Fall Fest

On Saturday, Julie, Joe, and I took the kids to the Cantigny Park Fall Fest (Rob was getting his car window fixed...long story about a rude person who apparently wanted his GPS so decided to break his window to get it...warning to those who leave your GPS out...DONT!). 

It was another beautiful fall summer day!  :)  Too hot to wear our pumpkin outfits again...it's killing me here!

Anyways, it was a really great festival they had.  It was $5.00 per car, and everything was included. The kids did the candy dive and the jumpy house.  There was also a petting zoo, face painting, hayride, scarecrow walk, etc. to do.

Abigail in the candy dive.  Caitlin wasn't so sure...

...so her big sister got her some candy!

Showing Lucy how pockets work!  They were really into pockets!

Our 3 love bugs!

Checking out the petting zoo (line was too long to actually go in there, but they didn't know the difference)

Jules, Joe and our Lulu

I love this peanut!!!!!

This fun activity was followed by our "Oktoberfest" (see below).  It was a great day!!!!

(Pumpkin Patch pictures with the Glures coming soon)

Happy Birthday, Grandma!!!!

Dear Grandma,

Happy Birthday!

We Love You!

"I love grandma because we play at her house with her potatoes!"  -Abigail

(?????  I have no clue....When I asked her what that means, she said "ugh, our potatoes mom!  OUR potatoes!"  Oh, that clears it up!)

"Why do you love grandma Caitlin" -Mommy

"Elmo!"  -Caitlin

(That's about right.....)

See you tonight!!!!  We love you!  Happy Birthday!

*Side note...Trying to get these 2 to smile together in this picture was so frustrating! 
Abigail imitated everything Jules or I did...and Caitlin was in her own world!

Happy Birthday and Schnitzel to You, Uncle Joe!!!!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Joe!!!!  You are such a great uncle and godfather!!!!  You are WAY more fun than mommy and Aunt Julie cause you let us throw things and catch things!  :)  We hope you had a great birthday!!!

Love, Abigail and Caitlin

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For Joe's birthday this year, we decided to give him his FAVORITE gift...German Food!  :)  How lucky for us his birthday falls in October!  Who wouldn't want sausage, schnitzel, and beer for their birthday????  (Probably Aunt Katie....).

After spending some time at a fall festival (next post) we headed to Schnitzel Platz for Octoberfest!  We did the "kids" version with the 3:00 seating (only ones seated)...but by 4:30 the crowds were rolling in (or out) like barrels....

Rob decided he was going to use Schnitzel in every sentence this day....and it NEVER got annoying!  :)  Rob was schnitzeling, saw a schnitzel, and needed to schnitzel! 

Anyways, we had a great meal and hope that Uncle Joe had a great birthday!  Prost! (The german "cheers" which we learned from our very polish waiter...go figure)

Caitlin is our tour guide here!

Seems like fun inside!!!!

The Germans enjoying lunch!!!! 

Nothing says family picture like barrels of beer!  :)

The cutest family!!!!!

It's never too early to introduce our kids to Octoberfest!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Joe!!!  You make every day more fun!!!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!!!!

This weekend we celebrated Nana's birthday at the cabin.  The kids went up with Nana and Papa on Friday night while we went to a wedding.  We joined in on the festivities, along with Uncle Al and Auntie Gam on Saturday!  It was a "working" birthday as the shore stations had to be taken out of the water, Uncle Al's pond had to be covered, and furniture had to be moved...but we found plenty of times for fun (and drinks)!!!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!!!!  We hope you had the BEST birthday!!!!!

Nana's Silly Girls

PS.  We are having a bad year "electronically"...first Rob lost the camera, and then this weekend I somehow lost my phone/camera (which is a mystery cause I had it in the car but not at the cabin).  I am using an old phone till I get my new one next week, but it's camera isn't great...so we are down to our big camera only.   Looks like there will be a few new purchases coming up!  :)

Panther Preschool...Take 2

Today Caitlin started Panther Playgroup at the local high school.  It's a fun program...it's for ages 18 months (although there is a 15 month old in it...that's a whole 'nother story) through age 3.  Caitlin is only going one day a week to just have a chance to socialize and start to use her words!  :)

The differences in my two girls is like night and day.  With Abigail, I would say it took her almost a month before I didn't have to walk in with her cause she cried so much.  With Caitlin, she didn't even care I was there.  She walked right in and started playing.  I was going to stay the whole day, but I was just sitting there, so I finally left.  I said "Caitlin, Mommy is leaving but I will come back!" and she just ran up, gave me a kiss, adn went right back to playing!  I'm so happy she's so independent....I'm so proud of her, and a lil sad for myself!  :)  I should note she's not shy...at snack time after she ate her 2 cookies, apparenly she went to all the other plates and ate all their leftovers, totaling 6 cookies!  That's my girl!

I'm so proud of my big girl....but not sure where time went and what happened to my baby......

Trying so hard to just get 1 picture

Caitlin's "stinker" face

Her 1st bookbag!  :)

I love this peanut!

Playdough (she looks so small between all the high school girls)

Sensory Table

(and I would like to point out the high school girls in the background.  Oh, to be in high school again.  First, apparently everyone wears slippers in high school....as shoes!???!  Second, they are so funny cause they are like "she's so cute...she's so cute" and the this one girl pooped and they were all like "YUCK!"  The first group of girls are from a parenting class....good luck!  But the second group of girls are all seniors who have taken all the childhood classes and are going into elementery ed next year in college...those are the girls I'm trusting here!  The parenting girls...I'm just happy they are learning!)

"How was school, big girl?"

And the inevitable comparison pictures: 

Caitlin's 1st day of Playgroup

Abigail's 1st day of Playgroup

Obvious observation:  I have relaxed on how I dress my kids for school!  :)

I'm excited to watch Caitlin change and grow this year...and for all the fun she will have!  And Abigail is so excited that she gets 1 day alone with mommy...it has been annoying her that she doesn't know what Caitlin and I do when she's in preschool...so now she gets her turn.  She's excited now...until she realizes it's just errands and her ballet class!  :)

Adventures with Cuddly

This weekend was our family weekend with Cuddly, the class bear from Abigail's classroom.  Of course, this was the only weekend we really had no big plans...and were looking forward to a weekend of "catching up" and relaxing....but we headed out Sunday to take Cuddly on an adventure.  We went to the Kline Creek farm.

Cuddly had a great day.  He got to see horses, chickens, and sheep.  The farmer came out and said she needed help getting the eggs, so Abigail got to go in the chicken coop and find the eggs (she tried to get Caitlin too....Caitlin is very social, except around animals!)

It was a great morning at the farm....and when we got home we wrote our story about Cuddly's adventure (with pictures) for Cuddly's Adventure Book.  On Monday, Abigigail got to sit in the teacher's chair (apparently VERY exciting in the 3 year old world) and tell her story!  Thanks for visiting us Cuddly!

Go BEARS!  (Cuddly wore Kramer's Bear's jersey)

Check out the horse, Cuddly!

Eggs!  (We told her Grandma could take her next time and tell her how a farm really works since she grew up on one!)

Buddies!

They took the horses out to "draft"....??????  (They never moved)

Already printed and framed it!  ;)

Tomorrow is another big day here...Caitlin's 1st day of school (Panther Playgroup).  Pics to come!!!!!

Lucy's Day

On Saturday, we took Lucy to the Children's Museum for a special day.  As our Goddaughter, we want to spend special days with her.  Jules and Joe met us at Navy Pier and took our 2 girls for a special day...so everyone had a really special day!  :)  While Abigail and Caitlin were having the BEST morning riding rides, including the Ferris Wheel which Rob and I have still yet to do, and having ice cream, we were busy playing with Lucy!  It was so nice to have some time alone with her. We were able to really get to know her alone...and it was crazy to have 2 adults and only 1 kid!  It was a great morning...and we look forward to taking Lucy on a special day every year around her birthday!

Uncle Robbie was in HEAVEN with his goddaughter

Water Table!  I love this little peanut so much!!!!

Lucy loves water!

And more water!!!!!

Uncle Robbie may have forgotten for a second that 1 year olds can't go down the slide by themselves...but only for a quick second!

Souvie!  We couldn't wait to go and pick out something for Lucy!  It's big and it lights up...perfect!

After our special morning with Lucy, we met back up with Jules, Joe, and the girls and all headed back into the museum!  Lucy had TOO MUCH FUN and was ready for a nap, but the girls were able to stay and play a little more!

New climbing exhibit was fun for the girls!  Abigail getting to the top!

Caitlin busy at work!

After we left the city, we drove to our house (about an hour) and then another 30 minutes past our house to my friend Eric's house.  He had a bunch of us from high school over for a BBQ.  There were 4 familes there (Stajs, Skinners, Hackneys) and between the 4 of us, we have 9 kids, 4 of which will all start kindergarten at the same time!  So needless to say, there was less "talking" and more chasing, changing, feeding, and yelling...but it was fun to catch up!  I didn't take a bunch of pics, but no need cause Jodie was a photographer!  But I did take a few pics of the girls playing dressup!

Abigail, Caitlin, and Addison (Jodie's daughter).  Hadley (Eric's daughter)  was also involved but not into pics!

My lil Elton Jon!

Jods also got a GREAT pic of the girls, but I figured I'd better save it for a Xmas card option!  I will have to do a Xmas card option post when I pick a picture!  :)

Life has been busy as always...another normal week.  Next week becomes even crazier because Caitlin starts preschool. So on Thursday, Caitlin has preschool, Abigail has ballet, and then I still watch my other kids, and then Abigail and my other lil girl have library!  That's just Thursday!  :)  Every day is like that.  But the girls are loving all their classes...and staying busy!  I am so excited for Caitlin to start preschool...I think she is going to LOVE it!

Abigail is also LOVING preschool (I should do another post).  She has such a great teacher.  They are learning so much already.  I love her teacher too....she does a lot of the same books I did in kindergarten so when Abigail comes home, we can usually read the books again!  Yesterday was her first show and tell...she had to bring something with the letter A for her name, so she brought an angel.  She thought it was very exciting that she got to sit in  the teacher's chair to show her toy.  This week has been friendship week and they have done such fun things like friendship bracelets and a friendship salad!

Also, random note...marathon training is coming to an end!  My dad and I did our last 20 mile run last weekend (we did 2 20's).  It wasn't pretty (Barrington Hills, rain, hip injury), but we finished it.  So I only have 3 "taper" weeks (16 miles, 12 miles, 8 miles) on the weekend and then it's marathon weekend.  It's been a lot harder to train with the girls and Rob's golf...but I'm proud that I got it done!  Looking forward to our marathon in Michigain in October!

Happy Thursday!