When Caeden's bus comes to get him, he tries to stall getting on the bus by asking for, "1 more huggie? 2 more kisses? One more hug? Please, Mommy?" How could I say no to that! (Just wanted to get it down somewhere so I never forget!)
The past couple days, when I've asked Caeden who he played with at school at playtime, he has told me about his friend Kendall. I asked him if Kendall was a girl or boy, and he said she was a girl. When I asked him if she was his buddy, he said, "No, she's not my buddy; a buddy is a boy. She's a girl, but like Sammy. She's my girl brother." (Sammy is his best friend who is such his best friend that he's closer than a best friend; he's his "brother.") Then, we figured, that maybe she was more like a sister than a girl brother.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Scrappiness
Thought I would put up a few pages I scrapped recently...
(As always, click the photos for larger view.)
I always do better pages when I use sketches for inspiration, and all these pages are based on sketches from Creative Scrappers.
Splash!(As always, click the photos for larger view.)
I always do better pages when I use sketches for inspiration, and all these pages are based on sketches from Creative Scrappers.
by TarynLeah
Scrapbook.com
This page I did for a 1-Hour Layout contest. Such pressure to create, photograph, and upload a page from scratch (to a sketch) in an hour! But, so nice to get a page done that quickly!
I don't do a ton of layouts with only 1 photo, but came across this one of Caeden in my photo box and just melted at how little he was. Jeremy had the same reaction when he saw it too...
He was so little here!
He was so little here!
Sylvie-Tooth!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
She's SIX!!!!!!
Our sweet Sylvia Claire turned a big six years old today!
Last night, just before bed, she pulled a (3rd) tooth and got a new smile for her birthday.
She woke up before 6:30 this morning (very unusual for her!) with much excitement when she felt some coins under her pillow. She said the Tooth Fairy layed them out fancy under her pillow to say happy birthday to her.
Sylvia was also surprised to see her bedroom door decorated when her brother burst through it this morning!
She kept saying, "I am happy!" as she was getting ready for school.
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She loved her birthday banner, streamers, and balloon bouquet.
The, "I love you so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much!" is how she always tells us she loves us, so I wanted her to know we love her the same way!
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We are waiting until the 14th to have her birthday party. But she chose macaroni and cheese for supper, and I made a Gooey Butter Cake in her honor, for supper.
We let her open a couple gifts.
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She had told me she wanted a doll baby she could carry in a seat with handles, and she is thrilled this one. She's a Baby Alive Go Bye Bye in a 5-in-1 carrier, and she also makes cute noises.
She loves her, which she told us repeatedly all evening long,
and named her Lily Lollipop Lopshire.
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All the kids were very taken with her, actually.
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Baby went along with us to Mr. Anthony's 30th birthday surprise party last night too.
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We try hard not to "blink" and miss the precious moments of our kids growing up SO quickly. It is hard to believe Sylvia is already 6, but she has brought us so much joy and sweetness.
We love her so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much!!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Quarantine Slumber "Party"
Jeremy got to work this morning and shortly thereafter started feeling baaaaad and realized he was coming down with a nasty stomach flu. He came home and spent all day upstairs in bed and bathroom. While I checked in on him from time to time and got him whatever he needed, we tried to stay faaaaaar away from him and his sick germs. I'm still not sure he's feeling better yet.
So, the kids and I decided we needed to sleep downstairs. The three of them are in the guestroom--girls in the bed, and Caeden excitedly sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor for the first time ever.
Before I tucked them all in, Sylvia read Caeden's library book as their bedtime story.
(So neat to see her do that!) They were all very attentive!
For the past hour, I heard several, "Moooo-om, she's...Mooo-om, he's...making noises...keeping me awake..." and a bit ago, Caeden came out of the room saying he didn't like sleeping on the floor and that the sleeping bag was all unzipped and velcroed. I checked it, and he had undone everything on it he could. I zipped it all back up and added a thick, folded up afghan underneat the pile of 4 other blankets. He climed in and said, "Ahhhhhhhhhh, that's ALL better!" and went right to sleep. I'll be on the couch myself, praying Jeremy feels better soon and the rest of us won't come down with it!
So, the kids and I decided we needed to sleep downstairs. The three of them are in the guestroom--girls in the bed, and Caeden excitedly sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor for the first time ever.
Before I tucked them all in, Sylvia read Caeden's library book as their bedtime story.
(So neat to see her do that!) They were all very attentive!
For the past hour, I heard several, "Moooo-om, she's...Mooo-om, he's...making noises...keeping me awake..." and a bit ago, Caeden came out of the room saying he didn't like sleeping on the floor and that the sleeping bag was all unzipped and velcroed. I checked it, and he had undone everything on it he could. I zipped it all back up and added a thick, folded up afghan underneat the pile of 4 other blankets. He climed in and said, "Ahhhhhhhhhh, that's ALL better!" and went right to sleep. I'll be on the couch myself, praying Jeremy feels better soon and the rest of us won't come down with it!
A sunset enjoyed but not captured
On our way home from Annah's violin lesson in town tonight, we turned onto our road and saw a gloriously beautiful sunset had been following us! I wished and wished I had my camera with me, because it was perfectly spread across the sky. By the time we got home, out of the car, and I ran in to get my camera, it was about to go under the horizon. I had missed photographing it, but we sure enjoyed seeing it as we drove home!
The kids were glad for a few minutes to swing outside anyway.
The kids were glad for a few minutes to swing outside anyway.
You can almost tell how grand it was...
And our sunsets are always uniquely "dotted" with windmills...
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sylvia's Kindergarten Class Field Trip
Sylvia's class and the other 2 kindergarten classes went on a field trip today to the Bloomington-Normal Children's Discovery Museum! She was excited, and even more glad that her daddy got to meet them there to chaperone! He took some great photos.
Playing a game where each student and their partner try to feel/find the same object among many inside their bags without looking.
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looking at each other's taste buds...
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trying to find where certain taste buds are
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painting with Kool-Aid
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Sylvia playing in the "compost" area with her friend Calli.
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A man from the ISU chemistry and physics department was demonstrating today. He let the kids touch "lightning" and a "cloud!"
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Guest Room Goings On
Woohoo, we are making headway in at least one area of the house! Hahaha. Last week, I got to work on getting going in the guestroom. Since Mom was coming to stay and watch the kids for us over the weekend, I had to at least make it sleepable in there for her! The room has basically been shut up with half the stuff from the den for 2 years--including many window trim boards with 3-4" nails sticking out of them strewn all over the room, stacks of books, baskets, a train set, and other random misplaced items everywhere! Seriously, it was a disaster I hated to look at.
So first, on Saturday, I leared about how to stain new wood windows. I had to condition them, stain them, and on Sunday polyeurethane them. Monday I cleared enough things from the room to move around in there, and Tuesday primed the walls. As I was priming the back of the chimney wall, huge bubbles formed and I had to pull off huge chunks/sheets of paint and something that looks like either a super thin layer of drywall or a thin sheet of plaster. (We've had several guys try to identify it with no luck.) So, I had to re-prime that wall and pray it would take wallpaper. I was ready to paint the built-in bookshelf thing in the corner, but when I opened the $37 gallon of black satin paint I bought from Sherwin Williams, it was white! Oops. They gave me the wrong bucket and I took it back and got the black.
So, Wednesday I painted the bookshelf black. Jeremy asked if I was going to paint the white closet black too. After flip-flopping on that idea all day, we decided to. We spent about 4 hours together that night on that job. We actually had fun doing that together, and were proud of ourselves for enjoying working together! We even had to use tiny kid-sized paintbrushes to get the paint in between the slats. But we are really happy with how nice it looks...kind of Pottery Barn-ish.
Here's a little peek:
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Thursday I spent all morning cleaning the room, removing all the painting gear and dirt and grime from that and plaster/drywall dust and other goock from the past couple years. Nast. I felt like Cinderella while I was scrubbing the baseboards. Ha.
Mom arrived early Thurday afternoon and we chatted until the kids got home. She took such good care of them while we were in Chicago all weekend. They played school in Caeden's room with his homeschool stuff, made valentines and cookies, watched movies. She took them to church and lunch at Steak & Shake, where they'd never been but had been wanting to go. She even did laundry, cleaned off my washer and dryer, cleaned out my 'fridge and microwave too. The house was definitely cleaner when we got home than when we had left. She is a superwoman!!
Monday morning, we got started on the guestroom again. We painted the ceiling first. It was funny...the color I chose was so close to what was there before that it was hard to see where we'd painted and where we hadn't--until we'd put the paint stuff away and it dried, of course! I went back and did touch-up later.
I had to take Caeden to the doctor for a sinus infection, which took half the day. We started wallpapering in the afternoon and got a little more than one wall done. We started back up Tuesday morning, after we got the girls on the bus. The wallpaper is texturized paintable wallpaper, and went up so nicely. Mom said it was the easiest paper she'd ever worked with (Thank the Lord!), and she's been wallpapering since she was a kid. It is white, but as it went up it had a pretty linen color and look which I really liked! But as you can see, it dried completely white.
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Now the story behind this wallpaper...I've known for a long time I wanted to use texturized paintable paper in this room, because the walls were a wreck. 105+ year old plaster walls, drywall patched in around the bottoms of the new windows because the old ones had cast iron counterweights built into the walls (Jeremy did a great job making the walls match up though!), a chimney with peeling surface, cracks, you name it. Anaglypta paper was the only way to go!
So...I had searched online, but it is hard to translate the online images to what it really looks like. So we stopped into Lowe's a couple weeks ago after church so I could pick something out. However, with 3 hungry kids and my husband standing there, I couldn't handle the pressure of making a decision quickly enough. We tried to borrow a book of samples, but I didn't have $25 in my account to put down for a deposit.
When I took Annah to her violin lesson one night, I went into the Sherwin Williams store that's next door, and they had tons of anaglypta books. They let me take 3 home with no charge. So, I poured over them for a few days, chose a few I liked, compared prices with various websites, and wanted to cry. It was going to cost at least $250 just for the wallpaper...plus glue on top of that. That thought hurt. I was on my way to Sherwin Williams to order it, because they'd been so helpful, when I remembered Lowe's had several styles in stock, and now that I knew more what I wanted, maybe I would like one of those.
When I went into Lowe's, I found a beautiful paper unlike any of the other 3 styles I'd chosen, but exactly what I wanted. The cheapest of the others I planned to order was about $20/single roll, and this was $12/double roll! A sweet lady came along and helped me, and told me how great this paper was and that she had it in 2 rooms in her house, and how it looks beautiful even unpainted. I found 4 double rolls (needed at least 6) plus 2 that were opened, which she sold to me for $1 each! I bought those 6 rolls and ordered 2 more for about $86 total!! I really felt God was right there in the wallpaper aisle at Lowe's! I love this paper; it's just what I wanted; and it was what I could afford to pay!
There was a bit of a crazy fiasco when I went to see if the paper was in a week later, but the store mgr. helped me out! We'll just say we used 7 rolls and I still have 2 left...and I think maybe one I didn't pay for that I need to return. Craziness there.
I have to say, my mom did most all of the wallpapering work. She is a master! Me, not so much. I'm so thankful for her help and the beautiful job she did. Plus, it was just super fun to get to hang out with her for 2 days!
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I am totally babbling on here! I don't have a lot of photos yet, because there's still a lot to do in the room. We still need to finish the trim for around the windows. We'll be putting the original back up, but since they're new construction windows and not replacements, there will need to be extra wood inserted to make the trim level with the wall. So, that's the next big thing. After that we will figure out what we're doing for window treatments. I'm hoping for rolling shades and who knows what else.
I finished some touch-up painting after Mom left, and still need to finish some painting on the inside of the closet. I ordered the bedding, which was the original inspiration for the whole room. I love it, and can't wait for it to arrive!!!
It's very exciting to be getting close to finishing a room!
So first, on Saturday, I leared about how to stain new wood windows. I had to condition them, stain them, and on Sunday polyeurethane them. Monday I cleared enough things from the room to move around in there, and Tuesday primed the walls. As I was priming the back of the chimney wall, huge bubbles formed and I had to pull off huge chunks/sheets of paint and something that looks like either a super thin layer of drywall or a thin sheet of plaster. (We've had several guys try to identify it with no luck.) So, I had to re-prime that wall and pray it would take wallpaper. I was ready to paint the built-in bookshelf thing in the corner, but when I opened the $37 gallon of black satin paint I bought from Sherwin Williams, it was white! Oops. They gave me the wrong bucket and I took it back and got the black.
So, Wednesday I painted the bookshelf black. Jeremy asked if I was going to paint the white closet black too. After flip-flopping on that idea all day, we decided to. We spent about 4 hours together that night on that job. We actually had fun doing that together, and were proud of ourselves for enjoying working together! We even had to use tiny kid-sized paintbrushes to get the paint in between the slats. But we are really happy with how nice it looks...kind of Pottery Barn-ish.
Here's a little peek:
Thursday I spent all morning cleaning the room, removing all the painting gear and dirt and grime from that and plaster/drywall dust and other goock from the past couple years. Nast. I felt like Cinderella while I was scrubbing the baseboards. Ha.
Mom arrived early Thurday afternoon and we chatted until the kids got home. She took such good care of them while we were in Chicago all weekend. They played school in Caeden's room with his homeschool stuff, made valentines and cookies, watched movies. She took them to church and lunch at Steak & Shake, where they'd never been but had been wanting to go. She even did laundry, cleaned off my washer and dryer, cleaned out my 'fridge and microwave too. The house was definitely cleaner when we got home than when we had left. She is a superwoman!!
Monday morning, we got started on the guestroom again. We painted the ceiling first. It was funny...the color I chose was so close to what was there before that it was hard to see where we'd painted and where we hadn't--until we'd put the paint stuff away and it dried, of course! I went back and did touch-up later.
I had to take Caeden to the doctor for a sinus infection, which took half the day. We started wallpapering in the afternoon and got a little more than one wall done. We started back up Tuesday morning, after we got the girls on the bus. The wallpaper is texturized paintable wallpaper, and went up so nicely. Mom said it was the easiest paper she'd ever worked with (Thank the Lord!), and she's been wallpapering since she was a kid. It is white, but as it went up it had a pretty linen color and look which I really liked! But as you can see, it dried completely white.
Now the story behind this wallpaper...I've known for a long time I wanted to use texturized paintable paper in this room, because the walls were a wreck. 105+ year old plaster walls, drywall patched in around the bottoms of the new windows because the old ones had cast iron counterweights built into the walls (Jeremy did a great job making the walls match up though!), a chimney with peeling surface, cracks, you name it. Anaglypta paper was the only way to go!
So...I had searched online, but it is hard to translate the online images to what it really looks like. So we stopped into Lowe's a couple weeks ago after church so I could pick something out. However, with 3 hungry kids and my husband standing there, I couldn't handle the pressure of making a decision quickly enough. We tried to borrow a book of samples, but I didn't have $25 in my account to put down for a deposit.
When I took Annah to her violin lesson one night, I went into the Sherwin Williams store that's next door, and they had tons of anaglypta books. They let me take 3 home with no charge. So, I poured over them for a few days, chose a few I liked, compared prices with various websites, and wanted to cry. It was going to cost at least $250 just for the wallpaper...plus glue on top of that. That thought hurt. I was on my way to Sherwin Williams to order it, because they'd been so helpful, when I remembered Lowe's had several styles in stock, and now that I knew more what I wanted, maybe I would like one of those.
When I went into Lowe's, I found a beautiful paper unlike any of the other 3 styles I'd chosen, but exactly what I wanted. The cheapest of the others I planned to order was about $20/single roll, and this was $12/double roll! A sweet lady came along and helped me, and told me how great this paper was and that she had it in 2 rooms in her house, and how it looks beautiful even unpainted. I found 4 double rolls (needed at least 6) plus 2 that were opened, which she sold to me for $1 each! I bought those 6 rolls and ordered 2 more for about $86 total!! I really felt God was right there in the wallpaper aisle at Lowe's! I love this paper; it's just what I wanted; and it was what I could afford to pay!
There was a bit of a crazy fiasco when I went to see if the paper was in a week later, but the store mgr. helped me out! We'll just say we used 7 rolls and I still have 2 left...and I think maybe one I didn't pay for that I need to return. Craziness there.
I have to say, my mom did most all of the wallpapering work. She is a master! Me, not so much. I'm so thankful for her help and the beautiful job she did. Plus, it was just super fun to get to hang out with her for 2 days!
I am totally babbling on here! I don't have a lot of photos yet, because there's still a lot to do in the room. We still need to finish the trim for around the windows. We'll be putting the original back up, but since they're new construction windows and not replacements, there will need to be extra wood inserted to make the trim level with the wall. So, that's the next big thing. After that we will figure out what we're doing for window treatments. I'm hoping for rolling shades and who knows what else.
I finished some touch-up painting after Mom left, and still need to finish some painting on the inside of the closet. I ordered the bedding, which was the original inspiration for the whole room. I love it, and can't wait for it to arrive!!!
It's very exciting to be getting close to finishing a room!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Weekend in the Windy City
Woohoo, Valentine's weekend in Chicago with our Life Group! My mom came over on Thursday, and took care of the kids all weekend. We met Andrea at the church Friday morning and drove up to IKEA in Bolingbrook. Jeremy had never been to IKEA before, and we enjoyed the whole afternoon there, mostly looking around. We bought a few little things, and picked out some shelves for the living room and den for the future.
Our hotel was very nice--the Embassy Suites in Lombard. We checked in and spent some time driving around the 'burbs. I forgot my socks and wanted to shop for a few other things, so we were looking for a Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, or something. We found Kohl's, and Jeremy bought me some socks and all the other things I was looking for; great sales!
Our whole group convened at Cheesecake Factory for dinner, oh yum! (Minus Todd and Jennifer, who didn't get to come because she was sick. SUCH a huge bummer, and we missed them tons and hated that they had to miss the trip!!!!)
Saturday morning {Valentine's Day} we all enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel and hopped on their shuttle to the train station in Downer's Grove.
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We were just in time for the train, and took the Metra right into Union Station in the city!
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(us being goofy on the train)
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We're in the city!!!
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We're in the city!!!
(on the bridge over the Chicago River)
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These dudes were rowing right along, enjoying the unusually beautiful weather for mid-February in the (not-so-)Windy City!
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We took the Chicago Trolley/Double Decker Hop On Hop Off Tour, and hopped off at the second stop--Millenium Park.
A ha-ha-funny man we asked to take our picture by Cloud Gate pretended to walk off with my camera, and I was ready to chase him down if he wasn't kidding. He was.
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We walked through the park, then decided to split up. We went with the Keller's and Davis' to The Art Institute of Chicago. We spent most of our time in the Impressionist Galleries, which I absolutely loved. (Jeremy wasn't so thrilled about the museum, though I could have spent a whole week there gawking.)
So awesome to be there among these amazing works of art!
Here, people admiring Gustave Caillabotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day.
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One of my favorite paintings of all, Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond. I wouldn't know enough to properly photograph any kind of art, but just love this. I used to have a cheapy poster of it hanging in my college dorm room. It, like many of the paintings we saw, is one of a series. He painted this series in his own garden.
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The Drinker's, by Vincent Van Gogh, wasn't one I was familiar with, but was very intrigued to see and read about! The four male figures are to represent the different stages of a man's life, and the blue-green tint to their skin is to represent the destruction alcohol brings.
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Others we saw that were particularly intriguing or memorable:
We also spent some time in the American Galleries, admiring:
After a little walk to get some Starbucks, we hopped back on a trolley and learned some more about the city. We heard President Obama was at his home in the city, but didn't go visit him...ha ha ha.
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We hopped off the trolley at Navy Pier, and Lisa, Todd, and I spent our $6 for a 7-minute ride on the big Ferris Wheel above Lake Michigan. It was cold, but really not any colder than it was on the ground.
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The Sears Tower and other skyscrapers--a Ferris Wheel view.
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after our ride
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We had to pose in front of the huge new (Dec. 2008) statue called, "God Bless America," which is obviously based on Grant Wood's American Gothic painting. Some other dude wanted in our picture, apparently.
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I am a geek, I know, but I totally love to check out all the beautiful ornate buildings.
So gorgeous. Don't even know what building this is.
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This is inside part of the filling station under the original Chicago Water Tower Water Works. It now houses the Lookingglass Theatre. We discovered just a bit too late that David Schwimmer (one of the founding members of Lookingglass, and star of my favorite show ever--FRIENDS) was playing in a production of Our Town there this week. Would have loved to have seen it!
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We had lunch at Buca Di Beppo at the Pope's Table, which was hilarious and yummy at the same time. We visited the Hershey Store quickly, and stuffed 6 of us in a cab back to Union Station. We hung out in the lovely hotel that evening, and order in Giordano's pizza--Chicago style, of course, SO good.
This morning, we tried to sleep in a bit, had breakfast at the hotel, then all went up South Barrington for a great service at Willow Creek Community Church. Their former teaching pastor, John Ortberg was the guest speaker. He spoke about how "when the game is over, it all goes back in the box." Very inspiring! It was a beautiful place, and a fantastic experience!
On our way home, we traveled with the Schuneman's and met the Keller's for lunch in Schaumburg at Webber Grill.
What an absolutely enjoyable weekend!
Our hotel was very nice--the Embassy Suites in Lombard. We checked in and spent some time driving around the 'burbs. I forgot my socks and wanted to shop for a few other things, so we were looking for a Wal-Mart, Meijer, Target, or something. We found Kohl's, and Jeremy bought me some socks and all the other things I was looking for; great sales!
Our whole group convened at Cheesecake Factory for dinner, oh yum! (Minus Todd and Jennifer, who didn't get to come because she was sick. SUCH a huge bummer, and we missed them tons and hated that they had to miss the trip!!!!)
Saturday morning {Valentine's Day} we all enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel and hopped on their shuttle to the train station in Downer's Grove.
We were just in time for the train, and took the Metra right into Union Station in the city!
(us being goofy on the train)
We're in the city!!!
We're in the city!!!
(on the bridge over the Chicago River)
These dudes were rowing right along, enjoying the unusually beautiful weather for mid-February in the (not-so-)Windy City!
We took the Chicago Trolley/Double Decker Hop On Hop Off Tour, and hopped off at the second stop--Millenium Park.
A ha-ha-funny man we asked to take our picture by Cloud Gate pretended to walk off with my camera, and I was ready to chase him down if he wasn't kidding. He was.
We walked through the park, then decided to split up. We went with the Keller's and Davis' to The Art Institute of Chicago. We spent most of our time in the Impressionist Galleries, which I absolutely loved. (Jeremy wasn't so thrilled about the museum, though I could have spent a whole week there gawking.)
So awesome to be there among these amazing works of art!
Here, people admiring Gustave Caillabotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day.
One of my favorite paintings of all, Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond. I wouldn't know enough to properly photograph any kind of art, but just love this. I used to have a cheapy poster of it hanging in my college dorm room. It, like many of the paintings we saw, is one of a series. He painted this series in his own garden.
The Drinker's, by Vincent Van Gogh, wasn't one I was familiar with, but was very intrigued to see and read about! The four male figures are to represent the different stages of a man's life, and the blue-green tint to their skin is to represent the destruction alcohol brings.
Others we saw that were particularly intriguing or memorable:
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/65811
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/80607
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/16584
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/111318 (much of the series was displayed)
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/16600
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/25825
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/27992 !!!!!!!
We also spent some time in the American Galleries, admiring:
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/93798
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/100858
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/111629
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/156600
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/125660
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/59820
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/93811
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/62452
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/117266
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/53501
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/186682
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/56682
- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/191556
After a little walk to get some Starbucks, we hopped back on a trolley and learned some more about the city. We heard President Obama was at his home in the city, but didn't go visit him...ha ha ha.
We hopped off the trolley at Navy Pier, and Lisa, Todd, and I spent our $6 for a 7-minute ride on the big Ferris Wheel above Lake Michigan. It was cold, but really not any colder than it was on the ground.
The Sears Tower and other skyscrapers--a Ferris Wheel view.
after our ride
We had to pose in front of the huge new (Dec. 2008) statue called, "God Bless America," which is obviously based on Grant Wood's American Gothic painting. Some other dude wanted in our picture, apparently.
I am a geek, I know, but I totally love to check out all the beautiful ornate buildings.
So gorgeous. Don't even know what building this is.
This is inside part of the filling station under the original Chicago Water Tower Water Works. It now houses the Lookingglass Theatre. We discovered just a bit too late that David Schwimmer (one of the founding members of Lookingglass, and star of my favorite show ever--FRIENDS) was playing in a production of Our Town there this week. Would have loved to have seen it!
We had lunch at Buca Di Beppo at the Pope's Table, which was hilarious and yummy at the same time. We visited the Hershey Store quickly, and stuffed 6 of us in a cab back to Union Station. We hung out in the lovely hotel that evening, and order in Giordano's pizza--Chicago style, of course, SO good.
This morning, we tried to sleep in a bit, had breakfast at the hotel, then all went up South Barrington for a great service at Willow Creek Community Church. Their former teaching pastor, John Ortberg was the guest speaker. He spoke about how "when the game is over, it all goes back in the box." Very inspiring! It was a beautiful place, and a fantastic experience!
On our way home, we traveled with the Schuneman's and met the Keller's for lunch in Schaumburg at Webber Grill.
What an absolutely enjoyable weekend!
Monday, February 9, 2009
the day my baby went to school
This day sure came a lot faster than I expected. Less than an hour ago, I put my 4-year-old baby boy on a school bus for the first time. Though I know it's a great opportunity for him to learn and grow, it hurts. He was so excited though; no tears from him. I'm so thankful.
Jeremy came home from work to see Caeden off. (And after the bus pulled away and I broke down, he told me he really came home for me. He knew Caeden would be fine.) Caeden was so cute when Jeremy walked in while we were getting ready for school. He said, "Hey Dad! Why did you come home?" Jeremy told him he came to see him off to school because he's so proud of him.
I think no matter how long you have together with someone, knowing you're going to have to say any kind of goodbye, you always feel like you're going to have longer than you do. I've never liked letting go, and it's about a thousand times harder when I have to let go of one of my children and let them walk another step. Still, it's a blessing to see them growing up.
Here's our little boy with his big backpack. Even looking at the spot where he's sitting here on the porch, I see behind him the screen ripped out of the door where he climbed through it to get outside when he was about 1 1/2. (No, I still haven't fixed it.) Wasn't that just last week?
He had no reservations. He was ready to go!
Oh how excited to see that his bus is yellow like the big school buses! We thought it would be white or blue, so this was a fun last minute surprise.
When his bus driver opened the door, she said, "Hi Buddy! I'm Debbie, and I'm your bus driver! You can sit right here in this seat!" and he did. He didn't even look out the window to wave at us because he was busy talking to his new friend Luke, who lives around the corner from us and is in his new class.
Thank you Lord, for taking care of our Caeden and helping him with each small and gigantic step of his growing up.Thursday, February 5, 2009
Preschool Changes
Homeschooling has been going really well with Caeden lately. He's been learning about the seasons and sun, moon, stars, comets, planets--the things God created on the 4th day of Creation. He made up a little song to go with one of his memory verses, Genesis 1:16--"God made two great lights--the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars." And on Monday, he was sounding out three-letter words and was so excited! He called Daddy at work to tell him, "Daddy I'm reading!!!!" On Tuesday, we finished up the first books of the curriculum...all set to start the second half.
I've been sort of surprised how much I've grown to love doing school with Caeden. It is a constant struggle getting him to sit still and listen, but it is awesome being there to see the "lightbulb" go on. I love the curriculum; the fact that it's Biblical and is teaching him all about the story of Creation and that he's learning scripture and remembering it. It's been a good experience for both of us.
But! God likes to shock us sometimes with situations that are totally unexpected, doesn't He?
Tuesday morning, I got a call from the pre-K teacher at the elementary school where the girls attend. She said an immediate spot had opened up in her class, and Caeden was next on the waiting list.
Uhhhhhhhh. I was so surprised, I barely knew what to say. I told her we would need to discuss it and decide. She needed to know our answer in 2 days! Time to start prayin'!
We had Caeden screened for this pre-K program last spring, and knew he was on the waiting list. But, I didn't expect a spot to open halfway through the year. We suddenly had a lot to consider--and quickly!
Yesterday, Caeden and I visited the pre-K class for the afternoon. It was great. He jumped right in and felt comfortable with the other kids. He had a chance to interact with all 3 teachers in the room. He spoke out of turn, and disobeyed the teacher's instructions and saw that he can't get away with that. He was excited when they talked about some things we've learned at home, and was obviously lost when they talked about some things we haven't. It was quite apparent that it would be a great environment for him.
SO! We're signing him up. By enrolling him now, he will be grandfathered in for next year's class, which we definitely don't want him to miss out on. Even though, I myself am not emotionally ready for him to start every day preschool next week, I know it will be good for him.
He will even ride the bus to and from school! Before you think I am totally insane putting my 4-year-old on a school bus, let me explain that it is a small bus that carries only preschoolers. There's no way we'd put him on the big bus.
I'm sure Caeden was overwhelmed with his classroom visit yesterday, and so tired, as we were tucking him in last night. Jeremy started to say to him, "Caeden, do you realize, when you go to school next week, Mommy will be home all by herself?" Caeden completely burst into tears and wailed, "But I can't ever go to school! I love her so much! I don't want to leave her all alone! She's the best mommy! I can't leave her!" Oh my gosh, talk about ripping my heart out! I was bawling too, and we hugged and hugged. Much as I would have liked to sit there and just hold him and bawl for a couple hours, I had to turn it around and do the positive talk.
He is really excited about going to school. I'm praying that getting on the bus won't be emotional for either of us. I think that will be the hardest part.
And so we start a new adventure! First, we have to buy him a backpack!
I've been sort of surprised how much I've grown to love doing school with Caeden. It is a constant struggle getting him to sit still and listen, but it is awesome being there to see the "lightbulb" go on. I love the curriculum; the fact that it's Biblical and is teaching him all about the story of Creation and that he's learning scripture and remembering it. It's been a good experience for both of us.
But! God likes to shock us sometimes with situations that are totally unexpected, doesn't He?
Tuesday morning, I got a call from the pre-K teacher at the elementary school where the girls attend. She said an immediate spot had opened up in her class, and Caeden was next on the waiting list.
Uhhhhhhhh. I was so surprised, I barely knew what to say. I told her we would need to discuss it and decide. She needed to know our answer in 2 days! Time to start prayin'!
We had Caeden screened for this pre-K program last spring, and knew he was on the waiting list. But, I didn't expect a spot to open halfway through the year. We suddenly had a lot to consider--and quickly!
Yesterday, Caeden and I visited the pre-K class for the afternoon. It was great. He jumped right in and felt comfortable with the other kids. He had a chance to interact with all 3 teachers in the room. He spoke out of turn, and disobeyed the teacher's instructions and saw that he can't get away with that. He was excited when they talked about some things we've learned at home, and was obviously lost when they talked about some things we haven't. It was quite apparent that it would be a great environment for him.
SO! We're signing him up. By enrolling him now, he will be grandfathered in for next year's class, which we definitely don't want him to miss out on. Even though, I myself am not emotionally ready for him to start every day preschool next week, I know it will be good for him.
He will even ride the bus to and from school! Before you think I am totally insane putting my 4-year-old on a school bus, let me explain that it is a small bus that carries only preschoolers. There's no way we'd put him on the big bus.
I'm sure Caeden was overwhelmed with his classroom visit yesterday, and so tired, as we were tucking him in last night. Jeremy started to say to him, "Caeden, do you realize, when you go to school next week, Mommy will be home all by herself?" Caeden completely burst into tears and wailed, "But I can't ever go to school! I love her so much! I don't want to leave her all alone! She's the best mommy! I can't leave her!" Oh my gosh, talk about ripping my heart out! I was bawling too, and we hugged and hugged. Much as I would have liked to sit there and just hold him and bawl for a couple hours, I had to turn it around and do the positive talk.
He is really excited about going to school. I'm praying that getting on the bus won't be emotional for either of us. I think that will be the hardest part.
And so we start a new adventure! First, we have to buy him a backpack!