May Guest #2

Our second guest in May was GranAnn. She stayed with us for a ten days and we didn't get a single picture with her. I suppose she had no time for pictures between doing our laundry, running our errands, cooking our dinner and chaperoning the three-year Rainforest class' field trip to the Aquarium. Thank you mom! Oh and mom and I were out of town in the middle of her trip at a family wedding in South Carolina. Like all good parents faced with a weekend alone with two kiddos, Mark headed to his parent's house. So we don't have any actual photos of GranAnn's visit but we do have some of the girls enjoying JuJu and Poppy's backyard!

Mother's Day Pedicures

Can you guess who did Merrill and I's nails? If only we had a picture of the manicure JuJu got later in the day.... On some toes we got "Piggy Pink" and on the others "Macaroni and Cheese".

Weekend with EE

We got to play hosts three times in May! Aside from an evening at the beach we kind of stuck to our normal weekend routine of the park, grocery store, naps, etc. It was Mother's Day weekend so EE treated us to a great home cooked dinner Saturday night and Mark treated us to a full breakfast spread on Sunday. Oh and I did convince Merrill to make a quick trip to Michigan Avenue for some work clothes. After three stores she told me I was done and wouldn't me go to anymore :).

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I (Mark) am back for my second blog posting of all time.  I really would like to do more but Whitney is so good at it that I defer to her (this is the same reasoning that results in me doing a lot of dishes in our house).

Anyway, I got treated to an early Father's Day present when Amelia said she wanted to go to the Cubs game.  Whitney wanted to surprise me and get tickets but was so worried about getting tickets to the wrong game that she told me to just pick a game.  Of course I picked the soonest game I could as I was super excited to get to take Amelia to her first Cubs game.  As many of you know I am a little bit of a Cubs fan so this meant a lot to me.

Amelia reluctantly posed for a pre-walk picture for Mommy.

Luckily, Whitney was able to get some good ones as we walked away.

A couple of pics in front of the marquee.  One I clearly took myself and the other a friendly stranger  helped me out.  I sure did get a good work out as Amelia wanted to be carried a lot that day.  I don't blame her (and secretly I enjoyed it) as the concourse gets awfully crowded and she would surely get bumped in to a lot.

All of the above were taken by Amelia.  The first one was pretty good...  And I am not sure how she took a black and white picture, I will have to ask her next time I want that setting.

Two thumbs up for the Cubs!  Not sure she was aware of the score.

The game was really fun.  The weather could have been better - outside the field it was about 60, in our seats I would guess about 45 and windy.  That didn't stop Amelia as she wanted to stay for the whole game.  We took a 1 1/2 inning stroll in the middle of the game to warm up and search out some hot chocolate but to no avail (which is really surprising considering I went to a game last Thursday and it was 65-70 in my seat and I saw the hot chocolate vendor three times).

Amelia's favorite part of the game was obviously the seventh inning stretch.  She took her duties as a Cubs fan very seriously and made sure to sing loud as the Cubs were down 5-0.  Unfortunately, even Amelia's singing couldn't help the Cubs so we left at the end of 8 innings as we were freezing and someone was getting tired (I won't say who).  Welcome to being a Cubs fan Amelia, you will get used to it... there is always next game (Cubs 1 - Dodgers 5).

Blue Harbor

So when Tomme and Bobbie invited us to spend the weekend with them at a water park in Wisconsin,  I must admit I was a bit skeptical. Not because of the company but because I'm SO not a water park girl. We had no plans and knew the girls would have a blast with their cousins so we took them up on the offer, after all it wasn't about me. Turns out Blue Harbor is a great place to spend the weekend. The hotel is nice, spa super peaceful, views of Lake Michigan beautiful, the kiddos were all on their best behavior and most importantly I'm pretty sure the cousins all had a great time. I NEVER thought I would look forward to a trip to a water park but I'm definitely looking forward to going back. Hopefully we can go when JuJu/Poppy can join us and it is warmer so we can enjoy the beach! I didn't get a lot of pictures of the water fun as with a one to one kid to parent ratio it makes it hard to focus on taking pictures rather than keeping track of kiddos.

So much for sneaking away for a peaceful beer by himself. Anytime we opened the door to our hotel room Juliet got to the door as fast as she could and would scream if she didn't get to go. I don't think daddy minded his date.

These two girls are something else together... They sure do love playing together!

After a full morning at the water park and long afternoon naps I have never seen kids eat as much as they all did.

Having to sit in a high chair versus the booth with the "big" kids didn't stop Baby J from eating her weight in mac-n-cheese.

Cousin love.

and more cousin love

and yet another attempt of a photograph of all four Lang babies.

Amelia held very still while getting her glitter tattoo in the kid's playroom.

Someone has turned into a bit of a monkey. We cannot turn our back to our littlest lady or this is what we are likely to find. She has turned into a climber! This is new territory for us and I'm not sure there is much we can do other than always have one eye on her. Perhaps this phase will pass but at least right now Juliet has no fear. She would scream at me whenever I wouldn't let her walk directly in to the pool... 

A & G sure have good taste. They showed up in the same swimsuit (in reality it means both their moms are guilty of only shopping for them at Target). Of course they could not be bothered to slow down long enough for a picture of their matching attire.  Georgia is the family dare devil and Charlie and Juliet hold their own in trying new things. Amelia is cut out of the same mold as her mom. She really wanted to go on one of the big slides where you go down in an inner tube. She wanted me to go with her and after mumbling under my breath, "this really is a daddy task" I grabbed a tube and we climbed to the top. It was fast, dark and scary. Amelia screamed the entire way down. I was happy when she didn't want to go again.

Juliet loving her freedom in the water. Uncle Tomme doing a stellar job watching her. :)

Easter Egg Hunts

We hit up two neighborhood Easter egg hunts. One the weekend before in our immediate neighborhood of Graceland West and the other at the large Chicago Park District park near by. Oh yeah, and Juliet is walking. She started just in time to hunt for eggs.

Oh sweet baby girl had NO idea what was going on. But she loves carrying around bags so she happily roamed around with her bunny bag. The uneven surface was a bit advanced for her new walking skills so she occasionally fell, rolled down the grass, got herself right back up and then kept going.

Too cute!

Amelia on the other hand knew exactly what was going in. There was a park full of candy which she needed!

This was the second egg hunt at the large park. It was total mayhem! Juliet peacefully fell asleep in the carrier on Mark so into the ring Amelia and I went. The Chicago Park District just throws a bunch of empty plastic eggs into the park and the kids run for them. There were probably two eggs for every kid it was so packed. You then took your eggs into the park district gym to get a goody bag. Amelia was more interested in playing on the park equipment than getting eggs.

Have no fear. There was plenty of candy in the goody bag AND she got to have her face painted like a bunny.

Juliet woke up just as the festivities were ending but it was too nice of a morning to go home so we let the girls run around the soccer fields next to the park. Ever since an art project in daycare where they took photographs Amelia has been especially into taking pictures. Here is one she took all by herself!

 All weekend I had tried to get Amelia to cooperate so I could send JuJu and Poppy a picture of her in the new dress they sent her in their Easter care package. Literally the whole way home from dinner I tried to get her picture. Finally I realized that JuJu and Poppy would just need to get a thank you video since getting our sweet girl to cooperate for a picture was not happening....

Rainforest Spring Art Show

We LOVE our daycare's art and musical shows. Amelia's favorite part is getting to run around her school like she owns the place with all her buddies and eating dessert. The past couple of shows we have talked about going to dinner with Sophia and her family after the show but haven't gotten up the courage until this recent show. After the show we headed around the corner for Mexican food, Shirley Temples and adult beverages. The big girls, Sophia and Amelia did a great job and had a blast eating dinner together in a restaurant. The baby girls, Lyla and Juliet were both falling apart.... All in all I think it was a pretty successful dinner considering we had two three year olds and two (around) one year olds at our table! This show's theme was Alice in Wonderland. All the photos are from my phone so no framers...

Amelia's "bio"

Juliet's "bio"

At each show they have a large display of a fruit or vegetables which are part of the decor as well as the take home gift. As if I was going to get a picture of both girls looking at the camera at the same time....

They also always ask to have a certain type of photo sent in for each kid. This show we were supposed to send in "vintage" looking family photos. The great one of the Backlunds in Mexico somehow didn't make it :(.  In the middle picture my mom and Susan are sporting matching dresses and hairdos. The photo above it was my dad, his brothers and parents in front of the cabin shortly after they bought it.