Today at the Zoo!

Today was a beautiful, sunny day...perfect for a trip to the zoo! Our friends Nancy and Izzy asked us yesterday if we were up for meeting them there, so we looked at the weather forecast and said, "yes"! After breakfast, we packed up and got ready to go. AJ kept asking me over and over if we were going to the Brookfield Zoo and if we were going to see dinosaurs, since that was his last zoo experience, but somehow we got out of the house without me pulling out any hair...

We took the Armitage bus and AJ liked it just as much as he used to last year. It's easy to take it straight to the zoo, and AJ likes to talk about the people getting on and off, the things that we pass, the red light we stop at, etc. One of the funniest things he did during the bus ride was to turn around in his seat to see out the back of the stroller and out the front window of the bus. Then he would tell me he could see the bus driver! :)

So at the zoo, we saw lions, sea lions, rhinos, flamingoes, giraffes, etc. Here are the kids (AJ, Emilio and Izzy) out of their strollers and on the loose. It's hard for them to see the animals from their strollers, but it's hard for us to keep them close to us when they aren't in them! Here are AJ and Emilio looking in on the rhino. The both really liked to try to climb the railings...so tempting, I know!  At least they could not get very far on these vertical rails, but over on the south side of the zoo they have horizontal wooden fences...hmmm...it only took them about 3 seconds to figure out they could climb those! Good thing we can always bribe them with food. :)

I also had a little bit of luck getting AJ to walk with us by telling him we were going to see the polar bears, but when we got there, the polar bears were not swimming in the water...
good thing was that AJ had also wanted to see the giraffes, and they were there too, walking around and eating! In his excitement over going to the zoo, AJ brought his giraffe (and a frog), so here he is showing the real giraffe his stuffed one, and the next shot on the left is AJ letting his little giraffe walk in the "savannah". It was really fun to watch him pretend and interact with the giraffes! I had never seen him do that before in such earnest make-believe, so I did not try to rush him even though our friends had moved on and were waiting for us (thanks Nancy and Kate for being patient!) :)

The giraffe is a little dirty now after the savannah-romp and the round trip on the bus, but I still let him sleep with it tonight. I figure it can swim in the washing machine tomorrow...

We had a really nice lunch at the lagoon's cafe, and afterward Kate treated the kids (and moms) to ice cream scoops. AJ wanted chocolate, no surprise there, and I had to eat fast to get my half! Here are the pictures of how much he liked it...good to the last drop!

After I cleaned AJ up and we were done with lunch, we said goodbye to Nancy & Izzy, and Kate & Emilio headed over to the Farm in the Zoo with AJ and I. It was pretty crowded over there and AJ was mad that he could not climb into the tractor (and cut in front of about 20 people waiting in the line), so we led them around the area as fast as the person on the end of "crack the whip" and headed home ourselves.

AJ managed to stay awake on the bus ride home, and I put him straight to bed for his nap. What a fun day we had!  Can't wait to do it all again soon. 

It's Raining...

Anyone living in the Chicagoland area knows that yesterday was RAINY!!! There were showers on and off all day, and then at night some really big thunderstorms rolled through. All day, AJ kept asking me if we could go to the park, so I had to explain to him that we don't go to the park when it's so wet out. Instead we played inside...had a friend over, painted, played trains, etc. all day long!

After AJ's nap, he seemed to "get it". He told me we would not be going to the park since it was raining so much. He said we can go to the park when it's cloudy, but not when it's rainy. "That's right!", i said, impressed that all my explanations had seemed to sink in. So, we decided to sing some rainy-day songs, and here's AJ singing "it's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Rain, Rain, Go Away":

Playdate Fun

This week AJ and I went to a new friend's place for a playdate meetup. This new friend has a son about AJ's age and offered to have some friends over to do an organic planting project/craft project...right up our alley! And the best pert is that they live within walking distance from our place.
Our friend Melanie and her daughter were also there and the kids played pretty nicely together (considering they are all learning to share) and we had a lot of fun. We (OK, I) decorated our terra cotta pot with chalk and foam stickers, and then we went outside and tried to follow directions to plant our sweet pea seeds. It went pretty smoothly, and the pot made it home in tact and got PLENTY of rain the next day, so we'll see if our plants come up soon! If so, I'll post pictures along with our other gardening projects...

After we were done with the plants, the kids loved playing with our new friend's play sink. They were so cute taking turns and working together at the sink!

For a few minutes, I was thinking that we should get one of these, but at the moment we really don't have the space for one on our balcony (since we are planting so many veggies out there this year!). Good thing we have friends with fun stuff like this! :)

"Where's Abby's Horse?"

The other night at dinner Andy told a funny story about a co-worker and his daughter Abby. She was looking for a certain horse toy and kept asking her dad, "Where's Abby's horse?". Well, our little parrot started to mimic his daddy, and it was really cute to hear him say it, so we grabbed the camera...

Our Mothers' Day Picture

This past Sunday was Mothers' Day, and we went to the early service at our church and then headed to my parents' house.  (With all the birthdays and events, it seems like we've been there every weekend!) All of the husbands as well as my Aunt and Uncle pitched in to make all the food and it was a feast! We had crabcakes, bruchetta, mango guacamole, and caprese salad as apps, then ribs, salmon, potatoes, fruit salad, etc. for lunch. It rocked!  And of course, to feed AJ's belief that every visit to Omi and Pa's house includes cake, we had German Chocolate Cake & ice cream. :) Thanks, guys, for a wonderful Mothers' Day!

I wanted to get a picture of AJ and I together in my parents' backyard, and this is the best shot we could get...he was slightly uncooperative, to say the least!

Here are the out-takes:

And finally, he made a break for it...

"Nooooooooooo!"

We were cracking up!! :)

Brookfield Zoo's Earth Celebration

The Brookfield Zoo happened to be hosting a Planet Earth celebration the week that I had the pass from the library, so we went and met up with my sister, brother-in-law and their kids. It was a nice day, weather-wise, and was perfect for the day out. The zoo had all kinds of organized events revolving around conservation and enjoyment of our planet, as well as a bunch of sponsors' booths giving away samples and coupons, offering projects and contests, and handing out info. It was pretty cool, and Brandon even spun a wheel and won a Thermos water bottle!

Here are AJ and Kyra trying to climb up onto the lion a the entrance. 

 Is Andy behind the lion to help them on or to say, "ROAR!"?

The elephants' outdoor habitat is undergoing renovations to make it even better, so they were roaming around indoors. AJ is over on the right on Andy's shoulders. He thought they were cool...so BIG! We usually take him to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which hasn't kept elephants since they all died in 2004-5, so I think this may be the first time that 

he remembers seeing them up close...

The huge Hippo's got a lot of attention from our kids too. This happy guy was basking in the sun...I wish I could afford to be so lazy again someday!

This picture is not from the Zoo trip...Our friend Jeff (Izzy's dad) gave AJ this shirt for his birthday. I thought it was funny, but told Andy I would never dress AJ in it unless I put a short sleeve over it.  Well, Jeff, you'll be happy to know Andy has no problem taking AJ out in it when I'm not around!  LOL

Cousin Scott's Graduation Party

The first weekend in May, my cousin Scott graduated from Concordia College in River Forest with a musical degree. Since River Forest is not terribly far from my mom and dad's place, my mom and aunt decided to have a little family party there afterward.

Since Scott had to perform for another ceremony after his own graduation, we all went to my mom's house and hung out while we waited for him...but he made a wrong turn (Google Map's fault?hmmm) and was late.  AJ's cousin, 5 year old Karly, said, "He has to come! It's HIS party! And...we have to have the cake before we leave." Hahaha. :)

While we waited, Kyra and AJ played in the sandbox. 

I think my parents need some more sand toys, don't you?

Here's my Bro-in-Law, Brandon with AJ's cousin Grayson. Grayson's getting so big and I can't believe he's going to be 1 in July! I also love that he wears all of AJ's clothes that we passed on to him...kids outgrow the clothes so fast in the first year

 it's fun to see the cute outfits worn again.

Here is a cute video clip of AJ playing Ring Around the Rosie with my mom in her kitchen:

Scott finally made it to his party, with a few friends from school, and it was so nice to see him and hear about his plans and upcoming trip to China.  

Here he is with the much-drooled-over cake that actually had music 

he had composed screened onto it!

AJ is eagerly awaiting his slice of cake as it was being cut...We have had so many parties recently at my parents house, he now thinks that cake is the norm there. I told him we were going there this past Sunday and his response was, "we'll have cake!" which we did, since it was Mother's Day! There's more to that story though, for another post...

AJ Likes Rhubarb!

One of AJ's favorite things to do has become baking with me. I tell him about the ingredients and measure them out, and then he helps pour or dump them into the bowl, stirs, whisks, etc. If it's a recipe that there is not much he can help with, I give him a bowl of flour or rice and let him measure and dump into another bowl. Yes, it gets messy, but so what? It all cleans up, and he has fun (and I get a dessert!). Maybe this tells you a lot about how much of a sweet tooth I have developed over this pregnancy, but I figure it's better to make things at home from scratch so I know exactly what's in them...and I'm sure the added interaction between AJ and I is good too!

Lately we have been making lemon bars, oatmeal cookies, chocolate cake and other goodies, but last week we made Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble together. AJ went with me to the store to buy the fruit and everything, and he liked saying his new word - "woo-bahb!". I thought he'd like the recipe and might want to taste the rhubarb, but what I wasn't expecting was that he'd actually LIKE it...raw! For any of you who have never tasted raw rhubarb, it is VERY tart. It's actually amazing to me that something so tough and sour can end up tasting so good when cooked (with a little sugar!).

I know this does look like many of our faces would if we'd taken a bite out of a raw rhubarb stalk, but this is AJ making a happy face.  He had absolutely no puckered-face reactions, and even left the pile of strawberries almost alone!

Maybe the funniest part of this whole recipe was that once it was baked, AJ did not want to eat it!  He talked about "rhubarb crumble" for days, but if either of us asked him if he'd like some his answer was always, "no, thank you". Hahaha!

Visiting with Friends

We have been busy lately visiting friends indoors and out...

Our friends the Hrubec's have re-habbed their backyard with new sod & plants, a sandbox, kid's picnic table, and our loan of AJ's plastic slide (since we have nowhere practical to put it in our place). I think AJ has already used it more since it's been living at Izzy's house than he did when it was here! Maybe someday we'll have a yard too, but not for at least a few more years.

Here is AJ loving Izzy's fun tunnel. He likes to crawl through it, lay down in it and do log rolls, and as shown in this picture, squash it!  (My favorite is when Jeff puts it on standing up and dances around...I'll have to get a shot of that next time!)

Here is Andy pouring sand into all the kids' cups. Were they playing tea party? The kids all love the sandbox and are getting better and better about sharing, taking turns and playing together. In this shot are Andy, Emilio, AJ and Izzy.

We also visited our friend's the Chenier's recently to meet their new addition, baby Axel. He was born exactly on his due date and has so far been a really easy baby. I have been watching AJ closely during visits to see how he reacts to the new baby and how he watches Louis' reactions to being a new big brother!

Here is a cute shot of Louis & Axel with their Great Grandma who was visiting from London. It was so nice that my friend Sam's mom and grandma were able to come and stay with her for about a month to help out taking care of Louis and the new baby (and Sam too!)

While his grandparents were in town, they got Louis a new train set that came with lots of fun engines and items from the Island of Sodor (where Thomas "lives"). AJ LOVED it!  He thinks it's the coolest thing and asks regularly now if he can go play at Louis's house. Louis is luckily really good at sharing his toys, so there are not tons of issues, but AJ is sometimes quite a train-hog! But day by day, we're working on that...

Andy made a bigger rectangle table for AJ's trains and I am working on making it a cool Sodor for him too. I don't want to spend the $$ for the real Thomas table top set, but I think I will be able to paint something cool on it that will work great.  More on that later!

Park and Lunch!

We have been LOVING the warmer weather that has finally been visiting Chicago. Was it just me or did this winter just seem to go on forever? Well, now every time a warm sunny day comes along, AJ and I do our best to get out to a park! There is one not too far away that used to seem a lot closer before I had a 30 lb belly, but it is still a favorite. On the particular day that these pictures were taken, I actually drove (gasp!) there, because both my Dr. and Andy had been on me about slowing down and "taking it easy". My friend Erin and her kids Violet and Jack met us there that day and though they are not in any of the pictures, we all had a good time together.

Lately AJ's new ting is wanting to play on the big-kid swings. He likes to swing on them on his belly, which we call belly-flopping,
and sometimes he also like to sit on them like a big kid and swing nice and slow. I know the day will come too soon that he's swinging high up in the air and jumping off like Superman...hopefully not breaking any arms (!), but I try to encourage his growing independence on the playground.


Here is a little video of AJ doing some little belly-flops while trying to still drink from his water bottle. I thought it was kind of funny, but I guess his balance was pretty good!

This particular park has a big sandbox that draws AJ like a plate of cookies. And he likes to share the toys in the sandbox about as much as he'd like to hand over a cookie too.  I look at it as a good opportunity for learning to share, but sometimes it can be tiring. Anyway, AJ is making big strides in playground etiquette, adding phrases like, "May I have that please?" and "Can I have a turn?" to his repertoire. The kids he asks usually say, "NO!" and then there are tears or other similar issues, but at least it's a start. When the tables are turned and another kid asks for what he's playing with, he usually says "NO!" just as loudly though, so don't think the manners are by any means perfect yet! Like I said, opportunities to learn, right? LOL

After playing at the park for a while, I was actually feeling HOT! Erin and I decided it was a good time for lunch, so we walked around the corner to one of my fav local spots, Doc's Juice and Smoothies. They recently reopened in a new storefront and it's a big improvement! The new space is big and open and bright, and now in addition to the smoothies and soups, they have panini and wraps. This makes it a perfect place to go before or after the park to get a snack or have lunch. We had lunch on this day and here is AJ loving his grilled cheese and smoothie.

The other day we went to Doc's again just for a smoothie (and this time I walked, feeling the need to get some exercise!! Sorry Andy). AJ has always noticed other people drinking the green smoothies, and this time he said that was what he wanted. So, I figured "why not?" and got him a small one. He took one big sip and stated, "AJ like green smoothie!". Andy was not coming home until late that night, so I figured the spinach and kale in the smoothie could count toward dinner...dinner then consisted of watching Curious George together on the couch with a bowl of crackers and cut cheese. (fruits + veggies + whole grains + dairy = good job on dinner, AJ! Now time for a bath and off to bed!) 

Our Easter 2009

Happy Easter! This Easter was really fun for us. I think it was one of the first times that a day actually went as well as I'd built it up in my mind. When AJ woke up, we quickly headed out to the living room to make sure that the Easter Bunny had hidden all the eggs and left a basket for him. Then we went into his room to get him out of his crib and tell him the Easter Bunny had indeed come to our house! I wasn't even able to get a shot of his Easter basket before he dug right in, but it had a book about Easter and another about gardening, a bunch of fruit bars (which he adores from Trader Joe's), a potting set which I will write about soon in my green blog (see link on right). I knew he'd be getting plenty of sugar later in the day, so we held off on the chocolate in the basket this year...or, rather, the Easter Bunny did.

After the basket, we pointed out to AJ that there were eggs hiding in the room! The hiding spots were pretty easy since this was his first time hunting for them, but they apparently could have been a little more difficult! AJ ran around the room quickly collecting all of the eggs in his basket! Here are a few shots of him on the hunt...when he had found them all, he ran around chanting, "more huntin'!" so I assume he liked finding the eggs! After that, we had a quick breakfast, got ready for church, and made it to Roselle,  just in time to smoosh into an aisle before the service began. 

After church, it was time for another Easter Egg Hunt in Omi & Pa's yard. My mom had filled all of the plastic eggs for the hunt with little trinkets, candies, and coins, but since some of the things were not gender-neutral or would be cool for the 5 year old but not for the 2 year old, she had to come up with some kind of idea. The solution became to have each kid hunt for 2 colors of eggs. AJ was assigned orange and blue eggs (I think that was Illini-inspired, actually), and all of the 3 cousins did pretty well with only picking up "their" eggs. AJ needed a little bit of help to focus him on the area where his eggs might be, but it was really cute to see the 3 kids searching the yard. Since all of the shrubs and bulbs were just starting to fill in and pop up, it made for the perfect landscape to nestle the little eggs into their hiding places. AJ realized these eggs were not empty like the ones at home, and he was very interested in finding out "what's in there?". This shot to the right is me trying to answer that question for him...and the video is Andy helping AJ to hunt for his eggs.

We did manage to get all 4 cousins together with Kim and I for a picture, and I think everyone in this pic (other than our little guy!) was actually looking at the camera! AJ did sit there nicely with his egg basket though, so I thought it was great. (and you can't even tell I'm pregnant!!) 

When we went back inside, the kids lined up at the fireplace for another photo op with their baskets.
Just as I suspected, there was plenty of chocolate to go around, plus some other fun things like paint with water books and toys. That Easter Bunny sure is fun! My mom and Kim also got together before Sunday and dyed eggs with Karly and Kyra. Here is a shot of them looking all "Eastery".  Everyone got to take some home, and I enjoyed eating most of ours since AJ never wants anything to do with eating eggs in any form.  His loss!

Lunch of course was ham, and all the food and company were great. I had a chance to relax a little bit and enjoy a (weak) cocktail, and the kids got to play together. It makes me so happy that AJ is growing up knowing his 3 cousins, and all of his grandparents too. :)

The Big Little Kid Bash!

OK, so this is the last birthday party post, I swear! We decided to have the small family parties separate from the kids' party since our place can only hold so many.  The rule of "only invite as many children as your child's age" was silly to us...what 2 kids would we choose? AJ and I are busy hanging out with lots of different friends on a regular basis, so we didn't want to leave them all out, and we have gone to many of their children's parties too.  So a big bash it was!  

We decided on a construction theme, which would be easy enough to decorate and I was excited about cake ideas and the invitations.  Andy got a roll of caution tape, and I picked up some balloons and that pretty much took care of the decorations! Here's a picture of how the railings looked, and another arial shot of the general party.

We were prepared for a little bit of mayhem, but were pleasantly surprised at how manageable the party felt! All the kids were pretty good and played as well together as 2 yr olds can. Andy had the upstairs finished to a point that being up there was safe (not more exposed studs or nails) and some liked being upstairs in the space that will become AJ's new room. I put a new rug down over the cork floor and in this shot Louis (with his cast!) and Norah we having a good time driving cars and trains along the rug's roads. 

The kids also liked going outside and playing on the balcony. I personally thought it was too cold out there, but they didn't seem to mind. I thought I had taken a video of them all dancing together out there, but I can't seem to find it...they were so cute!  It's hilarious to see a bunch of 2 year olds boogie-ing to their own beats. They all have these funny moves...AJ's is to move his arms and wrists at weird angles while he bounces around. (He didn't get that from me! LOL)

We hired our good friend Kurt (also Louis' dad) to do the food for the party and it was fantastic! Everyone loved it and since it was all from his new restaurant, Lunch Rolls, many of the dads that work downtown have been frequent customers!  My dad couldn't get enough of the jambalaya, and the kids loved the baked mac & cheese. I liked the brisket roll.  All of this led perfectly up to the CAKE!!!  I made the same scratch chocolate cake that I did the week before for the Holub party, but a double batch.  Then I made a vanilla and a chocolate buttercream frosting and frosted the cake to look like the little Tonka bulldozer was making a big rubble pile on the left side of the cake. You can see 3 lines on the front side of the cake where AJ ran his finger through to sample the frosting.  I tried to smooth it out a little for when we lit the candles & sang, but who really cared, right? The cake was still yummy and that's what matters! You can see in the picture to the right that AJ used his bulldozer to help him eat his cake.  He kept mashing it unto his piece and then licking it off of the "scooper". Messy but fun. He's also sporting one of the yellow hard hats that all the kids received but almost none wore. Hahaha!  AJ wears his around when he's pretending to be a construction worker, so I assume that at least a couple of the the other kids kept theirs and do the same at home. 

Here's the video I was able to take during the birthday song...I missed the first line, but you know how it goes! 

So, after all the guests left, we got AJ down for his nap and he crashed hard, as was expected. The fresh air, excitement and sugar high all conspired against him!  After the nap, we opened his presents from his friends (opting not to do it at the party since there was already so much going on). These will just get captions as they are mostly self explanatory...

  AJ with a big smile when we told him it was time to open his presents.

AJ trying to read along as Andy reads him a card from 

one of his buddies.

Here AJ is figuring out how to play Zimbos, an elephant stacking game. He likes how there are numbers on each one!  "Does it look different if I tild my head to the side?"

Party with Andy's Side

Andy's sister, Melissa, planned to come in for a visit around AJ's birthday, so we had his side of the family over for lunch, presents and cake on the Saturday of her visit. She came in with her boyfriend Tom, and then Andy's mom, dad and grandma all came in from Rockford. It was a nice party and AJ had a blast opening more presents, blowing out more candles, and eating more cake!  We better look out, he's starting to get used to these multiple birthday parties!

Opening a present...what's in there?

We put the wrapping in the bag. But wait!  I liked the wrapping!

AJ trying to untie a bow. :)

Here's a little video of AJ opening his Mater & friends present. So much was going on I didn't even know who the gift was from at the time...turns out it was from Melissa and Tom.

I think I see another Thomas-related present!

AJ was very into his new Lightning McQueen and Mater from the movie Cars. (Aunt Melissa and Uncle Tom got these for him after they watched the movie together while babysitting. AJ made Tom turn it off during the "scary part".  Did you ever get to see the end, Tom? LOL)

Cake Time!  There were 3 candles because one is for good luck. I think he blew them all out on his own this time!

Hooray!!

Chocolate with buttercream hit the spot...wait, is it all gone already?

(While AJ was napping a little later, GG Marcella and I each had another slice!)

AJ decked out in his firemen's raincoat and hat. He likes to wear the coat with his rain boots and splash in puddles when it's rainy out, and got to use the matching fireman umbrella for the first time last week! He's the only one not bummed about all the gray, rainy days lately!

And here he is in his train conductor get-up. Complete with stopwatch on chain.

Here I am reading AJ his new Cars book after he got up from his nap. It's still a current fav. Notice my growing belly!