School Days

All summer I have been thinking how great it's going to be when school starts. I know this probably makes me a horrible person, but it's true. Usually, I love everything about the summer. I love the sun, pool, flip flops, bar-b-ques, having the kids around, sleeping in, picnics, watermelon, and of coarse the beach. I think I even like the mosquitoes because that means it is summer (ok maybe not the mosquitoes). Usually I'm sad when the kids go back to school but this year, it's time. Ben and Olivia have been fighting like crazy. They are both so competitive with each other that every thing is a competition.
I was reading one of my favorite magazines the other day (thanks Real Simple) and the editor's note for the month said something that struck me as so true. She said that 'living with kids is a long exercise in simultaneously wanting them to reach the next phase of development and wishing time would stop completely.' That is exactly how I had been feeling.
The night before school started Rick gave the kids blessings and I read 'The Kissing Hand' to Ben. I cried.
The first day of school started out with breakfast in bed. Ben can never actually wait in bed for breakfast to be ready so he gets back in bed to eat.




Surprisingly Olivia was very upset that "her best friend was leaving and she wasn't going to have anyone to play with".

Ben wasn't nervous at all for school to start. He was most looking forward to having lunch and recess at school for the first time.

Ben with his buddy Max

Ben and Mr. Cronin

I went to visit him at lunch and he was having so much fun. He was talking so fast (which is what he does when he is excited) and telling me what he had done that morning. Olivia, Will and I left and went home to have a picnic lunch and make cookies for when Ben got home. It was a great afternoon but it was quiet. No fighting. Is it time for him to be at school all day...yes but I miss him.

A year older

Last summer we were downtown and walked past the American Girl Store on Michigan Avenue. Olivia was glued to the window and Rick and I nonchalantly said "maybe we can go next year for your birthday". A year later she still remembered, so we made a day of it to celebrate her fourth birthday.

The girls in front of the store.

Once in the store, it was completely overwhelming!! Before any decisions were made we had to see all of the dolls. For a moment, I thought Olivia was going to have a breakdown but the crisis was averted. One of the employees told us that breakdowns were a very common occurrence at the store.
She finally decided on a bitty baby (with no hair- her words) which she promptly named Erica. Olivia also picked out a beautiful white dress for her too.

Olivia & Erica
I had made a reservation for all of us at the American Girl store to eat lunch with her new doll and have cake but Olivia wanted to eat at The Cheesecake Factory (or as she calls it, the Cheese Factory) next door. I was secretly very happy about that decision because I had heard that it was overpriced and the food wasn't very good.

Olivia with her Oreo Cheesecake

Blowing out the candle
After lunch we walked down Michigan Avenue to 'The Bean'

Do you see Rick, Will and I in the reflection?

Will was such a trooper. He slept, ate, and was happy the whole day.

Then we walked over to the fountain at Millennium Park, changed the kids into swimsuits and they played in the water.

The towers are faces and every few minutes they would spit water out. Ben would wait in the exact place until it would spray him.

Our our walk back to the car (can you tell we walked a lot??) , we came across this scene...

It is a scene from the Transformers 3 movie set. They have been filming in Chicago the last month or so. The only way you could tell it wasn't real was that the side of the brick wall is Styrofoam. I didn't see the first two movies but now I want to see this one, just to look for this scene.

It was a big day and we wore her out!!

We went into her room that night and this is what we saw. She loves her Erica!

Happy Birthday ZaZa!!

4 months and 11 years

Time is flying by...Will is already 4 months old and is officially the 'current family favorite'! No one can stop kissing on him and he has so many nick names I can't list them all. He is such a sweetie and good natured little boy.
Four months also marks the beginning of my favorite age for babies. From now until about 10 months they are awesome. Snugly, chubby, smiley, sweet little ones that just happen to sleep a little bit more than newborns.
Oh....and he found his feet this month too.


4 month stats
15 lbs. - weight
26 inches - length


On the same day, Rick and I celebrated 11th anniversary. Usually we don't do gifts for anniversaries., but this year Rick surprised me with these Adirondack chairs that I had seen in the spring. They had gone on sale and Rick had them waiting on me when I got home from Georgia. I love them!! Someday those chairs will be facing an ocean. A girl can dream...right??

Last year we had gone to a friends house for dinner and I fell in love with her dessert plates. After looking around for them at a few stores without any luck, I asked her where she got them. They were antique plates called Candlewick, that you can only get on EBay. I never really got around to bidding on any but found a Candlewick tarte plate at an antique shop in town.

Our family went to the local flea market the Saturday before our anniversary. Usually this would be a serious lapse in judgement to bring all three kids, but this time, it worked out. And look what I found...8 of them!!




The best anniversary gift, my babies or as Rick calls them my entourage!

Some things happened in Georgia....

While we were in Georgia...
Olivia got her first haircut. Yes, she is almost four years old but her hair is curly and it shrinks up when it is dry. It always has looked much shorter than it actually is and so I have never thought she really needed one. The ends had gotten pretty damaged though and Olivia was excited to have grandma do the honors of her first trim.
While we were in Georgia...
Olivia learned how to swim. Dinisha's parents had invited us over to swim and Ben and Olivia had gone in Grandma's car. Rick, Will and I were in our car about five minutes behind them. By the time Rick and I got to the pool, Olivia was swimming. I had her swim vest with me and she didn't want to wait for us to swim. She just decided that she would swim by herself. So if anyone asks who taught Olivia how to swim, I will say, she taught herself!!

Within days she was swimming under water and jumping off the diving board in the deep end and swimming to the side. She has no fear.

While we were in Georgia...

After 5 long years of waiting, Ben's front tooth has finally come in and the other isn't too far behind. He is going to look so different with two front teeth. Apples and corn on the cob, beware!! While we were in Georgia...

I actually read a book! I really enjoy reading but I never do it at a relaxing pace. I get completely consumed with it. All laundry, dishes, errands and sometimes family members get neglected. Because I know this about myself, I always hesitate/procrastinate starting a book, knowing that I will get behind on almost everything else in life. I had a friend recommend it and Rick had bought it for me for my birthday and it had been sitting on a pile of books for a few months staring at me. I had less guilt about reading while at grandma's house because I had no chores to be done and the kids were more than happy to play with grandma. It was a great book and glad I was able to read something other than Dr. Suess. or Belinda the Ballerina.