Costco Ice Cream Bar

Grady loves ice cream! It seems like that is what he says most often; chocolate and ice cream. Tonight we went to Costco to get one of his favs, the chocolate ice cream bar. I was trying to hold it for him but he was going to have none of that. He wanted to hold it for himself and every once in a while he would share with mommy.

Ryerson Woods

Now that the weather is getting better, we are back to exploring the greater Chicago area. It was in the high 40's today but will be getting into the 70's later this week! Swimming? We took a trip up north about 20 miles to Ryerson Woods conservation area. There were a few loop trails and we ended up taking a 3 mile one. It was refreshing and perfect weather to take a ready-for-spring hike.

The start of the hike; this area used to be a cattle and lumber area and was settled upon in 1834

Gorgeous farm in background which still houses farm animals

First sign of Spring!

The first cabin on this land was put here (I'm standing on the deck)

Grady laying on the tall grass

Wedding Pictures

I found these pictures on my brother-in-law's facebook page and thought I would put them on the blog. (We have a CD of all of our wedding pictures but it is currently packed away in a box.) We had such a wonderful and intimate wedding with about 40 of our closest family and friends.

Leanne, Alyssa (who is getting married in late August in Seattle, can't wait!), myself, Kris, Wayne and Joseph

Look at that Boy Go!

A few action shots on Grady's favorite swing

(I love how he is still holding his juice)

G-R-A-D-Y Grady

Kris and I have been giving Grady flashcards to read with simple printed words. He has been doing well with looking at them and saying them. Today I gave him a piece of paper with his name printed on it in large bold letters. He said G-R-A-D-Y, GRADY. He actually says "Geedee" right now.

Beach Play

Today Daddy got off work a little early so we decided that, since it was such a nice day, we would drive up north a bit and play on the beautiful beach.

Doing a little posing for us

Swing All Day

Grady loves to swing! He could swing for two hours if I let him. Today we swung for about 45 minutes before we had to leave to get some lunch. How come he never liked the swing when he was a baby??

Beautiful Weather!

The weather has been very nice this week so we have been spending lots of time outside. We went for a long walk in the morning and a shorter one after nap. Grady loves to go on walks, he could walk for hours!

Grow, Baby, Grow!

Grady has been growing like a weed! He seeems to be one of the tallest in his 2 year old class. Last I measured he was 37 inches, over half my height. Kris and I calculated his adult height by using our heights and his age and height now.
Prediction: Grady should be 6'4" ! Can you imagine? I carry him so much, maybe soon he can start to carry me around!

Below, Grady in his car seat. This is his 2 year-old seat; we have his 3 year-old seat on standby.

Big Boy

Every day Grady does something that makes him a little boy rather than a baby. Last night, after his bath, he grabbed his DVD player and brought it into the bedroom to watch his favorite movie UP while laying on the comfy bed.

Evanston Park

One of the great things about Chicago is the amount of parks. I feel like we have been to a lot but there are still a ton more that we have yet to visit. Today we went up north a bit to the town of Evanston (Northwestern University is located here). Grady played for a while because the weather was great as the sun was out.

So cold on the beach!

Puddle Stompin

The weather has been getting much nicer and we are not stuck in the house anymore!! YAY! It was in the high 40's yesterday so we went over to the park. The snow is still on the ground but is slowly melting away. I put on Grady's snow boots and he decided to get soaking wet by jumping in the puddles.

I guess stomping in the puddles got old so he decided to run in them


Worn out

The Vintage Bazaar

I have been really busy this past week getting ready for the first annual Vintage Bazaar here in Chicago. I was a vendor with my site finding fabulous and I enlisted my high school friend Anna to help out. We had a great time and sold lots of stuff!! They were expecting 500-1,000 people to attend but there ended up being 3,000 people and a line out the door almost the whole time!!