Fun at Nana and Pawpaw's House

So I promised I would put more pictures from our trip up and here they are! For some reason, I got a lot of pictures of Sarai and my dad eating something. I guess Pawpaw has learned that the way to his grand-daughter's heart is through her stomach :-)

Eating a snack of apple slices

The result of one of Nana's chocolate scotcheroos: Messy face and sticky fingers :-)

Watermelon! Sarai and Pawpaw's favorite.

You know it is good when it drips down your chin.

On this morning, Pawpaw decided to make us Raisin Bran Muffins for breakfast and Sarai got to help.

A good cook always tests the batter :-)

Hanging out with Pawpaw and looking at pictures on Pawpaw's computer.

Nana always has a new outfit for Sarai when we go visit. Isn't this one adorable! We had to adjust the waist so the pants wouldn't fall down and we had to cinch up the shoulder straps so she wouldn't be to "risque." That's my petite little girl! And yes, the pants are supposed to be capris. Go figure :-)

Playing with Nana's shoes

Rolling around with Uncle John

This is a squishy duck that my parents bought Sarai the first time we visited them in Texas. It stays at their house so we only see it when we come to them. Sarai always looks forward to playing with "Nana's ducky." Here she is giving him a big hug. So precious :-)

Playing with bubbles from Uncle Pip and Aunt Mimi's wedding

Catch the bubble!

When my family moved from Missouri to Texas many years ago, my dad brought our "big toy" with us and set it up in our new backyard. Needless to say, it hasn't been used in quite some time but Pawpaw cleaned it up so Sarai could play on it while we were there. It was kinda weird seeing her play where I once played.

We used to use wax paper on this slide to make it go fast. So much fun!

Swinging with Uncle John

Just thought I would throw this one in for good measure :-) I think she is pretty adorable but then again, I'm a little biased.

On Being a Flower Girl

As many of you know, this has been a crazy month for us and I will have to ask your forgiveness for not updating my blog for three weeks. I really didn't mean to go this long but then again I didn't plan on having my gall bladder removed a week before heading to Texas for my brother's wedding either! Oh well. I'm back now :-)

We headed to Texas for my brother Philip's wedding on June 14th and we had the wonderful opportunity to experience life as the parents of a flower girl. What a trip! Now remember, Sarai is only 22 months old so we were just hoping to get her down the aisle happy. She did great at the rehearsal and we prepared ahead of time for Mike to "help" her down the aisle if need be. The first run through, she went down all my herself and the second time, she got halfway down and then Mike walked with her the rest of the way. Needless to say, we were excited and hoped she would do as well the next day. And of course, our hopes were dashed but it was mostly my fault. The ceremony was at 2 which is right in the middle of Sarai's usual nap so we put her down for an early nap at 11:15 and she slept till 12:30. So at this point, we thought we were doing good. Then she asked for a drink of milk 15 minutes before she was supposed to go down the aisle. I had remembered to give her a snack before and after her nap but had completely forgotten to offer her something to drink. And of course, she didn't want to give her cup back to me. She then began to whine and cling to me which is when we decided it might be best for all three of us to walk down the aisle together. So I carried Sarai, Mike carried the basket and Sarai threw flowers. It actually turned out cute and it was fun to walk down as a family.

The rest of the ceremony and reception was beautiful. Philip even surprised his bride by singing "Michelle" by The Beatles to her after their first dance. So sweet and you could tell Michelle loved it. After they drove off into the sunset, we all cleaned up and headed back to the house to eat pizza and hang out with my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Vickie who drove down from Kansas City. We had a great weekend and I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will post soon about the rest of our fun trip to Texas.

Daddy and the beautiful flower girl

Sarai and Mark, the ring bearer. He was so good with her!

The new couple during their first dance. Congratulations you two!

Family Fun Day

Yesterday was beautiful here in northern Illinois. I think summer might actually be here! So we decided to pack a picnic lunch and head to the park. The only problem was we had trouble deciding which park we wanted to go to! I love that about this area. There are parks everywhere and they are all great. We ended up heading to the Warren Township Park which is less than five minutes from our house. They have an amazing playground and the biggest sandbox I have every seen. Of course, Mike said the beach has a bigger sandbox :-) We purposely ate at a picnic table out of sight from the playground because we figured if we didn't, Sarai wouldn't eat a thing. She still didn't want to eat because she saw all the toys as we pulled in. Oh well! Who needs food when you have ten different slides to choose from! After about two hours of fun, we headed home for naptime. When Sarai woke up, we ran to Target to pick up a few things and then headed back home for a sweet treat: ice cream cones! I found the cutest ice cream cones at Wal-Mart the other day and they are the perfect size for an almost 2-year-old. This was actually Sarai's first cone of her own. She has had plenty of ice cream but mommy hasn't gotten brave enough to let her have her own. So to usher in this wonderfully warm weather, we decided to break out the cones. And of course, she loved it! Though I had to remind daddy to not eat all his in one bite so that Sarai could see how to eat one herself. And she did a pretty darn good job. I think we only lost one drip! Enjoy the pics.

Apples, Pizza and Playgroup

We have a friend that we go to storytime with at our local Border's Books and her daughter, Ava, was eating an apple whole the other day. It had never occured to me now that Sarai has 12 teeth, she can probably eat an apple without cutting it up. So at lunch, we decided to give it a try and Sarai thought it was great to eat at apple like her daddy eats one. And what surprised me is that she ate 80% of it! I took a few bites to help her get started and she shared a few bites with Mike but the majority of it she ate herself. So now all she wants are whole apples. We might have to try a pear this week!

So focused :-)

Proud of her accomplishment

One of the things we were so excited to have now that we live in the greater Chicago area is Lou Malnati's pizza and there just so happens to be one a few minutes down the road from us. If you have never had Chicago deep dish pizza, there is nothing like it and Lou Malnati's is the best in our humble opinion :-) We have been here for over a month now and just finally last week, ordered our first pizza as residents of Chicagoland (Mike ate LM growing up and we had it on our trip to Chicago in 2006). It was sooooooooo good!

Sarai enjoying her pizza

Before we moved, I got online and joined a mom's group in the area where we are now living. It has been such a life saver for me and I have really enjoyed connecting with other moms. We have weekly playgroups and now that it is starting to warm up outside, we decided to meet at the park rather than in our homes. Sarai and I have really connected with one of the moms, Mary Beth, and her daughter, Hannah. Hannah is a couple months younger than Sarai but smart as a whip and she and Sarai have become quite the pair. So I thought I would share few pics of the friends Sarai and I are making in our new home.

Mary Beth and Hannah on the merry-go-round

Sarai and Hannah playing in the world's largest sandbox. It really is huge. Look behind the girls and you can see how far it goes!