Think Pink!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Here's Lucy twirling about in her awesome "Fight Like A Girl" t-shirt from Ava's Aunt Tracy...THANK YOU! Of course, we have to give a "shout-out" to my Cousin Jen...she fought breast cancer LIKE A CHAMP three years ago! We love her so much and are super-excited about her wedding later this month! Woo-hoo for Jen & Mark!

Here's to strong women...

may we know them...

may we be them...

may we raise them!

Eli: Kindermusik and yoga

Eli had his first Kindermusik class last week! He loved it! We have the same teacher that taught Lucy two years ago. His friends, Jacob and Parker, enjoyed themselves too!

Here's Eli's newest skill...getting himself into a "push-up" position...also known as "plank" position in yoga. This could be related to all the yoga I did while pregnant with him (I needed all the relaxation I could get!) He is doing some scooting backwards, but no official crawling. We know he'll crawl soon enough, so we're not pushing it...movement = mischief!

Sew what?

We've had a lot of rain this week so we're amusing ourselves inside. Lucy has been working on her lacing cards and seems to enjoy having a "project."

Eli is "quality-control" and thinks the cards and string are a lot of fun!

For the three seconds that they are both entertained, I have a little project of my own. Call it "beginner's optimism", but I am hopeful that the pink yarn below will be a hat for Lucy sometime before January. Chris keeps asking me all sorts of questions ("how many more inches"..."is that supposed to fit on her head?") This is my first-EVER knitting/sewing project...in high school I took Agriculture instead of Home Economics. So, I know how to shear a sheep and weld, but knitting is totally new...wish me luck!

Our Weekend in Big Orange Country!

Many thanks to Mom (Nana!) for watching Eli and Lucy while Chris and I went to Knoxville for a relaxing weekend! We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Chesapeake's (picture below)...we had dinner there for Valentine's Day in 1999...it was great to think of all the awesome things that have happened over the past ten years! Saturday was such an enjoyable day - despite the terrible football game! It was awesome to tailgate with friends! Thanks to Joy and Will for the game tickets and the tailgate-fun! And, to my AOII friends, I love that we always seem to have a lot to talk about! :-) Of course, Lucy thinks I'm very boring today after a weekend of painting, making Rice Krispie treats and pancakes shaped like ladybugs...thank you, Mom, for spoiling them with your love and attention!

Eli loves his Mommy!

Eli loves to show me his affection by giving me huge open-mouth, slobbery kisses! I just love it when his chubby little arms reach for my face...he is so much fun!

"School days, school days...dear old Golden Rule days"

Lucy's first-day-of-school was last week...notice the new back-to-school haircut!

GIRLS GONE WILD!

...um, not really. Below are some fun pictures from our awesome Girls' Weekend in Chicago! We did lots of shopping, drinking tea at The Drake Hotel, shopping, eating sushi, shopping, drinking Starbucks, shopping, eating Garrets popcorn, shopping...and a bit of sight-seeing at Millennium Park. It was a wonderful weekend with dear friends!