Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Mila's Visit

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Mila were in town for Christmas and spent a few days at our house. I didn't get to take very many pictures, mainly because Carolyn plays best with them when I am not in the room, but am happy to share that she did great. They colored, read books and played with her toys. Carolyn especially loved Grandma Mila's cooking. She actually asked for more rice and beef steak about five times.

Night out on the town with cousins


Two years ago Courtney and I hosted our cousins Kelli and Brianna for a girls night out in the city. We had such a great time that the girls requested that we do it again this year. So the Sunday before Christmas, I picked them up and we headed to Michigan Ave. Unfortunately very few stores kept extended holiday hours that night, so the shopping was limited, but we did some good window shopping before enjoying a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the John Hancock building. We played games until we could no longer stay awake and then had a delicious brunch on Southport before heading back to the burbs.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Our little guy :)

10" long and 14 oz at 21 weeks

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Papa's Visit

Papa came to visit us last weekend and Carolyn had a blast doing everything from playing in the snow to going to the zoo to meet Santa.



Striking a post in her first Christmas present of the year: winter boots. Thanks, Papa!


Then we were off to the zoo for Holiday Magic! The amazing light show wasn't particularly amazing, but the tiger was the most active that we've ever seen him. Carolyn just kept yelling her cross between a meow and a roar at the big cat.




Santa and Mrs. Claus were friendly, but Carolyn wasn't having any of it. She cried as soon as I put her in his lap.
The next day Papa built her a snow man that was just the right size.
Checking out its ears.

Funny video of sliding into the snow to come.
Thanks, Papa (and Uncle Charles) for braving the single digit temperatures to hang out with us for the weekend!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Monday, December 7, 2009

First time at the beach

An early morning downpour gave way to a gorgeous sunny day so we made our way out to the beach (yesterday was icky so only made it to the pool for about 20 minutes). Carolyn plopped right down in the sand and started playing. After a little while we got up and went to the edge of the water. The waves were pretty rough so we didn't go in very far, even though the little one tried to worm herself away from me to go in deeper.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Yummy birthday dinner

One of my favorite parts about visiting places where Desi is working is seeing a lot of the places that he tells me about on the phone (his office, the hotel where he usually stays, restaurants, grocery stores, etc). For his b-day dinner he took us to an Italian restaurant on Palm Beach Island that he really likes. It was delicious and the staff couldn't stop fawning over Carolyn. She got a balloon, crayons and a million smiles and compliments. All of which she eats right up!

Happy Birthday, Desi! (this is view from our room)

I can only upload photos without text from my phone, thus some of the longer blog titles (but Desi is letting me jump on his computer right now to add some commentary). The view is nicer than this picture shows, particularly with the knowledge that it is snowing at home. I'm excited to go sledding and all of that good stuff, but we have months of that ahead, so we'll appreciate the sun and sand while we can.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Enjoying graham cracker on plane

After a mom served graham crackers at playgroup last Monday, Carolyn has been hooked. They are wonderful at keeping her occupied and content for a good 10-15 minutes. This was especially useful on our plane ride. Thankfully the plane was fairly empty so we had the whole row to ourselves. Carolyn spent much of the flight climbing up and down from her seat. She is a great flier.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wheels on the bus

Carolyn's ability to do hand motions with songs started with the Itsy Bitsy Spider (which she refuses to do on camera for some reason) and has continued to the Wheels on the Bus. I had to break the video into two parts to get Blogger to upload it, but it is worth a watch.

Part 1

Part 2

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Tree trimming



Last weekend Auntie Courtie, Uncle Charles, Grandma Dolly and Papa Chuck came over to help us trim our tree. We got the season started with some Oberweis eggnog and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. Carolyn loved dancing along to the movie.