Chicago!!!

We had a fantastic time in Chicago last weekend! Believe it or not, we had never been downtown! We tried to fit as much as we could into our day and I think we were pretty darn successful! We started the day off with one of Max's favorite parts...."riding the train!!!" aka the subway. We took it to Wrigley field and stayed through the 4th inning of the Cubs came. Then we took a bus (another fave of Max!) to Navy Pier. What a cool place! We took a boat ride on an architectural tour. This was Stephen and I's favorite part for sure! What a beautiful city!!! And those buildings!! My word....they are HUGE!!!! After that we headed over to Millenium Park for some fun at The Bean (such a cool attraction!) and the fountain. Then it was off to dinner at a fabulous Chicago-style pizza place!!! We had a blast and I'm so glad we went! And an even better part, we got to catch up with some of Stephen's friends that we hadn't seen in a really long time. Great weekend!

More birthday fun!

Man what a birthday extravaganza Max has had!!!! As if he hasn't had enough fun already....it continued this past weekend! We headed to Indiana for my dad's side of the family's reunion and celebrated with them. It was Max's first experience with camping (although we stayed in a hotel....so I know we can't really call it camping!! But we were at the campsite all day!) and he loved it! His fave part was definitely swimming in the lake and of course....spending time with his best bud Noah! My grandparents hadn't met Max yet and it was really special for them to get to have such quality time with him. We were also able to head to southern Michigan on Monday and Max got to meet Stephen's grandma for the first time. Such a special, family filled weekend!

Today Max got one last chance to celebrate! Its was his turn to bring snack to preschool in honor of his birthday! We made chocolate chip cupcakes (they ask for healthy snacks....but we had to be at least a little festive!!) and I got to be the class helper. It was a super special day for him. They gave him a special birthday hat and sang to him, and then he got to lead the prayer and inspect the classroom at the end of the day to make sure everything was cleaned up! He felt super cool!

I think I can safely say the birthday celebrations have come to an end....but my oh my he's had a great run!

He's growing up folks!!

Oh my! I don't know if I can take much more of this growing up thing! Max turned 4 yesterday....4!!! Are you kidding me! He was just turning three...we were just packing our bags, heading to Thailand....and now he's four.....time has flown! And now today he headed off to his first day of preschool! Seriously, too much change! I'm so excited and proud of him, don't get me wrong....but man oh man...he's supposed to be my baby a little bit longer!

We had such a blast celebrating his birthday together! We've already celebrated far too many birthdays apart....so Stephen and I were beyond excited to finally be all together for Max's big day. When Max woke up on Saturday we surprised him and told him we were heading on a road trip for his birthday. We drove up north and took him to "A Day Out With Thomas the Train"! Oh my goodness, he had a blast! He kept saying "we get to ride on Thomas?!?!" We went to a Japanese hibachi restaurant for dinner and it was a perfect ending to the day. The waiters brought Max out a HUGE ice cream sundae and sang him happy birthday, complete with a big drum!

On his actual birthday, we kept the fun going! We had lunch out with Stephen and then let Max pick his favorite meal for me to make at home for dinner. And not surprisingly at all....he chose spaghetti! He got himself a scooter and a keyboard along with some other smaller gifts. We also discovered recently that his legs are finally long enough for him to reach the pedals on his bike, so after presents we headed outside to ride! Then it was cake time! Stephen and I are definitely NOT professionals when it comes to cake decorating but we had a really good time making it, and Max seemed to think it tasted good, so that's all that matters!

Really it was just a super special family day! We got to love on our boy and I got to pretend for one more day that he wasn't about to head off to preschool!

But.....then today happened! And now there's no going back! He's most definitely a preschooler! He had a such a blast on his first day and already can't wait to go back! I really am excited for him...and I'm so proud that he's in mainstream preschool...having learned so much in the short ten months he's been home! He looks so grown up in these pictures! So many big things happening these days...I'm ready to just settle into this schedule and enjoy it!

North Carolina 2011

We had another FABULOUS trip to North Carolina! We spent a week with family, and it was a perfect trip! Max had a fun over night with Grandma and Grandpa and we enjoyed a super fun day at Tweetsie Railroad (a super cute amusement park with an old time steam engine that Max loved!) The weather was perfect and it was great to have us all together! With Stephen's sister and brother-in-law living in NYC, his folks in North Carolina and us in Illinois, we really treasure these times when all seven of us can be together! We also took the opportunity to celebrate Max's upcoming 4th birthday! He understands that the big day isn't until August 29th....but he also understands that its VERY fun to take every chance he can to celebrate! He got a slip-n-slide (which he's already mastered the perfect technique for!), a microphone with stand (seriously the PERFECT gift for him!!) and karaoke machine (another PERFECT fit!) some Thomas the Train toys, a couple new books, a wooden train to sit on his book shelf and so many other things I can't even remember! He had such a great time....I think he thought it was Christmas again! Speaking of Christmas, that's when we'll all be together again...and we're super excited about it!!! Hope you enjoy all the pictures!!