May 2019- Chris' Birthday

Happy Birthday my love!!

Birthdays are fun, am I right?!?

We decided to accept an Airbnb reservation for Chris' birthday weekend, so we spent it up at the Lake which was delightful. I can't remember why, but no one else was up, so we had a weekend to hang out just with Team Kramer :)

Hang time at the Lake

Lulu & I are so lucky to have Chris as our Daddy/husband respectively. We try to make him know this all year round, but especially on days like his birthday! 

Nothing better than swinging in the "hammock swing"

Lulu & I picked up Chris at the train station closest to the Lake and decided to stop for food on the way back to the house. Which is how we ended up having dinner on Chris' actual birthday at our new favorite "restaurant" (its actually more like a drive in, there are only outdoor picnic tables, no indoor space) at the Lake; Meggy Moos. It has way better food than I EVER would've imagined - cooked fresh & arguably the best fried cheese curds we've ever had - light & crispy breading, hot gooey cheese, just perfect. Plus soft serve and/or hard scoop ice cream (complete with toppings - Lulu's fav - rainbow sprinkles, my fav - what they call "twinkles" or crunch coat....sweetened chopped peanuts with rainbow sprinkles). Its just so good. Its just so unassuming. We've been frequenting it since we "discovered" it on Chris' birthday. 

Waiting for Daddy's choo choo train (on tracks that are NOT in service - I'm not a crazy person!)

Birthday dinner at Meggy Moos

Because birthdays are so darn fun, we continued the celebrating at home with Mom & Dad in Glenview! I made a batch of brown butter cupcakes with brown butter buttercream icing for Chris's family celebration - they are from the Nigella Lawson cookbook "How to be a Domestic Goddess"

her recipes make about 1/2 as much as most American cupcake recipes do, but for our purposes - it was perfect. Obviously they are easily doubled for larger groups :)

Let the fun continue back in Glenview

Cupcakes I mentioned above - really delicious!

Do you & your family have any birthday traditions? We really do just the typical - cake, ice cream, dinner with family. I am always interested in how other people celebrate - I'd love to know what you & yours do for birthdays!

April 2019 - Lulu is TWO and a trip to AZ

Happy 2nd Birthday Lulu Bug!

So cliche, but so true - the time has flown by with our Lulu bug! All the sudden she is two years old! How on Earth did that happen?? I feel so darn lucky to have the Bug as my daughter - she is funny, talkative, loves to sing and swim and dance and run and do big jumps, she loves food nearly as much as I do, can't get enough of her grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles, she thinks choo choos/trucks/airplanes are the bees knees, she thinks going to the Costco grocery store and eating cheese pizza is one of life's simple pleasures, she loves to read books, make yummies in her kitchen and help me in the big kitchen. Life is so different with Lulu in it, but it is, in so many ways, so much better.

This one is so funny, sitting on the same couch but 19.5 months separates the top photo from the bottom! Nevie was brand new on the top, Lulu was 4.5 months old, and H was 2.5 years old. Such big kids in such a short amount of time!

We took a trip to Scottsdale, AZ to revisit the place where Neva was born and enjoy a family spring break-ish vacation. The entire trip consisted of sleep, eat, swim, repeat! We went to the Old Town Scottsdale Farmer's Market (I would HIGHLY recommend - it was a great market indeed) and the Four Seasons for lunch as our only 2 adventures outside of the rental house!!

We continued to celebrate with friends & family at home after we got back from AZ. How lucky is our Bug to have so many people who love her so much?!? Happy 2nd Birthday to my biggest, best Bug!

She tried valiantly to blow out the candle :) She ultimately needed a bit of help!

Reindeer Round Up - Christmas Edition - 12/28/18 - Wonderland Express, Santa Cruise, Forza Meats, BoBo & Bump Time, Cousin Love

Whoosh. For as much as I love Christmas - this past week was a bit of a challenge. Poor Lulu was sick, first with a stomach bug, then with a cold that then led to a double ear infection. If you have littles in your life you might or might not know that sick littles = not a ton of relaxing for their grown ups. Our week of fun, food, adventures with family, Ho Ho Ho, and holly jolly quickly turned into puke, snot, screaming at family (Lulu), How Are We Going to Make It, and not so holly jolly. We did have fun. We did have some hours that were mostly scream free. We did not have a lot of naps. We did not have a lot of fully formed adult thoughts or conversations. But we did have time with family, which took some of the edge off of the Bug being so upset/uncomfortable/flat out miserable.

It was humbling to have the Christmas week not go anywhere near as I planned.....we still did all of the activities we'd hoped/planned to. Just with a lot less joy on my part. It is hard for me to enjoy myself when my littlest Bug is monkey clinging on to me while also swatting me/screaming in my ear. I'm sure that seems shocking that I wasn't having the time of my life ;) That is life though, right? Things don't go as planned. Particularly with kids involved. But they still were great. Different. Louder. Less relaxing. But still great because we were together.

Without further ado, here are some of the merry & bright moments of the past week!

1. Wonderland Express at the Chicago Botanic Garden

What fun to see the train display at the Botanic Garden through the eyes of Lulu, Hennie & Neva!

The girls were super jazzed, Lulu kept saying "choo choo" "choo choo" which was really sweet.

These are the types of photos that truly show how sick Lulu felt :(

We all know how much Chris loves trains - I have to admit that I am beginning to fall under their holiday spell as well.

I love that we have traditions that are fun and appropriate for all 3 generations of our family, I'm pretty sure BoBo & Bump get a kick out of seeing the trains each year with the kids :)

2. Santa Cruise up at The Lake

This was our first time trying this fun experience; I loved it! The novelty of a winter time boat ride (our boat comes out of the water in October), festive lights along the way, a bit of caroling on the boat, a lakeside Santa cameo, candy canes, and just fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

3. Delectable Sandwiches from Forza Meats

If you live or work in or near Glenview, run don't walk to Forza Meats. Having grown up in Glenview & watched the development of the Glen pull resources & interest away from the downtown area of my town, it makes my heart SO glad to see interesting new businesses making downtown Glenview home. I am aquainted with the guys who started the business & they seem to be quite heavily involved - in a good way :) Both were in the shop the day my mom & I popped in.

We tried 5 different sandwiches & they were all awesome. Oddly, I loved the vegetarian one - I realize that sounds ridiculous given "meat" is in the name of the business- but it was incredibly flavorful & full of different textures. Oftentimes the veggie sandwich option is a throwaway disappointment - not this one! From what we saw - you can't go wrong with the sandwiches.

My mom bought pork shoulder to prepare for Christmas Eve dinner (our "main" Christmas meal) - it was also top notch. Added bonus - one of the co-owners telling us about the farm where the pigs are raised.

I picked out some jarred delights for Chris' stocking, there were ready to bake pizzas, frozen sauces, fresh pastas, salads, olives, all sorts of delights waiting to be discovered.

Check out this new spot - I promise you won't regret it!

4. Imprint Music Concert

A classmate & close friend of Marg's is the VP of the newly formed non profit Imprint Music. They are awaiting their 501(c)3 status - but a cool idea for an organization! The group brings together alum from Glenbrook South (& maybe other places too) to perform beautiful choral concerts benefiting other nonprofits!

We grabbed dinner before the show and loved listening to Christmas carols sung by such talented people. Bonus - the concert was held at the church where I attended preschool 30+ years ago. Fun to be back in a place that I spent so much time when I was tiny!

 5. BoBo & Bump Time

There is so much to be said for the kids having time with their grandparents. My only regret is that because Lulu (& to be fair - Hennie & Neva too) really weren't feeling 100% - they were clingier than they usually are.

Wonderland Express fun with Bump & BoBo

Do you think the girls were getting tired?!?

In a normal day - the girls love to hang with BoBo & Bump. This Christmas they seemed to stick closer to mom & dad - but such is life. Thankfully they all got some time despite the germiness!

Taking a break from the ice skating adventure with BoBo

Lulu wasn't really enjoying Christmas morning - but had time for a heart to heart with Bump

6. Cousin Love

I'm not terribly close to any of my cousins, except those that live across an ocean in Ireland & Germany.

I suppose that is part of the reason it makes me so happy to see Lulu really developing relationships with her cousins.

Despite the fact that a bunch of our family got sick - the kids still really loved being together. If that isn't what this season is all about - then what is??