labor day weekend

Better late than never (that's our new theme around here), here is a ton of pictures from our trip to the QCs for the long labor day weekend..

Colin and Charlotte had a blast with tons and tons of family time!  We had such a nice time seeing everyone.

Colin and Shelly are best buds...

and Colin and Junior got re-acquainted...

(had to give Junior a hug good-bye too)

Charlotte got lots of cuddle time on her first trip to the QCs...

Colin hitched a ride with Aunt Laura :) 

He took many laps around Grandma Pat and Grandpa Ron's block on his "motorcycle"

My babies.  They are related. 

Then the family time continued as we visited with Grandpa Doug and Grandma Karen.  C&C's cousins were there too - first time for all the grandkids in one place!  

Charlotte was quite taken with her Aunt Nikki.  No stranger anxiety there!  Must be the redheaded connection.  As Nikki said, "only a ginger can call you a ginger." 

 A picture in which Colin is actually not wearing orange, go figure...

Colin had so much fun running around with Graham and Lukas.  Here they are inventing some weird game.

Charlotte and Lukas decided to become friends. 

so cute to see all the boys together

pretty girl enjoying the day outside

When their moms told them no swimming, the boys decided instead to throw all the toys into the pool.  They had a blast.  Sorry Grandpa.

 Lady was happy to go on another road trip... as long as she had Mommy in the backseat and was allowed access to her cell phone.

What. Is this not the way you travel?

We had so much fun on our weekend trip!  Thanks again!

1st Cubs game

Hey Everyone! Mike here, writing my sort-of-annual blog post! So, many of you may have already heard about Colin's first Cubs game, but here's the official story along with pictures.

The day was Thursday, August 22, and it had been sunny and warm for weeks, so what did the forecast have in it for that day? You guessed it...rain. As usual with the weather these days the severity of the forecast changed by the hour, and when we left that morning all the rain was expected to be out of Chicago by the end of the morning. Our first stop was breakfast at Fair Oaks Farms on the way to Chicago. Colin ordered French Toast and Bacon (what else?) and fresh chocolate milk. It was FREEZING inside there, and Colin huddled up next to me while we ate. However now Colin claims that he liked it cold in there and doesn't want to bring a jacket or hoodie for the next time we go there. Revisionist history if you ask me.

Our next stop was Uncle Adam's new house in Chicago. We arrived and Colin immediately set out exploring the new location, and unintentionally torturing Adam's new cat Cheese. After chasing Cheese around with a laser pointer, Colin took some Foosball lessons from Uncle Adam.

Colin really enjoyed this, almost as much as he enjoyed commandeering Adam's tape measure (pictured on couch above) and pretending it was a sword.

The real test will be to see if Uncle Adam can lose to Colin the next time they play!

Did I mention the weather was supposed to clear up by the end of the morning? Yeah, it didn't...we camped out in our seats (which were JUST good enough not to be covered by the upper deck) and wore our ponchos while waiting for the weather to break.

Somebody was having fun watching the ground crew roll up the big blue tarp!

We're still working on smiling naturally when taking pictures...

 Uncle Adam was the preferred grown-up of the day!

The "Thinker"...is probably thinking about what kind of snacks he can ask for next!

I figured I'd get about 2 good hours out of him at the game before he got tired. Unfortunately, those two good hours also corresponded with the rain delay, so the poor guy was worn out by the time the game started. Some rest on my lap, along with peanut butter crackers and an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my phone helped him rally though. We actually made it through the 7th inning, what a trooper!

Yes, Colin is already talking about the "next time" we go to see Uncle Adam.

And finally, we explored the stadium before leaving, and Colin's favorite seats were ALL THE WAY at the top. Colin said he could see all of the field and the players, as well as the El, Downtown, and the "Serious" tower. ("Look! It's the El!" every minute or two is really fun to hear...) Colin like it up top so much, he asked if we could sit there next time. So um, yeah, we way overpaid for our seats this time!

Finally, on the way home this kid didn't even make it out of Chicago before he was completely cashed out in the backseat. A very fun day for Colin, Daddy, and Uncle Adam, and hopefully one that we can make an annual tradition. (As long as the Cubs start winning the games!)

weekend fun

We all had lots of fun when Grandma and G came to visit last weekend! 

Charlotte decided to lose the stranger anxiety for the weekend, having lots of fun with G...

Colin's primary concern was when Grandma was going to make him his cherry pie.  He helped her make it, and it was apparently delicious.  He had to verify about 18 times that it was "his" and he "didn't have to share," so we'll take his word for it.

Grandma and G accompanied Colin on his third annual trip to Hands on Trucks downtown.  This bomb squad truck was his favorite this year.

so tiny on that big equipment! 

We got to spend lots of time on the patio, even spending the evening around the fire pit.  Even Charlotte got some outdoor lounging time.

Colin and Mr. Cubby Bear that he got in Chicago.  More on that coming soon....

Thanks for the great weekend!

scooter

little girl decided to start scooting backwards yesterday... watch her go! 

7 months!

Charlotte had a very exciting 7 month birthday - she got a visit from her Grandpa Doug and Grandma Karen!  She was even happy to let Grandma hold her!  (not so much on Grandpa unfortunately)

look how big this girl is at 7 months!

these were the only pictures I could get before she ripped the sticker off and ate it.  Ironically, I have pictures of Colin doing the same thing for his 7 month pictures.

I can't believe Charlotte is 7 months already!  The time has flown by so much faster this time around.  She's sitting all on her own, trying to scoot and grab things.  She's come around on some baby food, eating apples and pears if they're mixed with oatmeal.  Her babbling has taken off too.  Everyone comments on what a happy, smiley little baby she is.  Her sleep, however, has gone steadily downhill.  I keep hoping we'll turn a corner soon.  I guess it's not a bad trade-off for a happy sweet girl during the daytime though.  Happy 7 months!

soccer star

Here's Colin after his last day of soccer for the summer.  If you couldn't tell by the face, he loved soccer!  Hard to believe we had to beg and bribe him to go to the lessons at the start of the summer.  He even got a little report card at the end of the season - his strengths are dribbling and teamwork.  Who knew?  I think it's safe to say we'll be signing up for the fall season soon :)  

mommy charlotte day

some sweet pictures of the lady sitting up all on her own and being generally awesome yesterday: