Nemo

At some point in the last year Sean became quite attached to a certain blanket in the house. It is actually a blanket that was given to Derek as a gift when Sean was born from Auntie Lindsay. Even though the blanket has the little fish Nemo on it, he always called it his "Elmo." He knows who Elmo is, and knows who Nemo is, but the blanket has been his "Elmo" from day 1.

Within the last few weeks, Sean has grown up. The blanket is now Nemo and no matter how hard I try to keep "Elmo" the name has been officially changed. The blanket is still a source of comfort for Sean, and needs to be with him at night. Before those days fade into memory too, I needed pictures of Nemo. Our favorite photographer, Charlie, came in from the UK to shoot some pictures for various friends and we were lucky enough to have secured a spot. So here are a couple of Sean and his Nemo.

Hullaballoo

I had quite a few children in my house this afternoon for play group. Here is just the end of the fun during a game of Hullaballoo, for those of you who are not familiar with the game, it's a great game for a lot of kids. They run from "pad" to "pad" depending what it tells them to do. The boys love it and had a great time playing it with their friends.

Thanksgiving outfit

Derek made this in preschool, they made a feast and got to party on their last day of school before the holiday. He was very proud of it and showed everyone on Thanksgiving.

Then of course we had to see what other people looked like in the hat.

First school picture

So even though Derek was in preschool last year we missed picture day. Yesterday we received our envelope of pictures, and if I can say so myself this is one darn handsome 4 year old. Yes, that is the remnant of a black eye in the photo (Derek's left).

Sean just being cute

The title of this post explains it all. He is quite the character and he knows it!

Kiddieland

Kiddieland closed on Oct 4th for good. It has been open for 81 seasons and if you lived anywhere near Chicago you've visited it once or twice in your childhood. This was on my "must do" list this summer and I almost didn't make it. Finally at the end of September the whole family went. It's a good thing we didn't go earlier in the summer, it's not cheap and we probably would have gone again. Both boys had a blast and I know they too are upset that it is now closed.

More of Boston

Just some more pictures from our trip. These were all taken in the Boston Public Garden.

Decided to let Derek try taking some pictures, he did very good!

Here come the Ducklings!!

What a hike

We decided to stay an extra day in Boston, and enjoy spending time with family. For our last day it just had to rain, considering we had great weather the rest of the trip. At least it was still warm, just rainy on and off. So what is the bright idea I have for the day? Let's go for a hike...did you check the weather? Yes, it is supposed to rain today......ok, if that's what you want to do. I had all the kids on my side because the hike I found was kid friendly with a cave at the end. Luckily for us it wasn't raining until we were headed back to the car. We were just a little damp, not drenched. The trail was beautiful even with the gray clouds in the sky, and the cave was pretty cool too. We finished off the day out to dinner with everyone. What a lovely day!

Derek was brave enough to go in the cave, Sean stayed outside with me.

Out to dinner with everyone...too bad Abuelito was hiding in this pic

Apple picking in Boston

My father and I drove out to Boston and spent a week visiting Abuelita, Abuelito and the Alvarado family. My boys have been having a great time playing with Monica, Jessica and Matt. Today we went to a farm to pick some apples. It was just a perfect day. The farm was GIGANTIC. We walked and walked, I don't even think we made it around half of it. Everyone filled up on apples, peaches, blueberries, and rasberries straight from the plant. Matt even ate an ear of corn right off the stalk. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

First started the day with a hay maze

Matt in an apple tree

The boys in the wagon eating their apples...on to the peaches!!!

Derek in a peach tree


Sean in a peach tree

Derek, Sean, Jessica, and Monica with some pumpkins

All of us in the orchard

A Hair cut

Derek has always done very well when he gets his hair cut. Sean isn't too terrible either, and has learned that at the end he does get a lollipop. Paul seems to want a hair cut every 2 weeks, although he probably only goes every 6 weeks. I on the other hand have usually only gotten a hair cut twice a year for most of my life. Two years ago my sister found a great hair stylist, Tony, in Oak Park and since then I am a bit more regular about getting my haircut. He has never given me a bad haircut. Today my mom and I had a girls morning that included a trip to Tony's salon, and here is the result.





Like I said he hasn't given a bad haircut yet. My mom was having trouble recognizing me for the rest of the day. Per her it's the shortest I have had my hair since I was a baby. I keep running my hands throughout, and love the cut!

Why is summer so long?

For the last couple of months Derek has asked a recurrent question, "Mom, why is summer so long?" He also was very curious why school needed a break. I gave up trying to explain it to him. Needless to say, we have been counting down the days until school starts. Finally, Wednesday morning, Derek woke up and I could tell him today was the day. He was super excited, although we had to beg him to pose for a picture or too. Sean, however, was more than happy to oblige. Derek eventually decided he couldn't let his little brother be the only one wearing his Power Ranger back pack in pictures. Derek had no reserve when we got to the classroom, he barely said good bye to us before he was off playing with some of his friends from last year and a couple of new ones. Hopefully he continues to be so enthusiastic about school.

Labor Day Weekend

We got back to Chicago late Thurs night, just in time for Labor Day weekend. I worked the whole weekend, and there has been a lot going on. We went to Schaumburgfest on Sunday and on Monday was at the free family fest at River Trails park district. The kids had a blast riding rides, getting their faces painted, and swimming. Unfortunately, we have also spent quite some time at the hospital visiting Grandpa Jack. On Friday he had some issues swallowing and slurring his words. It turns out he had a small stroke, luckily it is not affecting anything other than his speech. He has had numerous CAT scans and MRIs. They've changed a medicine on him, and want to do another scan in the morning just to make sure there is no change from the last one. We are hoping for discharge later tomorrow. Yesterday the kids were having fun entertaining grandpa and we made sure to bring him a piece of chocolate cake from Portillo's. Enjoy the pictures from the weekend!


The boys riding the tea cups

and driving a truck.



The boys playing in Grandpa's room


Grandpa and his chocolate cake....look at that smile!

BIG Fish

The other evening there was quite the thunderstorm here in Florida, afterwards we noticed a rather large item on the beach. It kind of looked like a fish, we went across the street to investigate and sure enough it was an almost 4 foot fish washed up on shore. The kids and Daddy thought it was very cool, they even took a scale as a souvenier, we'll see if I remember to pack it on our way back.

Florida

We have been enjoying the hot weather, the ocean, and the sun. Here are a couple of pics from the last couple of days and a short video of the kids in our neighbor's pool down here. Enjoy!

Another entry for today

So, the boys and I left this morning for Florida with Grandpa Dan. The flight was pretty uneventful which is good. Grandma Pat and Dziadzia were already here waiting for us. All of us were exhausted, took a good nap and then I took the boys to the beach for a little while. I guess it wasn't long enough because as you will see they still had lots of energy after dinner.

Brookfield

On Sunday we had a beautiful day in Chicago, so we decided to hit Brookfield zoo for the last time this summer. We went with the Ingaunis family and had a great time seeing all the animals and the dinosaur exhibit. Sean was afraid of the dinosaurs and Paul had to carry him through that part. Here are the kids being bears, I couldn't get all of them to do it at the same time, so I have three of them, and then there is Sean's video. Enjoy!!

I could be dangerous

Now that I now uploading video clips is so easy there may be a few. Here is one from a couple of nights ago. Who knew that Sean is a such a good rapper!!

Going to try a video

I got a flip mino for Christmas last year and love being able to take video of the kids wherever we go. This week we spent some time in the pool with our friends Lucas and Vincent Ingaunis. Hopefully this uploads correctly. It's only about 2 min long, but may get boring unless of course you are me!

Blueberry picking and the Dunes

We had quite the fun weekend. First on Friday we went with Grandma Pat, Grandpa Dan, and Uncle Joe blueberry picking. It was a huge farm with 10 varieties of bluberries. We were only picking and eating the sweet ones! We all helped pick 71 pounds of berries. I think Derek and Sean ate way more than they actually picked, but they had fun.





Then we sent Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Joe home with the blueberries and we headed off to the Indiana Dunes to set up our campsite. Derek and Sean couldn't have been more excited to sleep in a tent. They of course helped us setting up our equipment, and were very interested in helping make the campfire. They behaved very well and enjoyed just running and playing outside. Derek roasted our marshmallows for smores, he decided he wasn't very fond of them himself, but loved making them for Mommy and Daddy. One night, one of the other families set up a large projection movie and the boys fell asleep watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua out under the stars. During the days we spent lots of time at the beach. Friday the lake was nice and calm. Sean didn't want much to do with the water, but he enjoyed the sand. Saturday it rained, so we went shopping and for a walk on the beach in the evening after the rain. Sunday there were more waves out on the lake which scared the boys at first. But after being brought out into the water under the pretense of rinsing off the sand, they LOVED the waves. Sean kept asking for "Big Wave" They were laughing and having a blast. Derek corrected us on the drive back home when I said we had a good weekend. "No, mommy, we had a GREAT weekend."