A day at the Shedd Aquarium

Jellyfish

The two kids in front of the BIG tank

Looking at Iguanas with Nana

This giant tortoise was resting all his weight on the peak of this rock. Notice the peak is on his neck! OW!

Ky really wanted to touch the snake

Row row row your boat...

Cool Sea horse

and more sea horse

These sea horses were holding tails!

Purty! Can't remember the name of --abalones or something like that

Looks like a giant pill bug!

Alaskan crab

Sea anemones

Star fish

Ky & Nana

Fish--in case you didn't know

Giant sea anemone

Very cool Lobster!

More Fish

Sting Ray

Buttons....Nothing makes a boy happier

Blue Frog

Yellow frog

Bongo room--yummy breakfast place (sorry old man that you are forever stuck in my picture on this website.)

Most museums do a free admission day. Rob and I have started doing some exploring with this and discovered that the Shedd aquarium has free days on many Mondays of each month. We planned ahead and scheduled a day to go. Rob took the day off work and Nana did as well so she could join us. I was so excited to see how Ky was going to react to all the different creatures. EDUCATION LIVE! How fun!

We left earlier morning and headed off to Chicago. The drive was pretty smooth--except for a semi that was tailgating--dangerously tailgating--a small car in front of him. I drove all around his truck, but he didn't have any of those "How's my Driving?" numbers, otherwise I would have reported him. Unnecessary danger. Seriously people!

Our first stop was the Bongo room for a late brunch. If you remember from our summer Chicago post, we tried to visit the Bongo room then but the wait was 1 hour. This worked out much better for us since it was a week day and we were there before the lunch hour rush. The food was DELICIOUS. Rob got pretzel pancakes drizzled in white chocolate---THEY WERE DELICIOUS! And I got french toast with an oatmeal and apple topping and caramel. SO GOOD! I HIGHLY recommend this place. I really want to go back. YUMMY!

After the Bongo room we were back in our car for the museum. We arrived shortly after 12. And then ended up waiting in line for admission. Even though it was free they were selling tickets to the other exhibits--like the touch tank and the dolphin show. AND they were selling it at a discounted price of $17.00. Looking at this--I don't know how people afford to go to the museum on non-free admission days. Parking costs $20, Regular admission is $25 and then the extra exhibits is probably $20 normally. WOW! I feel sorry for all the inner city chicagoans that can't take their little ones--who could REALLY benefit from something like this all due to OUTRAGEOUS prices. I know there is maintenance and all that--but still...I don't know.

Anyway, since we only had a little over 4 hours before the museum closed, we decided just to do the free admission stuff. The kids had a lot of fun observing all the wild life. Frogs, fish, tortoises, reptiles, and even monkeys! We had taken the stroller assuming Alaina would fall asleep--well that didn't happen. In fact she turned into crazy girl--ripping her pony tail out and screaming. (Note to self...Alaina no longer will fall asleep on outings over nap time) I knew it would happen soon--but I was hoping with this day trip she would still give into her need for sleep. Oh well. Now we know!

There were two highlights to this trip for Kylan. He LOVED the snake the lady came out with. He really wanted to touch--though she wouldn't let any of the kids. He was very tentative and kept inching closer and closer to her. Eventually he was sitting next to the lady and handing her things he found on the floor to "feed" to the snake.

The other and most long lasting highlight was a giant sea tortoise they had in a GIGANTIC walk around tank. The sea tortoise was named Nickel. He was rescued from the ocean when a boat hit him and actually cracked his shell. Nickel could no longer swim normally, his butt floats higher than his head, but he does well at the aquarium. Well Ky fell in love with Nickel and his story. Sadly, however, Nickel retreated to some secret hideout in the tank after feeding. Ky spent a LOT of time trying to find him. We left and Ky ended up naming his tortoise (a toy he has at home) Joo-Jah Nickel in honor of Nickel. By the way I asked Ky how to spell Joo-Jah and he said "AMOPZL." Anyway, Joo-Jah was also hit by a boat and had a cracked shell. Ky has carried around Joo-Jah ever since. He even went shopping with us once. Very cute!

Are trip home was one to remember. Alaina would not go to sleep. So for about the last hour of the drive she cried. There was nothing we could do to soothe her. We tried to keep our spirits high--but boy is that stressful. I wish we had put her in the backseat of the van, it would have been a little quieter then!

All in all, things went well and it was a good trip. Alaina, however, is at that transition age where she will fight her nap, but cannot go without it. We hope to go back in Feb/March to the Field Museum and show Kylan the Stinky dinosaurs (He is trying to say extinct.) Hopefully we figure out what to do with Alaina.

Thanksgiving 2009

Reading books with Nana

Snuggling with Grandma Jan

Hanging with Grandpa

Warming cold toes with Uncle Ryan

Double the armful with Cousin Dominic & Uncle Rick

Chatting it up with Aunt Lisa

Admiring the Christmas tree

Happy times with Cousin Dominic

A picture moment with the cousins: Dominic Jordan, Ky, Devan & Alaina

and this is why we have the tree set up behind our couches...."WHO me?"

Stephanie's beautiful & original center piece

"Now what team is this Uncle Rick?"

Dominic looking at the ornmanents

Alaina has become an avid reader

I think her brother encourages it. No this is not a posed picture..

Hanging with Uncle Jared & Aunt Deb

"Come on Uncle Jared--you can do the puzzle! I know you can!"

Thanksgiving was a very nice day. It started off kind of crazy though. We had prepacked everything and laid out the kids clothes so we could get to Nana's early enough for a brunch celebration. However, Ky is in this "in-between-phase" with some of his nicer clothes. His khaki's were too small. I pulled out the next size up, those were too big. Same with shirts. We finally got him dressed after changing his clothes about 4 times. This of course made us late. Ky is not an easy kid to get dressed (he dresses himself and is SO SLOW about it.) At least he doesn't care what he wears at this point and still lets me pick out his clothes. However, I have been warned many times to expect that to change soon.

We spent the late morning and early afternoon with Nana & Grandma Jan. We had a nice brunch with eggs, cheese, bread, and fruit. The kids ate well and really enjoyed time reading and snuggling. Alaina had fun trying to explore the non-child proof areas--which currently is a favorite hobby of hers.

Mid-afternoon we left to do the Schnake Thanksgiving. This year we all joined together in bringing sides and Debi provided the meat. It was a bountiful feast--as always. Ky & Dominic played together ALOT--which is just too cute to watch. They are really becoming fast friends.

Alaina was held much of the time--mostly for our sanity. She just gets into too much. As you can see from above she started pulling the lights off the tree. And that was just seconds after I put her by the tree so I could take a picture. The girl is FAST! I really have to work to keep up with her.

We all left happy and full. Rob and I ended up staying up late that night doing computer research. Every year Rob and I make our one BIG purchase on black friday--or around that time. We have found that it really tends to be the best time to get our good deal. We consider this our Christmas present to ourselves. Last year our van was our big purchase. This year it was a new computer with printer. My other computer was 7 years old and took forever to load things on---part of the reason I was getting so behind on my blog was the amount of time it would take to load pics. And my printer was shot too....So we stayed up late examining the sales flyers and then looking for reviews on the different computers.

We finally picked one out with a back-up in case the store was out. Rob said he was going to go to Best Buy at 5:15. I told him he needed to be there when the store opened (I knew that much.) Well he went, and by the time he got in the store (after waiting 15 minutes in line) the computer we wanted was gone. HE then went to our second option and that was gone too. He came home quite disheartened and declared he was never going to do that again (it was his first time.)

Yeah--I went out once in high school when the store opened and saw the madness. I haven't been back since--and I am pretty sure I never will be.

Anyway-we ended up buying our computer online. It was a little more money, but not much--and definitely was worth the cost. Yeah to Amazon.com. Speaking of which, I have already earned $15 in gift cards from Swagbucks.com. If you haven't signed up--do so HERE.

This really is the coolest way to earn free money! I do all my google searches on swagbucks!

I did go out on Black Friday at noon to pick up a comforter I had been eying...It was too cheap to pass up. I ended up waiting in line for 30 minutes just to check out. RIDICULOUS! --but considering the savings it was worth it....However, what was even more ridiculous was that the lady and her 2 girls behind me had been shopping since midnight. The poor girls were so exhausted and begging their mom to PLEASE let this be their last store. WOW! How much was she buying to be out shopping for 12 hours (by then it was closer to 13)???!!! She was pretty smart though considering she would have her girls stand in line while she got her merchandise. That meant less standing in line time and more shopping time for her.

Anyway, Saturday and Sunday Uncle Jared and Aunt Deb came for a visit. We had a really nice time with them. Ky was especially excited to see U. Jared and even got him to dance with him to his music---and U. Jared ended up swimming in the "pretend" pool with him. The next day we had a yummy brunch together at the Pancake House after church. From there it was time for them to hit the road.--It's a long drive back to Oklahoma. We had a really good time and were sad to see them go--but there is always next Thanksgiving--and the hopes that Alaina will do better at long trips so we can go visit them soon.

I believe I mentioned in my last blog that Alaina has really been getting into books. It is especially cute when Alaina and Ky are reading together.

As far as Ky's reading, I have just started him on the BOB books two days ago. And he can already read the first 2 books by himself. I am very excited that he will be reading on his own soon. He gets annoyed right now if he has to sound out words--(it takes him too long to figure out the word) but once he has it, he is really good. If you don't know about BOB books check out this link below. You can easily get the sets from your local library--which is what we do. Most school systems use these books in their Kindergarten and 1st grade classes.

http://www.bobbooks.com/

Until next time! Hey I am catching up! WOO-HOO NEW COMPUTER....now just don't go expecting much for Christmas cards...I am really slacking in that area! :)

Let's Get Crafty!

Gotta love these rare moments!


Sleep sacks I made! So EASY and inexpensive!

The latest round of baby shoes.

Aunt Janice loves Alaina's hair! (So do I, I love when she comes out of the bath and it is all curly!)

Helping put the candles on Aunt Linda's cake--BTW this cake was awesome---mmmmm...

And another fun cake--spice cake!

Waiting to sing Happy Birthday.

Alaina & Ky both wore their Packer outfits in honor of A. Linda

Lots of candles to blow out!

Peeking over the counter to help make pancakes!
She really wants to be a big kid like Ky.

Homemade finger paints.

She did pretty well for her first time.

Ky had a blast!

Ky's gift for Samaritan's purse

The weather has turned! Finally! And now I am stuck inside more which means inside activities. Ky's curriculum this past month has been with the body and we have been working ont the five senses. For the sense "Touch" we made finger paint! And edible finger paint--good for Alaina too! At one point I added salt to some of his finger paint so he could get a better idea of rough vs. smooth. It went over very well. Here are some great recipes for finger paint. I used the corn starch and water one, and am storing them in baby food jars for futher use.

www.kids-cooking-activities.com/finger-paint-recipes.html

I also made some (I should say finished--because I started them back in April) more baby shoes. These are too fun to make! And I explored making sleep sacks--which are so easy! And cheap. I think each sleep sack I made was around $4.00. I also made them extra big so the babies had room to grow. I had a lot of friends with new babies this year, so I really got to try out some of my sewing skills. Here is a link to the sleep sack pattern.

www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/sleepsack.html


The weekend before Thanksgiving we drove to Arlington Heights to visit Rob's grandpa and Aunts & Uncle. It was Aunt Linda's 50th birthday--and what a great celebration it was. As usual, Aunt Janice made this splendid meal--Hey I got to eat squash soup out of Turkey--which was rounded out by one of the most fabulous chocolate cakes I have ever had. And yes, those are chocolate covered--brandy soaked cherries on top! WOW! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed watching Linda blow out the candles and eat her piece of cake. We were also introduced to the family tradition that the birthday person can not talk until their cake is eaten. This was fun as we all tried to get her to talk--but Linda was an old pro and did not budge.

The last picture is of Ky holding his box for Samaritan's purse. Every year for the last 4 years Rob and I have made a box per the number of kids we have. (So now we are doing 2). The box is for kids in impoverished countries. They contain toys and personal products (i.e. toothbrush, soap) as well as an introduction to Jesus and his ultimate gift for them. This year was the first year Ky was really able to get involved making the box for another 3 year old boy. I took him to the store and Ky personally picked out several toys as well as fun toothbrushes/toothpaste/soap and candy. I am not sure how much he understands of the whole concept, but he knew that he was picking out items for another boy his age. If you haven't done this before, I highly suggest looking into it. Here is their website, and I have found that most churches are also involved in the campaign.

www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/

I don't hae a lot of fun stories for this blog...but Ky told me the other day that he doesn't play with knives because they sharpen his fingers. :)

Ky choked on some water and said, "I swallowed it down my wrong throat"

I also took Ky back to the eye doctor expecting to get him glasses. The doc told me that Ky's vision actually got a little better--so we get to hold off until next year! YEAH! Alaina and glasses right now are not a good thing, so this is such a blessing! Thank you God!

Oh yeah--and I can't forget. The most disgusting thing happened EVER as a parent the other day. It was with Ky and Bear. Yeah...I am not going to put this on the blog---but Ky when you are bigger, I will be happy to tell you what happened. Just ask--and it was only the result of something you did....It had more to do with the dog...

And...I almost forgot! Ky has his very first imaginary best friend. His name is Bobby. And let's just say Bobby can be very naughty. Ky has had to put him on a lot of time outs. But we are glad that Ky has a new friend.

Slippery Fish

New computer means I can upload more video on the computer! YEAH! This one is of Ky & Alaina singing their favorite song "Slippery Fish". Be sure to notice Alaina's belch in the end. (From 11/09)