father's day...

this year, we were able to spend the actual day of father's day alone with just our little family of four.  (that's peter's favorite type of day... he's been crazy busy at work with two ginormous projects and hasn't been home much... hence why i haven't blogged.)

anyway, on pintrest i stumbled upon an idea for a fabulous card...

considering all weekend mornings with the little man start off with this wonderful device where elmo lives, i thought it would be a fun card to make.  i haven't taken a picture of mine yet, but it was way cute.  I decided to make it like a "scavenger hunt," and he could lift the flap of each app to find out what came next.

i gave him the pictures that the kids and i took for father's day...

 daddy's sweatshirt... not so happy though...

daddy's hat

 daddy's sweatband.... not daddy's legwarmers

peter's nickname for k is "cupcake..."

then, i grabbed him coffee and a boston creme donut (his favorite).  he took little man for a bike ride, and came back to a picnic in the park.  after playing playstation during nap time, we went up to bonner's farm, out to dinner at a new restaurant, and had ice cream at a new ice cream place.  

 yeah... she's sitting in a high chair :)

 guess who learned how to blow bubbles in his milk?!?

all in all, it was a simple, delightful father's day.  

and peter deserved every ounce of it.  

he is such a wonderful father. 

oooh! nuh! nuh!

i wish you could hear it... and i didn't take a video.  :(

the blog title was my transcription of jason getting SUPER EXCITED about all the trains at the botanic gardens.  and its really just the cutest thing.

my little man is obsessed.  OBSESSED.  every time we drive and see a railroad crossing, he gets excited.  

we have to read his train book at least 19 times a day.

we've watched mickey mouse clubhouse:  choo choo express so many times that i know each and every word to the hotdog song and have decided that having a toodles makes life easier and i want one.

anyway, friday night we went to the botanic garden and it was empty.  it was a beautiful evening, so we thought that it seemed like a good night to try the trains.  how fun!

 she's getting so big!

 look!  it's old faithful!

Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? 

Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. 

Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. 

Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'. 

(name the movie)

hello thomas!

afterwards, we headed to our favorite quick little restaurant, woodfire, and enjoyed a meal of gyros and ice cream.  i'm pretty sure jason enjoyed it most of all...

Last weekend? We were badgers.

Every year, Peter gets a free night stay at a Marriott hotel because of his credit card / Abbott.  We toyed around with the idea of going someplace just us, but I was convinced that this should be a family trip. 

I suggested going to Milwaukee, but Peter came up with the idea of heading to Madison, Wisconsin. 

He won.  :)

We started with breakfast at Lake Geneva, and headed up to the Farmer's Market around the state capitol building.  While there, we picked up spicy cheese bread, cheese curds, and summer sausage sticks.  Delicious!

After a drive around town so the little ones could nap, and headed to the Madison Children's Museum.  Not too much for the little ones to do, but it still was fun. 

 chickens?!  i love chickens!  are they extra crispy or original recipe?

Time to eat!  We headed to The Great Dane pub for dinner (where J and I split a bacon mac and cheese pizza), and ended up at Ella's Deli for dessert and a carousel ride.  (Ella's would be the first thing on my list if we went back there... too much fun!  Kitschy, Jewish, ice cream.)

 look who's sitting in a high chair for the first time!!

Hotel time!  The hotel ran out of cribs, so...  plan B.  Jason slept in the pack and play we brought, and Kayla slept on the pull out couch mattress which we placed on the floor.  After a giggle attack by both kids that could be heard down the hall, they both blissfully slept through the night.

 showing off his stinky feet...

 giggles.  someone has a case of the giggles.

helping out daddy

Off to the Henry Vilas Zoo... Jason adored seeing all the animals!  Kayla got to ride on her first carousel!  We wore both the kids out... and stopped in Whitewater to a custard place that Peter used to go to as a boy as the kids napped.  Ha!  They missed really good custard.

I'm so happy we were able to get away... and it reconfirmed our choice to not spend major money on vacation (aka Disney) until they're old enough to really appreciate it. 

stuff, and more stuff...

here's the massive summer list... definitely progress made this week!!  and it's only week 1!!!

1.  eat grilled hot dogs and s'mores - got the hotdog part done, even a turkey dog, but alas... no s'mores
2.  run through a sprinkler
3.  visit the kohl children's museum  - went with Maddie and Paulina. Want to go again with Peter... my little ones need two adults :)
4.  take a family weekend getaway - we went to madison this past weekend... see post :)
5.  go to the brookfield zoo
6.  make homemade lemonade
7.  take a train
8.  go to the museum of science and industry - hopefully friday!
9. go to the library at least twice a month
10.  visit a farmer's market regularly
11.  introduce jason to cotton candy
12.  use our ice cream maker
13. "hot air balloon" photo shoot
14.  water balloons and sponge balls
15.  go fishing
16.  visit at least 5 new parks - visited 2 new parks this past week... we're on the way!
17.  eat funnel cake
18.  draw with chalk on the driveway
19.  see a fireworks display
20.  buy ice cream from the ice cream truck
21.  visit the morton arboretum
22.  eat a pb&j sammich with cool ranch doritos
23.  walk the beach at bubbe's house
24.  swim at independence grove
25.  slip and slide!
26.  paint!  (and get messy messy!)
27.  photo shoot both kids... but specifically not forgetting kayla
28.  go to a petting zoo
29.  visit the buffalo grove and mundelin splash parks
30.  picnic!
31.  go to an outdoor concert at the botanic gardens - dancin' sprouts!
32.  blueberry picking!
33.  make popsicles
34.  plant herbs on the back porch
35.  play in the rain
36. take at least 1 30 minute walk per day - might need to change this goal...
37. splash pool hole in one!
38.  make white mud
39.  get a french silk pie blizzard
40.  sneak out for ice cream with rachelle
41.  spa day with paulina
42.  lake geneva for rambling and popeyes
43.  date night june
44.  date night july
45.  date night august
46.  create the ultimate summer playlist via iTunes
47.  visit the round lake children's museum
48.  go to the lincoln park zoo
49.  visit the round lake nature museum
50.  visit the discovery center in lake county
51.  attend a lawn chair lyrics concert in buffalo grove
52.  visit the Deerfield Jewett tree house
53.  visit Daddy for lunch
54.  make sushi
55.  visit Bonner Heritage Farm
56.  get back up to bong... maybe a pretend campout?
57.  visit the chicago botanic garden at least once a week
58.  go to the original superdawg with dad and jason
59.  taco night!!!
60.  try the couch-to-5k running program
61.  blog at least 4 times a week  - trying... this counts, yes?
62.  go to buckingham fountain and the eye
63. have a water balloon fight
64. make grilled pizza
65.  make a 4th of july dessert (or two)
66.  make s'moritos
67. finish march - may photo book
68.  free up some memory on my mac - freed up over 20 gig yesterday!  yay!
69.  learn about the daily 5 for school
70.  have a playdate with new friends at least once a week
71.  start planning jason/maddie's 2nd birthday
72.  start planning kayla's 1st birthday
73.  eat fudge.
74.  visit a winery.

peek-a-boo!

i've sat down many times over the past 5 weeks to write a post, 

and became overwhelmed.  there was just too much to catch up on.

so, let me just say this.  late april and early may were awesome.

i'm not going to blog about any of it.

but i will leave you with this:

more blogs are coming...

my children fill my heart with happiness...

and...  i only have 1 day and 1 hour left and then it's...

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!