Kids in the Kitchen

Saturday afternoon, Kyle helped me cook up some pumpkin chocolate chip bars to serve at my annual gingerbread decorating party. He did a nice job helping me measure out all of the spices, dump them into the bowl, and whisk them all together. He also enjoyed sampling a chocolate chip or two :)

Happy 60th Birthday, Auntie Robo!

Saturday was Auntie Robo's special 60th birthday! We went out to dinner with her Thursday night to celebrate ... pizza, pasta, and salad at Riggio's ... yum, yum, yum :) Happy Birthday, Auntie .. We hope you had a wonderful week :)

Outdoor Adventures

Colder weather doesn't bother Kyle. He loves bundling up and exploring in the great outdoors. Tree climbing and berry/stick/rock picking are some of his personal favs.

No More Kyles Jumping on the Bed!

Kyle's big boy mattress came in about 2 weeks ago, so naturally he's already jumped on every nook and cranny of it. We have to watch him like a hawk every time he does this, and remind him to stay in the middle because this bed isn't as big as the big bed upstairs. At least he seems to like the new mattress.

Peanut Butter: 34 weeks

Saturday, I had my 34 week appointment for Peanut Butter. It was pretty uneventful, but at this stage of the game, that's a very good thing. PB had a strong heart beat (150s) and his/her bump size appears to be right on track with the current growth charts.

Today marks 35 weeks .. About 5 weeks to go :) (yikes).

Cousin Play Date

Saturday morning, Kyle enjoyed a fun play date with his cousin Reagan at the Exploritorium in Skokie. The Exploritorium is a neat indoor activity center where children can explore through interactive play. Kyle really "gets into" pretty much every station they have there: the tumble maps and blocks; the theater; the slide; the fish pond; the giant light bright; the train set; and last but not least, the giant multi-leveled tubes and tunnels climbing area. Naturally he loves to pull out all of the light sticks from the giant light bright and throw them on the ground for Mommy to pick up (well, all of the red ones at any rate), get his sleeves as wet as possible while fishing in the pond, and climb as high as he can in the tubes and tunnels center, annnnnnd not come down. In fact, after about 20 minutes of calling his name and asking kids to tell the boy in the gray shirt holding a yellow helicopter toy to come down, Uncle Sean had to shimmy his way up all 3 levels and scoop him up himself while Reagan and I had a cheerio party on the ground level. All in all it was 2 and a half hours well spent. The kids played blocks together, sort of acknowledged each other's presence, and took it all in. Kyle also ran into his Loyola friends, Ellie and Ryan :)

Lydia Casey's Baptism

Sunday afternoon we got to celebrate the Baptism of Kevin and Katie Casey's first child, Baby Lydia. It was a beautiful fall day, and a beautiful service. Kyle did pretty well in church .. thank you goldfish :) He also did pretty well at the lovely luncheon that followed .. thank you iphone :)

Excited Loyola kids watching Lydia.

Running, running, running!