Summer Fun

I am finally on my summer break and enjoying this time off!  Its been pretty busy so far since I spent most of the first week unpacking boxes and getting us situated into our new apartment.  We really like it so far- we have a lot more space and a washer/ dryer in our unit!! Dare to dream!!  Things are slowly, but surely coming along- I'll post some pictures once we have it a little more put together. 

Like I had said before in a post, June was quite an eventful month for us this year.  Below are some pictures of Miss Kayleigh's first birthday party that we went home for over Father's Day weekend.  We were so excited to be apart of this special day! 

 1-12 month pictures 

 Soo precious!

 Awesome cake that perfectly matched the invitations. 

Kayleigh is one!!

During the last week of school we had "Springfest" for all of the kids.  This year the school rented a dunk tank so the kids who met their end of the year goals could get a chance to dunk their teacher.  Well, that's me... a sitting duck!  The first one of my kids up... on his first throw... right on the mark!  It was a lot of fun- and they had a blast!

This past weekend Brandy and some of her friends she use to teach with came up for a weekend in the city.  I had a blast hanging out with them and getting to show them a few fun places we like to visit... and they showed me a few places where they like to shop... looking forward to my next birthday and maybe I can go on a shopping spree at Tory Burch.  Wishful thinking....
We had a blast and I can't wait for their next visit- I'd be happy to be a tour guide anytime they want!

We don't have too many plans this week, other than trying to still put the apartment together.  Next week I'll be heading home to participate and help out with Brandy's neighborhood garage sale.  I have several things I am ready to part with.

July will be a little more low key than June.  We have a trip planned to Nashville for the end of the month and then its back to school time....

My Brother's Big Day

Yesterday, we traveled to LaPorte to celebrate my brother's wedding.  It was a great day!  The weather couldn't have been any better and everything went without a hitch. 

I am so happy for him.  He has found his perfect match, and my entire family thinks the world of Shannon.  In addition to getting married and becoming a husband, he became a father to two of the greatest kids I have ever known.  I am so excited that our family has gained three more members and I'm looking forward to all of the wonderful memories yet to be made.  Alex and I are so thrilled to officially be "Uncle Alice and Aunt Wacky".  

Below are a few pictures from the day.  I hope to gather some more in the next few weeks. 

Uncle Dale, Aunt Barb, Aunt Deanna, and Uncle Glen

 My grandmas

 Uncle Jer, Grams, Mom, and Aunt Susan

 Most of the Slucter girls

My nephew Hunter

Congratulations Ryan and Shan!  Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day!

May

Here again is my monthly post...

Last weekend I went to La Porte to spend Mother's Day weekend with my mom and Grandma.  We stopped by the outlet mall and went out to dinner.  Mom and I stayed the night with Shannon and the kiddos and had some wedding talk, since it is now about 3 weeks away!  It was really nice getting to spend the weekend with everyone, since it had been so long since I'd seen them last.

Here are some pictures of the wreath I made for my mom.  And yes.... another Pinterest find. :)

 This was the most tedious step.. took about 25-30 minutes to wrap the entire wreath. 

 I drew these on scrapbook paper, cut them out, then rolled them to make the flowers.  I kept them in place under a light bowl for a few hours, which seemed to help them keep their shape. 

Alex spent the weekend with his mom here in Chicago.  They had a great weekend at the Shedd, the Rivers Casino, and a few of our favorite restaurants here in the city.  

I'm starting to get into the beginning stages of a panic over where we are going to be living here soon.  Our lease is up July 1st and we know that we do not want to stay in our current apartment, however we don't really know where we want to live.  We're waiting on a few things to see if that will help us make a decision, but the clock is ticking and the whole "not knowing what's coming next" thing is not my style.  Hence... the panicking that is beginning.  

Tomorrow is Alex's 27th birthday.  He picked out some new shoes and we've got a dinner planned, but over all kind of laying low.  This weekend was the NATO summit... so that has made things in the city a little more complicated.  We really tried to avoid downtown at all costs!  A lot of the streets are closed, like Lake Shore- so getting anywhere is even more of a hassle than usual.

With the wedding and a move in our near future...  I think June will be filled with some exciting events!

Visitors and More Crafts...

While I was on spring break I had some very special visitors!  Brandy and Kayleigh came up to the big city for the day!  I was so excited!!  It happened to be the day after my birthday as well, so that made it all extra special for me. :) 

We spent most of the day just hanging out at the apt and chatting, which is what we do best!  We did walk over to Michigan Ave to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and then over to Watertower to check out the American Girl Store.  So fun!  

Kayleigh experienced a lot of first things on this day... 

• First trip out of state 
• Longest car ride so far 
• First time to Chicago 
• First time on an escalator 
• First time throwing food all over her mama's face during lunchtime... yeah I laughed pretty hard at that one! :) 

Just days before she was ready to start walking by herself. 

Two of my favorite people! 

You guys are invited back anytime!  What a fun day!! 

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To tag along with my last post.. Pinterest has gotten me again.  I found a version of this sign on there, which actually came from Michael's Craft Store.  Their example used black and white, but our living room is has more brown and deep red... so I went with that.  

I started by going to JoAnn's to get the supplies I needed because I don't have a Michael's or Hobby Lobby nearby (enter sad face).  They didn't have everything I needed, but I was able to get all of the scrapbook paper I needed there.  We went back home a few days after that, so I went to Michael's and got the wooden plaques (4 inches), paint, and hot glue gun.  Unfortunately, they did not have letters small enough to fit on the plaques.  So, now to craft store #3... I went to a Hobby Lobby out in the burbs up here and I was able to find small enough letters.  

So this is it... 

I did about 3 coats of paint (mainly b/c I bought way too much).  I played around with the paper to get them in an order that I liked the most.  I painted each of the letters the same color as the plaques. 

Before gluing everything down.

I hot glued all of the plaques to thick ribbon and slipped it through a D-ring. 

Final product.  I got the wall hanger thingamajig at Hobby Lobby as well.

But, sadly... now I am back in school.  My crafts have been put on hold. :(  

The first week back was a little rough.. just getting back in the swing of things and of course waking up at 5:20 again each day is not easy for me.  When I think about how I've been getting up at this time for so long now.. I'm amazed!  I use to complain about 7:30 classes at Purdue... and I could go in my PJ's if I wanted to then... boy how the times do change! 

Have a great weekend everyone!! 

Pinterest

Well, it happened. Against all of my best efforts.... I'm addicted to Pinterest. Because I am on spring break for the next TWO weeks I had to find something to occupy my time with. I've been finding great things for school, our apt (more like future, one day, someday, hopefully sooner rather than later... house), recipes, etc.

I've already made one of the recipes I have found for salsa, and a bracelet that is made out of buttons. I tried tackling a project for the apartment where I spell out our last name on wooden plaques with decorative scrapbook paper and such, but the local JoAnn Fabrics didn't have everything I needed. So, I'm waiting on this weekend when we go home so I can go to Hobby Lobby. Yes, those back at home or in suburban communities... be grateful for all of those simple pleasures you have, like craft stores WITH PARKING.

Here's some pictures of my button bracelet. First try, but I don't think it turned out too bad. And... it was pretty easy!

We kicked off my first week of spring break (as well as my birthday week) with brunch at Table 52. It is a southern restaurant owned by Art Smith (often seen on Food Network, Top Chef, etc) right down the street from us. It was awesome! I had crab cake eggs benedict and Alex had chicken and waffles. Both were very yummy, then we also got their hummingbird cake, which is like a vanilla spiced cake. Very tasty!

So, because we were in the southern mood that day... Alex decided he wanted to make a southern meal for dinner (which was also on the brunch menu), shrimp and grits. I was truly impressed with how it turned out! Very, very good.... and he can make it again whenever he wants!

Grits mixed with cheddar cheese and spicy shrimp. Yum-O!

Then I made homemade banana bread (since we had about 10 frozen bananas in our freezer). This time I kicked it up a little with some cinnamon butter.

This is what I do on my breaks, I get very domestic for a few weeks.... cooking, cleaning, crafts... too bad it doesn't last when I'm working. haha

Brandy and Kayleigh are coming up here for the day on Friday. I'm very excited to see them and show Kayleigh around. I'm sure she'll remember it all! Then, we'll be back home for Easter and its one more week of vacation. Can't complain about that! :)

March in Review

I guess my blogging has become a little more sporadic than I intended... Sorry about that!

Well, here is our month in review. March, like what many of those in the midwest had, was amazing in the weather department! For the first time since living in Chicago, we participated in some St. Patrick's Day festivities, mainly because it was sunny and in the 70's. We spent the day with Lucas, Allison, Fife, Brad, and my friend from school Stacey. Below are some pictures from our day...

Standing on the bridge looking over the Chicago River

Mmmm... green beer

The weekend after that, we traveled back to Indiana to celebrate Miss Nora's first birthday. Rox decorated the party with an owl theme, and it was quite adorable! But, I didn't expect anything less from that mama. It was so great getting to see all of our pals we rarely get to see and to meet their little ones. Rach and Brad were back in Indiana so we were able to meet baby Noah, and El made the trip up with baby Austin. (I had met Austin when he was only a few weeks old, but this was Alex's first time seeing him.) We had so much fun watching all of the kids run around and play. It was a very busy house that afternoon.

Nora chowing down

Baby Noah

Baby Austin

The mamas and their babies

I've Been a Bad Blogger

So sorry to all of you who check in on us regularly to see what we've been up to. I promise we are still here... I've just been neglecting our little blog.

So, to make the past 2 months short and sweet, here are some bullet points:

• Christmas- We went back to Indiana for the holidays. Like always, it was super busy, but we got to see most of our family and friends as well. I even got to spend some quality time with Brandy and sweet Baby Kayleigh, I miss those girls!
• NYE- We rang in the New Year with our dear friends the Standefords (all 3 of them). A few pictures below.
• Kirsten turns 5! January 7th was Kirsten's (our soon to be niece) birthday. I can't believe she is already 5! When we first met her she was about to turn 2.... its been so neat getting to see her grow into the wonderful little person she is.
• Bulls Game- Alex and I went to our first Bulls game! It was so fun! I've been to 1 Pacers game in the past, but NBA games are really fun! I like that they have a faster pace (last about 2 hours) and there is a lot of entertainment during the entire thing- especially by Benny the Bull.
• Extended Day- When we returned to school about 3 weeks ago we started our extended day schedule. We've added 30 minutes to our school day. This has been a big deal in Chicago because CPS has the shortest school day in the country. Now, I don't work for a CPS school, so our school day was the typical 7 hours (with kids), but they were offering all schools, even charters an incentive to add time to their day... so we took it. It was an adjustment at first, but I'm used to it now. However, when the kids get home I'm sure they are exhausted... I know I am!
• That's about it for us. We really don't have too much going on in the near future, its been nice being able to relax a little more on the weekends and not running around everywhere!

Picture Time!

Visiting the Standefords!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Bulls Game