Last week

Last week I registered Nate for preschool.

Last week I bought him his first backpack and school supplies.

Last week I started trying to make arrangements for when I go back to work.

And last week we were busy trying to cram it all in before the school year starts.

On Tuesday night we went to our County Fair.

My big boy rode the carousel-and he actually liked it this time!

Yes, my husband is wearing a Wonder Pets shirt.

On Thursday we went to pick up his brace at Children's downtown.  We were never able to get him up to the roof of the parking garage after his surgery (which has a-mazing views of the city) so we made it a point to take him up this time. The kid is obsessed with "big buildings".

 

Then it was off to Millennium Park.

The Bean!

He looks like such a big boy, doesn't he?

Family shot.

Preggo shot. :)

Nate was smitten with the Bean.  Had a ball making faces at himself.

Can you spy me?

Friday, we headed to the zoo.  It was a gorgeous day.  Sunny, but not too hot with a nice breeze.

Daddy did the heavy lifting and most of the pointing and explaining.  Mommy took the pictures.

I love these, especially the polar bear one with his hands up!

Does anyone else remember these things?  I remember them from when I was a kid.  They're still around and still exactly the same.  Nate was fascinated and appropriately named his dolphin "Zoo".

My happy little wheeler. :)

Family photo (rare, I know!) Also a very unflattering picture of me pregnant.

We rounded out the week on Saturday with a neighborhood barbecue, at which I did not take one single picture.  But we had a great time with great friends.  This week it's been cleaning, organizing and getting prepared for the school year.  I'm both nervous and excited about him starting.  Lots of big things happening around here!

Wordless Wednesday

Indianapolis

For spring break we took a mini vacation to Indianapolis.  Just the three of us.  Hard to think that our days of being "just the three of us" are numbered! We stayed just outside of the city and checked out the Children's Museum and the zoo.  We also did a little bit of hanging around the hotel, swimming and relaxing. It was a great little trip.

Nate being silly after getting out of the pool

This is pretty much where we realized he loves dinosaurs.  Of all the things to do and see in the Children's Museum, he could have stayed at this dino table all day.  

He actually cried when we moved on! 

   The museum was huge.  He enjoyed the train table, making a boat and watching it sail, and this hall of mirrors.  The sand...not so much.  Still having some tactile issues with the stuff.

 I thought this was funny.  His face when he wheeled up to Bumble Bee from Transformers.  Look at how little he is compared to the 12 ft robot!

   This was the first time we took his chair to the zoo.  It was great except for I was paranoid that he was going to get his hands caught in the spokes while we pushed.  It allowed him some freedom though, and at one point we just let him go wild in an empty court yard.  I also found out how dirty zoos are. His hands, arms and elbows were covered in dirt.  Time to invest in some gloves and possibly some elbow pads.

 

It was such a fun trip!  Hoping to have one more family vacation to Michigan this summer.  Then it will be "just the 4 of us" :)

Easter

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the whole coloring Easter eggs thing with him this year.  But I am an art teacher after all.  I can't ever pass up an opportunity to experiment with colors.

 He really loved it.

Next year I'll teach him all about

primary and secondary colors.

And now for my attempt at an "Easter Portrait"

This is the best I could do 

to get a smile out of him.

At least he sort of looked at the camera.

Such a big boy!

After church we went to my mom's for dinner.

 Ryan got to hold baby Zach for the first time,

We scored an okay family portrait,

And hung out with family.
Awesome day!

Wordless Wednesday

Typical Tuesday

Tuesdays around here mean swimming.  Nate still loves it.  He's a natural in the water and getting more and more brave.  He now spends most of his hour-long session with just water wings on, and does an excellent job of keeping his head and chin out of the water.  One of his favorite things to do is use his hips to spin himself in a circle.  It was fun to be able to watch him while I was home for break.

On this particular day we also went to the library.  We've made this a habit for quit awhile (since we'd been through all his books several times-and that is saying a lot, he has tons of books!) It's a real treat for Nate, since he can just go in his chair.  We're still working on the whole "the library is a quiet place" thing, though.  He doesn't really get it yet.

Hmm...which one should I get?

This kid seriously loves books.

I guess it wasn't such a typical day-Daddy got to come, too!

Christmas Tradition No. 2: Ravioli

This was another tradition started by my husband's family

they're Italian

So every year, we pre-make ravioli

for Christmas dinner

The boys help by rolling the dough 

(I have to give my husband mad props here

because he was the only adult male

who helped us women-folk)

And the Little Red Hen,

er, I mean my wonderful Mother-in-law

did what she does best

and folded, cut and forked

(and did a lot of bossing us around, too)

Love ya, mom!

It really was a team effort

(Even these two little cuties helped!)

And there was some fun, too

a little dancing

and some friendly taunting

(mostly due to having Bears AND Packers fans

and someone mentioning deep-frying

a turkey on Christmas)

and behold!

the yellow bowl was present!

Several hours later we had a couple hundred

ravioli in the freezer for Christmas day.

The best part?

Ryan's 87 year old Grandfather is the official taste tester

and gave them two thumbs up! 

Family Portrait

It's rare that I get these. Heck, I forgot to get a picture of the three of us on Christmas. And Thanksgiving. And probably several other important holidays.

Anyway, enough about my forgetfulness.

This was a random "shoot". It was a Sunday morning, we were up and dressed for church when Nate's special buddy, Carolyn called to say that the roads were horrible (it had been snowing all morning) and to just stay home.

Perfect time to try out my tripod and take a family pic. Here are some of the outtakes:



Testing out the light





Daddy love



Ryan trying to be funny (but look at that adorable smile on my little guy!)



He's going to kill me for this one


And the winner:



Not exactly sure how I got Nate to actually look at the camera, let alone smile. I think it was the blinking light from the timer. I'm pretty sure it'll never happen again though! Good thing I have a blog to document these kinds of things.