Happy Birthday Veronica!

My good friend Veronica had a fabulous 40th birthday party complete with mariachis. It was prom theme which made for some interesting outfits. I guess we were considered the "classic prom" since we did not embrace the potential of such a fun evening. I blame the business of Everett's birthday and going on vacation. My creative juices were minimal. For some great pictures of the "fun" or "creative" crowd, look here. Otherwise, here is the night from my bird's eye view.

V & Me

Go Wildcats!

Eddie and Trinity celebrated Eddie's 10 year college reunion at the Northwestern football game.

Konow's Corn Maze

We took our annual trip to the burbs to go pumpkin picking...well, pick out a pumpkin and get some good photo opps. We got a recco from my friend Jill for a non-crowded, non-scary, super kid friendly pumpkin patch. We bundled up and headed down.

Trinity especially liked the corn kernel pit. We had to get Everett outta there quick because it was one big choking hazard for him.

The tractor ride was so fun that we did it twice despite the chilly air that was chapping our faces.

Sea World

The last leg of our trip included a drive to San Diego to do Sea World for the day. We started with the Shamu Show which was as good as I remembered as a kid. Trinity and I then fed the stingrays which was great and then we moved on to feed the dolphins. Trinity fed a dolphin named Beaker whom I believe she will be talking about for quite some time.

We did some other cool stuff like watching a 4-D Elmo Show. They have a great shark exhibit and a fantastic Wild Artic exhibit complete with penguins, walrus, polar bears, etc.

We wish we had more time to see San Diego but we rain out and were also not prepared for the 20 degree temperature swing that occurred while we were there. Coastal weather is much like Chicago's weather changes I guess.

California Adventure

Disney has a fairly new park, CA Adventure. It had our favorite ride, Soarin' Over California. You sit in a chair that lifts off the ground and moves and swoops to a video on a 180 foot screen. It had a hang-gliding effect. Trinity loved it, she just made the height requirement.

There were a lot of bigger rides here so we only spent half a day. We saw Playhouse Disney, Live on Stage. Trinity adventured through Redwood Creek Challenge Trail where you pretend you are Brother Bear as you scramble across rope bridges, slid down hollow logs and climb rock walls.

Our favorite part of the trip was lunch in Ariel's Grotto where we all met Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella. Check out Trinity's poses.


Bye Mickey...

Disneyland

We're Here!!!!! This was surely the highlight of our trip. There was much anticipation and excitement surrounding getting here. It was worth it all. Everyone had a *super duper* great time. Trinity was in heaven. She got to meet mostly all the princesses with the exception of Mulan and Pocahontas which we didn't see. Her favorite rides: The Peter Pan Ride, The Teacups, Winnie the Pooh Ride, The Dumbo Ride, Buzz Lightyear's Ride and Soarin' Over California in the new California Adventure Park. Everett went on all the rides we did that did not have any height requirement which were quite a bit. He really enjoyed looking around seeing all the cool stuff.

We thought it would be chilly in Anaheim and even brought coats for nighttime. Little did we anticipate, Anaheim had the highest temperature in the country on Wednesday. It reached 105 which really meant about 108 inside Disneyland due to the hot asphalt reflecting on you. Despite being stinky, we powered through and had a wonderful ... and magical time.

Trying to stay awake through the parade.

Wild Animal Zoo

We spent a day at the Phoenix Wild Animal Park. It much like a small zoo except that you get *very* close to the animals. You were able to feed all the birds, flamingos, monkeys and giraffes in the zoo. It was great. My only anxiety came from the tiger exhibit. One tiger in particular kept pacing the fence and licking his chops while staring Trinity down. I was certain he was going to eat her. The fence seemed pretty secure until I looked several feet down from the "exhibit area fence" and saw that the only think separating us from him was chain link. I then demanded we move onto the giraffes.

We took a train ride, a ski lift ride through the park and avoided being bit or eaten by anything.


Everett just chilled in his stroller until he got tired and cranky. I realized we had lost his pacifier in the zoo somewhere. He won't sleep without out, especially in a stroller. Of course, I had no extra and the zoo doesn't sell them. My eagle eyes of a step-mom found it in the dirt...right in front of the hungry tiger.

On Vacation

The kids did amazing for the 3.5 hour flight to Arizona. Everett even took a nap in my arms which was much needed. Trinity had a great time hanging out watching videos, coloring and seeing God's creation from above. Despite making myself physically ill because I was so nervous to fly, the plane ride was very smooth and quite enjoyable. Surprisingly we were only a bit late getting into AZ and early coming home. We flew Ted which even gave us a movie to watch to and from. The airlines will be gone soon but they have not cut service as I was afraid of. Everyone and everything was wonderful.

What's For Dinner?

County Line Orchard

Before our vacation we entertained a quick stop in Hobart, IN to go apple picking with my moms' group. I was going more for the experience since we were leaving for vacation 4 days later and had no interest in eating 4lbs. of apples before then. I joke that the pictures captured and the memories I will lay out in our family scrapbook will look more like an enjoyable experience that reality. We had a great time, however, apple picking was the quickest in history due to the mosquitoes that were roughly the size of birds. The kids were getting eaten alive mostly because I rejected the use of the 30%+ deet bug spray offered by the orchard. We did get apples and some quick pictures and then we were outta there.

After lunch in a very crowded dining area, we headed to the kid's farm where Trinity was able to feed miniature horses, some goats and look at some bunnies. Then the rain started and we high-tailed it home.

Portrait

Trinity drew this and said it was me when I was little. Complete with the glasses.

Happy Birthday Everett!

Everett is one today!! We had a super fun, messy and loud party for him with our friends who are more like family.

Highlights: chocolate faux hawk; custom Cub shirts and Eddie's Wrigley Field food presentation.

1st Haircut

We needed to get a little trim before his big party so I wouldn't have to photoshop his growing mullet and rat tail.

after. looking dapper

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been a little busy around here. It seems like it has been some time since my birthday actually happened but I guess it is just last week (16th). Eddie and I celebrated our birthdays together with a date to Sushi Samba on the Friday before. I had a great need to indulge in sushi before I get pregnant again. It lived up to my expectations...the food anyway, the service was a bit lacking but I wasn't going to let it run my sushi dinner.

We took the kids to Ed Debevics on my actual birthday. I thought Trinity was get a kick out of the "silly" wait staff and their entertainment. We had to fill her in before entering to make sure she understood that the waitress was going to be extra silly. She understood pretty clear since she cracked up everytime the waitress called her a weirdo. She thought it extra silly when they sang and danced on the counter. It was fun.

Eddie and I dropped off the kids with the sitter and went to Navy Pier to see Batman on the Imax. It was so intense. I might never see a movie on a regular size movie theater screen again.

Visits to ER

Waiting patiently in the ER

No, not to the set of the long running NBC show, but the actual Children's Memorial Hospital emergency room. Everett had, what I would consider, a minor fall this past Sunday. He barely cried so I patted his butt and sent him on his way. Instead of taking off playing he sat on the floor and whined. So, I brought him upstairs to feed him breakfast thinking that was the problem. He wouldn't eat. I put him down for a nap shortly thereafter and he slept great for several hours. When he woke up I noticed he wasn't crawling. Every time he tried to move he cried. I began to think he had something wrong with a leg or hip. I squeezed, pushed, pulled but he didn't complain. hmmm?


He ate lunch and took another nap. After his nap he still wouldn't crawl. It was now 4PM and he hadn't moved since 6AM but he would now eat, play and use all his extremities. I then realized that when he put his right arm down to crawl, he would lift it up and cry. So, I packed up the diaper bag and headed to Children's. They weren't much help. Nothing showed up on an X-Ray and I spent 3 hours there to have no answer.

The next day he wasn't any better but worse. About 11:30 AM I was ringing my pediatrician to get a second opinion when the hospital called me on the other line. The attending radiologist looks over all the X-Rays in the morning and when he did just that he saw a tiny, tiny fracture in Everett's ulna bone in his wrist. They think it happened from some twisting movement as he fell on it. I headed back to the ER to sit for 3 hours.

He is now in a splint that is held on by Velcro. We have to tape it all the way around since Everett figured out how to take it off in 2.2 seconds. zip, zip, zip, throw on the floor.

He sees an Orthopedic Doctor on Wednesday where X-Rays will be taken again and hopefully it is all healed. We anticipate a 2 week healing time total. It is amazing how fast little ones heal.I update this on Wednesday after seeing the Ortho dr. He has to wear the cast for another 10 days then he is done. We will remove it in the warm AZ air where we will be in 10 days.

It took about 3 days to sleep okay with it on and actually get around. Now, he doesn't even realize it is on anymore. He can eat, pick things on and even crawl on his hands with it on. Thank the Lord, it was a rough couple days in the beginning there.


Still waiting after 2+ hours in the ER. At least here we are in a room with a view and a TV!

post splint / cast

Everett

Everett, shockingly, will be 1 at the end of the month. He has become a different little man over the last 2 weeks. He thinks he is so grown up!
He is standing and spends his time mostly vertical these days.
He has become super fast at crawling. (He finally figured out how to crawl on his hands and knees opposed the the wounded soldier crawl he was sporting for 2 months.)
He gives hugs and kisses. Trinity get the majority of the kisses.
He says Daddy all day long and I think it is his word when saying Daddy, Mama, Trinity and Thank You. However, Mama has taken form.
His *loves* playing Peek-a-Boo and "Sooooo Big"!
He has 6 teeth.
He has quickly realized that he can climb stairs but not crawl down.
His hair has turned a nice shade of strawberry blond as did Trinity's at this age.
hmmmm.

Kooza Part Deux

I think of our night at Cirque's Kooza show every time I put these pj's on Everett. Yesterday I found a hat in bag of stuff I picked up at a garage sale last year that completes the look.