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!

5/19/19 - Stacey's 1st Bridal Shower

What fun we jammed into 1 weekend this spring!! Not only did we celebrate 1 best's friend's baby, but my mom & her friends hosted a beautiful bridal shower for the other best friend!! So so so many wonderful things to celebrate this year!

My parents have been in a Gourmet Club for God only knows how long - as long as I can remember - so I'm guessing somewhere between 25-35 years. This group of ladies hosts showers for their member's daughters when the "young" girls are engaged :) They are so fun and festive and fancy and always full of delectable food! Stacey's 1st bridal shower was no exception!!

I am so happy to have friends in my life that I've known for literally my whole life. It seems like a gift I am not certain I deserve. The fact that I have TWO of these friends makes me lucky simply beyond belief.

It seemed clear that our bride to be was so very happy to be celebrated - it was a wonderful party full of fun people, beautiful flowers, great gifts and an awesome lunch.

5/18/19 - Cody's Baby Shower

What could be more fun than being pregnant? OK, honestly - lots of things could be......as typed by the woman who is 28 weeks into pregnancy #2...... but the "right" answer is being pregnant with your best friend!!

The 3 of us have been best friends since we were born. This fact makes me truly happy.

We celebrated Cody & Baby C in style at her parents' house in Glenview. Her big sister, Maggie & her mom threw a wonderful party to celebrate both Coot & the baby!

Our little ones will be about 6 weeks apart and I can't wait for them to meet :) Our bumps have had some quality time so far this spring & summer, I only hope the babies can get together as much.

Chris brought Lulu to pick me up at the end of the party, she was pleased as punch with the cake!

Also loved Auntie Stacey's willingness to do big jumps :)

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!

Sunday summer time blog catch up - ready? set? go!

Enjoying a sunny, cool, summer morning

Darn my New Year's Resolution of blogging once per week. The wheels certainly came off of that one :( But here I am, back in full effect, ready to play catch up on the last few months that I've been silent!

It is blissfully cool this morning, after 2 weeks of heat & humidity. I am, for the first time this summer, enjoying the tree house feel our sun porch gives me. So we majorly need to have our trees trimmed......but it is glorious to have them cocoon me in the porch, potential roof damage aside!

We've had a busy summer so far between traveling to NV for baby Pearl's birth & adoption (hooray for a new niece!), spending time up at the lake, and hosting and attending a bevvy of wonderful parties for my best friends. This week was our chance to stay home & recharge/reset before the next round of Airbnb guests, travels and adventures begins. This morning is the first time in a long time that Chris & Lulu are spending their morning together - I love that they do their weekend morning thing - it is fun for them and feels vital to me. It is so nice to have the house to myself (technically Owenn puppy is home - but he is lurking downstairs like the grade A creeper that he is) and take a bit to do things like catch up on this blog; which I have neglected for far too long!

Today marks 28 weeks of pregnancy with Baby K #2, a great milestone indeed. Hoping to play blog catch up & get back in the habit before the baby arrives and throws us all into a top notch love filled tail spin :)

Happy Sunday morning to you, I hope you are finding some quiet moments to do what makes you happy this weekend!