free babysitting

Cute nephew came to hang out for a couple of hours.  I stuck a flower in his hair and it bugged Samuel SO BAD.  He told me to take it out over and over.  So, of course, I left it in.  He also told me to take his curls out.  Sorry, Samuel, those things are natural.  

I guess since Samuel couldn't convince me to take it out, he decided to beat me at my own game.  

   

Anyone else need me to watch their kids?  Makeovers are included.  

eva's spring concert

Yikes.  Kindergarten is almost over.  She is getting older.  And bigger.  And smarter.  Yikes.

In this (huge) picture her class is singing the "Flying Purple Eater" song.  When I taught, my kids danced to this song for our Halloween assembly.  Crazy coincidence, right?

    

Eva was on vacation the whole time the kids learned the Chicken Dance, but she totally caught on.  They sang a bunch patriotic songs.  It was so cute.

   

I was getting all sentimental and took "last" photos with her amazing teacher and at her little desk.

She gave me this cute little sunflower seedling for Mother's Day.  

Okay, and some very very very good better than Christmas news...

I found my 2006 and 2007 photos.  After all that mourning.  I plugged my external storage drive thing into my Mac and did a search and it just pulled them up!   They were inside a folder that was inside a folder that was inside a folder... well, you get the point.  So hidden that I never would have found them on my PC.  

HOORAY!

Just to celebrate, here are some photos I found of Eva two years ago from this time.

I was mourning this very picture over and over:

Eva's preschool class went to the zoo.  About 15 minutes after we got there (and about two hours before lunch) Eva just sat down and started opening her lunch to eat.  What?  She was hungry.  In her defense, that is usually where we ate when we went there on our own.   Whatever the case, I thought it was hilarious and cute.  Man, I love that girl.

   

Here is she is at her first preschool graduation.  I forgot how super long her hair was.  Eva was such a "stop and smell the roses" kind of girl.  She still is.  She probably always will be (as long as I don't keep rushing her past them).  Look how excited she is about her treasures, a rock and two dandelions.  So sweet.  So Eva.  Check out her boots.  I guess she was creating great shoe combos clear back then.  Once again, so Eva.

Then, there was my favorite haircut.  A super drastic a-line bob.  They cut enough to donate (but I haven't sent it in- can't let it go).  It was so easy and so cute.  I just  can't stop using the word, "cute."
    

If there is one thing I can say about Eva (besides her love of collecting, and her fashion sense), it is that she loves to create.  I am so glad that I found these pictures of he play dough guys and her coordinating faces.

Ah... welcome back to my memories, cute, little, four-year-old Eva.  So glad you are back.

we try to teach them to clean up after themselves

If you are peeling corn for your mom in the backyard and

If you and your sibling think it is more fun to throw the husks into the window well than the bag provided...

 

 Well, then, you (with much help from Dad) might be the one that has to pick it up. 

Along with all the other garbage and junk that has accumulated down there over the last 3 years.

 

And, unfortunately for Dad, you might like it so much that you ask to do it over and over again.  

And, unfortunately for Mom, you might like it so much that she will worry where the next corn husks are going to end up.

Once again, poor choices are rewarded in our household.   

goodbye, chicago

I missed the season premiere of my all time favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance, tonight and I am so so so sad.  Mourning...

We have been home for two weeks but unlike my China trip, wanted to finish documenting this trip.  I think it is because the kids are involved.

This is the last of my Chicago stuff:

I started off the morning by getting up and ready before the family so I could go and explore the shops around the hotel.  My favorite were:

Dick Blick Art Materials- I have bought some stuff from them online but to go to the actually store was so much for me.  It got all my nerdy crafty feelings going.  I loved it in there so much.  All the rulers, all the notebooks, all the paper, and even a cordless electric eraser!  Mr. Recession is My Reality made sure that I walked out of there only spending $4.  The cutest wooded ball push pins ever and refills for my mechanical pencil.  How good am I?

   

Other favorite shops:

H & M-  Love their sale racks.  Mr. Recession couldn't even get me down there.  $20 got me 4 shirts.  Quantity AND quality (well, moderate quality, the place is pretty cheap).  Yes, there are cheap chain store clothes beyond Target and Old Navy.

Garrett Popcorn Shop-  Oprah was right, this place is great.  I love mixing sweet and salty and their signature cheese and caramel combo, though freaky sounding, is so so good.  So good that I went back and bought some more.  Some to share and some to make sure that I have some for times like right now, when just typing about it makes me want it.  Going to grab some from the kitchen, be back in a second...

... okay, I am back and now this is going to take my twice as long because I have to get the cheese off my fingers every time I need to type.

Went back to the hotel to find my family doing their favorite things:  Karl still working (or rather taking and making phone calls about his no longer working, securing files, working out details, etc.) and the kids in their jammies watching TV.  I forced them to stop their most favorite things.  After all, we were in CHICAGO!

I just figured out that I just hold the popcorn bowl up to my mouth I don't actually have to get the cheese on my fingers.  Can't control the cheese/ caramel ratio but I am willing to sacrifice.  

 

We parked at Millenium Park because it was cheaper than our hotel.  It also gave us a chance to see the park during the day.  

  

 All these business people eating their lunches and then these two kids started chasing the birds.  They were going at it so hard it was cracking me up.

  

In suburbia, if something is a few miles away, it take a few minutes to get there.  In Chicago, if something is a few miles away, it takes forever.  We went to a place called Hot Dougs.  Though the had me at, "Welcome to Hot Dougs!  The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meats Emporium," I read further to find that they their "hot dogs" included crazy stuff like alligator and fancy stuff like fresh mozzarella and goat cheese.  Oh, and, of course, they had the Chicago Dog.  A somewhat sacred dish in these parts.  Look at that line to get into the shop.  A HOT DOG shop!  I looked around and realized that this is serious man food.  At some points Eva and I were the only girls in there.  My pomegranate drink was so good.  

  

Though it was fun to go to such a popular, weird shop, I would never consider that place an appropriate source of nutrition.

The family was so nice to let me go into these cute shops:

Paper Boy- So cute, had every cute ribbon, stationary, paper, gift, book, you can imagine.  The ribbon.  Oh, the ribbon...

(funny story:  I was waiting for Karl and the kids to pick me up after I was done and noticed a store called "Uncle Fun" across the street.  Couldn't tell what kind of store it was but didn't go in because from the name thought there was a small chance that it could be one of "those" kind of stores.  I didn't go in.  But upon Googling "Paperboy" for this post found out that the stores are friends (or uncles) with each other and Uncle Fun is, in fact, a toy store (not just for adults).  Dang, wish I knew that before.  I would have checked it out.)

Paper Doll- Another cute chop chock full of similarly inspiring stuff.    

Renegade Handmade- Talk about inspiring.  A whole store full of handmade stuff.  Like a real live non cyber etsy shop.  

Lesson in posting right after a vacation:  All the shops are kind of fuzzy in my mind, now.  One giant, happy, inspiring, fuzz.  I can't remember which shop was which.  I am pretty sure I mixed up those that I wanted to go to, those that were closed, and those that I actually went to.

 

 

Who knew that Monday is the new Sunday in Chicago?  SO many shops were closed.  Lame.

That night I got to go out with my friend Elisa.  She was my mentor teacher my first year of teaching in Chicago and taught me so much.  Along with the seriously helping me out in my classroom, she also taught me how to cook Mexican food (the real stuff) and introduced me to threading, the coolest way of hair removal ever.  Keeping with tradition, we stopped at a threading shop and I got my brows done.  It is so cool.  They use a piece of thread to shape your brows.  Just a piece of thread!   

  

Then we headed out for Greek food (Think: My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Saganaki (cheese flambe!), gyros, moussaka, and the best dolmades I have ever had (I thought I didn't like them, until I had THESE).  Such a great meal, but even better was the company.  We had a lot of catching up to do.  Awesome night.

  

In the mean time, Karl and the kids were hanging out at the beach.  I never get tired of that skyline.  Uh, Abbi?  If you are missing a really cute kitchen towel, it is because we had it in our trunk from when we took breakfast to the park. Whoops.  Sorry.  Eva used it to keep her feet off the bugs.  She got freaked out by them.  Smart girl.  Uh, I bet you want that towel back, now.

    

Among many obvious differences between mommies and daddies:

If it is 9:30 p.m. and the kids haven't eaten, mommy panics

If it is 9:30 p.m. and the kids haven't eaten, daddy doesn't sweat it, he just calls mommy

Enter our family into Pizano's Pizza (the closest non-McDonald's place that was still open), 10 p.m..  Though I was stuff full of great Greek food, I still had room for the skillet cookie and ice cream dessert.  Always room for one of those.

Hotel, sleep, pack, load up...

Then we headed to H & M (as a family, this time), grab the fastest food we could find (chips, bread, and cookies from the bakery) and headed to the Field Museum (once again, our Discovery Gateway membership pass got us in for free!).  

Let it be known that this is the day that a large bag of Doritos provided my children with all the nutrients they were going to get until 8 p.m.  I felt horrible (and gross, too).  They didn't mind.  I did.

   

The museum was neat.  It brought back a lot of memories from when I did a teacher program there.  I went there a bunch of Saturdays and they taught us all about the museum.  I took my students there for a chocolate exhibit and learned all about the stuff.  I couldn't take pictures of the pirate exhibit so I can't remember much :).

We leave the museum and wisely decide to skip lunch at a place that I REALLY wanted to check out.  We get to the car rental return only to realize that we didn't fill the gas tank, we drive around for a gas station, give up (and decide paying $8 a gallon is better than missing our flight), get to the airport, realize Eva left her purse (with her Nintendo inside!) in the car, have to leave it (Eva cries, of course.  I mourn the money we spent on that Nintendo), rush to security (only to stand there for what seems like FOREVER), Karl runs ahead (only to find that they had finished boaording), asks them to hold the plane, they hold it for a while, we take too long (getting two kids and all our stuff through security, and then running through the airport takes a long time), the guy says that they have to close the gate (and kindly lets us know that the next flight is the next morning), Karl comes to tell us, I need to sit for a breather, Karl goes to double check to make sure that the next flight is not until the next morning, and MIRACULOUSLY the plane has not left yet and they guy lets us on.  

Take a breath.

We made it.  Our chaotic ways were, once again, rewarded.  An entire plane full of people waited for us.

This is the flight where I ate an entire medium bag of Garretts popcorn because I was STARVING.

This is the flight where the stewardess comes running saying, "I am coming, I am coming!" to find two parents oblivious to the fact that their son had been entertaining himself for the last five minutes by pushing the button above his head.  Yep, that one that calls the stewardess.  Yep that one that makes that tone over and over until she shows up.  Yep, totally oblivious.  "So sorry," is all we can say.

  

The luggage took forever.  Us being in the wrong luggage terminal didn't help.  The kids made the best of it and made themselves comfortable while we figured things out.  Look at the center pictures.  Samuel's lips when he is focusing.  Oh, those lips!

This is the day that I had one of the best meals I have ever had.  My mom had korokke waiting for us at her house.  Even when I have had more than popcorn to eat all day, korokke is one of my favorite meals ever.  

So good to be home.