The Gig's Up, The Secret is Out

The gig is up, the secret is out - we are pregnant! I am due at the end of September/first of October. We are having GIRL number THREE. We hope she is another blondie to add to our collection. We kept it a secret for so long in order to surprise Charles' sister Bethy who came for a visit last week and is also pregnant (her first). It was definitely worth the wait to see the look on her face of sheer confusion!

We went to Lincoln Park Zoo in the heart of Chicago while Bethy was here

The lion at Lincoln Park Zoo taking a nap in the sun.

Abby was excited to see the monkeys.

Happy Father's Day

Abby saw that I was throwing out an egg carton last week and immediately declared that we should reuse and recycle it. She proposed that we make "crafts" out of it, however she had no idea what to make. So I came up with the idea of making tullips for Daddy for Father's day. The girls loved painting the "flowers" and Daddy loved them. He is currently trying to figure out how to get them to his office since he takes the train. We also decorated a frame with stickers for Daddy to take to work for the "work people" to see. Abby wore Daddy's tie for most of the day on Sunday, going around saying she was anything from the postman, to a lawyer, to the bishop. She started saluting us lately too, I am not sure where that came from...

Sammy wanted me to take her picture too....

What Have We Been Up To?

Who would have guessed that Illinois, Indiana and Michigan have nice beaches? Not me. But I have been pleasantly surprised. Lately, we have been out comparing and trying them all out. They are all either one or two hours from our house. Not bad. Yep, we are beach bums!

Here's Abby working on her tan...

The beach just isn't the same without some good reading. This is a great book I have been reading lately about some zookeepers in Warsaw, Poland during WWII. After all the animals in their zoo were killed, they starting hiding Jews in all the pens and animal houses. It is very interesting and I would recommend it to anybody.

Abby rarely wants to get wet but she sure loves wearing her bathing suit.

Sammy has no problem with the cold water or the mud. She jumps right in.

Sammy and Uncle David testing the water.

Filling her bucket to build a sandcastle

Sammy had no problem eating sand either. In fact, when she was eating chips she would first dip them in the sand and then eat them. She said she liked it, so I didn't stop her. Crazy child!

Uncle David took Sammy on a hike up the dunes to a creek where they found some nice mud for a body and face mud mask. After being cover with mud, Sammy decided she really didn't like it. Poor thing. We had to dip her many times in the cold water to get it off and she was not happy. Bad Uncle David....

Miscellaneous pictures: Sammy loves edamame. On this particular day, she ate an entire 14 ounce bag of edamame and no spaghetti for dinner. How can I complain? It is funny to see her pick up the pod and suck out those beans. She is quite good at it. In this picture, she is pointing to her pile of empty, disgarded bean pods but a little distracted by that chocolate cupcake.

Abby and Sammy love ladybugs and are always trying to catch them. Abby decided to make a sign saying "Ladybugs Welcome," so they know they can come visit our yard.

Cooking Disaster

Last Thursday I knew we would be busy all day long with friends doing various activities and we would not be home until late. So I decided to prepare something for dinner ahead of time in the slow cooker. I found a recipe on Rachel Ray's website for a Smoky Sweet Potato Stoup (yes stoup, it's a cross between a soup and a stew). It called for 1-2 chipotle peppers with adobo sauce. For some reason, when I looked at that ingredient listed, I thought 1-2 cans of chipotle peppers. I opted on the "safe" side and just put in one can of peppers. We then went out and had great adventures with all our friends.

Upon returning at 6:30pm, I was so proud to have dinner all ready and waiting for us. I had even put out some Rhodes rolls to thaw and bake quickly. Charles came home just as we were about to eat. I filled each bowl with some stoup and we sat down. Abby was starving and immediately took a huge heaping spoonful of the stoup. She then started crying and waving her hands frantically. She seemed to be saying it was too hot. So I mixed it up a bit and tried to blow on it for her. In the meantime, she was still crying and drinking water like crazy. I couldn't imagine it was that hot, I let it cool for a few minutes beforehand. Charles then took a bite of his and said he could not eat the stuff either. I thought he meant he did not like it. He then clarified that it was not just hot, it was on fire, spicy hot!!! I took one bite and couldn't believe the way it burned going down my throat and into my stomache. I drank an entire glass of water as well. Sammy insisted on having a bite too. We told her over and over she would not like it but she had to have a bite as well. So, what can you do, we let her have her bite. She had the same reaction as Abby, flailing her arms and crying for water. Needless to say, I realized the recipe should have been for 1-2 individual peppers, NOT an entire can of 8-10 peppers. Yeee-ow! I don't even think a Mexican could have handled how hot it was (who knows). We had to dump the entire pot of stoup out and ended up eating our rolls for dinner... so much for preparing ahead of time. Have you had a cooking disaster? Do tell....

First Loose Tooth!

Abby had her first loose tooth this past week (the one right in the middle on the bottom). I thought this wouldn't happen until she was at least in kindergarten. It certainly made Charles and I feel old. She was wiggling it for a few days and I hadn't taken a picture. Right before she went to school, I had a feeling I better take a picture. Good thing I did because it came out that day at school!

She is so proud of her new space and says she can eat a lot better without that wobbly tooth!

Her tooth came out during her last day of school. They were having "circle time" (reading and sharing time) when she told everyone about her loose tooth. When she went to show them all which one it was, it popped out. All the kids were so excited. I came to her little graduation and it was the first thing I heard about. She was a star for being the first one in her class to lose a tooth and doing it in front of everyone. The tooth fairy came that night and she got so excited adding the money she got to the money her nama (grandma) gave her and counting it all over and over. The above picture shows Abby and all her little girlfriends at school. They have all planned out playdates with each other for the next three months. Of course, Sammy is sitting there like she is one of the older girls too.


Here's Abby getting all her school work from her teacher Ms. Mecaskey, at her little preschool graduation.

And last but not least, is our fashionable little Sammy in her new sun dress and stylish heels, ready for an important outing...

"The Chocolate Express"

Abby and Sammy made a train this week out of our bar stools. They decided to call it "The Chocolate Express," since we are a little obsessed with anything chocolate at our house. Above is the sign Abby made. She is quite the little writer now.


They put pillows and blankets on every chair so the passengers would be "comfortable."

When Daddy got home, we all had to eat chocolate chip cookies while sitting in the train. As you can imagine, it wasn't so "comfortable" for Daddy since he is so tall and Abby insisted that the cars of the train had to stay touching. Daddy compromised by sitting backwards on the train and finishing two cookies to compensate for the lack of comfort. I wish I would have gotten pictures of that.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

smiley Sammy

and little messy-haired friends in their new summer skirts

WARNING: Do not Read If Sensitive to Bird Violence

UPDATE:

Many of you have been asking lately about our infamous tapping bird (see April 23 post), so here's the latest: NO, we have not gotten rid of that %&#@ bird YET! In fact, I watched him just this morning, tap his little beak, take two steps or so to the side, tap again and repeat until he had tapped across the width of the entire window. There have been several mornings where he (notice I assume he is a male) has either woken myself or Abby and Sammy. He comes at the same time every morning (around 6:30am or 7am) and he also taps various other times of the day. My mind has been working around-the-clock devising ways to get rid of the tiny pecking nuisance. I have come up with a plan in which I could set up a system that would administer a series of electric shocks (the strength of which would be according to my mood that day) to the bird every time he comes in for a tap and a peek. However, the only drawback to that is that I do not have a ladder that is tall enough to reach the window ledge above our front door to install such a system. So my alternative plan is to hire our FBI friend to bring over his guns and shoot the bird DEAD. We are getting together with him this weekend so I will inform him of his duty then. I have become quite violent as you can tell because this bird has now been annoying us for more than four weeks. If you have any other suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them. However, keep in mind that he is tapping on the window high above our front door in which the only way to reach is by a very tall ladder (that we do not have). I will keep you all posted as to the bird's fate.