This T-Rex costume has made me laugh out loud every time I’ve seen it while we’ve been trick-or-treating the past few years. So when I got the chance to grab one for Katie cheaply I did. It did not disappoint.
We got Katie’s Halloween costume.
Category Archives: Kids
I LOVE having a handy hubby!
From little things like hanging light fixtures and fixing cabinet drawers to big things like building pantry shelves or building a table, he can do it all.
This was his most recent project — now that we’re in our forever home and Owen has been upgraded to a Queen bed, I wanted him to have a cool headboard. I found about what we wanted…and Tom built it!
Owen loves it!
And here’s some pics before the lights went on!
We seriously have a totally new cat.
This always freaks me out.
Katie loves her stuffed Charlie but she leaves it all over and freaks us out.
Sometimes I allow it.
She loves playing with makeup so sometimes she asks me to do it for her and I use my products.
Baseball with the grandparents!
Owen’s first facial!
He has been having pre-teen acne issues so I’ve had him using a SeneGence acne wash and moisturizer, doing masks, and I finally took him to get a facial. He did really well (she had to do a lot of manual blackhead extractions) and even agreed to do another!
Katie gave me my first lilacs!
No, they didn’t come off my new lilac bushes. Thankfully.
Unfair puzzle!
Owen and the hippo
Owen tripped and fell last night and hurt his arm and wrist and it was still hurting today so it was off to the pediatrician. We had it x-rayed and they didn’t see anything so it’s just waiting for it to get better.
They apologized for putting us in a baby room but of course we didn’t care.
Waiting for x-rays he had to sit in a kid seat. I thought the little duck feet were adorable. You can see his “ugh mom” reaction.
Covid teacher appreciation gifts!
Teacher appreciation week was last week but I changed my mind at the last minute and did school-colored Piper Lou tumblers instead of my usual bottle of wine. I was going to do a Binny’s [alcohol store] gift card but figured this would last a lot longer!
Owen had fun picking which one went to which teacher!
Owen’s reward choice!
It’s really too cold to be walking around Pokémoning in Chicago, but it was Owen’s choice of rewards for bringing his grades up!
We walked around Millennium Park and finally saw the famous bean (we figure we’ve been here almost four years so it was about time). Unfortunately due to Covid it was all cordoned off so we couldn’t get up close and personal. We definitely want to go back when the weather is nicer.
We tried to eat dinner there but hadn’t made reservations (and weren’t about to wait an hour!) so we just started driving towards home and I found a place on Yelp for dinner so that was another fun mini adventure.
Both kids had a great time!
Baseball season has begun!
Tom is a Head Coach this year and loving it—he’s always wanted to coach and now he’s getting the chance. He already knows most of the kids on the team since they’ve been on previous teams.
Owen’s first at bat got him on base! His second got a hit but it was a pop fly that got caught. He was part of a few double plays. He had three RBIs and we won 8-6!
And this was what Katie spent lots of time doing:
Katie 2015 v 2021
War with Gramma Jean
I thought the kids would have fun with these cards. I was right. They had a blast playing War with Gramma!
At least her dirty feet aren’t in the bed.
Cat ears and messy hair.
National Ukrainian Museum
Gramma wanted to go see this so we made it a family affair.
It was definitely interesting, but I wanted more eggs! Also? Mom talked to the curator and will be donating some of her eggs!
Look at who I see playing Among Us?
The PTA held another Among Us game night so off course the kids were totally excited! This picture was posted on the Facebook page!
And in case you can’t easily see them:
Chocoholics Delight
I love a good puzzle—pretty easy to put together but still challenging. Gramma Jean and Katie and I worked on this for two days.
My mission was to find a sweatshirt.
Tom texted me from the ball field asking for a sweatshirt for Owen so I had to enter the boys room. Yikes. It took a few minutes but I did find one.
Why is she sleeping there?
Kids are weird. I have no idea why she wants to sleep under her drawing table.
Oh just some movie snuggles with my baby.
This is why Katie exhausts us.
So I told the kids they could watch a movie. They always have drama when picking one. So I told Katie to pick a bunch she wanted to see and then Owen would pick the one. Fine. Easy. Right?
Hahahaha. HAHAHAHA.
She reads her choices and Owen picks one. And Katie immediately says she doesn’t really want to watch that one.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So then Owen is annoyed at her and she’s annoyed because she has to watch a movie she said she wanted but then changed her mind about 60 seconds later??
So they’re both saying “FINE WHATEVER” to each other and I told Katie all this was unnecessary drama because she picked the movies and now she wanted to change things.
I just don’t have the energy for this.
Maker Faire
The local college held a zoom Maker’s Faire so all four kids did it at Anna’s! They started by making rockets! It was only a bit of a cluster the rest of the day but they had fun!
And Tom and David built a rocket launcher so the kids didn’t have to go to the college to see them launched! It brought all the neighborhood kids over!
Taking a break in lessons
A Charlie pillow
I got the kids a Charlie pillow and Katie loves it and carries it everywhere and even took it to “school” today. (Yes, that’s Charlie’s bed, too. Katie still carries that around.)
Mother’s helper practice
Kim and I took Katie on our walk today and gave her some practice being a mother’s helper.
Easter eggs!
I don’t take quite as many photos of the egg hunt anymore but they still love it.
KITTENS!!!
I took the kids to visit Brianna’s kittens as they’ve never seen kittens (I know, right?! But ours were already cats when the kids were born!) and oh man did they love it! Laughs and giggles and soooo much happiness. It was wonderful after the recent loss of Charlie.
