A little of this, a little of that

On our way home from church on Sunday I saw a bumber sticker that said

Warning: In case of rapture this car will be unmanned

I thought that was so funny, but practical too!



We have just been hanging out around here. Our friend James came to visit for a few days. It was nice to see someone from Michigan.













I have been crocheting like crazy as well. I made a bear for Gavin. It was fun to make. It's a little lopsided and very imperfect, but Gavin doesn't mind. I am currently working on making a pig.





We are also in the process of hatching a baby dinasour. We bought an egg from the Field Museum and have been videoing our progress. I will post the videos soon! Here is what the egg looked like when we brought it home and submerged it in water.










I got to hang my curtains up last week too! I was excited about that. The excitment didn't last too long becasue once they were hung, they were much too short to fit our windows. No worries, I just dug out some old material and sewed in an extra stripe. They used to be just solid brown. It took me forever b/c I don't have a sewing maching yet. There are four pannels altogether, but I just took a picture of one.






I have to throw in a picture of Gavin! What would a post about our family be without a picture of him!?!?!










Well, thats what we've been up to lately!

Valentines Day

Our family celebrated V - Day a day early because Ryan had to work. He took us to the Cheesecake Factory (my new favorite place to eat!) and then to Ghirardelli for ice cream. I am a chocolate fanatic - seriously, I dont think that there is anyone out there who likes chocolate more than I do. So, I got a heaping scoup of Chocolate ice cream and it was DELISH!

Fun with a Rubber Band

The other day Gavin asked me to put this rubber band around my face. I don't know where he came up with the idea, but it sure was funny. We were both laughing so hard. I seriously almost wet my pants! It reminded me of Peewee Herman, he used to do something like that with scotch tape!

Hope you had a good laugh! We sure did!

Family Day

It was a fairly warm day on Friday, so we took advantage of it. We found a great place to shop on Friday morning with the greatest store ever invented. It's called the Conatiner Store. It is organizational heaven. I loved it. A bit pricey, but it was still cool. I can't believe that I walked out of there empty handed! We found a Children's Place and got some really great deals. They had 50% off of their already clearnace items so we were able to pick up a lot of 4T stuff for next year!


After the morning of shopping, we came back home and grabbed some lunch Gavin took a nap and then we headed out to the zoo! The Lincoln Park Zoo is a really cool, free zoo in the city. I was suprised at how much we were able to see with it being so cold. A lot of it is inside, but some of the animals were outside. We saw some camels and Gavin said, "Can they talk?" It was so funny. I guess in any cartoons that he watches the animals do talk. His favorite thing was the barn that they have with a very big, very real John Deere tractor. Ryan tried to get a picture of the barn with the skyline in the background.

Super Gavin

I was vacuuming the house today and Gavin got a hold of the attachments. He wanted me to tape them on his back. I attached it with a belt instead and he loved it. It was so funny. He said,
"I will show daddy when he gets home!" I dont know where he has seen something like that before or if it just comes naturally to boys. I was so suprised.

(This shot was Gavin's idea - he really wanted a picture from the back!)

In action

Life in the Big City

Well, we have done a bunch of things since living here. We are trying to take advantage of the coolest city in the world. We found out that you can get free passes to all of the museums at the library if you are a Chicago resident. We've been to the Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and the Chicago Children's Museum. Gavin can't say Museum (of he just wont try) so he has substituted it with "Zucchini" for some reason. So he says, we are going to the Zucchini today! It is wierd, but it's what makes Gavin, Gavin! We are saving the Field Museum for when Ryan's parents come to visit us in a few weeks. We also went to the Hershy store the other day and to the Lego Store! It was so fun. Gavin loved hoping on the bus and the subway to get downtown. I had to take a picture of him because he looked like such a Chicagoan, all bundled up complete with Ipod, ready to face the wind and cold! We call him our little urban pioneer. Here are some pictures of our eventful days.

Trying on the Hershy hat at Borders

I love taking ugly pictures of myself - I dont know why, I just love to laugh at myself!

Posing with some lego dudes.

Another lego dude

The guy had a bird on his head and some poop on his shoulder! Of all the things you can use legos to build, this is what they come up with? Well, Ryan and Gavin loved it.

Our Urban Pioneer

I have to put in the fact that it was my mother who bought him this i pod and in her defense, it was only $10.

Adler Planetarium

Gavin loved this little cartoon about the atmosphere on the moon

Story time with Daddy at borders

(Gavin saw that penguin from across the room and held it the whole time we were there. It was $12 for that little thing, I was praying he didn't somehow rip it or destroy it!

All kinds of time

Since we have moved to Chicago, it seems I have all kinds of time. We don't know too many people here and I don't have any huge church commitments anymore (we haven't found a home church yet). So, I have had lots of time to do other things. Since we've moved I've . . .

Made throw pillows

(since I'm sucn and El Cheapo, I have to mention that I got this fabric in the as is section at Ikea for $3 and I've gotten two pillows out of it and still have a bunch left over. I might make a bag out of it, too!)

crocheted a hat

And another hat

(thanks Gabrielle for modeling it for me!)

with mittens to match

I have had all of these Starbucks coffee stickers for well over a year and have not known what to do with them. Well, I decided to put them on my plain ol' white magnetic board. Now I have a super cool orignal magnetic board!

It went from this:

To this!

And of course, I have had so much time to spend with Gavin. We have been making valentine cards and crafts for everyone, making ramps for our train tracks and just playing a lot together. Yesterday he told me that he wanted a Notebook like Blues Clue's. So, I jumped online and found a picture of what it looks like. A few clicks of the mouse, some staples and a little tape and we had ourselved a handy dandy notebook! Gavin loves it! We have been taking it everywhere! It's pretty generic, but it works for us!

What have you been doing/like to do in your spare time?