Cinderella and her pumpkin

We have had a very busy but fun week - Mia, I mean Cinderella, was able to enjoy wearing her pretty dress all week long.
Monday - Mia had her first class at Iron Oaks and learned about Fall and hiked a little on the trails, then we had a special visit with Aunt Anna from Connecticut at grandpa George's house.
Tuesday - we had a huge wind storm so we had to stay inside all day, we used our day to bake up some goodies (some for the Pattersons to welcome their new baby girl)
Wednesday - we had our Halloween Parade at Storyhour - Mia loved dressing up again as Cinderella and had fun with her friends
Thursday - we had a museum playdate with Rocco in Oak Lawn then made some Ghost Pretzels and some more cookies in the afternoon
Friday- we went downtown to Daddy's office dressed up again and to trick or treat and to check out the Halloween activities at the Daley Plaza...then we came home to make our Friday Pizzas. Mia is doing great helping me make them and places the cheese and toppings on very nicely. She did a great job making ghosts faces on the chocolate covered pretzels we made. She also is enjoying her Sensory Tub we made with the Halloween theme, we will change it up as the Holidays change.

Annie is doing great! She is talking and squealing so much she is TOO cute! She is up on all fours rocking and still really trying to move. She loves her solids so she pretty much has them 2-3 times a day. Still waking up once a night to nurse (although the other night she slept from 6-6!) so we will see.

Pics: Mia at the storyhour party, Mia playing with her spooky sensory tub, Mia decorating the ghosts, Mia making her pizza, Dad and Annie, Dad and Mia in front of the orange spooky fountain and Aunt Anna holding our little Annabel

Zoo weekend

The weathermen were wrong - today turned out to be a beautiful day. We took the girls to Brookfield Zoo for our annual Boo in the Zoo day. Mia got to dress up as Cinderella (Annie was her pumpkin that turns into the coach). It was a great day, we saw the new Great Bear Wilderness exhibit and lots of good animals. It wasn't crowded at all and the weather was PERFECT! The girls had a blast - Annie loved looking at the Seals and Dolphins in the underview areas. Mia's favorite animals were the giraffes. Daddy had fun taking his princess up to the animals for closer looks, mommy enjoyed riding the carousel with Mia, in which she chose to ride on the "camel".

The weather was great all weekend. We were able to take a nice walk on the trails in Izaac Walton on Saturday, dogs and all. Annie fused a bit in the bjorn on the way out but still we had fun.

Friday was a fun day too, we met Grandma in Lincoln Park to do some shopping on Armitage at the local boutique shops (Grandma won a bunch of gift certificates and shared them with us). We had a GREAT time spending the money then having a nice lunch at Uncle Julio's (yum - one of our favorite mexican restaurants in the city). Thanks Grandma!

We have a busy week ahead of us and then a fun weekend of Halloween fun!

Fall Fun!

We have been loving this cool, crisp weather! We take a walk everyday and love watching all the trees start to turn bright fall colors. Mia and I have been doing some fun projects to learn about Fall. She mixed yellow and red fingerpaints to make some cute orange pumpkins and then we started a little unit on apples - we made Annie some apple puree to see how it changes from hard to soft by being heated and our apple/pumpkin muffins...then made some apple print trees!

This weekend the weather cooperated and Mia and Daddy were able to have their backyard camp-out! Daddy made Mia a bonfire, they roasted marshmellows and made smores (minus the chocolate) I brought them out coffee/hot cocoa (Mia's first time drinking it, she loved it, but of course it was served warm) then they went into the tent and read a bunch of Mia's pumpkin/fall books by flashlight, they sang songs and Mia was fast asleep by 8:30 (they both were). They came into the house early this morning and Mia had a great time, she even had Hanky sleep in the tent. Annie and I stayed inside where it was warm :)


Today we did our annual visit to The Children's Farm. We all rode the tractor to the pumpkin patch and picked a nice big pumpkin to carve for Halloween night! Then Mia and Daddy went to the petting zoo while Mommy and Annie sat under a pretty tree to nurse. It was the perfect fall day, sunny but cool.

Annie - 5 months!

Annie turned 5 months on Friday! She is talking and giggling up a storm, loves to do the happy baby yoga pose, loves Sophie her giraffe to chew on (her toes are pretty yummy too), she likes when we sing to her and she is just about ready to crawl. Yesterday she put her rear in the air and started to move herself all around. She is a tummy sleeper most nights and sucks her thumb all the time. I think she is about to start teething because her sucking has increased and her drooling is out of control! She is doing good on solids, so far she has oatmeal and fresh banana for breakfast then cereal mixed with either squash or sweet potatoes for dinner. She is in bed most nights by 6:30 and gets up around 630/7 for the day. She is still waking up at night but once she turns 6 months I will have to cut that out. She is really a happy baby and so so very sweet.

This weekend we had a guys/girls weekend! Daddy and Papa spend some quality time together in Milwaukee, WI then here at the house to cheer on Michigan. Mom, Mia, Annie, Grandma and the beagles went to Michgan for our annual fall girls weekend. We headed up early Friday and went apple picking at Tre-Men-Dous farm. We also went to the Ciderfest on Saturday and just enjoyed hanging out in the country. It was relaxing. Mia and I have some major plans for our apples this week...apple bread, applesauce....some for Annie too!

apple pie!

I hope my love for cooking and my love for attempting to bake (haha, you can only be good at one or the other, right?) is rubbing off on Mia. She has taken an interest in helping out in the kitchen lately. We made her first apple pie this afternoon. It's fun to have her pull her up chair to stand next to me at the counter and help/watch with the baking. She is feeling much better, her appetite still isn't as good as it normally is but she did eat a good amount of dinner tonight. And a few bites of her pie :)

sicky sick

Friday morning at 3am I saw Corey leap out of bed and run downstairs...then I heard Mia crying. She had gotten sick all over her pillow. Thank goodness daddy heard her. Poor peanut...so Friday was my first day home with a sick toddler and a tiny peanut trying to keep the germs away. It was a long day, to top it off when my dog came and tossed up his meal in the middle of the living room all over my iphone - not a good day. But we survived and by this evening Mia was bouncing off the walls as her normal self. Keeping my fingers crossed that Annie doesn't get this bug, so far she seems ok.

So today I had to leave my shopping buddy at home to rest with Daddy while I took the little sister with me to Trader Joe's..yes I am being a traitor to my local grocery store that is literally at the end of my block to sell out to the yuppy grocery store chain. But I have good reasons: 1. It's CHEAP! seriously cheaper than you think and 2. the selection of organic produce is way better than my dear Walt's. So Annie and I had a lovely Saturday morning perusing the aisles at Joe's and enjoyed saving some moola too. Mia and dad had a campout planned for this evening in the backyard but have to postpone due to the stomach bug and rain!

Annabel is really enjoying eating! She loves rice and oatmeal cereals and so far I've only made sweet potatoes and butternut squash for her. Loved them both...she gulped down the squash tonight and cried for more! My milk supply started to decrease when she hit 4 months, which I am reading and hearing from friends is common...but it's back up to par so I am very happy with that. It makes me feel SO good that I don't have to use formula at all.