We're goin' on a bear hunt!

We were supposed to go to a music class today, but it was cancelled. I asked Nathan what he wanted to do instead and he said "find a bear!". So we headed off to the Brookfield zoo to find my boy a bear. I'm so glad we did because it was a beautiful 60 degree day and the zoo was nearly empty. The children's play zoo was free today, so we headed there first.

They had all sorts of pretend play areas and a few things for the little ones too. Nathan entertained himself in a tree stump while Emie hit one of the more baby friendly spots.

They have a little greenhouse where the kids can water and even dig a little bit. I'm pretty sure Nathan sprayed every darn leaf in the place with his water bottle and Emie followed behind making this funny little "shoosh" sound and pretending to spray her bottle. Maybe my children can help me develop a green thumb!

And then we found our bear! One of the polar bears was in an especially social mood and we spent nearly an hour face to face with this guy.

Nathan was absolutely fascinated with that bear and insisted his bedtime story be about "Nathan the polar bear". Emie would squeal when he swam by, but was a little too afraid to get near the window.

I love unexpected days like this!

Halloween!

Oy! I'm exhausted! But we had a GREAT time this Halloween. We started out with a trip to my work for a Halloween potluck and some trick or treating. Then we had a little party with the kids' babysitter and the other kids she watches. On Saturday, a big party with our home daycare group and another that she partners with followed by our goddaughter's birthday party with a costume theme. Finally, on Saturday we had a nice morning at church followed by a party with dear friends. Here are are a few pictures of the weekend.

The kids dressed up for church. Emie's dress reminded me of candy corn and made me happy.

Nathan and his daycare buddies. He dressed as Handy Manny and enjoyed fixing things for people all weekend long. I was relieved that he liked his costume because he's been telling everyone for the past several weeks that he was going to be Santa for Halloween.

Emie dressed as a sock monkey, which was Nathan's costume last year.

We fit in some trick or treating too. It was hard to get a good shot of Nathan. He was on a candy mission!

What a cute little tail!

Emie is such a big girl now, isn't she?

And here is our award winning pumpkin! There was a pumpkin decorating contest at the daycare party. We made a McDonald's Hamburger pumpkin and we won! I was hoping the prize was a month of free daycare, but alas it was a movie night basket instead.

A simple apple dip

Kids just love to dip! At least mine do. We've had a lot of apples around our house lately, so I made up a simple apple dip recipe (if you can call it that!) which has become a staple at morning snack time. Just mix plain yogurt (I use Greek for extra protein), peanut butter and a few drops of honey. Definitely healthier than that caramel stuff and a kid pleaser for sure! You can even throw in some ground flax seed for some Omega 3s and fiber.

Our little Emie is, well, little. So we need to bulk her up a bit. If anyone has any good recipes for healthy, high calorie toddler food, I'd appreciate you passing them my way!

Pumpkin patch

We have had unseasonably warm weather here lately. Today was cooler, but still a lovely 65 degree day. Knowing what is coming, I've been taking every opportunity to get us out of the house and enjoy fresh air while we still can. Today we hit a local pumpkin patch.

And we ran . . .

and ran . . .

and ran . . .

and obliged Mommy with a pumpkin pic.

We also tried out our muscles on some pumpkin squats.

Maybe next year Emie!

Catching the running bug

Nathan ran his first ever race this morning. I ran the Morton Arboretum 5K and Nathan ran the 50 yard dash for 2 to 4 year olds.

He was pretty excited that he was #1 (all of the kids were #1 ;))

All morning, he was asking for his turn to run. I got a video of the race, but it was pretty poor as apparently, parents of 2-4 year olds can be a bit aggressive with their cheering. Nathan was very cute zigzagging all over the road, laughing the whole way.

I think he may have caught the running bug. We took a family walk after dinner and he opted to run rather than ride in the stroller.

Celebrating 7 years with segways

Gus and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary with a day to ourselves in downtown Chicago. We went out to breakfast, went on a three hour Segway tour of the city, went out to lunch and just walked around the city.

A great view of the skyline from Adler Planetarium

We rode around soldier field, which was a ton of fun as we could play around with our new Segway tricks.

It was so windy at Buckingham Fountain we had to lean pretty far to keep from blowing away from each other!

It was a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly, see the city in a unique way and very fun!
We don't really go out very often without our kids, so it was a really nice chance to spend some 1:1 time.

Apple Picking!

A few weekends ago we drove out to the country (well, not too country, the metra line does go there!) for some apple picking! We even convinced Tito Dong to come with us. He is wonderful with our kiddos and they adore him (and not just because he has been known to arrive at our house bearing McDonald's pancakes!).

Emie enjoyed toddling around the orchard and found some of our best Fuji apples.

Nathan enjoyed chomping into several apples, but wanted me to gnaw the skin off for him. Definitely a little too much fiber for me that day!

They're just better fresh off the tree!

We are pretty sure that Emie gnawed her way through at least 3 apples. Pretty good for only having 5 teeth!

Both kiddos enjoyed playing on all of the tractors they had on display.

We brought home quite the haul of apples and quickly turned them in to applesauce, apple butter and apple crisp. Yum!

Boys weekend!

Over the Labor Day weekend, Nathan and Gus headed off to Florida to visit Gus' brother and his family. Looks like someone enjoyed the plane ride . . .

Seeing airplanes up close is pretty exciting for a 2 year old boy!

Nathan had fun playing with his Kuya Josh's guitar.

He saw the ocean for the first time!

And seems to have brought his standard toddler grin with him.

He enjoyed telling me about the salty water and squishy sand.

After the ocean trip, they went to this place called Wannado City. Each kiddo can choose a job and then earn money to spend in the city.

Nathan chose to be a surgeon. Not a surprise as he is quite a fan of our pediatrician! Oh, and the fireman station was too long of a wait . . .

What does a two year old choose to spend his money on? Why carousel rides of course! He also rode a little train and an airplane ride where sock monkey got to be his co-pilot.

Yes, Daddy dressed him. Looks like fun!

Emie and I spent the weekend fighting off colds :( But we did manage to have some quality girl time. We did some shopping and went out to eat with friends. It was actually really relaxing only having 1 kiddo to watch for the weekend. But we sure missed our boys!

I'm gonna make a recipe, I just can't wait to start!

Anybody know and love Psalty? This is the song the kids and I sing whenever we cook together! It just makes cooking with kids so much more fun when you sing and dance as well :)

Sadly, my laptop computer took a little spill at the hands of my 1 year old and I won't be able to load pictures here for a little while. So, I decided to post a yummy recipe instead!

Here is a recipe for Golden Pumpkin Rolls:

Ingredients

• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F to 115 degrees F)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Sprinkle with sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add milk, brown sugar, pumpkin, butter, salt, spices and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Turn onto a floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a roll. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

They were SUPER tasty! I substituted whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour and added a bit more yeast to help the dough rise a bit more, but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.

I love cooking in the fall!!! Feel free to share a fall recipe with me - I'm sure I'll give it a try with my little Psalty singing cooks :)

The American Girl Adventure

Emie's Lolo (Gus' dad) gave her money to buy a special dolly for her birthday. He heard about American Girl Dolls and wanted us to get one for her. I really didn't know much about the American Girls and I thought they might be too "grown up" for a new 1 year old. But then I learned about the Bitty Babies. Suddenly, I felt quite giddy about the whole thing. Fortunately, we live near one of the American Girl Place stores, so we could have the full experience!

So we loaded up in the family van . . .

and hit the busy streets of Chicago. Made busier by the Air and Water show, but it was a beautiful day!

It took us a little while to find the best match for our little Emie. We narrowed it down to two and the kids made the final call. And they actually agreed!

Obviously, it was love at first snuggle.

Since Bitty Baby (we've yet to name her) didn't cost as much as the Girl dolls, we used the leftover money to treat Kuya Nathan to something at the Disney store. He picked out a Handy Manny tool belt and has been "fixing" everything around the house.

Don't you just love that toddler cheesy grin?

We then walked over to the Rainforest Cafe. The kids loved it!
We sat near the elephant who was quite animated during the storms.

Crayons and paper are a must have when waiting at a restaurant.

So are Cheerios to tide over your ravenous 1 year old.

Nathan LOVED this waterfall. It had an alligator at the bottom that he was very excited about.

We had a visit from the frog mascot. I just thought this picture was funny. Though it looks like I forced him to pose with the frog he was actually excited about it. Really, he was!

We finished the day with a drive along Lake Michigan. And decided we need to hit the beach soon!