Chicago notes

So, in an effort to get the post in, I totally forgot to put anything about our trip to Chicago in my "October" post. Aaron had to go for a conference and since I have been itching to get out of town, Ellie and I decided to go with him. She was FANTASTIC on the plane both ways and was a doll the whole time. We had time to do a little site-seeing and got to check out the Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier, and the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). That was a ton of fun, although the glass "ledges" that you can stand in and be literally over Chicago were a little nerve-racking for me. We did, however, spend most of our time wishing that the boys were there with us - they would have had a blast! In short, we can't wait to get back on a real vacation!

Life...

...has been extremely busy - I just can't seem to keep up! So, to go back and play catch up, here's our month of October...We began the month with a trip to the doctor for check-ups all around.

Sam - 46" tall and 47.6 lbs; Jack - 40" tall and 36 lbs; Ellie - 25 1/4" long and 14 lbs, 9 oz. She's hit a pretty average size and seems to be staying there. After some traumatic shots and blood draws, everybody is healthy and now very happy (Jack's no longer anemic so no more yucky iron drops!).

The next day we left for my Dad's to visit over fall break. We had a fantastic time - most of these pics are from a great place Sandy found called "Monkey Joe's" that was full of big inflatables for the kids to jump on.

The whole gang with Papa

Coons

We also got to visit with Great Grandpa Dave - his first time meeting Ellie.

We went on to celebrate Sam's 7th birthday. Coincidentally, this is a picture of my second Wilton cake - Sam picked out all the colors and even helped me with the decorating.

He also lost one of his front teeth on his birthday - he wiggled and wiggled all the way home from church and then pulled it himself - a job that usually falls to Mommy! He then proceeded to lose the second one the very next day. He also had school pictures just a few days later, so we'll have Mr. No-Teeth pictures for the yearbook too! (Another side note - those were actually the make-up pictures at school - we had him skip the first ones because his face was covered with poison ivy...ugh...boys!)

Finally...Halloween! I had fun getting Ellie all dressed up in her orange and black and then again in her orange and blue - War Eagle!

We had two Skywalker's this year - Anakin and Luke - I have a feeling they'd be Star Wars characters every year if we let them! Aaron mentioned dressing Ellie as Princess Leia, but I refused to put her in a Star Wars costume her very first Halloween - maybe next year!

Chicago

Here are some pics from our trip to Chicago - more info to come!