Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we were lucky to have one of my best friends from highschool and former college roommate, Chelsea and her husband Ben come for the weekend. They live in Iowa where Ben is in podiatry school. They drove out to come visit us and see the city. It was a lot of fun because their two boys Blake and Braden are the exact same ages as Ainsley and Sam. The kids had a blast playing together all weekend. We tease that Blake is Ainsley's first boyfriend....he was her first kiss too.....see our Nauvoo 2010 post:) The arrived Wednesday night and spent Thanksgiving day with us. We spent the morning cooking. Tom was in charge of the turkey, I made the rolls and stuffing, and Chelsea made two pies-pumpkin cheesecake and "Grandma Ople's" apple pie. The kids had fun playing together while we got everything ready. Then we went upstairs to the Carlston's apartment for dinner. Mike's sister Kathy was visiting from CA, so we had a full house. There were 7 adults and 6 kids, but it was a lot of fun. The food was delicious, and the company was great. After eating, browsing the Black Friday ad, and visiting, we all came back to our apartment for some rest. Chelsea and I decided to venture out at midnight on Black Friday to try to find me a Christmas tree. First we tried Kohls, which had a huge line of people waiting in the cold. They didn't have the tree I wanted, so we rushed over to Meijer where I bought one I had seen earlier. We were back by 1:30 and tried to catch a little sleep.


The next morning, we caught the train into the city. We took the watertaxi to Michigan Avenue. We got out and walked along Michigan Avenue for a little bit. We stopped to see the Marilyn Monroe statue and the Tribune Tower before walking south to Millenium Park to see the Cloud Gate (The Bean) statue. Afterwards, we headed to Navy Pier to take the kids to the Children's Museum. It was pretty busy, but the kids had a blast. Ainsley and Blake had so much fun exploring and pretending together. They get along great. After the museum, we quickly walked to the end of the pier to see Lake Michigan. Then we walked all the way back to the train station. The kids were exhausted, it had been a fun day. We ordered some Chicago style pizza from Lou Malnatis. It was delicious!




The next morning we decided to drive into the city because it was raining. We went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was packed, but we had a great time. The kids were fascinated by all the beautiful fish. We went to the Christmas Sea show. Ainsley absolutely loved it! She gave us a play by play commentary of what all the dolphins, whales, and seals were doing. It was so cute to see her excitement. Santa also appeared and she was excited to see him. Later she had the chance to sit on his lap, but immediately passed on the opportunity. She's not a big fan of sitting on his lap, she likes Santa from a distance. After we went to the Shedd aquarium, we walked to the Field Museum next door. We didn't have much time, but we saw a few exhibits. We plan on going back after Christmas. That evening the kids played Wii together. Ainsley and Blake had a lot of fun bowling together. Blake also taught Ainsley how to play Angry Birds for the first time. She's tried it a few times since, but I don't think she'll ever catch up to Blake-he's good!

We had a great time with the Bauers, it was so fun to see them again. We've had the chance to see them in Nauvoo last year, and now Chicago this year, and hopefully Detroit next summer! We can't wait! Thanks for coming to visit, we had a blast!

Belated: Navy Pier Children's Museum

Laura and I went into the city to take the kids to the Navy Pier Children's museum. We drove in and parked right at the pier. We both have children's museum passes and so we got in free. We packed a lunch and ate at the food court before entering the museum. The girls had blast. The museum had lots of pretend play including a fire station, tree house, grocery store, dinosaur digging area, giant backyard, etc. Ainsley's favorite place was a room where you can pretend to be a mommy. They had mini baby dolls and rocking chairs, baby baths, a little kitchen, table, washer/dryer, etc. Ainsley was in heaven. She is a perfect little mommy and was disappointed when we had to leave because the room was only open during specific hours. Ainsley and Ella both loved the water feature. Even with raincoats, they got pretty wet. They had a lot of fun. Hopefully we can go back before we move.

Belated:Sam 6-8months

Sam's six month stats:
Weight: 18.6
Length: 27 inches

Sam is such a good baby. He is happy most of the time. At church and in public people tell us he is the happiest baby. He is such a little flirt and he charms everyone. We love him. Ainsley has learned how to hold him on her own and she loves to pick him up. He is about 2/3 her body weight and so she can't hold him for very long. They often topple over-which is a little scary. He loves her and lights up whenever she walks into the room. He likes to take whatever she has, and she doesn't like that. The funny thing is, she won't care about a toy until he has it and then all of a sudden she needs it immediately. She'll freak out if he touches it. We've tried to teach her to ask Sam if she can have it back to teach her how to share, but she won't. She just, "No, he wants it. He doesn't to give it back." I fear it will be an issue for years to come:)

Sam is a great sleeper. He takes two naps a day and sleeps through the night. He is the first one up in our house and has an automatic alarm clock of 7:00. But usually he wakes up happy and coos and talks to himself for a few minutes to let us sleep longer. Then I'll hear Ainsley yell, "Mom, Sam's awake" which is her cue that she wants me to come get him so she can go back to sleep. I bring him in bed with me and he cuddles and nurses. He usually goes back to sleep after that, which is nice.

Sam is eating more baby food. I've made all of his own babyfood so far. I cook vegetables then puree them in our Bosch. He loves butternut squash, peas, green beans, and carrots so far. I also have fed him applesauce and bananas. He is a good eater. He's also started eating crackers, cheerios, and more finger foods.

Sam learned to sit up on his own by about 5 months. He can roll both directions too. He loves to sleep on his stomach. He rolls all around the house and we expect that he will be crawling soon. I'm not sure I'm ready for that!

He has become attached to a green fleece blanket with a giraffe on it that my sister Cami gave him. He snuggles with it and rubs it on his face everynight when he goes to sleep. It is really cute.

He seems to love music and whenever it comes on, he starts to bounce. Its pretty hilarious. He loves to play with my cell phone and the remote controls...typical-his favorite toys are not really toys. He loves his little Woody doll. His favorite thing is to suck on one of his boots or hands. He also loves to hold small things that he can manipulate and pass back and forth between his hands such as Ainsley's plastic princesses, chapstick, and spoons.