we celebrated the soon to be addition to the haus family! it was a sunny, lovely day to have a shower!
it was a football/sports theme hosted at ditka’s. there were cute little decorations all around! the cake was phenomenal and absolutely delicious {commissioned by her sister sarah}!! after we lunched on delectable dishes, we were ready for the opening of baby gifts!
[the mommies to be! 8 month + 5 month bumps!]
[how adorbs is the cake?!]
[my purty wrapped gifts!]
[cake pops & centerpieces]
[the goods! and the cute onesie bunting]
[sarah + kt]
[me + kt]
[such delicious desserts!!!]
[part of my gift to kim]
[our favorite! it says brady with the number ’13 on the jersey to rep his birth year!]
[mikey helping out! kim’s holding a cute football bib!]
[kim + kt]
what a great way to spend a sunday! the shower was lovely, the gifts were so cute, and it was so good to see everyone and catch up on this wonderful occasion!
i had to work on the 4th, so we made it a fun day with grace on the 3rd instead!
we started the day with breakfast at the bongo room. we walked our way over to one of our favorite brunch places on this beautiful day. i was so hungry by the time we got there!!! argh! feed me! the wait was just a bit and before we knew it, we were seated and ready to enjoy some yummy goodness!
[waiting for a table]
[i love the window display next door!]
[handmade soaps]
[her drinking horse]
[my usual]
after breakfast, we traipsed our way back to our place but not without stopping at wicker park! it was quite a scene full of mommies and their kids! hc was the only dude there! after trying out every single playground feature available {well, mostly grace played!}, we continued on our way home.
[seesaw time]
of course, not without stopping by to say hello to rhoda! we love rhoda! the cutest, most cuddly dog.
[getting and giving some love to rhoda]
[the cute bug eyed bugger]
we hung out at home to relax before our evening activities. we watched movies, i crafted, hubby charming fell asleep, & grace begged us to go to the ‘breyer’ store, aka berwyn’s toys & trains store. so on another adventure we went!
when we got home, we made sack lunches for the homeless, dropped them off at st. clement and moseyed our way towards navy pier! our mission was to eat at bubba gump shrimp {how can you not when you are at navy pier?? you gotta go tourista all the way!}. we were excited to teach grace all the famous sayings from the movie. she was so intrigued! she had never seen it, and it got her so excited to watch the movie!
we walked the pier while we waited for our table. we shopped, explored, and were delighted by all the little kiosks throughout the walk way. we rounded our way back to the restaurant, once inside, everyone was so polite! i was very impressed by how friendly everyone was at the restaurant! it was very pleasant.
[her flashy watermelon drink]
[not so flashy]
we timed it out quite perfectly! we had a chance to explore navy pier, had a yummy meal at the restaurant, had a minute to buy grace a candy apple, and then the fireworks started! we ran outside and got a front row seat to some pretty fireworks!
[enjoying the fireworks]
[our view as we are leaving the pier, pretty and not so pretty traffic]
we had such a good day! it was a successful patriotic day!
a lovely day for a horse competition! a lovely day for a parade!
we started the day heading up north to watch grace at her horse competition {she was representing little hunters, a group she has been riding with for years}. it was such a beautiful day! the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.
grace had already competed in a few events before we arrived there {um, we got there at 8:30 am!}, so we waited around for her next event to begin.
annnddd…we are so proud of gracie! in her big jump event, out of 27 people competing, she placed 2nd!!! way to go grace! she was beyond excited and so elated to share the news!
[grace and her beloved horse herbie]
[riding gear]
[daddy rocking the best team in baseball]
[competing!]
[focused]
we stayed for a couple hours at field and fences and then left to head to our next engagement.
we headed back to the city to watch the gay pride parade. for the past couple years, matt + johann have walked in the parade and we love going {in general, it’s so fun!} to support them!
we scored great parking not too far from the parade route and a front row seat at the parade on broadway! the whole parade, as usual, is so entertaining! i love how theatrical it is and how everyone is so liberated! it was especially special since the knockdown of doma! we saw a lot of signs supporting legalizing gay marriage in illinois!
after the parade, we met up with matt + johann at crew for an early dinner. i have to mention, we made a detour to go pick up hc’s 40th birthday present at father time {his dad’s ’67 omega seamaster watch was restored!!}. it was a gift from me and his parents! he was soooo happy!
oh, and it was so good to catch up with the two lovies at dinner! as usual, we had such a blast hanging out with them {nothing but laughs and giggles}!
[gay pride]
[me + hubby charming]
[american pride]
[balloons by tommy, so cool!]
[i saw this show at my bachelorette party! love them!]
[so excited to see them – vice versa!]
[woot! woot! go cubbies]
[a cool float]
[the cool couple]
[can i say the cooler couple 😉 and hc showing off his watch]
after dinner, we headed back to lincoln park, picked up cupcakes at molly’s {much to hc’s dismay}, and then headed to church!
all in all, it was a truly fantastic day! a lot squeezed into one but all so worth it!
a sunny sunday afternoon called for a fun, shiny outing!
i met the fam and friends for brunch at hub 51. delicio-so! i came in and saw that the fam was already seated {so excited for our day}. we were waiting for miss thuy to arrive, when she finally showed up…let the manger begin! it was early enough where it wasn’t super crowded, so getting into line wasn’t a hassle {i no likee when you have to wait in super long lines at brunch buffets!}.
i filled my plate full of copious amounts of yummy goodness. pancakes {butter & whipped cream, mind you}, honey bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruits, oh my! i’m infamous for going to a buffet and eating just a plate full {not quite the bargain eater!}. besides, being preggers, i get full quite quickly {only to hear it gets worse in the 3rd tri…um, ugh!}.
after brunch, we headed down to the lake to hang out at millennium park. the boys were loving the water! b has finally gotten over his antipathy of public watering holes! they giggled, they ran {um, big no no but they wouldn’t stop!}, they splashed, and had a grand ole time! after spending some time there, we traipsed around lurie garden, got some lemonade, and merrily went on our way home.
[mommy and daugher]
[enjoying his desserts]
[the infinite plate of sweetness]
[happy father’s day!]
[sistas! enjoying my iced decaf americano in this hot weather!]
on a warm saturday night, dana’s friends all came together to celebrate a big milestone for miss d! we hit up the classic fizz bar {her fave place to celebrate!}, dominated the outside garden area, and giggled our way through convos!
i was so excited to see irina and patrick! they came out for dana’s party and i was so delighted to be able to catch up with them! she was so thrilled to see that i am pregnant! we always talked about getting pregnant together, so it was my turn to tease her about it!
after drinks {yum-o lemonade for moi} and a sizable load of fries delivered to my table, the sky opened up and poured on our parade {uck}! zooomm! everyone ran for the door to get inside the bar!
once inside, i was able to visit a bit with jacob. love him! he surprised dana {he lives in michigan} by showing up unannounced! what a lovely birthday present!
i had such a great time conversing with everyone. i actually made it past my bedtime just for dana! the group was ready to hit another bar, when this old lady decided it was time to go home and hit the bed!
it was a long, good weekend indeed. lovely weather, lots o fun activities, and plenty of relaxing! woo!
we spent our fabulous sunday, first, by going to mass at st. clement, then had a sunny al fresco breakfast at frances [first time ever for me, eating sausage corn dogs for breakfast!], and fun trip to the science and industry museum. we love going there because it’s so interactive {what grace likes} and educational {what we like}!
it was fun exploring all the cool exhibits. it had a u-505 submarine exhibit, an awesome blip in history during world war II. it had realistic reenactments to show us how it all went down and how they overcame the enemy sub!
rich absolutely loved the art of the bicycle exhibit! grace and i left him there to explore the other parts of the museum. oy! he took forever! he spent at least five minutes on each bike (we had to ditch him 😉 ! the coolest part of that exhibit was the bicycle that was made out of cardboard and it sells for only $20!!!! we want one!
we wrapped up at you! the experience, a great dive into the human body, mind, and spirit. grace couldn’t wait to show me a 3d display of how big the baby looked at my current state!
[gracie + me going through a circus exhibit]
[cool little models on display]
[he’s so interested, non?!]
[can you spot grace?]
[stick your head far enough in the hole and you get to see a surprise]
[u-505 exhibit]
[make a shadow, hold still, and the butterflies will land on you!]
[grace at science storms]
[daddy daughter at the art of bicycles]
[more bicycles]
[a tandem made for us!]
[grace testing her power at you! the experience]
we explored so many more exhibits than that during our trip there! afterwards, we hit the museum shop, grace had to get freeze dried ice cream! it was, practically, her sole purpose of this trip! we were finally on our way home after a fun but exhausting day to relax some more! woo hoo!
thursday was grace’s last day of school! we headed up north to go pick her up and have her for a long weekend.
as we were on our way to leave, i was totally craving a cronut. so much so, i told hubby charming that we needed to go to nyc to get one! um, he said no. boo.
so, i suggested the doughnut vault…we were stressed for time, so i was told no again [insert sad face}. well, the closest doughnut establishment to us and en route was dunkin’ donuts…hey, it’s better than nothing! especially for this pregger lady who wanted to eat doughnuts! so it is. my first doughnut craving. i was a happy gal.
[nellie not so happy she had to take the back seat while we eat donuts]
[yum!]
[i plowed through them and so did hc]
[haha, trying to be a safe driver and pose for me!]
although i’m still on a mission to get my cronuts {trust me, i’ve already checked if they will next day ship…negative}!!!! hehehe. cronut new york, here i come!
it was a lazy day for me + hc. we decided to go shopping downtown just to get out for the day. the weather was nice and the temperature was perfect! we shopped at some favorites…it was more of a shopping spree for hubby charming {someone went clothes horse cray!}.
after some hefty shopping, we were ready to head home when we realized that kim + terry were in town. they were heading to lincoln park to hit up the anthropologie for some goodies and then possibly to piece for dinner. we were in debate on meeting up with them because we had just eaten {blame my pregnancy on the weird eating schedule}.
well, a wrong turn home propelled our fate towards lincoln park! so on our way we were to surprise them! we almost beat them there {traffic was very bad for them}. kim needed to find teachers gifts, so while the boys got comfy on the couch, we perused the store to find something cute! mission finally accomplished {interjected with some french dr. suess readings to the nephews by moi} and we debated on whether or not we were going to go to dinner. by that time, we were ready to eat again.
so off we went to piece! we rushed there in fear that there would be a really long wait {it can spike up to a two and half hour wait on friday/saturday nights!!}. we were seated right away {score!} and got down to some grubbing. the boys were fascinated by the sopranos pinball machine {we love anything that can keep them preoccupied}! they loved the ballerinas on the poles *wink* *wink*!!!!!
i surprised them with some sprinkles cupcakes! yum! red velvet for r and vanilla for b. after filling our bellies up with some delicious pizza {a red and a white sauce magical combination each}, we headed back to our place for some extra chilling.
[our pitstop before dinner]
[anyone want some pizza??]
[one frosting bite at a time]
[rooting for the hawks!]
[chillin’ on north ave]
we watched some kiddie movies, played with grace’s horses, and ate some ice pops. it was getting late and they commenced their journey home. it truly turned out to be an extra lovely day! spending the time with hc and getting to spend the evening with my family! double yay!
as i was leaving for work, i saw a text from kim that they were at cpk! i text her back and they had just gotten there, so i ran up to meet them! we sat down for dinner {kung pao for me!!} and drinks; we caught up on the latest while the kids entertained themselves relentlessly.
after dinner, as lovely as the evening was, we strolled the mall to enjoy the warm weather.
we decided to go visit thuy at madewell. we walked all the way there, r then says to us…’thuy works really far!”, which wasn’t really far but i guess far in kid time!
we stopped by to say hello. the boys really entertained themselves there! after our visit, we shopped around the mall {keeping an eye out for some cute dresses for me!}. after making a complete circle, we parted ways. i said goodbye to the cuties and headed back home to chitown. it was a perfect nightcap to the evening, being able to spend time with kim and the boys!
we celebrated charlie’s 40th birthday party this past saturday!
happy beurffday charlie!
leyla had rented out a private room at goose island and hosted charlie’s friends and family at the fete! we had food, drinks, and yummy cupcakes from molly’s!
[my purty wrapped gifts!]
