day in the midwest. The good news is that we are having a heat wave (relatively speaking, of course). It's been in the 20's today which is better than negative numbers like we have had for the last couple of days. Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad.....now it's suppose to snow more! Since I'm not engineered for the cold (some people would even go so far as to say I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold), we haven't gotten out much today. Instead, we decided to warm up our insides with some good ole comfort food---Italian style---chicken parmigiano and homemade gnocchi and homemade bread.

No Denial

Chris and I often make comments to each other about how much M is MY child. Usually, when she's being super stubborn. Well, tonight when I got home from work and went up stairs to M's room this is what I was confronted with......

This is solid proof that M is certainly Chris' child. The thing is this was tame compared to Chris in his single days so I'm afraid of what's to come.

Winter Wonderland (and bread)

Today was a snow filled day full of snow activities. M had a blast helping our neighbors build a fort out of snow (until she got too wet and cold!).

And, this is what fresh homemade baked bread looks like....courtesy of Chris. Yum!

The Hairdo

I have yet to take M to a salon for a haircut. In her 3+ years I've only cut her hair twice. M has been asking me to cut her hair ever since her friend Emma got a hair cut a couple of weeks ago (a really cute cut I must add). She definitely needed it so I mustered up the energy to cut her hair this week. She said she wanted her hair as short as her dad's--- I think that was her way of saying she wanted it shorter. We compromised!!

Improvising

M had a great idea on the ride home from school today. She wanted to roast marshmallows outside. Well, it's January in Chicago and snowing so outside was out of the question. Good thing we have a gas stove. We only had mini marshmallows, but no problems. They turned out toasty and yummy! Thanks, M!

Olives

NOTE TO ALL FOODIES:

You may want to skip this posting since it will probably make you a little ill :-))

I have been totally digging olives lately. Not the specialty olives from olive bars; the jarred small green olives with pimentos, no less. This really isn't shocking for me. As a kid every afternoon for an after school snack I would have either a handful (sometime a couple) of olives, hamburger dill pickles or a cheese sandwich. Once I moved into my "adult" years, I gave up the salty goodies as snacks--I didn't need the extra bloating!!

Well, off to enjoy some jarred olives.

A Return to Normal

I am typically the type of person who likes norms because it gives me a sense of security and comfort (yeah, I know, pathetic and boring!!). This morning was back to normal for the gang, but this is one of the norms that I could have postponed for a few more days. No more lazy mornings sleeping in and eating late breakfasts with hot cocoa or apple cider. No more getting to watch cartoons or movies at 6:30 am while mommy and daddy sleep in. Chris woke up at the crack of dawn to head to the train for work leaving me and M comfy in our beds for a few more zzzzz's. Then, we hopped out of bed (like normal....just in the nick of time) to get ready for school and work. M was amazingly helpful this morning---I can only hope that was her new year's resolution--to help mommy in the mornings :-))

We have said goodbye to the holidays and to 2008 and are super excited at what 2009 has in store for our family.

Reading.....

....on dad's shoulders. It just doesn't get any better than that!! We are very lucky!

A New Day....A New Woman

I've taken a bit of a hiatus over the last couple of months from blogging, grocery shopping, cooking, waking up early with M on the weekends and reading most things. I am sure that I'm missing something and Chris will be quick to correct :))) Basically, I've been working, coming home and sleeping. But for good cause .....for those of you who don't know.....I'm pregnant.

The good news is that today I have awoken a new woman. I have ENERGY ---probably because I can now eat more than just cereal. Yippee! I think I've jumped straight to the nesting stage with painting the nursery, setting up the crib, picking out baby furniture, organizing everything..... Yeah, I know I have a few months to take care of this stuff but I have a slight sickness:-))

Here's M making the first brush strokes to the nursery walls....

A little catch up from the last few days:

Chris and I had our first movie date in months on Monday night. We met our good friends Rob and Kara out for a quick bite and a movie at the Lake Theater. We saw Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great time, the movie was excellent and we ate lots of popcorn and Milk Duds!! The movie (and Milk Duds) is highly recommended.

As M says, a lazy time in lazy town.....

We spent New Years Eve with the Pfours. The boys made us a fabulous dinner and then we all played Wii. I've heard of this strange Wii infliction that first timers get---Wiitus. We played bowling and baseball and I was inflicted as well. Crazy. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Midnight--oh well. We beat our last few years by at least a couple of hours:-))

On New Years Day, we finished painting the nursery then headed over to our good friends, the Elsmos, for an informal get together. We munched on veggies, popcorn and chips and dip while sipping Leif's famous Bloody Mary's. They are certainly famous for a reason...delicious! And, can I say, the fanciest garnishments that I've every seen with this drink. (Well, that's not saying much since I haven't had a lot of Bloody Mary's.) Not only the typical celery, olives, pickles, but also shrimp and pepperocini. Chris then topped off the night with flaming sambuca shots representing good luck. Impressive!

Happy New Years!!