Memorial Day Weekend

Mr. Singer performed again for the kids at the zoo on Friday morning.  

Had to get some video of Clara's moves (sorry it's sideways) : )

Ellie finally got her ride on the ferris wheel at Navy Pier.

Spent a hot, hot Monday at the beach.  I think it will be the first of many trips this summer!

The water was a bit on the chilly side, but not intolerable.

Ellie's first bike!!!  Justin took her to Toys R Us and she chose the one that she wanted- the pink and purple one with the polka dots on the seat!

Daddy's little helper : )

It's a 16" frame, so she still has plenty of room to grow into it.  She's doing pretty well with it though and has been getting in lots of practice by riding in circles on the deck first thing in the morning in her jammies!  

fun, fun, fun

We had a great weekend filled with gorgeous weather and fun!  Sadly, Justin had to travel to Cincinnati for a class at Xavier for the second weekend in a row.  We didn't want to be a distraction for him, so we stayed behind and stayed busy in this wonderful new city of ours : )  

We stopped for some ice cream on our way home from the park on Friday.

This was Clara's first ice cream and she loved it...but who doesn't?!

On Saturday, we headed to Montrose Beach Harbor for the Kite Festival.  Ellie had fun making her own kite.  The event was sponsored by NATO and with the NATO Summit in town, Mayor Emanuel stopped by as well as some protesters.  Fortunately, we didn't see any of the protesters but I did get detoured on the way home because of their marching.  

It's hard to tell from this picture, but it was pretty cool to see all of the kites flying.

The homemade kites didn't really have much take-off!

We tried to fly it again away from the crowd, but it didn't do much better.

Mr. Singer and the Sharp Cookies

Every Sunday afternoon, a concert venue in our neighborhood called Beat Kitchen puts on a show for the kids.  We decided to see what it was all about.  I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Ellie or Clara!  

Ellie danced her way to the front!

They called all of the kids up on stage at the end.

And maybe the best part-

after the show was over, they rolled out a bunch of bubble wrap for the kids to pop!

Metamorphosis

One of my favorite things that I used to do with my students was watch caterpillars turn into butterflies in the spring.  I thought that Ellie was old enough to appreciate it this year, so I ordered a set of caterpillars for us to watch at home.

We received five caterpillars in the mail and Ellie named them:  Ellie, Georgia, Lola, Leah and Harper (all friends from her school in Cincinnati)

The container comes complete with food for the caterpillars, so all we have to do is watch them grow and form their cocoons. 

All five have made their cocoons!

We pinned the top of the container into our butterfly garden and waited....

until we had butterflies!

After watching the butterflies for several days, we took them to a park to release them.

This one didn't want to fly out, so we gave it a little help.

What's New?

There is never a shortage of fun things to do in this city!  This was "Family Day" at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  Ellie is posing with some flowers that she made.

Here, she is making a cloud scene with cotton balls.

I successfully distracted Clara with a sticker while we waited for Ellie to finish her masterpiece : )

Our busy days wear us out!

Clara is becoming such a confident walker now!

She also prefers to feed herself these days and she'll eat just about anything!  

precious.

Whatcha lookin at?

The most kissable baby cheeks!

Helping Mommy keep things tidy.

Having fun together.

And more fun.  Ellie will be so happy when Clara can actually understand and fully participate in all of her little pretend play schemes!

It was a beautiful day, so we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and then ran around the park for awhile before meeting Daddy for dinner.

ELLIE!?  Looking for Ellie who, as usual, has found a little friend to run around with.  If we are out somewhere and Clara doesn't see Ellie or if she wants Ellie to come play with her, she will start yelling her name.    So cute : )

On our way to the Planetarium.  Such a beautiful view of the city!

Ellie is pointing to, "Daddy's big red building!"

We headed outside to eat our lunch and enjoy the view.  Unfortunately, we were pestered by flies and sea gulls!

Ellie had fun chasing the birds away! 

Playing at the park on Mother's Day.

Later, we planted some flowers for the deck.