Dear long-neglected blog readers

In spite of my best wishes, my "I'll blog when the kids are asleep" hopes became "I need some 'sanity' time for myself."

...I'm sorry...

To spare you the details, let's just say that the year has been intense. I am so thankful our first year here is in the past and I'm looking forward to a great year on the North Shore of Chicago.

Here are some of the highlights...

Christmas was quiet. We let family come to us and it was wonderful.

February came and we got 18" of snow in 24 hours. Loyola, as well as the rest of Chicago, actually closed everything down for a whole day - something that hasn't happened in a LONG time!

At 6 months old, Gray was the happiest, chubbiest little baby you've ever seen.

March came and we traveled! It was still freezing cold in Chicago, so we needed to get away. First the kids and I went to the east coast to see family while Paul went on his spring break trip. Then we all flew to Florida to be with Paul's parents for a week in Orlando. It was the perfect time to get away from Chicago.

Standing proud with Daddy after touching the sting rays at Sea World.

This was the only picture that we got of all of us, right before the amazing dolphin show. Of course Gray was asleep through the whole thing.

In April, Ilana turned 3! She threw up the whole night before her birthday, and there were 2" of snow on the ground (yes, in mid-APRIL!! I live in the arctic tundra now, you know.), so we just laid low all day, while she held tight to her purple butterfly balloon...all day.

In May Paul and I celebrated 8 years of marriage with our first date since Gray had been born. We went kayaking on the Skokie Lagoons. It was a blast!

Yes, my kids are wild.

June hit and we could finally wear shorts every day again and do things like this...

The summer was a blast!

In August we celebrated Gray's first birthday. We had a quiet celebration with a couple other families on our block. We figured we'd celebrate with those people who have carried me through this past year, our neighbors. I couldn't have done it without them. We have the best neighbors.

This pretty much sums up the cake.

Yeah, he's a sweet little boy, most of the time. (Yeah, he's spoiled and he knows it.)

And she's the sweetest little girl...when she wants to be. (Completely spoiled too!)

I'm finally feeling like I'm back into "my groove" again. I actually have the time and motivation to make bread again.

And although the house looks like this by 9:00 every morning, it's still a blessing to be here, loving on my crazy family (and our sweet, big puppy).

I am actually hoping and planning on blogging more often. But you know how that goes... :)

It's been awhile...

Gosh! I can't seem to get online and post pictures! Hopefully one of these weeks life will click in again. Well, here are some pictures from the past few weeks. They've been a bit crazy.

Ilana, being...her crazy 2-year old self:

I don't know why, but this is one of my all-time favorites of Ilana. You have to look at it sideways, though. Kind of artsy, in a subtle way. Maybe I'm just weird. That's possible too.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day just the 4 of us. We watched the parade...

Paul made home-made cinnamon buns for breakfast (DELICIOUS!!!)...

we got to just sit and be a family...

we ate an amazing meal - again, Paul made everything...

even the pumpkin cheesecake!!

A few days later Paul had quite an intense photo session with Gray...

and got some great shots...

and some hilarious ones too... :)

(Yes, we set up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.) Look at that double chin!!

Ilana has really become "Mommy's little helper." As you can see, clearly Gray needed ALL of his toys, and Paul needed some help stretching his legs. Thanks, Ilana!!

He was either stunned into disbelief or actually enjoyed this for about 20 minutes.

We had one day of flurries, a break, then our first real snow storm hit. We don't expect the snow to be leaving anytime soon. The highs have been in the low to mid-20's. Yeah, it's COLD!

Of course we all went outside, and of course Ilana absolutely LOVED it!

Gray has a good cold. He's been congested off and on since Thanksgiving, but now his congestion is constant. Poor little guy. You wouldn't know it, though. He's still pretty happy most of the time.

Here we're checking our angle and lighting for our family Christmas picture. As you can see, sleep is not happening much these days, but we're still smiling through it all...or at least trying to.

-H

Someday we'll look back...

Well I sure am glad my new year's resolution this year wasn't to blog more often. I'd be very disappointed with myself. So, some of these pictures are from when Paul's family came out when Gray was first born, some are more recent. Enjoy!

When Gray was first born and the family was out, there was a lot of this that went on...

and some of this...

(gosh, she is beautiful!!)

and a WHOLE lot of this!

When Gray was 8 days old we went to Loyola's New Year's Carnival. It was our first outing as a family: super fun!

Mom Miller brought out the makings for apple pie when she came. The apples were bigger than Gray's head!

We visited the beach.

And there was some of this that went on too.

You've got to take a "first bath" shot! Don't worry, they're better now. He actually loves his bath now. My goodness, he was little!

OK! Skipping ahead about 2 months... :)
These are the kids (crazy that I have KIDS!!) playing on the baby playmat. Obviously it still entertains a 2 1/2 year old.

We're enjoying Chicago's fall as much as possible.

This picture is specifically for Jillian. Yes, one morning as we were getting ready the best place to put Gray was actually ON Moses' dog bed. :)

I finally finished Ilana's cardboard kitchen. She LOVES it and is constantly "making" us meals.

For Halloween Ilana and our neighbor (her best friend) went trick or treating. Her friend was Curious George and Ilana was a princess. We made her take the frog too. Thanks for the costume, Nonni!

An action shot:

We met up with another couple neighbors and all walked around together. One of our neighbors dressed up their 8-month old son as a lobster, it was hilariously adorable! Watch out! He's on the move!

This was the first year that Ilana really started to understand what Halloween is all about (at least the candy part). We went out when it was light and stayed in once it got dark to pass out candy. Our sweet princess even seemed to enjoy that part of the night, too. I think she had a pretty good time.

A lot of people say "someday you'll look back and smile." Well, I've made it my goal to smile as often as I can during these days. They are trying, exhausting, inefficient, mess-filled, long days, but every once in awhile there are big big smiles and we love those moments!!
Like when Ilana puts on Paul's glasses...

or when Gray is happy about being able to pick up his heavy head...

or just generally happy...

or when Ilana decides to put on her sunglasses to help her watch morning cartoons.

Here's to more smiles!
-H