{Gabriella} - 1 year

I loved Baby Gabriella's big blue eyes and squishable rolls at six months old and at her one year portrait session, it was no different!

I love the double creases in her chubby fingers, plumpness of her cheek, lush dark lashes and soft hair that is still growing out...

You did so good with your one year old portrait session! Happy first birthday munchkin!

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel & Cirque Shanghai

As I recently mentioned, weekends without a wedding or family photo session doesn't happen very often so we make the most of it when I am free. Whenever we go to the lakefront, Mia can see Navy Pier's Ferris Wheel in the distance and always asks to go on it. With Cirque Shanghai's tickets being so cheap {well, not so much after all the fees!}, we decided to spend a summer afternoon at Chicago's #1 tourist attraction - Navy Pier.

Cirque Shanghai is a show for all ages with performances by Chinese acrobats that takes place under the canopied, open-air theater at Navy Pier. Any seat would be a good one and we were able to sit in the second row. However, even though we were so close to the action, Mia was ready to leave the one hour show so she could ride the Ferris wheel. 

The line for the $6/per person Ferris Wheel ride moved quickly and we were able to soak up Chicago's unrivaled skyline for a breezy seven minutes.There's an aerial view of Olive Park - a very popular spot to get the skyline for wedding photos!

To wrap up our day out, we had an early dinner at Piccolo Sogno Due. Mia is very well behaved, so we take her out to restaurants with us nearly all the time, even nice ones. However, this is the one time where I had to tell her to keep her {normal} voice down because the restaurant was uncomfortably quiet. The food was good with a beautiful ambiance, but it could've been a bit livelier.

Glad we can check Navy Pier and the Ferris Wheel off our/Mia's city bucket list!

First Day - 2013

Today was Mia's "first day" of school. Since her daycare/school pretty much goes year around, Mia was a bit confused as to why it was her "first day". After all, she was just at school last week! Then Mia proceeded to ask if everyone's parents have first day of school signs to take pictures with. Haha I'm guessing probably not. She's only changed a little since last year, right?!

She We truly love her school for the teachers, friends, activities, clean space and convenience. Now that she's 3.5 years old, there won't be any tears or accidents this year! Love how she can write her name now!

Free first day of school printable from MOPS.org

Healthy Menu Planning with Fresh Ingredient and Recipe Delivery Service

Recently Doug's coworker invited us to try Relished - a new fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in Chicago. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to obtain a box full of food prepped by an experienced Executive Chef!

Who should try it?
Relished would be ideal for a wide variety of Chicagoans...
Is it hard to find time to go grocery shopping regularly?
Do you have no idea where to start when it comes to meal planning, finding recipes and certain ingredients? 
Are you bored of your usual go to meals that you cook at home?
Are you sick of spending money on going out to eat and ordering take out when your fridge is empty?
Do you enjoy trying and cooking new foods but don't know where to start? I was able to cook fish (which I almost never do), kale (which I've never purchased in my life), and ginger (which I used to think I didn't like).

How does it work?
As a subscriber, one box of fresh produce and protein is delivered to you each week with recipe cards. This one {insulated} box contains nearly all of the ingredients and instructions you need to cook three meals at home!

What'd I think?
My meals consisted of Rainbow Trout with heirloom carrots and cous cous, Peach Glazed Pork Chops with rosemary potatoes and kale and Asian Chicken with kimchi, snow peas and peppers. 
+ All three meals had a few ingredients I don't normally use (fish, kale and ginger) which made it all the more interesting to try! Having the ingredients and recipes provided to me makes working with new ingredients less intimidating (where do I find it at the store, how do I cook it, etc). And now I won't mind buying fish or kale and know how to incorporate them into my meals.
+ Everything I needed was perfectly portioned out in labeled containers, making prep a breeze.
+ I also liked how the meals didn't require too many pots/pans/dishes. I try to avoid recipes that result in excessive amounts of dirty pots, pans, bowls, etc that leaves my kitchen looking like a disaster.
+ The recipes were easy to follow and the meals were prepared in my usual dinner prep time, between 30-45 minutes.
+ Most importantly, all three meals were delicious! {I was too hungry to take a picture of the Asian Chicken.}

Now what?
Would you be interested in a service like this? As part of the test group, I gave Relished my honest feedback. I'd love to hear what you think about this whole concept. Relished is now accepting orders - Be sure to check out their website for more information!

 

Visiting the Sears Tower in Chicago

Shooting weddings and children's portraits leaves free summer weekends few and far between. So when my planner shows an empty box {yes I do use a physical planner still!} we always try to make the most of it. After giving Mia the choice of 1) the lakefront 2) a Cubs game or 3) the Sears Tower, she picked the latter.

With free street parking on Sundays, we easily drove into the loop and found street parking. The Skydeck Chicago opened at 9am and we arrived at 1045am thinking our timing would be right with Mia's afternoon nap. While the line outside didn't appear to be very long and moved rather quickly, once we got inside, we were in for a surprise!

Once inside, they take you in an elevator to go downstairs. To wait for TWO HOURS. Am I the only one who didn't know this?? The line weaved around and around so you could take in all the facts displayed along the walls. After going through metal detectors, the line split for those with pre-purchased tickets and those who have yet to purchase tickets. Doug is not a patient man, so as we waited in line, he decided to purchase tickets online with is phone. For him, the $7.50 online processing fee was worth skipping ~30 minutes in line. After purchasing tickets, they have you wait some more and be distracted with fact laden walls until you enter a small theater to watch a 10 minute movie. I actually liked the movie and learned a lot! And then finally!! We were able to take the elevators up 103 floors to the long awaited SkyDeck.

Given the bright summer day, the views were spectacular. Although she's only 3.5, Mia is familiar with her Chicago skyline buildings from various books {especially our version of Good Night Chicago!}, pictures, and trips downtown. It was exciting to have her see and identify them from a new perspective. She wasn't even scared of The Ledge!

After the two hour wait, $55 admission for three, and one hour taking in our gorgeous city, we took the ~60 second elevator ride back down to discover that now at 2pm...there was NO LINE. w.t.f. So folks, don't try and go "early", try later in the afternoon! But all in all, we still thought our mini trip into the loop was worth it. However, if you only have two days in Chicago, you might want to spend your 3 hours elsewhere.

 

Ravinia Family Picnicking

This summer we were able to take Mia to Ravinia twice. Once for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and another time for Aida, our first time listening to the opera!

Of course I brought some Polka Dot Riesling to cool us off on a hot and humid summer night. And we never picnic without cheese and crackers. Mia already looooves cheese like Mommy does! Doug and I enjoyed a light salad that I prepped the night before topped with rotisserie chicken that I shredded before we left.

We love spending as much time as possible outside!

Mia's been to Ravinia three years in a row now. I love that we are starting family traditions from the get go! Although she does want to go back to Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park like last year's Jazz Festival. What summer traditions do you have??

DIY Bingo Game for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Recently, Mia came home saying she won something out of the prize box at school. Turns out she's been playing BINGO at pre-school! For the 3-5 year olds at school, they were playing  BINGO with pictures. To take the game a step further, I made a custom BINGO game for us to play at home so Mia could practice writing and recognizing the sound of letters - for free! Here's how to make your own free custom DIY BINGO game to play with toddlers.

Materials (instructions for each below)
blank BINGO cards
DIY BINGO markers from cardstock
clip art with a picture for each letter of the alphabet (i.e. apple, banana, cow, dog, elephant, etc)
Cost: ZERO!

Instructions: blank BINGO cards
1. Open a word doc. Or just search the internet for one to print off.
2. "Insert" a "table" with 5 rows and 5 columns. Right click your table and go to "table properties". Set each row to be 1.5 inches.
3. Type BINGO at the top, above your table. Adjust letter size and spacing as necessary. Don't forget to type FREE in the middle box!
4. Print as many as you'd like!

Instructions: BINGO markers
1. Use a craft punch to punch circles out of card stock. If you don't have a craft punch, use scissors or a paper cutter to cut squares. The number you'll need will depend on the number of players (at least 25 per player). My pink and grey circles are Valentine's Day party leftovers (via The TomKat Studio) and the purple circles are leftovers from Mia's Winter ONEderland birthday party.

Instructions: clip art for each letter of the alphabet
1. Open a new word doc.
2. Search for clip art for each letter of the alphabet and copy and paste into the word doc. (i.e. apple, banana, cow, dog, elephant, etc). I liked the free clip art at mycutegraphics.com. She even makes it easy by having pictures for each letter readily available.
3. Double click the image in the word doc and resize the height/width to be 1 inch. All 26 images should fit on one page.
4. Evenly space out each image on the page so your toddler can easily cut each picture out with straight lines.
5. Print and have your pre-schooler cut each picture out. 

How to play:
1. On the blank BINGO card you printed out, have your pre-schooler write one letter in each box. Don't duplicate any letters. Have each player do this for their own cards.
2. Put all pictures in a container (box, basket, bucket, etc).
3. Have your toddler pull out a picture. Have them figure out what the first letter for that picture is (i.e. apple = A). If that letter is on someone's board, they can mark it with a BINGO marker you made.
4. Take turns pulling pictures and continue play until someone gets 5 in a row!

Mia was super excited to play with us and I don't even think she realizes that she's "learning" at the same time!

 

linked up with Tatertots and Jello