Christmas Crafts

I know it's just about Thanksgiving, but today we got a gingerbread kit at Target and made a train. William is feeling a little under the weather with his cough, so I thought something fun would take his mind off being sick. He was a great helper, if a little impatient to frost the thing himself, and Violet watched patiently from her chair.




It was a little difficult to keep upright at first since the frosting was still warm and the sides wanted to tip over with the weight of the candy, but we managed pretty well. William is a wonderful decorator (and Violet is a good candy-eater; yep, those are her green, candy-stealing hands in the picture). He put the main train car together himself after I frosted it, and he also put on most of the candy (with Daddy's help).

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! We went to Oma's house, and then to Grandma and Grandpa's house. William had 3 costume changes (a shark, Spider-man, and a dragon), and Violet was a tiger (rrrrwww! As she reminded everyone!). Somehow I fit into my high school cheerleading uniform! Yay! William and Violet went trick-or-treating to Chase and Taylor's house, and William also went trick-or-treating with Daddy to score some candy. It was cold, but lots of fun!!

Kohl Childrens Museum

Yesterday, I took William and Violet to the Kohl Childrens Museum in Glenview, IL (it's about an hour from where we live in Chicago). We stopped at my parents' house first so the kids could get out of the car for a little while, and it was only another 10 minutes from there. We got the yearly membership.

Wow, was it a blast! We probably only did about 10% of what there was to do. First we went into a room with car tracks, a huge car wash, and various car parts (brakes, wheels, etc.) to learn about. Since it was right near the entrance, this area was a little crowded, so we moved on.

Next, we went into an architecture room. There were large foam blocks that William and Violet built up and knocked down. William especially loved these. We sat at a light table that had geometric shapes in different colors; when you put the shapes on top of one another, the colors mixed to form one color (i.e. a red and blue square made a purple one). There was another table to draw using pencils and a ruler. They mostly just liked the blocks in this room.



We went into a special Little Builders exhibit; everything in this area was construction (pvc pipes, hammering nails and screwing screws, moving items with a pulley system, etc.). We liked this exhibit, as well as the Waterworks area, that we went to next.




But the best part of the day was the Dominick's grocery store! What a realistic little shopping area. William grabbed a shopping cart right away and started loading it up with real groceries (minus the food...for example, a Honey Bunches of Oats cereal box minus the cereal). There was a little baby area that I thought Violet would like to go inside, with baby toys and books, but she would have none of it. She climbed away immediately and started putting food in William's shopping cart. When a cart was free for her, I was surprised when she started wheeling it around and putting food in it, just like her big brother! William spent half of the time sitting at the cash register, checking kids out with their groceries. We spent a good 40 minutes in this area, and I know they both had a lot of fun.



What a great place to be able to go to, whenever we want...it definitely made the day go by quickly!

My Trip to Target

Thanks to My Frugal Adventures, my trip to Target today cost me less than $15! I used Target web coupons, coupons I had clipped, and internet manufacturer coupons. Target allows you to stack their store coupons with manufacturer coupons, so many of my items I had used 2 coupons per item. Here's what I got:

-2 bottles Wishbone salad dressing
-2 jars Ragu pasta sauce
-3 boxes Kashi cereal
-2 boxes Kashi breakfast bars
-1 box Pop Tarts
-2 Healthy Choice frozen entrees

...and my Kashi purchases earned me a $5 Target gift card, which I immediately used to buy my daughter 2 pairs of pants (regularly priced at $4 each). Thank you thrifty bloggers!

Ah, Summer

As summer is winding down, I got to thinking about one of our favorite outdoor activities: going for a bike ride. I started taking William on daily bike rides when he was 1-1/2; back then, we went around the block on his little Spider Man car that he pushed along with his feed. Despite the fact that his little legs were really getting a work out, he usually managed to make it the whole way without having to get off (and me carrying the car all the way home!).

This summer, he graduated to his bike with training wheels. Gosh can he zip around on that thing! I follow him along, with Violet in her baby carrier or in the stroller. William is very good at stopping at all the streets and alleys. Sometimes he gets a little ahead of us, but he always waits for us to catch up.

I love going for bike rides; I can't wait until next summer when Violet will be able to ride her bike, too. Then all of us can go cruising around to wherever we'd like!

Violet's First Birthday

Happy First Birthday Violet! Today Violet turned one year old...she had a birthday party with family who love her very much! Violet had lady bug cupcakes (as you can see, she enjoyed them).


Violet got a pair of Robeez shoes...purple with little white flowers on them. She also got a bunch of fall clothes, and toys from mama and daddy (William likes her toys a lot, too).

Snow Patrol - Live from Studio X

I went to a performance today by Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly of Snow Patrol. My husband, my parents, and I all went, with tickets I'd won thanks to 93.1 XRT. The line was wrapped around the building at the Abbey Pub; my parents were first in line, but in hindsight I'm glad we were farther back, because a car dropped off Gary and Nathan about a foot away from me! I just have to say that the show was amazing! I was right up by the stage. Gary told lots of funny stories despite being clearly and admittedly hung over. They played "Final Straw", "Chasing Cars", "Take Back the City", "Chocolate", "Crack the Shutters", etc. Everyone was screaming their heads off...I am so glad I saw them at such a small venue.