Life's Dilemmas

Last night we went a Champion Series tennis tournament at the United Center.  Joe recently has been playing a lot of tennis as he joined a tennis club, and it never gets old when he leaves the house in his matching tennis outfit, racket over the shoulder, and his white tennis shoes on for the night.  Makes me laugh.  Anyways, he was excited to see some former tennis champs "settle the score."  There were three matches - and a video montage (who doesn't love a good sports montage?) before the first two to introduce the players.  The first match was between Jim Courier and Todd Martin, and was entertaining, so I was told since I was too busy talking during it.  Here is where the dilemma came in.  The lights went out, John McEnroe's montage played on the jumbotron.  We all knew the next player was going to be Andre Aggasi and JUST as his montage started to play the dessert cart pulled up to our suite.  There was a look of sheer panic on Joe's face as he wanted to watch the montage but also really wanted s'more cake (his favorite on the cart.)  So, he ran to the cart, placed his order, then ran back to watch the video, then ran back to the cart to pay and pick up his cake.  It was priceless.

A pic of Joe and Jay watching AND enjoying some dessert

Sleepover at Grammy and Grampy's

First, congrats to my dad and Beth who ran the Gran Rapids Marathon this weekend!!!  They trained together, ran together and finished together - in coordinating t-shirts as well!!! They had an amazing run and I am sure there will be many future marathons to come from the father/daughter team :)  I can't figure out how to steal the pics from Beth's blog....but you can go to http://wennerstrom.blogspot.com/ to see the pics!

I was heading to Amy's bridal shower in the burbs this weekend so Joe and Lucy headed to Huntley for a birthday celebration (belated only because Joe was too busy on his actual birthday weekend for another get-together) and Lucy asked if she could spend the night over at Grammy and Grandpy's and of course we said yes!! So, Joe and I had a "date night" that turned out to not be all that exciting as we ended up at the Whole Foods wine bar.  On Sunday we spent the day like any loving couple does - heading two complete separate ways.  Why would I want to go to Cardio Tennis, followed by football watching? Why would Joe want to go to Yoga Sculpt followed by a trip to Chico's on Michigan Avenue?  But, it works for us.  And, we were able to meet up with the marathoners for a beer before Lucy got home!

Helping daddy blow out the fire

The only pic I have that isn't just Lucy from the weekend - so I figured I would prove that there are sometimes other people in photos

Lucy getting to take a spin on her bike around the house

Lucy loves random holiday decor - she loved these two ghost lanterns and carried them around like purses.  I couldn't figure out why she was obsessed with our lanterns this week, but now I know why! 

Later!

Congrats Beth and Dad on an amazing race!!! Thanks Bill and Chris for inviting Lucy over for a sleepover!!! It looks like she had a great time and we did as well! 

Birthdays, Beer and Birds

I know, so random.

Today is Grandma Kathy's Bday!!!! She celebrated it with a fun trip to New York City. A first for my mom and dad if you can believe it.  They loved it so much they are going back again in February :)  And, Joe celebrated his big 3-2 this week with some German food/beer thanks to Beth and Rob for taking us out, followed by a 12-hour "day out" with his friends on Sunday/night.  Somehow the last man standing was the only one who ran the marathon that day, Brian Kilmer?!  Sad story for these aging men.  But, Joe had a great time!  On Monday Joe was off work so we headed to the animal farm in Lincoln Park to see the piggies and feed the ducks.  It was cute because we would give Lucy bread for the ducks...and she would eat it.  Happy Birthday Grandma (mom) and Daddy (Joe)!!!!

Pumpkins!

The big girls

The line to the petting zoo was really long so we took the kids the side fence.  Just as good, right?

The crew being German for a day

Heading to the farm....

Forget the birds.  White bread tastes too good. 

The wave - every animal gets it

Exhausting

Pretty much sums up life these days as Lucy runs around nonstop from 6:30 am until 6:30 pm every day - with one or two (if we are lucky which wasn't the case this weekend) little breaks to re-energize her little body. I never understood why moms would say "oh, I don't exercise, my exercise is chasing around my kids."  I thought that was so ridiculous but now I totally understand as I crash at the end of the day, similar to my marathon training days :)  Lucy moves  - really fast - and has learned how to climb onto her riding toys herself, has been caught trying to get into the bath tub, tests her toys to see which ones she can balance on, and thinks she can climb stairs herself.  And, if she is out of eye sight AND quiet, I can be sure she is exploring something she doesn't want me to know about.  The other morning I felt it was too quiet and I turned the corner to find Lucy holding my coffee cup.  STINKER! Lucky for us, she is a picky eater/drinker and I don't have to worry about her liking the taste of coffee, seeing that she won't even drink milk.

Lucy is testing out the one nap a day schedule - she doesn't quite need two naps a day but doesn't need a morning nap.  So, we are currently taking one nap around 10:30/11:00 am and trying to stretch until dinner.  So, life is changing for us as we now can do more in the mornings and hopefully expect a longer break in the afternoon - giving us the chance to get together with more of our older 2-year-plus friends more often :)

We had a great visit to the zoo yesterday, trying to take advantage of the great fall weather :)  Lucy loves the zoo more each time we go and it is so fun to see her taking it all in.  She will stand there waving to the animals and it is so cute that I get tears in my eyes.  She is so precious as she discovers this big world!

Lots of other random pics :)

Those sea otters are crazy!

Showing daddy the monkeys

Hanging out with Matt and Asal who stayed with us this weekend!

Asal is silly

Lucy helping mommy vacuum

Weee!!!

Strolling at the park