Back to School Celebration

This week we had our Back to School Celebration.

The evening was perfect.

Our theme for the year is...

"The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."

(D&C 93:36)

Let me present the stars of the show.

And one more, who is not here yet.

The weather was perfect, dry and cool.

The conversation was fun and light.

We dinned on mixed greens, raspberry, almond salad, with

hake served over hearty grains and topped with peach and red pepper salsa.

No celebration is complete without bubbly.

The company was the real treat of the night,

but we also got to enjoy...

...some of this.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire"

William Butler Yeats

I'm really excited about the things we have planned for this school year.

Now there is nothing left to do but to get to work.

Oh What do You do in the Summertime?

 Check out what 4 Moms,

and 4 minivans/SUVs

can accomplish!

 It was a perfect bike adventure.

 The adventure was complete after a picnic, a lot of ice cream,

and an awesome climbing tree.

Did I mention the weather was GORGEOUS?!?!?!

Water

 Yesterday we couldn't stand the thought of not getting in water.

 So we went to the beach!

Summer Life

 I walked into the pool on Friday to find this.

Those fun pool friends of mine surprised me and put together a little baby celebration.

I was seriously touched.

 

 I don't have a picture of all the woman who put this together,

but I do have one of Melanie (sometimes I call her my MA sister) looking so innocent.

She made my favorite cupcakes (lemon with fruit frosting).

Then there is Liz.

She documented this for me and made the sign.

And Amy.

She gave me Tums and dipstixs to help suppress my chalk craving

(that conversation at the pool stays at the pool).

And here's the summer gang.

We took a couple pictures.

Before this picture was taken, someone said

"make a funny face".

I guess the joke was on the Hahns.

Thank you dear friends.

James Hearts Guns

So James really likes guns...REALLY likes them.

He builds a new one every day out of something.

This may be the most menacing tommy gun I've seen yet.

He was so proud of it.

Why I've Been MIA

 So I kind of took a summer break from blogging.

I'm back.

I mean, I am having a baby soon, but I'm back for now.

But we've been enjoying the dog days of summer a little too much around here.

 Our summer bounty meals and snacks are so delicious.

For breakfast this morning I had two juicy, sweet peaches.

The watermelon sitting on the counter is calling my name.

Did I mention the strawberries we had for lunch?

Or all the salads we've been enjoying?

There is no better time of year.

I'm sure about that.

And to top it all off, we have become official pool bums.

Pool bums as in we go 6 days a week for hours on end.

Today we stayed for 6 hours.

We meet up with all our friends and just have the most wonderful days.

But today was the last day the pool was open.

I am going to have to reinvent my life.

The pool makes life so easy.

It makes for a nice mom vacation.

Let me explain.

I rarely do laundry, because we only wear pajamas and swim suits.

The house never gets dirty since we are gone all day.

My kids have a hardy appetite and eat almost everything on their plates.

They even eat the things they would have complained about before without complaining.

We get to hang out with our friends every day

(there are a couple of us pool bum families).

Oh how we will miss you pool.

And just for your viewing pleasure...

DNA Extraction

 I know I've blogged about my amazing friend Jackie.

She is a mad scientist.

Every week she brings fun experiments to our home and teaches my kids all about chemistry.

My kids love Science Fridays.

Well this week, we extracted DNA from a strawberry.

 

It was pretty amazing.

I was blown away.

Last Basement Post

 The room in the basement is furnished.

 

The residents have moved in.

 Just in time (if the baby decides to come in time).

In theory he has two more days to cook.

Final Recap

 This is the last Chicago post.

I promise.

I just couldn't decide if I should do one long post, or break it up.

 We did some hanging out.

Enjoyed some concerts in the park.

When we weren't lounging around

(we didn't lounge often),

we were going.

And this is how we got around.

 

 You should have seen the bike caravan when we were all riding around.

I love getting around on bikes.

You don't have to buckle anyone in and out of a carseat.

Just give them a bike and a bell and say follow me (just think of all the energy they are using instead of storing up).

 I looked a little ridiculous, having to peddle with my knees out to the side so they wouldn't keep hitting my belly.

Oh well, the kids looked cute.

 Anytime we were near Millennium Park, we dropped in for a cool down.

James left the park with a gash in his eyebrow after one of our visits.

Nothing a couple of butterfly bandages couldn't handle.

 Then there were all the museums and fun 3D shows.

The museums in Chicago are amazing.

My favorite, the Science and Technology Museum.

And finally, there was the fun evening out to the steak house.

We walked to this one.

The weather was perfect, and so was the steak.

If this baby comes out breaking Anna's weight record (11lbs 2oz),

I'm blaming it solely on that steak dinner.

Top of Chicago

 The Willis Tower (more commonly known as the Sears Tower

is 1,450 ft tall,

weighs 222,500 tons,

 cost more than $150 million to build,

has 25,000 miles of electrical cable, 

and 2,109 steps.

 

 On a clear day you can see four states from the top of it...

Illinois

Indiana

Wisconsin

Michigan.

 The ledge is designed to retract into the building for easy cleaning

(good thing huh?),

and was built to hold 10,000lbs.

 But seriously, I was so nervous to step out on that ledge.