Sweet Home Chicago

Well, our big move is coming up. I can not tell you how much of a bitter-sweet move this will be for us. We love our home and love our neighborhood and have been so happy here. But at the same time we are ready to move on. We love living in Chicago, but we don't take advantage of the city like we used to. And we're really looking forward to things like a garage, a yard, and a garbage disposal (yes, that really is something we've daydreamed about). 

This home will always be special to us. It was our first home, where we put up our first Christmas tree, where we brought home our first baby, the first place we really called "home" for our family. Although there is a lot that we are looking forward to in our move, there is a lot we will miss: the morning sunlight in our living room, the creak in the floor right under Alora's rocking chair, the beautiful hardwood floors, the coziness of our family room, the always-perfect temperature of our balcony.

And now, after filling out 1,962 forms and making 1,974 phone calls, we will be moving this weekend. I can hardly believe it. As much as I will miss our condo, this move can't come fast enough. I am ready. We are all ready. This next chapter in our lives will be a big one and we are so eager for it to begin.

An now here's one last look at our first home...

 

Farewell, Chicago. Thanks for the memories!

A Full Plate

Happy Monday everyone! I just want to drop in for a quick note to let you all that I haven't forgotten about you or this blog. In fact, it's on my mind all the time. My notebook is filling up with ideas and my "photos to edit" folder is reaching its max capacity. But with our house sale, work, packing, and travels lately, my plate is full. Very full. But stay tuned, I'll have some goodies for you soon!

In The Park, We Can Build A Snowman

Holy buckets, can you believe it's already almost mid-march? Ok, so maybe I worded that to sound a little closer to spring than it actually is. Wishful thinking? Either way, I wanted to get this post in before we all forgot what snow was for the season (yeah, right).

We had a big snow a few weeks ago so as soon as we were all home from work we raced to the park to play. The park near our house is something I will really miss about living where we do. True, we don't have yard, but we have a giant park with miles of paths, green grass, open spaces, more jungle gyms than a 2 year old could wish for, a swimming pool and a dog park. Yes, this park has been a big part of our lives while living here and it will truly be missed. Anyway, I digress.

Back to the snow.

We helped Alora build her first snowman.  The snow was probably some of the best packing snow we've had all winter so it went together pretty quickly.

She helped roll and pack while Cosmo got in some good sniffing.

Once our big guy was assembled we thought we were done, but Alora must have brushed up on her snowman anatomy because she instructed us that he needed a hat, eyes, nose and arms.

We were short of a hat, but we ran off to the trees to get some sticks for arms and a nose...

Chiseled on some eyes, and he was close enough to complete.

 Until Cosmo decided to go after his arms.

Look at that guilty face.

Thankfully it was some easy patching.

By that point we were all about frozen and looking like this:

So we gave our new friend a farewell hug and headed home.

Good night snow man.

Good night park.

Cake for Breakfast

Parenting is hard. Really hard. And raising a child is sometimes like holding a mirror up to your biggest faults.  And something I've noticed in myself is that I can bypass fun, just to get the job done, which can lead to a job done, but a crabby family. Since I've set my resolutions for this year (which I still haven't printed out, grrr!) I'm trying to stay true to them and my one little word: choose. So the other day when I was cleaning the house (getting ready for a showing, actually) there was one piece of stale cake left in the pan. I was just about the throw it out so I could wash the pan and get it put away (less counter clutter = bigger looking kitchen), when I remembered my mom telling me that my grandma used to eat left over pie for breakfast.  So in honor of my grandma I called Alora into the kitchen and told her I had a surprise. If only you could have seen her eyes when she saw the cake pan sitting on the floor with 2 forks...before breakfast! I might as well have had a circus full of glitter-coated Disney Princesses right behind me. She was tickled! So we started our day with a nutritious delicious breakfast of cake. On the floor. We then spent the rest of our morning in sugar-induced giggles, talking about what fun our breakfast was.

What little things have you done lately that remind you stop and enjoy the moment?

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!

In case you're new around these parts (welcome!!!), I'll fill you in on Happy Mondays.  I started doing these posts a few years ago when Mondays were, well, Mondays. So instead of thinking "ugh, Monday again" I started a (semi-)tradition of listing five or so things that I have to be greateful, things that make me happy, or memories that make me smile from the past few days.

So here are my happy five for the day:

1. We had our first no-plan weekend in ages, maybe months. While I love having company and going places, it was soooo nice to take a breather.
2. We got a bunch of paperwork on our house buying/selling process completed. (So stressful and so relieved to be closer to the finish line!)

3. We had not one, but two painting parties over the weekend. I even came up with a little sumthin' sumthin' myself that I am using as my new phone background. I kind of love it. Who knew crayola water colors could be so fun?

 

4. We went to our favorite diner for breakfast: pancakes, eggs, coffee, bacon, omelets, sausage... Need I say more?
5. We had a great movie night on Saturday. And we didn't have to watch Toy Story. Love that movie, but we watch it all.the.time. We've ventured on to Ice Age.

6. I gave Jake a haircut. (Gulp) We've been trying to save money here and there and this is one (ridiculous) way we thought we could save money. And while we have saved money, it takes a lot of time. A lot. Since I have no idea what I'm doing am very methodical and precise in my technique, his haircuts can take up to an hour and a half. But has long as Jake has sports on TV and a beer within reach, it all works out.
7. My parents are visiting tonight! Alora ran to the window as soon as I told her the news.

Photo A Day Challenge

I did! I did it! I accomplished my goal of a photo a day for the full month of February! Woo hoo!

And I loved it! I might even be a little addicted to Instagram, now that I've figured it out. I love having the record of my every day life, of the little details I would have never thought of previously capturing. I actually enjoyed this so much, that I'm extending my goal for another month. Who's with me? You can check out the details at Fat Mum Slim.  She provides a new list each month and I've included it for you at the bottom.

Here's the lastest from February:

23. friend, food, fun

24. cloud

25. on my bedside table

26. quiet

27. playing... beauty parlor

28. upside down

Photo a Day Challenge

I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it! We're almost to the end of February and I haven't missed a day of my photo-a-day challenge. I did miss last week's post somehow, so I'll have to catch up here.

7. my name

8. something orange

9. guilty pleasure

10. 3 o'clock

11. entrance

12. where i ate lunch

13. walking

14. love is...

15. inside my fridge

16. perfect

17. in her hand

18. something I don't like

19. i am

20. where i stood

21. full

22. make me smile

Check out this post for the details, and this post for days 2-6.