It's beginning to look kinda like Christmas

Even though the stores downtown put up holiday decor the day after HALLOWEEN, I wasn't ready to recognize that christmas is right around the corner until after thanksgiving.

whoops, this isn't the picture i meant to post, but it's fun in its own candid way too!

patrick and i went to a quick dinner without the kiddos the  night we picked up our christmas tree!

christmas lights in the background.

downtown lights.

 

picking up our tree.

times have changed: i went out on a "date" with hair in a pony, glasses, and no make-up!



panoramic shot of chriskindlmarket downtown.

fresh cut douglass firs from michigan.

christkindlmarket in daley plaza

Thanksgiving

We had originally planned to travel to NY for the holiday, but plans fell through for a couple reasons.

Plan B was to spend turkey day with uncle Ryan and tortilla Wendy* at our place. Not too shabby for a back up plan!

I really wanted to keep it simple this year and therefore proposed the following menu:

1) turkey burgers with cranberry aioli

2) sweet potato fries (ryry makes a mean fry)

3) pumpkin milkshakes

I was so excited about this twist, but totally got outvoted!!! I'm kind of glad I did because we made a full traditional thanksgiving feast and it was a beautifully delicious meal. Those flavors really only come together once a year, and i suppose that's part of the reason this is my favorite holiday!

Piper, still mentioning on a daily basis that "trick or treat is over," was able to muster the strength to say "Happy THANKKKs-giving" to our guests while we pounced on the cheese plate, olives, pickles and beer. And maybe a pretty sparkling brut rose.

Piper still doesn't quite understand how to communicate what she's thankful for, though I presume the list would include: dada, mom mom, graham/baby brother, oatmeal and Halloween...

As for me, I have much to feel grateful for including our immediate and extended family!



*So we (which you know actually means Patrick) are always teasing Wendy about her Salvadoran heritage even though we of course think its awesome, and especially that she was raised bilingual. So a few weeks ago I was trying to get Piper to say Tia Wendy as a nice nod to how we think of Ryan's girlfriend. <~ Tia is aunt in Spanish. Instead of tia, Piper happily belted out: Tor-tilla Wendy!!

Shhh! Sleeping Baby ...

When our buddy fell asleep on my shoulder, I asked Patrick to take a picture because I know these days will soon be very far and few between. Melt my little ol' heart! Who cares about laundry when you've got this little guy on your shoulder?

Check out how little g sleeps in his bassi net: he rolls over to his left and grabs hold of the side with his right hand. He's been doing it since he could roll!

The Bonkos

Oh how we have missed hanging out with the Bonko-viches! They invited us over for some Sunday football. Two chickens, two spinach pies, one Smitten Kitchen book signing, and five hours later, we decided it wasn't even enough time together. We really almost stayed for dinner too!

Graham loved Christine, snuggled right up to her, and even fell asleep on her.

Even though we picked up a snack for Badger from the Fido Truck, and talked all about our big, but nice and gentle friend, Badger the dog, before we got there, Piper was pretty scared of him. When we eventually told Piper that Badger was like a goat, she kind of warmed up to him better. She called him Badger Goat.

Ryan Gets Sworn In

Uncle Ryan passed the Illinois State Bar Exam from July, along with all other prerequisites, and was sworn in on November 1st. Patrick, wendy and I all took the day off work to attend the ceremony. The Supreme Court judges and other attorneys who spoke did a great job, i only teared up twice,and before we knew it, Ryan was official! We celebrated with an awesome lunch at a little spot called publican quality meats. The boys got obscene sausages, and i had a hard time deciding between crab bisque and curries turkey salad. man, all the food was good. I must go back! Congrats Ryan!

Octobertime: last part

the last batch of samplings from october:

sprinkles cupcakes at work. that place is a diet deathtrap.

piper trick-or-treating from vendors at the french market the weekend before halloween.
made for a good dress rehearsal before the real deal!  the french market is a little indoor market by a train station downtown, that has permanent vendors, but is set up kind of like a farmers market.

little buddy got the hang of sitting up

i didn't get many photos from halloween night, but piper sure thought the holiday was all about her, and she strutted her stuff from house to house, saying "hello! happy howwoween!" to EVERYONE!

 

truth be told, there will probably never be a halloween as spectactular as last year, our first year taking a little one trick or treating, when we stumbled into neighborhoods that shut down street traffic for festivities. it was so unexpected, that it made the BEST halloween ever. however, it was still really fun watching piper understand that she'd be wearing her costume, see her eyes light up at the prospect of getting candy, and learn that she should say thank you and happy holloweeen this year. i'm not quite sure how she knows what candy is or that she even wants it. it really must be something innate! she got to pick one piece to eat when we got home. i don't know what happened to the rest :)

 



grilled cheese with tomato at flipside cafe

 

one of the best parts of this halloween was that we discovered the most amazing grilled cheeses at a little hideaway called flipside cafe.  in the summer, there is an italian ice spot called Miko's Italian Ice that sits below the sidewalk level at a walk up window under a huge shady tree.  well, in the cooler season, the icy treat spot flips into an indoor cafe, with maybe 10 seats, called flipside. we wound up there after trick or treating and could not have found a better post-trick-or-treating dinner.

 

 

 

piper made a new friend while at flipside cafe, and climbed on into her lap, and watched videos on her phone. that's stranger danger for ya. weird thing is, we saw this lady again the very next day all the way across town, and then again that weekend working at our local donut window.

kiira visited! piper loved it!

 

piper decorated a pumpkin for her dad to take to work

sorry, when i add posts through my phone, it puts all the photos in a random order. so back to that holloween event at the french market i mentioned ... i took the kids to a little event and dressed graham up as a marathon runner.  it was a good little costume, and i kind of wish i didn't "use it up" tihs year!  who knows, maybe i will recycle the idea for next year too.

 



Octobertime: part yes I have even more posts after this one

We went to a legitimate western store for some authentic cowboy (well, more like, vaquero!) gear. Some said piper looked like Jessie from Toy Story, but any likeness was unintentional. She got the boots she liked, a surprisingly expensive shirt on SALE (seriously, I guess fringe is pricey), and while she really wanted wanted the lavender hat at $32 (who buys these?) she and her brother got the not so authentic versions. Poor baby brother doesn't look like such a manly scruffy cowboy when playing with sis' stuffed animals. Or in that almost pink (it has a red tie, ok?) hat ... But I guess that is what you get when you have an older sister!

Also, that's a side by side of me and piper, but we think I may have been 3 and not 2 (since our birthdays are less than 3 weeks apart, we are the same ages as each other at holidays, etc., but I can't tell my age in some photos!)