new bed frame

it’s almost time for ellie to transition into a ‘big’ girl bed…we are hemming and hawing over when it’s the right time. for olive, we had no choice with ellie on her way but honestly, it was the perfect time for her. it really was. she was absolutely ready at 2.5 years old! now ellie has 4 more months until she hits that mark but i have a feeling it will be another couple months after that for her.

we were so excited to receive this amazing, new bed from delta children. it’s their lindsey model and it’s absolutely perfect, aesthetically, for our current decor. we weren’t sure which girl’s room we were going to put it in. like i said previously, ellie wasn’t ready…so, we felt it would be perfect in olive’s room. plus, she was adamant that we put it in her room! she saw the new bed frame being delivered and asked us if it was her new bed.

only on one condition…coming from hc. to be transparent, olive has been sleeping in our bed for over a year. yes. i said it. over a year. i really loved it. i did. previously, i have always thought…noooooo, no kids in the bed! absolutely not. nope. not gonna happen. and then it did. one night olive asked to sleep in our bed. ok…then the next night, then the next night, then…one year later and i loved every minute of it. i stared at her. i hugged her. i loved waking up next to her. it was so blissful to me. i missed sharing a bed with hc but i was a bit obsessed with olive being right next to me. but i knew it needed to end at some point. i just didn’t know when…every time we asked olive to sleep in her bedroom, she firmly said no. until the new bed frame arrived…

so, hc assembled it and voilá! a pretty bed frame that transformed olive’s room into a ‘princess’ room. her choice of word. we really love it! it looks perfect in her room, it’s well made, and olive is ecstatic over her new sleeping arrangement! we kept her old sheets and decor…i am too obsessed with her pillows to replace them, but the height and design of the frame gives her room a fun refresh!

the night her new bed was set up in her room, she was so excited to sleep in it. hc and i weren’t sure if it was really going to happen and then it did. to be honest, i cried. i did. that night, i read her a bedtime story and cried. i was super sad, like really sad. i felt like we were breaking up and i was being abandoned. i was sad to not see her sweet face first thing in the morning and get the hugs and good mornings and snuggles. it hit me hard that she is growing up and this was just another milestone that was harder on mama than on her.

anyhoo, i am super happy to have my lovely hubby right next to me. don’t get me wrong…that’s exactly how it should be but that little journey that i had next to olive every morning, i wouldn’t trade that for anything. i am so happy we were able to have that sweet moment in our lives, even if it was short {but long according to hc} lived time.

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[such a perfect bed!]

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[she loooooooooooves her new bed!]

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[love the little details]

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[always posing]

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[it’s in the details]

xoxo

hb bennett!

my sister kim and her husband, terry, coordinated a birthday dinner for bennett’s ninth birthday. bennett really wanted to do hibachi, so benihana’s it was!

we all met at the restaurant {we were running behind due to our – mine and kim’s – haircut appointment in the city…i barely made it home to get ready, finished decorating bennett’s present, and ran out the door, with the family, to the restaurant}, we were a little late. they wouldn’t seat everyone until we got there! phew…we were 15 minutes behind…so not too bad but not good.

once we were seated…the usual routine ensued. i ordered a lychee cocktail and decided on the seafood entrée. when the chefs came and started their entertainment…olive was mesmerized!!! she giggled and squealed and looooooooved every second of it! she was sooo darn cute! i couldn’t take my eyes off of her! it was so cute to watch!

we then sang happy birthday to bennett, the kids were running around, and we all just relaxed and mingled. it was super nice we had side by side tables in the corner of the restaurant. it’s secluded and perfect when you have a large crowd and rowdy kids!

dinner was delicious and we were having such a great time! once everything wrapped up, we all decided to head on over to everyday’s a sundae for some ice cream. it was a perfect night for that. the temp was perfect and everyone really enjoyed themselves. we hung out, the kids played, and we ate yummy ice cream!

it was such a perfect evening together. we had a wonderful time celebrating bennett’s birthday and created beautiful summer memories together!

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[waiting to get my hair done…it was a mess that day!]

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[waiting nook]

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[got my hair did and checking out]

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[dad and mom]

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[the birthday boy with his brother]

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[adoringly looking at bennett]

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[cheers! lychee cocktail]

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[where’ ellie?]

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[kim, ellie, and terry]

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[barbara and lynne]

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[birthday boy, make a wish]

via tandeminlove.comvia tandeminlove.com[be prepared for a series of this]

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[peeking at mama]

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[she’s so sweet]

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[goofballs]

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[yum yum! ellie loved the ice cream]

xoxo

day date

hc and i needed to find counter stools and we decided to make a day date out of it. my dear sister, thuy, kindly decided to watch the girls for us! we were so excited to have an afternoon with just the two of us.

we headed out to wrigleyville to a favorite brunch spot, southport grocery. we walked in and the hostess said, “it’s a 30 minute wait.” okaaaayyyyyy. we looked around and there were 4 tables open. yes, there could have been other people on the waiting list in front of us but there was a table in front of the window that was open, that we noticed, and when they text us that our table was ready {20 minutes later}, they seated us in that same table that was open. huhhhhh? ok, and maybe some people in front of us on the waiting list didn’t come back but highly unlikely!

anyhoo, we sat down and ordered drinks right away. some sort of old-fashioned drink for hc and a mimosa for moi! i was a bit bummed that they changed some of the ingredients in the omelette that i usually ordered {but i love that they keep it seasonal}, so i went rogue. i ended up ordering the avo toast and i think i have a new favorite! it was so yummy and the perfect amount of food!

after brunch, hc and i headed over to wrightwood furniture to shop for some counter stools. we knew what we wanted but you never know if you’ll like it until you see it! initially, we liked it but we wanted to walk around and peruse the shop, just in case we might like something else more! well, we came back to the original stool and closed the deal. we walked away with the stools we needed and once we got them home and put them in place, we looooooved them! they are a perfect addition to our kitchen!

after being out and about all day, we all stayed in for the evening. hc concocted a yummy app plate of hummus and other delicious dips right before he cooked a wonderful dinner for us!

what a day! it was lovely, perfect, and fun; our evening in together was just what we needed to end the night!

via tandeminlove.com[avo toast…so good!!!]

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[puppy dog eyes]

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[mimosa]

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[hc trying to take a pic of me but focusing on the flatware instead]

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[hc put together this yummy app plate before he started cooking dinner!]

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xoxo

grace’s birthday

we celebrated grace’s birthday with a dinner night out with family.

as i wrote in the previous post…we had a really long day out and ended up going from my sister’s family work party and visiting my brother’s place to dinner afterwards. we were hoping to head home, give ellie a nap, and change our clothes for this birthday celebration for grace, but none of that happened!

c’est la vie! we left dan and agata’s place to head to the restaurant and arrived a little bit early but everyone was already there! we ran into grace and family in the parking lot and saw dick, jane, and wendy at the bar.

we were seated right away and socialized with one another as the server did her job taking drink orders, apps, etc. i ordered a delicious but very strong rosé drink. olive and anabel got along so well. ellie just clung to me or hc and we chitchatted amongst each other until the food came. i ordered the scallops and risotto and it was very good! i was pleasantly surprised. i have never eaten at this chain restaurant, season’s 52, {i’m not a fan of chain restaurants} but it was surprisingly good!

we celebrated grace, sang happy birthday to her, showered her with gifts and love, and we all had a wonderful evening together. it was such a great time with everyone, we never really get to go out, sit down, and really spend time with one another. i mean, we all see different parts of this group separately but it was nice to have us all together…not just shuffling kids back and forth or going from point a to point b!

happy birthday beautiful grace! you are growing into a strong, sweet, smart women! we love you!

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[rich and grace]

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[papa, gramma, and aunt wendy]

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[grace and edwin]

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[anabel and olive]

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[pilar and jay]

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[rosé lemonade]

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[grace and moi]

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[make a wish!]

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xoxo

family day at northrop

 my sister, thuy, had invited us to join her for her work’s family event!

we all agreed to go and then my brother, dan and his girlfriend agata, had invited us over to their place after the family event!

the original plan for that day was this – hc was going to go to the cubs game and i was going to the event with just the girls and then to dan and agata’s place afterwards. well, hc ended up not going to the cubs game and then made plans to go out that evening for grace’s birthday. i thought, ok, we can do this. we probably won’t stay that long at thuy’s work event and we were going over to dan’s for a late lunch.

of course i rationalized that all in my head without really asking anyone what our real time frame was going to be. so, on this day…we had definitely underestimated our time and over scheduled ourselves. i didn’t expect to stay as long as we did at the family event, i didn’t expect to get to dan’s so late, i didn’t want to rush out {we were seeing their beautiful town home for the first time}, and hc and i didn’t plan on not going home to give ellie a nap and change our clothes for dinner that evening! it also meant a lot of driving around for us. we were in a pickle. so we decided that we were going to stay at dan’s and go to dinner from there…casual clothes, grumpy ellie, and all.

well, it all turned out wonderfully. thuy’s work event was fun! pictures were not allowed inside, so when we went outside to the ice cream trucks, i snapped a gazillion pics! the family event was great – they had bozo buckets, fun activities for the kiddos, food, balloon animals, face painting, free hats, and many other goodies! we perused the gift shop and i bought the coolest bomber jackets for olive and ellie! ellie wore hers and received so many compliments!

after the family event, we cruised on over to dan and agata’s place. their town home is so nice! i loved how fresh and modern it looked inside. they were cooking burgers and had delicious sides for us to eat. it was all so very good! agata’s mom made an app and a decadent dessert for all of us as well! it was all very relaxing and fun.

we could have stayed for another couple hours but alas, we needed to head out to get to our dinner plans. it was such a fun and eventful day seeing where thuy worked and where dan lived! i will have more on our dinner gathering in my next post!

[we bought this bomber jacket in the gift store. so many people complimented her on it!]

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[best face paint artist i ever did see]

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[rocking her cool bomber jacket]

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[they had ice cream trucks

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[i love that smile]

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[ice cream time]

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[my girls]

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[hats required]

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[playing with play doh]

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[mom and agata]

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[twinning bromance]

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[mom and ellie]

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[thuy and mom]

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[ba with his boys]

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[kim, ellie, and moi]

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[my sister kim throwing ellie up in the air]

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[agata and dan]

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[fresh fruit dessert made by agata’s mom]

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[having fun with agata]

xoxo