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!

5/18/19 - 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!

Friday Recap 12/14/18 - Christmas in the City, Birthdays, Surprise Engagement Party, Coffee for the Crossing Guard

'Tis the season for all things holly jolly, Christmasy, wintry and wonderful!! Let's do this team! I'm a day late because I went to bed at 7 last night........fighting a Christmas cold. That's about the only un-awesome thing about this time of year!

1. Christmas in the City - and by city I mean Chicago

Our little girl in the big city :)

The Bug was obsessed with the Serpentine Bridge!

Lulu & I met Chris downtown for some wonderful wintry traditions on Friday afternoon! Gluhwein at the Chriskindlmarket and Caroling at Cloudgate (aka Carols at the Bean) were the best kick off to the weekend a girl could ask for! The only way it would've been a more perfect day was if there was snow on the ground or snow falling! But it was delightful. 

Lulu & her DaDa enjoying all the sights

Gluwein, beer & my daughter inside the warm beer hall tent thing :) The yawn + hat askew make it seem like she was imbibing......she wasn't!

Love Christmas traditions!

So many people out & about enjoying the winter fun in the city. The Bug really liked watching the ice skaters at the Ribbon at Maggie Daley Park as well as the rink at Millennium Park. It was quite the thrill for her! Also - the serpentine bridge over Columbus Dr. was an unexpected hit with her - she thought it was pretty much the best thing since sliced bread! 

The city's Christmas tree in Millennium Park was beautiful & striking as always. It is just SO BIG. I think that's one thing that I am still awed by, despite being a grown up. Honestly though - to see all things Christmasy through the eyes of a child is the right was to see them. Something like the Bean that I know blew my mind the first time I saw it....no longer does. You grow accostumed to the beauty & wonder around you & then stop seeing it. But then you bring your 1 year old under the Bean & watch her head pretty much explode. She was running around looking at herself & us & all the other people reflected and it felt like we could see the little gears in her mind turning, trying to make sense of something so wonderful. There is so much wonder & joy around us everyday, but especially during the Christmas season. May we all approach this most awesome time with open arms & eyes!!

2. Birthdays celebrated on the same day!

Birthday FaceTime with PopPop

Lulu's PopPop's birthday is 1 day before that of our biggest little nephew man! This year we celebrated our nephew's birthday a day early - so we had some FaceTime with PopPop and a family birthday party with Lulu's BoBo, Bump, Aunt Tara, Uncle GR, and 4 of her cousins! 

Appetizers with BoBo & Bump

The oldest & youngest siblings :)

Happy 9th Birthday sweet little man!

Someone was enjoying the cake :)

Hooray for birthdays really anytime of the year.

3. Surprise Engagement Party 

Its not everyday that you are invited to a surprise engagement party for your best friend!! Chris & I were thrilled when an evite arrived from Stacey's (now fiance, then boyfriend) inviting us to a bar in Lincoln Park to celebrate the occasion of him proposing.
How hard it is to keep such a big secret for a WEEK!! At least our other best friend lives in San Diego - so I spent a lot of time talking to Cody about all things engagement in the intervening days!!

Now that both the future Mrs. & Mr. have posted to social media about the big news.......I can share it here!! 

Chris & I are simply so excited for Stacey & Bruce - they are a wonderful couple & will have an incredibly happy life together. We will be along for the ride ;)

4. Coffee for the Crossing Guard
So we have a pretty consistent morning routine that involves Lulu, Owenn & I walking Chris to his train and then doing a wide lap around the neighborhood, stopping at a couple of parks so Lulu can get her fix.

We occasionally pop into a local treat spot Beth's Little Bake Shop for a muffin, scone, croissant and/or coffee in conjunction with the train drop off. 

Lulu had (all week long) been saying "go" "go" "go" as we walked by Beth's, so I told her we could stop on Friday for a treat. We thought we'd be able to stop with Chris, but alas & alack -  the morning rush was for naught - Chris didn't have time to join us. Lulu & I let someone behind us go first so we could fully investigate all the treats in the case. We settled on a French Toast muffin, kind of has a bread pudding consistency under a crunchy, cinnamon sugar dome. Yum. We were happy to see one of the crossing guards in line behind us & got her coffee for her. It was foggy, damp & dreary outside and I guessed she could use a pick me up. It turned out she had forgotten her mug of coffee at home on the table :( Lulu & I are loving the reverse Advent Calendar idea - it is giving us license to do random acts of kindness every day (as if we need license - maybe reminder is a better choice of words!). 

I encourage you to buy the person in line behind you a coffee - it made everyone in the tiny little bakery seem a smidgen happier. You might be surprised how much tiny little niceties can have a bigger impact than you expect! I was surprised yesterday how nice I felt for the whole morning - knowing I had slightly improved someone's day. It put a tiny spring in my step! It was a real treat for us & hopefully for one of our crossing guards too.