Love Labor Day

I love Labor Day Weekend. It reminds me of when I was younger and thought that was the day that all the pregnant ladies went into labor. I know, I was one smart kid.....Anyway, we had a great long weekend with lots of eating. Saturday we had a cookout with our neighbors. The kids were chilling under the umbrella chairs while sipping juice boxes.

After dinner the kids had cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate Brett's bday (Sept. 7th) and another dads bday on Sept. 1st. The kids love the cookouts because they get lots of sugar with juiceboxes and desserts.

Sunday morning Cade had another football game. The last few days have been rough on Cade man with starting school again and still having football practice. Thursday on the way to his practice he said he doesn't want to play football anymore but I told him he started the season so he has to finish it. So he said he doesn't want to play next year for sure. Then he said his son won't play football either. I thought, wow, he must really hate it. Then he started crying and said his son can't play because Cade won't know how to teach him to be good at football because he won't know how to play if he doesn't play anymore. Poor guy. They lost the game, but he did really well. The hilight of the game for him was that we won the split the pot raffle. We actually volunteered (we have to do 4 volunteer positions) to sell tickets for the raffle so we walked around selling tickets and we wanted to buy some raffle tickets but so it didn't look fishy if we happened to win, we bought our tickets from the other family who was selling tickets. We were happy to hear our number called and we won $136! After hearing we won Cade decided he would like to keep playing football so we can keep buying tickets and try to win again. That boy and his love for money....

Before the game Cade was whining and complaining about not wanting to get dressed for football so Maddi jumped at the chance to get all the gear on. When he saw Maddi wearing his stuff he wanted her out of it right away so he could put it on. She looks like a w.t. boy doesn't she?

My Maddi girl loves going to the football games so she can see the latest love of her life. She has a crush on a boy on Cade's team. She has never talked to him, but she is in love with him and says she is going to tell him she's in love with him at practice Tuesday. I said he might find that weird for her to tell him that but she said she needs to tell him so he can know she loves him and he can love her back. So I tried to tell her that she isn't in love with him, it's really called a crush. She said, no, she really is in love. Oh, I'm afraid that girl is going to give my poor husband a heart attack. She loves those boys and they sure like her too.

On another fun note with Maddi, we had a funny, sad, whatever moment before bed tonight. She had a friend a while back who helped her make a "fairy house". It was a shoebox with tissues for a bed and I forget what else and Maddi left it outside her door so that a fairy could come at night and write to her and sleep in the box. So she wrote back and forth with the fairy for a while and then the fairy kept forgetting to write to her and Maddi stopped writing the fairy and then one day while I was cleaning I got rid of the fairy house. She never even noticed it was gone. Saturday Maddi decided to make another fairy house so her fairy would come back. Saturday night the fairy didn't come but Sunday night she came and left a note for Maddi. Tonight before bed she wanted me to tell her the truth if I wrote the note and was the fairy or tell her if there really is a fairy. I couldn't keep a straight face. I asked her what she thought happened and I could tell she was on to it.....so.....she now knows the truth about the fairy. She was so excited that I would do that for her so she wants me to keep being the fairy and write to her. Then she wanted to know if I'm the tooth fairy. I said, do you think I'd give you money for your nasty teeth? I don't even like teeth, I just like to pull them out. Maddi girl, you're getting to big and asking too many questions!

First of First and Second

You can see I am busy catching up on blogging and that's because the kids started school today! There was a bit of chill to the air today so Maddi threw on her jacket. Of course as luck would have it, I had to wake Maddi up (she is such a late sleeper, but she was in a good mood because she was ready to go to school). I let her sleep as late as possible so that made me behind schedule and we were rushing out the door so they wouldn't be late on their first of school. I snapped a few quick pics and we were off.

Maddi, my big second grader. I can hardly believe she is the same age as the kids I taught when I found out we would be having a bundle of joy. She is so excited about going back to school, probably because one of her best friends, Maddie, is in her class and they sit at the same table right across from each other. Hopefully they don't get in trouble with that, but they are both good kids so I don't see it being a problem.

My "baby" Cade all ready for full day in the first grade. He was not very excited to start, he was more nervous. I wrote him a schedule on an index card for his pocket and you can see he has his watch on see he can know how much longer until I come to pick him up. I'm volunteering today at lunch with first grade to help open their juice boxes, etc. so I can't wait to see him and hear how his day is going.

Maddi with Mrs. Alyward, her teacher. She seems very sweet and Maddi is excited to have her.

Cade with Miss Provost, his teacher. She is very fun and lively and I think Cade will have a fun time with her.

An Overdue Girls Weekend

Last weekend 3 of my best friends from college came in town for a long overdue girls weekend. Kim and Leslie came on Thursday and we had a nice dinner and ice cream in downtown Naperville. Friday Dusti came in and after getting her we headed downtown Chicago for an architecture tour.Here is Kim with the Sears tower in the background behind her. After the tour we headed back to my house for deep dish Chicago pizza and hanging out. We had a great night laughing at ourselves and telling stories.

Saturday morning we headed back downtown and ate lunch at the RL Cafe. It was one of the warmer days we've had this summer, but still nice enough to eat outside. After lunch we did a bit of shopping on Michigan Avenue then headed back to the Drake hotel where we were staying. We decided to watch the Sex in the City movie in our room and it was fun to compare ourselves to those women.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had a nice dinner and then went to the Hancock for drinks. Here is Leslie with her baby bump. She is having a baby girl in January so we had lots of advice and stories for her of what to expect with her first child. I must say Les was quite the trooper being preggo and keeping up (or is that putting up) with all of us.

A self portrait of me and Kimmy. We were having a great night and planned on dropping Leslie in the room and letting her get some rest and then we were going to hit the clubs and dance all night. Once we got back to the room and sat for a bit we remembered we aren't 20 anymore and called it a night. Sunday we slept in until 9:00 (love those room darkening curtains in hotel rooms) and then had breakfast. To top it all off we had a race to the airport to get their bags checked and catch their flights. It was such a fun weekend full of laughter and good friends!

We all Scream....

For Ice Cream!!! Sunday afternoon Cade and Maddi were over at our neighbors playing in the sprinkler. All of a sudden Cade ran into the house frantically looking for his $3.00 dollars because he heard the ice cream truck and he is going to buy ice cream for everyone. He found his money and took off outside and was down the street before Brett and I figured out what he was talking about and what he was doing. I seriously think he would have ran around the whole neighborhood had we not stopped him. Luckily the ice cream truck came right in front of our house and the kids came out of the woodwork. $3.00 won't buy much from an ice cream truck these days, so we let Cade keep his money and we bought the ice cream for them.

Happy kids with their nasty looking popscicle-ish sponge bobs and spider man treats.

Looks tastey, huh? Not even I would take a lick of that thing!

Father/Son Bears Game

Brett took Maddi on the Father/Daughter canoe trip a few weeks ago so when he was offered tickets to a Bears pre-season game Brett decided to take Cade for their father/son time together. It was Brett's first time to a Chicago Bears football game and he was thrilled to share that experience with Cade.

My little Brettley and Cade man having some boy bonding time. By the way, when Brett went with Maddi I took Cade to see WallE. My friends were in town on the night of the Bears game and Maddi spent the night with a friend so I took Maddi to see Mama Mia a few days before the game to keep everything fair and square. We loved Mama Mia. However, I did not love fielding all of the questions from Maddi about how/why she didn't know who her dad was. :)

Down...set....

Don't know what this is a picture of, but I thought it looked important, so I'm posting it!

Cade man and his souveneirs. He loves those crazy things you can put on your hands! They had a great time.

August 16th and 17th- Air Show and Football

I am way behind on my posts....this is from a few weekends ago when we went to the Chicago Air and Water Show. We missed the water part, but the air show was so much fun. Notice the hearts the planes made in the pic above...that's how we feal. We heart the Air Show! Something was wrong with my camera and most of the pics with the planes had a big black spot on them. Either the lense was dirty or the sun was too bright, who knows, I'm not one to find out what the problem is and fix it.

We had no idea that we'd actually get a great spot on the wall of the lake where Brett and I sat and then the kids played in the lake. We totally weren't prepared and had not swimsuits, snacks, towels, etc. We were just winging it and never expected we'd actully stay for a while and enjoy the show. Notice in this pic of Cade and Brett that Cade's front tooth is sticking out over his lip. He has a loose tooth that he won't wiggle or let me wiggle so it's not coming out and it's starting to look funky. You know how I love those funky loose teeth...I want to rip it out!

Maddi and Cade are constantly being asked if they are twins. Notice their height, almost even. Maddi wants to be a twin so she doesn't answer because she doesn't want to lie to people but she wants them to think they are twins, so she says nothing.

So since we were so unprepared the poor kids had to play in the lake in their clothes. We knew it was a matter of time before they were all soaking wet and sandy. We were on Michigan Avenue at the Oak Street Beach so I just walked on over to Macy's and lucked out with suits for the kids. They only had a few small girl suits left and luckily they had two of the same for Maddi and Emily. They no longer had boy swim shorts so I got him regular mesh shorts. They were all on clearance and I got Maddi, Emily and Cade all new suits for $13.00 and change. When we rode the bus down Michigan Avenue Brett gave me a hard time about not being able to get off and do some shopping. As luck would have it, I did get to shop after all (who cares that it was a quick trip just for kids suits, shopping is shopping).

Talk about some happy kiddos in their new suits. Now they got to really enjoy the lake. The air show was great, but it was so much better since the kids were swimming in the lake. They would swim, look up at the cool planes, and go back to swimming.

Cade was thrilled that he could play in the sand and not have to worry about getting dirty.

Maddi spent time making a sandcastle with trash in the lake and on the beach.

After getting the kids changed back into their clothes, we headed over to Uncle Julio's on North Avenue. The kids were starving and were having a great time playing with the flamingos from our margaritas and the dough for tortillas that the tortilla maker gave them.

Brett and I were happy enjoying our swirl margaritas and some good ol Mexican food. Maddi took our picture and informed me after taking it that I look fat. Don't you love an honest girl?!? She told me to sit differently and took our picture again but it was blurry, so you get to see the fat one. If you ever want to know if your butt looks big, just ask my Maddi girl. Wonder where she gets that trait.....After Uncle Julio's we got back on the train and headed back to the 'burbs because Cade had his first football game Sunday.

Check out my little football stud #45 Cade McDonald. They won their game 19-0 and it was so fun to watch. Cade is still trying to figure it all out, but in my eyes, how you look is just as important as how you play and he's looking good in his little uniform if you ask me!

At the home games they even have a little run through. They have cheerleaders who cheer for them as they run through and they announce their names.

That's my boy. He played first team offense and was on the kick off return team. He almost got the ball on the first kickoff which made Brett and I really nervous. He would have gotten clobbered, I'm sure, and never wanted to play again. He liked the game and was surprised how fast and easy it was compared to practice.

Park Day

One of my favorite things about living away from Texas is that the summers are so fun. We don't have to worry about the heat and avoid going outside for most of the day. It has been even more mild than usual this summer and we are LOVING it. I just laugh when Maddi complains of it being hot when it's 85 degrees. Doesn't she know where she comes from?!? An 85 degree summer day would be cold in Texas. To enjoy the beautiful day we headed to a local park that has a free tram tour, a fun playground and a very small zoo. Maddi and her friend, Jane, were all smiles while waiting for the ride to begin.

I'm pretty sure that Maddi is part monkey. She's such a climber!

Spider-Cade to the rescue.

We're at the "funky" stage. Maddi and her friends are losing their young, sweet looks. They've lost their teeth and don't have the cute toothless grins anymore. The big teeth are in and man are they big. They just need to grow into those teeth....but then they'll all have braces...and then they will be big grown up pretty girls and the boys will be interested in them....and that scares me!

This bald eagle was staring at us the whole time at the zoo. It was so pretty.