Junk Food Redefined

Today Annaliese decided that since she is now five years old that she should be in charge of making lunch. Without any adult supervision she made PB&J sandwiches for herself, Addie & me. (Avrie passed on the offer.) When we were just about finished eating Annaliese said,

"Wow, Addie sure does like junk food."

What do you mean junk food?

"Yeah, I dropped hers on the floor. But that's okay because it looks like she likes it."

She was cracking me up!

The sandwich pictured above was mine...not bad. I just had to add a little bit more peanut butter when she wasn't looking. It was then that I saw a 1/4 jar of jelly....smeared all down the front of the counter, on the stool where she had stood and of course all over the floor. The very place where Addie's sandwich became Junk Food. Yum! =)

Four Night Slumber Party

Friday morning at 5:30am we were awakened by a loud buzzing sound coming from our upstairs furnace. Usually not a good thing. Just as Kermit had predicted a few days before, our upstairs furnace motor had died. Long story short... Kermit fixed it but first we had to get the right motor shipped to the right address. You think that should be a simple thing....not exactly.

Sooo....luckily we only had four nights without heat upstairs. On the bright side, we had a blast having four slumber parties in a row downstairs. We pulled out the couch beds, watched movies, ate popcorn, sang songs, stayed up way too late, and woke up way too early. The girls really did love it. Kermit and I had fun too, it was just exhausting. I learned it's easier to take care of kiddie night issues (and we usually have several a night...eehem) when we are all in the same room together. If somebody needs mom and dad, they just crawl on over...no getting up in the night! Easy. I also learned that our couch beds aren't exactly the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on, so I am thrilled to be sleeping in my own bed tonight now that our heat is restored. The girls are bummed to not be sleeping all together though. Not to worry, we'll do it again! Let's hope it's not because the furnace blew up but just because it's fun!

Pictures from our slumber partying....

I love Addie's spread eagle in the picture above.

Below, notice the fresh snow outside the window.... it was COLD! Also notice where Avrie wiggled to in the night. Cute girls!

And here's Avrie helping dad fix the furnace. She LOVES helping dad! Why Kermit is in short sleeves, I have no idea! I think it must have been about 50 degrees at least!

We're all toasty warm now! Thanks Kermit for fixing it for us and for the fun times at our family slumber party (parties)!

Happy Birthday Annaliese!

Today is Annaliese's 5th birthday. Wow, that went fast. It really makes me sad when I think about how fast she is growing. I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that she's not a baby anymore. Silly I know. She is losing those luscious chubby cheeks that I love so much. She doesn't have those cute little dimples in her hands anymore either. Sigh... She's a beautiful big five year old. The one thing I can say is I do love watching her grow. I love watching her figure out the world little by little. She may not be a baby anymore but she will always be ours. What a blessing!

We had a wonderful day celebrating. We ran errands in the morning and she was sure to tell everyone we met that it was her birthday. She brought many a smile to quite a few strangers. We came home and decorated her cake just in time for a few of her friends to arrive for a little Outer Space Birthday party. We ended her special day with a birthday dinner of her choice. Kermit and I took our big 5 year old out to Portillos for a cheeseburger and fries. All three of us were in heaven.

Happy Birthday Annaliese! We love you!

"Valemtimes" Day 2009

February 14 was a great day for us here. The girls were thrilled with their little heart gifts from parents and grandparents. Here are some pictures with some of their Valentine treasures. (Addie with her cool heart glasses, Avrie with her puppy love, and Annaliese with the chirping Audubon Society love birds in a "tree".)

We spent the day at the Adler Planetarium. Loved it! We're very into outer space these days. Annaliese has been learning all about the man's first trip to the moon with her dad. She was thrilled to see a real space capsule and video of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Another favorite part for everyone was seeing the Sesame Street Star show. Very cute. All three loved it and even Kermit and I enjoyed it. Great day! xoxox

Garfield Park Conservatory

Last weekend we had beautiful springlike weather here. We wanted to let the kids run around outside but the snow was melting everywhere and it was just too muddy. So where else can you run around and feel like you are outside enjoying a beautiful day without the mud and melting snow to deal with but the Garfield Park Conservatory. We love this place! It's beautiful and huge and they even have a little room for children to play in! Right now they are hosting a special event that was actually very cool to participate in called Sweet Saturdays. All around the conservatory they had little stations with volunteers set up in front of different plants used for making sweets. They would teach you about the plant and then give you a little taste. We tasted bananas, cocoa beans, coconuts, cinnamon, etc. It was such a good idea but my one complaint was that crowds were bad. If you think you might want to check it out next weekend I'd recommend trying to go right when they open or right before closing.

This picture was taken just after Christmas when we went with my parents. Less crowds and beautiful as ever!