Adler Turns 7!

Wishing my Addie girl a very happy 7th birthday! We spent a lot of quality time together this weekend. We took a lot of long walks around various Chicago neighborhoods; visited the pet store to buy her some birthday toys and treats; and then today, on her actual birthday, we took her with us to cut down our Xmas tree. (Aside from being at the beach, I think this is one of Adler's favorite trips with us.)

Adler enjoyed the horses pulling our hayride out to find the trees. Then once we were deep in the forest, we unleashed Adler who ran and ran and ran. The only thing that could have made the day better for her was snow! She enjoyed getting lost in the thick brush of trees and then us calling her name and coming running to find us. She did have a little injury as she must have hurt her paw during one of her many runs - probably stepped on something - but that didn't deter her. She still enjoyed her tasty treats at our tree cutting tailgate.

Happy birthday Adler - you're the best. Hope your foot feels better:)

One Thing I Won't Do When We Move to the Burbs...

is take my kids downtown to the holiday lights parade. You know the one on the famed Michigan Avenue where they invite all the Disney characters to help turn on the holiday lights in the city. There's a ton of people, traffic sucks and it's usually freezing cold. So I figure I had better get it all in now before we move so we hopped the bus for year three of viewing the lights from the balcony attached to my office. The kids enjoyed riding "mommy's bus" and traveling the short three miles didn't take too long. We picked up some food on the short walk between the bus stop and my office once we disembarked and then brought it up to my office to eat before the parade began.

This year was a little different view for us since Burberry, the building actually in front of mine on Michigan Avenue, decided it was building a new store up to the 7th floor so part of my balcony was blocked in but the kids made the most of it and still had a corner to squeeze into to view the parade. Peyton was mesmerized by the parade going by and her and Austen kept jockeying for the best view in the small space. Best balloons were Rudolph and Kermit the frog promoting the new Muppets movie this year. Austen saw that one coming a mile away and kept telling Tom, "there's a frog!"

The way home was probably the least fun experience of the night. What usually is a 20-minute bus ride at most turned into a 50-minute one. After about 15 minutes, Peyton was giving us the sign language for "all done" and kept telling us too that she was through with this bus! So were we but we could hardly get off! Perhaps the funniest moment came as Austen, who was trying to entertain himself on the long ride home announced, "hey there's a lemonade!" What he really meant to say was "hey, there's a limousine!"

Pee Pee Boo

Peyton is growing up so fast that I wanted to share her latest antics that we love. We must've been playing peekaboo with her a few weeks back and she loved that we were the ones saying peekaboo to her. Well, last week she decided that it was her turn to try peekaboo. As she was finishing up her dinner with Tom sitting next to her she turned to him and started to hide her eyes then she quickly took her hands away from her eyes and said "pee pee boo!" She repeated this a few times and luckily Tom was able to capture it on his phone. This is just one of those priceless moments that make us as parents smile. Hope it makes your day too.

Trick or Treat

Trick or treating was a success this year based on the pounds of candy in Austen's trick or treat bag. Tom said my dad and he alternated holding Austen's bag because it was so heavy and was slowing him down from keeping up with the big kids and even more candy! On the other hand, I was told Peyton was a rock star (since I was out of town for work) and went up to each door saying trick or treat and thank you. She carried her treat bag on her arm like it was a purse and loved being shepherded through her first real trick or treat experience by her big cousin Mia. However, not wanting to slow Mia down too much Tom wanted Peyton to skip a few houses to catch up with the big kids but she was having none of it. She would not let him skip a house just to catch up. She must have known at age 22 months that she was missing out on some good candy if she bypassed these houses.

Anyway, my cowboy and my cupcake had a great time and will be eating away at their loot for at least the next six months!