Friesencold

I’m sorry I forgot to tell you as soon as I found out, but I’m telling you now that my friend Lauren won that contest! Isn’t that perfect? Read Lauren’s take on it here.

We had a party for Cash this evening in our backyard and here are a few of my favorite pictures of him from tonight:

The bounce house that my friend Corrine let us borrow was a huge hit with all the kids!

We were singing Happy Birthday to Cash in this picture.

He’s about to dig in.

Yeah, I think he likes it.

The party tonight got me thinking about Bauer’s 2nd birthday party. We invited a few of his little buddies from our playgroup at that time over to our house to celebrate with a cookie cake from the same place that we got Cash’s cookie cake and we had digger plates and napkins and the kids all wore construction worker hats.

I had forgotten that I made smoothies for the kids for Bauer’s party too. Gettin’ him started early!

Hopefully everyone knows who Tucker is by now. Cash’s cake tonight said “Happy 2nd Birthday Cash & BoBo.” BoBo is his little stuffed monkey that he sleeps with every night and totes around when we go places.

Okay so I was really excited when I found this picture to see that for Bauer’s party 3 Septembers ago, I was wearing the exact same pair of shorts and the exact same Old Navy tank top that I’ve been wearing all summer this year (and every summer in between). Tonight I was wearing my green shorts just like the khaki ones above and my gray Old Navy tank top in place of the purple one. It was chilly outside today, though, so I had a long-sleeve shirt on too, but I love that I can say I’m getting good mileage out of these clothes I love so much!

That’s Bauer’s buddy Nico in the background and Bauer’s buddy Tucker in the foreground. Tucker looked a bit better back then than he does now.

This photo has no significance to 2nd birthday parties, but I just found it when looking for the other pics and wanted to show you how cute my little 2-year old Bauer was when he was all dressed up for my sister’s wedding back in 2007.

I’m calling it a night, a good night.

Okay, folks, listen up!

I have this friend Lauren who is one of my favorite people in Orlando! And I really, really think she’s gonna write a book someday. But for now, I have to get my fix of her wonderful way with words via her blog, called Writing from Scratch. Well, on her blog recently I saw that she is in the running to get her mortgage paid for a year because of this video she made about life at home with her kids and submitted to a contest that a home-building company called Taylor Morrison is sponsoring. Not only is Lauren in the running, but her video is currently in 1st place out of the 10 finalists!!

I want you to see the video first of all. Lauren’s is the Week 2 video (second from the left) – “Memories Made From Scratch.” Here’s the link to the website where it’s listed along with the 9 other finalists.

The voting goes through Tuesday night, and each person can only vote once, but if you vote for Lauren’s video and tell me you voted in the comment section on my blog, I will pick one winner at random this coming Wednesday morning and send you a $5 gift card to Starbucks. How does that sound?

Wait – Let’s make the deal better. If you get a spouse, co-worker, family member, or friend to vote, too, make another comment here and tell me that they voted and you’ll have another chance at the Starbucks gift card. As many people as you can get to vote, is how many times you can put a comment here that says you got a person you know to vote and also how many extra times you will get entered in my fun little drawing.

Lauren’s work (and Lauren herself) is worth way more than just a $5 gift card, but that would be enough to get me to do something as simple as watch a cool video and then click the Vote button for a friend of a friend. I hope it moves you to do the same. The website does ask you to create an account in order to vote, but it literally took me less than a minute and there is no obligation to do anything once you have an account. It just lets you vote for the video. Also as another incentive, everyone who votes for a video as a part of this contest is also registered on the website to win your own mortgage paid for a year.

I love Lauren’s blog-writing skills so much that doing this little shout-out for Lauren’s video and doing my own little giveaway on my blog as a way to get more votes for her is just my way of expressing my gratitude to God that he made Lauren a writer and that I was lucky enough to know her when we lived in Orlando.

Don’t forget: Voting ends Tuesday night, August 31st, and Lauren’s video is the second one from the left here.

Thank you!

Ribfest is one of the many things we enjoyed over July 4th weekend, my mom being the main attraction. As always she was a tremendous help with the boys and Bauer loved having Gigi here to share in all the adventures of the weekend.

On Thursday night we went to hear the Naperville Municipal Band give their 4th of July themed concert. There were so many people there that we had to sit way around on the side where we couldn’t even see the band. But we could hear it just fine. Happy Birthday wishes went out to a 108-year old member of the audience. That was cooler than the music to me!

On Friday morning we went to Bauer’s last swim lesson (more on that later) and then took the Naperville Trolley Tour. We had done this tour one time before when TJ’s parents were in town, but I wanted my mom to experience it, not to mention I was looking forward to a refresher course on some of the history of Naperville. We invited some friends along, which made it even more special for Bauer.

Friday afternoon/evening, we attended a BBQ at the house of some friends of ours. Because I knew the kids would be fully occupied by the excitement of playing with other kids and because I know my mom loves to visit Anderson’s bookstore when she’s in town, I suggested to her that she take a break and enjoy downtown Naperville, just walking around and visiting stores and having dinner at her leisure. She loved the idea and had a great time doing that, while we were talkin’ and eatin’ and chillin’ with friends. The best part for the kids was the improptu game of Bumper Cars they came up with toward the end. You should have seen all the Cozy Coupes and similar vehicles in action on the driveway! Or maybe you did if you saw TJ’s Mobile Upload to Facebook that afternoon.

Saturday was the BIG DAY as we went to both Toy Story 3 and Ribfest. My mom joined us for the movie because she was wanting to see it too. That was fun to be there all together and know Cash could be as loud as he wanted at home with our great babysitter. My mom brought a Toy Story 3 art pack to Bauer this trip and he enjoyed spending lots of time over the weekend coloring with Gigi and working on the cover page of his Toy Story booklet.

On Saturday afternoon, my mom offered to watch Cash for us so we could go to Ribfest with just Bauer (and Jaime and Branton again!). It was pretty hot that day so I was glad Cash didn’t have to be out in the heat and fussing cause he’d want to do everything Bauer was doing but wasn’t quite big enough to do. You’re probably thinking Cash got a bum deal on Saturday but my mom said the two of them had a blast and Cash was perfectly content to be home with her, running around and doing all his funny antics that he does.

The first thing we did at Ribfest was the free kids area, with tons of inflatables.

Then it was time for ribs! TJ and I both got the pulled pork sandwich plates from Desperado’s and TJ also ordered a “teaser” of 3 ribs from there. The food was delicious! My once-a-year splurge on the worst meat ever (but it sure did taste good, not to mention the energy I had the next morning for swimming laps!).

Branton and Bauer (and Tucker) are good little buddies.

After we ate, it was ferris wheel time. Not part of the free rides, but definitely a fun, new experience for Bauer.

After the rides, we let the boys do one game each, the one where you pick a rubber duckie from a pool of water and the duck either has an S or an L on the bottom for Small or Large prize. Both of them got S’s but it’s good they did, because I know the Silly Bands (a small prize) were what they both wanted more than any of the other prizes.

As we were walking home after Ribfest, Bauer asked if we could stop and get ice cream like we did last year. He remembers going to the gelati place in downtown Naperville with the friends who we went to Ribfest with last year (different friends than this year). It was crazy that Bauer brought this up after a year had gone by, but he was right! So we thought it would be fun to continue the tradition.

Here is last year’s picture:

And here is this year’s picture:

I actually put this year’s picture in the R section of Bauer’s alphabet book and called it “Rice” Cream since that is how Bauer says ice cream. I had to explain to him why I was putting it in as an R picture so as not to confuse him since I had previously explained to him that ice cream starts with I.

Also for R, we read a couple good books:

and made a couple cute robots:

For S, we read 3 terrific books, all highly recommended if you are looking for good children’s books in general. Swimmy is one of those that just lights up yours and your kid’s face the first time you read it.

We also planted Sunflower Seeds in a fold-your-own paper pot that came with a Wal-Mart gift card I bought ages ago. I hope they will grow! It takes 6-8 weeks, which Bauer really has no concept of, but he enjoyed digging up some dirt from our garden to put in the little pot.

Another fun S thing we did was build a Sandcastle from a mixture of sand, cornstarch, and alum. Here’s the recipe if you’re interested. It was kind of like making something out of Playdough. After a week the sandcastle will be completely dry and hardened so we can keep it for a good while (but not forever, as Bauer would hope).

S is also for Swim Lessons, which Bauer really enjoyed. I know I already posted a few pictures in an earlier post, but TJ took a few more great ones on Bauer’s last day.

Gotta buckle my life-vest.

I love my goggles!

Gettin’ in the water.

Working on floating and kicking.

High-fiving the teacher.

Bauer’s group joined up with another group for some kind of circle game in the water. First Bauer watches:

Then he takes a turn in the middle:

He’s a brave boy.

And he loves going under.

The lessons are all done now and Bauer gets a lift out of the water.

Treats await the kids.

And Bauer gets his Starfish Swimming School Achievement Book.

And now back to my mom’s visit since I never quite finished telling what we did. On Sunday morning we went to Centennial Beach right when it opened at 11 and were there for a couple hours. Cash got sunscreen in his eyes near the beginning so that was a bit traumatic for him, but we survived. Once I stuck him in the shower to clean him off, put his clothes back on him, and got him distracted by Bauer’s Silly Bands, he was all set to hang on the blanket with Gigi.

Bauer had a great time in the water jumping off TJ’s shoulders.

And then I taught Bauer that game called Categories. I picked the category, like Colors or Fruit, and then he had to guess what I was thinking. Each time he guessed wrong, I dunked him under and when he got it right, I flipped him over backwards. He loved it!

I like this picture of the three of us in a row.

As you can see, the beach was a popular place to be on the 4th!

We wrapped up the day (and Gigi’s visit) with the fireworks display in downtown Naperville, but I don’t have any pictures to show of that. I’m sure you saw your own fireworks and felt the same feelings of wonder and joy that we did. Hope you didn’t get as many mosquito bites as we did though!

I had a great time in Tampa this past weekend visiting my friend Shannon, who I was roommates with in college. She and her family moved to Tampa just after we moved away from Orlando three years ago, so we hadn’t gotten to see each other in a really long time (at least 5 years!).

We talked and talked. We sat in her backyard and talked, took a walk and talked, went to the pool and talked, ate at Tijuana Flats and talked, ate slices of Publix cake and talked, stayed up late one night and talked, and went to bed early another night and read. We also spent lots of time just hanging out at Shannon’s house with her two cuties, Chase and Siena. Because Shannon has little kids, like I do, it felt sort of like being at home. It made me miss my kids for sure. But I didn’t have to wash any dishes, brush any kids’ teeth, or break up any fussing. That was nice.

I also had the time while I was away to read an entire book, Anne Lamott’s Imperfect Birds. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because it’s her fiction work, which I haven’t been crazy about in the past. But this time, I loved the fiction because so much of what you could hear Anne Lamott saying in her non-fiction books like Traveling Mercies and Grace (Eventually) came through in the dialogue among the characters in Imperfect Birds. It was also the first book I’ve read in an online format and I enjoyed that a lot more than I expected to, too. I will definitely read another book on the iPad. I loved being able to bookmark quotes I liked as I went along, although now I have to figure out how to print them….or maybe I’ll just take my sweet time and copy them all down in my Goody Book where I write out all my favorite quotes from writers such as Anne Lamott, Elizabeth Berg, Marisa de los Santos, and of course Alexander McCall Smith.

TJ took great care of the kids while I was gone over the weekend. They went to Bauer’s swim lesson on Friday morning. The lessons take place at Centennial Beach, shown below, which is an old rock quarry.

See Bauer? He’s wearing blue goggles and floating on his back.

Bauer is in a class with only 3 other kids which is great, and usually at least one of the other children doesn’t show up, so it’s even smaller. Unlike Bauer’s bladder! If only he can make it through his 30-minute lesson without having to take a break to go potty, I’d be a happy camper. I made him go pee two times this morning before his lesson and he still only made it till 10:26. I didn’t even give him a smoothie this morning, but uh-oh, it must have been all the cantaloupe he ate! At least he doesn’t go in the water.

TJ took the kids for more water fun on Saturday afternoon at a friend’s house. Their mom, my friend Jaime, was out of town as well, so the dads got together and let the kids play outside in the sprinklers.

On Sunday, TJ helped Bauer make quicksand for the letter Q. There were great step-by-step instructions in the back of Tomie DePaola’s The Quicksand Book. Bauer made a brick sink!

Totally unrelated to the letter Q, they also made a Boogle House in the backyard. This was inspired by the book Why I Built the Boogle House by Helen Palmer.

All weekend, TJ was texting me little videos and pictures of what was going on with the boys. That was a fun and easy way to see them while I was away.

And now I’m going away from the computer.

It started on Friday when I went for the second round of color on my tattoo. I went primarily to have some work done on the greens throughout, but my tattoo artist is a major perfectionist so he went to work on everything, adding depth to the colors, touching up in places, and finishing off the color around the words at the bottom. That was another 3 hours of work, bringing the total to 11 hours! Look at the difference between the two.

This is before Friday….

And this is after….

On Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer’s Market, where I picked up the market basket I won from the previous week’s raffle that a local business called Monogram Madness sponsored to get the word out about their new store.

Later that day, we did some major cleaning out in the garage, but the funny thing is, it was mostly empty boxes weighing us down with clutter! TJ has an empty box fetish that he’s working on overcoming. It’s pretty cool, though, when you go to sell something on ebay to be able to say that you have the original packaging.

On Sunday, TJ took Bauer to a Kids Fishing Derby…

and Bauer caught his first fish, a 5 1/2″ blue gill. That was one happy boy (and one happy daddy).

We wrapped up the Letter O over the weekend, and the only picture I have to show are the O books we read. But here’s a funny story for O: I printed out a coloring page from Enchanted Learning’s website about President Obama and was teaching Bauer who he is and just telling him a few basic facts. Later in the day, we were reviewing who our President is, and Bauer said Barack Opossum.

And last, we are having a blast lately grilling out in our backyard. We got a grill for an early Father’s Day present so that we would have it on Memorial Day when friends came over for a cookout. It’s been great having lots of grilled veggies and eating outside at our picnic table.

It’s been really rainy here the past few days so we didn’t actually get to grill out over the weekend, but we’ll be starting back up this week. We decided to invite some friends over each Wednesday to grill out and hang out in the backyard. I’m looking forward to some fun (and crazy with the kids) Wednesday evenings this summer.

This is where my friend Gretchen lives in Texas.

And I really think she’ll like these shirts.

I got this one for Cash because they didn’t have Bauer’s size. I was tempted to buy it in every size they had, though, so my kids can always represent for the side of leafy greens.

And I got this one for Bauer. Who says the force can’t be vegetables?

My friend Hannah, whom I mention frequently on here due to her being the source of many referrals of books, recipes, blogs, and tips in general, has this other friend Rachel, that I’ve met a few times. I think Rachel and I would be friends if we happened to hang out much more. She’s a very nice lady and struck me as intelligent from the get-go, just judging from some things she would bring to the discussion during a women’s study I was briefly participating in of which Rachel was a part. Well, now I’m convinced not only of her smarts, but also of her creativity and motivation.

You see, Rachel started this business not so long ago called “A Closet of Her Own.” It’s a website where she sells cute t-shirts for girls with boyish-type themes printed on them. Like fire trucks, dinosaurs, and sports balls. Rachel realized that there was a gap in this type of girls’ clothing because her daughter was always wanting to wear her older brother’s fire truck shirt or sports-themed shirt, but when Rachel wanted to purchase girls’ clothing of this type for her daughter, there was none to be found. Rachel took initiative and started “A Closet of Her Own” to remedy the situation.

She has a great website up and running now to showcase all the great shirts for sale. The “About Me” section on the website tells more of Rachel’s story and how she came to start the business, and the “Blog” page is updated regularly with various girl-themed posts that would be helpful to any mom of a girl looking for inspiration on ways to instill in her daughter confidence, self-esteem, and joy in being a girl.

The reason I’m writing about all of this today is that tomorrow, April 7th, is Rachel’s Virtual Grand Opening for her business. Here’s the blog post Rachel wrote to break the news of all the fun stuff to take place tomorrow on her grand opening day. I am definitely going to be visiting the site throughout the day tomorrow, in hopes to win a prize for answering one of 4 trivia questions that Rachel will post, or maybe even the grand prize package, which includes one of each t-shirt design featured on the site, four great children’s books, and a CD by children’s music artist Jeanie B. These are all great gift items for the young girls in your life, whether your daughter, niece, granddaughter, or your friend’s little girl. I have two cute nieces and several friends with daughters so I’m definitely happy to know about “A Closet of Her Own.”

Please take a few minutes tomorrow to visit Rachel’s site, and you may realize you want to be her friend too. Actually, if you become a fan of “A Closet of Her Own” on Facebook and you post on the Wall there that I referred you, I’ll get an extra entry in the Grand Prize drawing and if I win and you have a daughter, hmmm, well, I think I could pay you back What a great idea, and what a great person to have it, Rachel!

First, check out the new quote I posted on the Books page. I just finished reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls this afternoon. I really want my sister to read it so I think I will mail it to her to read next. It was one of the most interesting and unbelievable stories I have ever read.

After we returned from being out of town, I had no choice but to take the kids grocery-shopping with me the following day. I usually go to Meijer by myself on Mondays when TJ has the day off, but we got back from vacation on a Tuesday night and I knew I couldn’t wait until the following Monday, or even the weekend, to go. So off we went.

I let Bauer and Cash ride the free horse ride inside Meijer after we bought our groceries. Can you tell it was Saint Patrick’s Day?

I participated in Miss Amy KR’s most recent mission on the WBEZ Vocalo blog. It was posted on the Monday when we were out of town, but we got back home in plenty of time for me to participate. We went nowhere fast together.

In other words, my friend Jaime and I took the Metra from the downtown Naperville train station to Union Station in downtown Chicago. Then we walked to the “L” and got on the Brown Line to Belmont. We then used my iPhone to find the nearest Starbucks so we could bring our own coffee, as the mission stated to do.

Doughnuts were provided by Amy and crew. This is Amy’s producer Justin holding the doughnuts. I put in my request for a cake doughnut, and that’s what I got!

After getting our coffee, Jaime and I walked back to the Belmont “L” stop to meet up with everyone who was participating in the mission. There were probably 50-60 people there and we all climbed aboard the front car of the train. We literally went nowhere, just rode the train from Belmont, down to the Loop, and around back up to Belmont. Probably a 45 minute train ride with a bunch of strangers who were all the nicest people, just excited to be together and be with Amy.

On the train ride, Amy asked us to think about one question: Where will we go from here?

Do you want to go to the park? she said. Do you want to go home? Do you want to go visit a friend? Do you want to go on to be a rock star? Are you gonna go with your gut?

I knew my answer immediately. The whole process of me getting there, to participate in the mission that morning, had been such a struggle. The weather forecast was predicting a rain/snow mix and wind for Saturday, so that was my first big deterrent to going. Also I was just unsure I wanted to go. I mean, my heart was wanting to go, but when have I ever lived out of my heart? I had gotten so excited upon first learning about the mission when were out of town on the previous Monday, that I said to TJ right away that I wanted to do it. But after having a week to think about all the reasons why not to go, I had convinced myself I didn’t want to. I didn’t completely know what to expect, for one thing. I knew we were supposed to meet Amy at the Belmont stop at 9:45, but I didn’t know where we’d go (to which TJ responded, But that’s the whole point!), how long it would last, how many people would be there, or whether Jaime and I would actually find our way around on our own as neither she nor I had ever taken the “L” before. I was in tears on the night before the big day. I felt a lot of anxiety about going and kept telling TJ I didn’t know why he was trying to convince/encourage/push me to go when I didn’t even really want to go. He reminded me of how I’d felt when I’d first read this week’s mission, and also encouraged me to think about if I’d read the mission while living in Orlando, how I’d have said to him that I wanted to buy a plane ticket for a quick weekend trip to Chicago so I could participate. I knew he was right, but I still didn’t know how to not feel like I was out of control if I decided to go. I slept fitfully that night, but woke up ready to go on Saturday morning. I knew I had pushed through the hardest part of the experience, just getting myself mentally psyched that I would go and not have to be in control of what would happen.

What a wonderful experience it turned out to be! Of course, TJ knew this would happen, which is why he pushed me to go. Jaime and I enjoyed talking all morning and we found our way everywhere just fine. The CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) App for my iPhone was so helpful, as was the lady working at the “L” station. She gave us tips and advice on how to get where we needed to go and back, and save money in the process. I had noticed she had an open Bible on her desk and we later found out she works as a pastor in addition to her job with the CTA.

It was great meeting Amy (even though my picture turned out blurry) and being a part of something that she likes to call a “shared experience.” It truly was cool to see all the people along for the ride, people of all different ages, with all different aspirations and all kinds of reasons for being there that day.

Our final assignment from Amy before departing the train was to take a piece of chalk from the boxes she passed around and as we continued our day, to take the time to write a message somewhere for someone to see. Our message could be anything we wanted to share with the world, but it only seemed appropriate to me to write what I had learned that day.

It’s been like Christmas at our house the past few days. The best gift is that the kids are well. I can’t believe I’m saying that. In fact, I haven’t really been able to say that wholeheartedly since it actually was Christmas over six weeks ago.

Another reason it feels like Christmas is because of all the treats that have been around our house. The week started with chocolate chip cookie dough from Cookie Dough Creations. I bought a quart of the stuff to take to our small group ladies night when we gathered at a coffee shop that was not named Starbucks to talk and hang out. We ate a lot of the cookie dough, but a lot was left, so TJ and I enjoyed some the next night.

The day after that, TJ brought home 3 of those super-big cookies from Jimmie John’s that were left over from a lunch function he attended. Normally TJ is the one who loves the big chocolate chip cookies from sandwich shops, but I’ve discovered through nibbling on TJ’s cookies from time to time that Jimmie John’s cookies are my favorite. I ate part of one of those with some tea that evening, and then decided to freeze the remaining two and a half for another time.

Two night after this, which was last night, we had a friend over for dinner and she brought along one of those huge dessert apples on a stick from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. You know which ones I’m talking about? It was the one that is covered in caramel first and then dipped in tons of tiny dark and white chocolate chips. So we had some of that last night and I must say that the Apple Pie one, which used to be our favorite, now has some competition.

Then this evening, my friend Yvonne brought over some homemade cookies called “Snowballs” that she had just made. They are a combination of sugar, butter, walnuts, maybe vanilla, and I’m not sure what else, but they’re rolled in powdered sugar at the end and they just about melt in your mouth. I had four of those with some tea, and a bite of the leftover caramel apple from last night.

I think I better take a break from sugar for the next week, or at least a day. Oh, I forgot to mention that Yvonne was super-thoughtful and also picked up some chocolate-covered raisins from Trader Joe’s for Bauer to enjoy as those are one of his favorite treats. That and popcorn!

Bauer enjoyed playing with his friends (Yvonne’s children) this evening, especially the popping of and the eating of the popcorn.

This was Cash’s first time having popcorn and he loved it!

My little man, Cash, loves playing with the little men from the Lego sets we have. He will walk around holding them in his hand for a long time. I have to pry them out of his little paws when it’s his naptime, but then I distract him by letting him flip the light switch on and off a couple times and he forgets that he was upset. Works like a charm every time.

We had a great time on Saturday morning attending the birthday party of one of Bauer’s friends. We all met at the fire station in Oswego and took an hour long tour, which included lots of free time for the kids to climb and explore the big fire trucks. Then we went to Portillo’s for lunch, where Bauer truly enjoyed having some meat (and french fries). After the party, Bauer kept exclaiming how that was the best time he’d ever had. I think it was one of the highlights of his life so far. You should have seen how his face lit up when he first climbed aboard the vintage fire truck in the lobby. It only got better from there. You’ll see what I mean when you take a look at the following pictures.

Did you notice Bauer’s and Cash’s Vancouver 2010 shirts they were wearing that day? Nana and Papa got those for them for Christmas and we thought they’d be especially appropriate on Saturday since that is when the Olympics started. We (especially TJ) are enjoying the Olympics a lot so far. The Olympics holds a special place in TJ’s heart since he was in the opening ceremonies of the ‘88 Calgary Olympics. He said he still has the electric blue costume to prove it! I have yet to see it, but I have seen the up close footage of him performing his part in the opening ceremonies. So I can vouch for the story. He’s just now telling me he is going to put up the video of him on the blog. So stay tuned for that!

You may also have noticed that yes, I’m eating a Portillo’s Italian beef sandwich in those last couple of pictures above. Yum, yum! I just couldn’t think about whether those cows had happy lives or not (you’ll know what I mean if you have seen the movie Food Inc). I just had to go for it and enjoy it this time. The Oreo dirt cake with gummy worms was pretty good too!