Chicago

My mom hasn't been to Chicago before so we took her to see the main highlights of the skyline & parks.

We went to the Brookfield Zoo last year & was very impressed.  People kept telling us we should go to the Lincoln Zoo so we took my mom there & it was nice for a free zoo, but I wish we'd gone back to the Brookfield zoo especially because my mom would've loved the dolphin show.



This tiger put on a good show for us.  He paced all over & then climbed up on that rock & roared over & over.  Tommy loved it & now is a lot more fun when we read our books & get to a bear or tiger.

I was worried Tommy was going to get stuck way up there & that Vic would have to squeeze in & get him, but my little climber made it all the way through!

Tommy yells "chug, chug, chug" every time he sees a tractor coming down the road. (Which is a lot where we live!)

Cute tunnels for the kids to run & crawl through.

 I have never experienced Chicago style pizza & I didn't even know what it looked like so I insisted we ate at a pizzeria that served it.  It was pretty AMAZING!  Although it did remind me a lot of a mozzerella stick with all that cheese!

 Normally Tommy scrapes all the cheese off the top to eat so he was very happy to find that the whole thing was pretty much cheese. (That thick crust is only like that around the outer edge).

This is my favorite view of the skyline.

 I really like this shot of all the shiny metal in funky shapes.  It reminds me of the futuristic capitol people you read about in the "Hunger Games".

My little run away doesn't care how big of a city we are in, he just loves to run.  I'm now starting to understand those backpack leash things!!

 Had to get the fun pictures at the famous "bean"!

Outside the bean:

Inside the bean.

 I would love to go on a romantic date with Vic here one day.  It is totally set up as a lover's park: pretty walkways & gardens, free concerts, fountains, good food, etc.

Next we headed down to the Navy Pier.  It was fun to have a 3rd person to get our pictures taken together.

 These mirrors were hilarious & I feel like a 10 year old because I had WAY  too much fun playing in them!  HEHE, HAHA! :)

 Tommy really liked feeding the ducks until the seagulls came over.  It was like he instantly knew they were garbage birds.

My mom took Tommy on a sunset boat tour.

 Poor little guy had too big of a day & was exhausted!

 Click on Older posts to see one more update from April!

Last of April Updates

Whitney turned 1 on April 18th.  She had a big bash to celebate that weekend, but we kept it low key for her actual birthday.  Here she is opening her gift from Grandma.  We had to teach Tommy to open a gift, but she seemed to know exactly what to do with it!

 We took her to the park & she crawled all over the big sets like a toddler already!

 She loves slides & is pretty brave on the big ones for her age.

WHITNEY AT ONE

Whitney was very hesitant on walking after she took her first steps, but then she just started cruising everywhere a couple of weeks ago.  She is very much a girl & walks around gibbering to herself all day.  She loves trying to turn any little bag into a purse & is obsessed with playing & carrying around shoes.  She says most animals sounds, mama, dada, tah (Tommy), baby, duck, more, aa duh (all done), shoes, milk, baba, t-ta (thank you) and several words we can ask her to say & we are always surprised that she tries to mimick it right back.  She will be passing Tommy up in no time!!

She is Tommy's shadow & prefers him most of the time over both mom & dad.  She loves to wrestle with Tommy & when he's being silly she laughs and laughs at him.  She is the constant head bobber & loves to bang the back of her head against a chair or whoever's lap she's sitting on.  We are so lucky to have such happy kids!! :)

Now back to our updates.  During Vic's last haircut Tommy decided that he was going to be the one to do it.  He actually did pretty good & tried to be all detailed about it even though he didn't know what he was doing!

While my mom was here she wanted to see our free zoo so we took the kids down there.  Tommy of course had a hard time leaving the water fountains.

 He really thought it was great to be able to walk around & pet the goats & wallabies.

 

 And of course we had to ride the train!  It is actually a really good deal here.  We have paid way more for shorter rides other places so I'm glad we have this local one for him to enjoy.

And that wraps up our crazy busy April!  That will hopefully be our busiest month this year!

Whitney's Ladybug Birthday Party

My little ladybug turned 1!!!

When Tommy had his 1st birthday party I had a big party just because I finally had an excuse to throw a little kid party, but this time it meant so much more!  A first birthday party should be a big bash not only because your little one made so many changes, but because it is a victory for me for finishing that first year!  I love cute little babies, but that first year is so much work & lack of sleep that it is fun to have an official party to move onto the wild toddler stage! ...which she is not wasting any time getting to.  She tries to imitate any single words we say & does pretty good! Also, now that she has learned to run a little she loves chasing & being chased by Tommy.  Here is my beauty in her ladybug gear! 

 Hehe, she was so cute in this outfit & little wand! :)

Here is the invite I sent out:

Inside:

 Here is the treat table.  I guess I should have pulled out my shelving to de-clutter it a bit.

 I thought the banner turned out really cute, but it was way too much work since I don't have a cricut I cut out each shape & letter by hand!

 Here is her pictures from birth to 1 year.  Those circle streamers are so easy & festive.  You just punch a bunch of circles & sew them together with your sewing machine. It goes really fast.

 I can't ever get enough of tutus everywhere!

 Whitney is CRAZY about cake.  She grabbed up her cake & had it eaten in about 2 handfuls!!

 Happy birthday girl afterwards!

 I am not usually a cake fan, but this cake was HEAVEN!  I saw it on the front of a magazine 2 years ago & have saved it ever since! Yum, yum :)

 Here's a close up of treats on the treat table.  I had such a hard time trying to decide which pictures to post on here. Left: Twizzler bouquet, Center:honeydew w/ ladybug strawberries, Right: oreo & cream cheese cupcakes w/ cute little birthday labels. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my "antennas" (pretzel rods dipped in caramel & then chocolate w/ polka dots on it)

 Marsmallow pops & Oreo Pops.  The oreo truffle pops were to die for!

 We had hamburgers & hotdogs to go with the picnic theme then I had these sides ladybug crackers (tomato, olive, & chive cream cheese), ants on a log, bumblebee juice (lemonade), & ladybug juice (strawberry kiwi crystal light), ladybug fruit cabobs, and then PB&J sandwiches although all the kids were too excited to eat dinner so I'm glad I didn't make very many!

 Kiersten was a very good helper & helped make the ants on a log from start to finish. (Her older sister got bored after making one for herself!)

I only got a picture at the end of my family that was able to be there, but I wish I had taken one with everyone!  Everyone was fun & festive in their black & red. Below is my mom from Idaho, brother's family from St. Louis, & my cousin's family from here in Indiana (they are going so school here).

Here is a picture of most of the party kids in their ladybug antennas

Most projects I do I get bored & want it done with, but I had so much fun makin the kids treat bags!  They ended up so much cuter than planned!  The picture below the bags is all the goodies: pills that turn into bugs in water, antenna headbands I made, ladybug cookie, ladybug suction jumping toys, ladybug bubbles, ladybug lipgloss rings, & red candy.

Also we played a little "pin the dot on the ladybug".  My neices & Tommy was so excited to play this before the party, but it got cut short by some major throw up!!

Here is Whitney's birthday present from us.  She really loved it.  It didn't seem like she was as good on her feet as Tommy was at 1 until I saw her jumping around in this thing.

Here's Whitney playing in the bounce house we gave Tommy last year for his first birthday present.  She loved having all the 2 year old boys to run around after.

I love watching kids play with their party balloons!  She dragged these around the house for a week before I got rid of them!

One last picture of my SUPER HAPPY PARTY GIRL!!!