The weekend was the welness weekend at my best friend, Rachel's home.  It was wonderful! 

There was lots of lounging around the kitchen

 Pampering with mani's and pedi's and massages and yoga the next morning

 eating LOTS of delicious food

 And tons of quality time with 3 of my best friends.  I'm so lucky!

Santa came early!

Santa came to our house early this year....in the form of two bubbly children in the bath.  Precious!

Sheep celebration

Tonight we walked down to Meta for their "Say Goodbye to the Sheep" party.  Mara loves her school!

 While we had to say goodbye to our two lovely sheep because of city rules, we welcomed a new friend, Lilly!  Mara loves her.

 What a simple and sweet celebration....everyone had wine and apple juice and cookies IN the barnyard with the animals.  It was great!

Tailgate

Today was our Illini tailgate.  We had great weather ( other than intense winds for the first 2 hours)

Brian and I loved it.  For 7 hours we had a nice flow of people that allowed us to visit with many and not ever get stressed out about food, beer, or activities.

 And of course the beer bong made an appearance.  We became friends with the tailgate next to us and therefore got to fill from their kegs.  You know it's love when you and your spouse can fill beer bongs together!

 Brian's best friend, Benji and new wife, Sara came too!

 We served some amazing food on our Fire and Ice grill and Bri loved talking to guests about it all!

Thanks to those who stopped by.  What a great day!

Grandparents Day at Metamorphosis

Today was Grandparents Day at Meta and Mara was so very lucky to get both sets of grandparents to visit. The kids prepared signs for them to welcome!

 Mara had a blast showing them all her jobs and work.  This week she is in charge of taking care of Gus, our guinea pig.  She showed Nana and Grandpa and Grammy and Papa all the steps to care for this animal.

 One of her favorite works is building words.

 She had to ask Grammy for alittle help with the opening containers work.

 Our circle times were full of showing off, including Mara doing the Mexican hat dance. 

 This picture was on the bulletin board.  One of my very favorites.

 Thanks Nana and Grandpa and Grammy and Papa for coming to Meta and for being such great Grandparents!

Dance Party

Check out tonight's dance party on the counters....I even got Mara to smile...kinda!

Montessori Moments

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE Montessori?  I do! 

Amara is doing things she never would have done before and loving it!  She's challenged, confident, and more helpful and competent than ever before!

 Our sweet sheep, Sunny & Thistle had to go live at another farm.  They were be missed and are still much loved!

 Mara and Molly look for crynoid fossils

 Her job last week....pouring waters for all her friends for lunch and delivering them to their places. 

 Molly and Mara getting ready to feed the chickens!

 Pet care.  She's in charge of feeding Gus, the Hampster

 She's doing amazing work!

 She's also putting dirty laundry in a bag each day for me to bring home and wash. 

Can't wait to find out what's next!

Date Night

We got a babysitter tonight and headed down the square to hear bands and drink on the streets at the Monticello Celebration.  We love being able to walk downtown and be with dear friends too!

 Cara and I had a great time with my neighbor, D!

 Nothing like double fisting it at the end of the night to get as many in as possible before walking home!  

We love Monticello!

Cheering for the Illin!

We took the kids to the game today.  it was great.  It helps having 4 seats and it helps when we are winning. We spent $40 on crap food lunch and loved every second of our time together.  GO ILLINI!

Hiking at Allerton

We are trying to give our kids some outdoor experiences on evenings that we don't have pre-planned events.   Even if its just a walk around the block or a run down the streets, etc.  Tonight, we decided to go for a hike at Allerton ( our favorite place on Earth) and a picnic. 

LOVED the Fu Dog Gardens.  So beautiful!

 Hiked for almost an hour

 Then headed up to the mansion to have dinner with the fishes!

 My favorite flower from my favorite man!

Amara-The Gymnast

Each Tuesday, Amara goes to IPower in Champaign with 2 other little friends from Monticello.  She LOVES it!  Here she is talking to her toes as she stretches.

Head stands...almost all by herself!

 First time on the bars!

Don't love the distance but LOVE what its doing for Amara!

Its Going to Be a SOUPer Year!

Each year, we give the kids' teachers and secretaries, and principal a Back to School gift!

This year was simple cans of soup with  these cute notes attached!

The kids also loved saying "We are going to have a SOUPer year!"

Big Hit!

A Global Night

What an incredibly busy weekend.  We were exhausted.  So we blew up the air mattress, popped some popcorn and watched a movie we were all really excited to see....Big Miracle.  It was amazing.  About a family of whales stuck under the ice in Alaska.  The movie was great and we all loved it.  It also gave us a great opportunity to use Brian's childhood glowing globe to point out the countries involved in saving these whales and the path the whales took.  Loved watching this Geography lesson in the dark tonight!

Today was the day!  We were all so excited.  For Jack's birthday we gave him an afternoon at the Monticello Train and Railway Museum.  We all get giddy to spend time with Jack and spoil him!

We bought him this cool conductor hat!

 He was so excited too!

 Up high in the caboose!

 Amara shows him the BIG train and tells him its time ( look at those little legs running!)

 Deciding if we'll be outside or inside

 Inside it is....waiting for the train to GO!

 Scoping out some of the other cars

 These three were joined at the hip!

 Tired little boy....but nothing was going to get him to miss this!

 Jack loves his big cousin and was very excited about the tickets they received

 and had punched by the train guy!

 We waved at the people we saw on the street when we passed

 Mara and Daddy got some smooching time in too!

 Took at break at the Wabash Depot downtown to giggle

 look at the trains closer

 Pose for some photos

 and PLAY!

 before we got back on the train and decided to sit in the outdoor car!

 so beautiful!

 This boy just stood so seriously and took it all in!

 Then we went through the museum cars

 more pictures

 and loved every second we could get with our favorite nephew in the world!