The April Run Down....

So the weather is finally shapping up to be more like Spring and we thoroughly enjoyed today's 80 degree weather down at the beach with some friends. It's been busy the last few weeks, and I'm just gonna do the Jarjusey run-down on everything that has been and comin' up!

Since last checkin' in, we had Kaidin's 1st b-day party invite (and party) to a friends home all on his own! First time he's done this type of thing on his own! He did great. Ironically, Dahlia was really upset about not being invited b/c she plays with this boy just as much as Kaidin and all the other kids invited, so she was quite bummed about the lack of invite... I have to admit I felt is was pretty crummy she was not invited, but what's a empathetic mama to do in this case? At any rate, K went and D and I had a special girls date. We had a blast.... K did not. D did not feel so bad after that! ; )

A couple days after that Uncle Phil was in town helping dad out on some computer jobs he had... so we were so happy and lucky to sneak in a visit with him. He spent the day with us and fed him some of his favorite dinner. Kids were so happy to see him!

I had my annual dermatologist check-up. Skin cancer runs on my dad's side of the family. Two years ago I had a yucky "pre" cancerous spot on the underside of my breast that got lopped off, and last year I never made it to an annual check up b/c I had just has Shea... So this year I got on top of things and went, and fortunately, everything looks great. That's always a nice relief visit!

Just two days after a visit from U. Phil, we were very surprisingly visited by Uncle Paul... my youngest brother. He swung by b/c he was doing the UPS route very near to our place in E. Rogers Park. So he decided to stop in for a surprise visit. It was amazing that the starts allinged this way. Not only were we originally not planning on being home that day, but he just never stops by to begin with! Last I saw him was long before this past Christmas. So that was a great-welcomed shocker. He seems like he's doing pretty good, which is always a good thing for U. Paul!

We mailed on park day one day to head down to the nature museum. We had not been in such a long time and it's free on Thursdays, so we opted to check it out. But you all know, there's just not a ton to do at this place. It's fun, lovely and great to do when you have not been in a long time, but the excitment tends to end with in a couple hours. Friends of ours happened to make it down to the zoo that day as well, so we met them over there and had a blast. The kids were just so excited to play together that we mostly hung out in the gardens and played. We did make it into the zoo later on, but at that point the zoo was nearly closing... We 'closed the zoo'! It was a very nice spring-like day!

Then it was Grandpa's b-day and we took him out to celebrate. We started with a small hike through the River Trail Nature Center, and rounded that out with a huge lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. One of our favorites.... He was thrilled with his 'new' phone.... our old Razr hand-me-down which worked just perfectly by slipping in his sim card. Yea!

We had a family trip one Saturday down to the Big Run Wolf Ranch. Wow, the ride there was less than pleasurable. Mr. Shea was not very appreciative of that long hike. I sorta thought we were in a good place to do an hour in the car, but he was just in that not-so-happy spot of the day when he wanted to nurse and sleep. We stopped a number of times for him, but man that was rough. Sort of ruffled my feathers for the day, but the ranch was great. Kids had fun. Lot's of cool animals. Ride home was a dream in comparison! He fell asleep early an stayed asleep all the way to the beach when the older two got to hang out and dig in the sand. Later that evening said goodbye to good friends over a pizza dinner. They were moving to Portland in just two days following that evening. So sad to see them go!

Then was Grandma's b-day. She came out to our place and went to our last homeschool storytime session at the library with us. It was great to see her experience a part of the homeschooling stuff and get a taste of the community we hang with. We then took her out to lunch (at K's favorite spot! ; ) but it was fun nonetheless. She seemed to enjoy her lunch, dessert and pressents. We had a really nice time with her.

We then took a new adventure down to the National Mexican Museum down on 18th. Fun! On the way we stopped off to visit friends who just moved to Humboldt Park last summer and we had yet to see their new place. After a shortish visit there, headed to this new (for us) museum and checked out what they had there. It was a great little adventure and have to say the kids did great with doing something new! (Esp. Kaidin, as he is my somewhat close-minded fella! But even he enjoyed it!)

The day immediately following that we were intended to head to the Museum of Science and Industry, but the night before (upon our return from the Mexican Museum) Dahlia had graced us with a nice little incident that just about put me over the edge. Not something that would have normally, but I guess I'd been feeling a bit busy and stretched that this incident really tore at me. She was jumping on the couch, lost her footing, fell and cushioned her fall with her two front teeth landing on Shea's forehead of steal. No telling how this baby escaped injury here while Dahlia's two front teeth were knocked wabbly.... and a split open bottom lip, but that's what happened. So a try "all the way" down to the MSI felt like a real lot to me... And fortunately the kids did not mind hanging at home and spending the afternoon at the park... so that's what we did!

Followed by a good 5-ish hour park day the following day with the homeschool group.... and rounding up the list of the month (or at least since I last updated.... ) Today we did some volunteer work for Miseracordia! We did the Misercordia Candy Days where we stood on the corner in front of Whole Foods in Evanston and collected money for the charity. I was quite proud how great they did. Kaidin made it a full hour before falling into his close-minded-shut-down mode, and Dahlia nearly the full 2 hours! They did great and had fun. And it was great doing our first volunteer thing together. We talked about other projects we could do together to help people in need. So I look forward to that in the near future.

After that of course, we HAD to head to the beach! It was 80 today and we met up with people there, spending most of the day and early evening... coming home with a sunburn.... felt good to get that much fresh air!

Work has been pretty quiet for me this month so it's been good for me in many respects. More time to putz around the net and create new projects for myself. Less time to be on the net as well and with the kids playing and just enjoying the days! And really realizing where I am at with this job and the major changes that need to happen in the next few months. Quickly and whole-heartedly. Eager for change and excited about my business prospects.

Tomorrow we are headed to Serpent Safari with friends that we don't see all that often. Next week holds just as busy... with Shea's FIRST BIRTHDAY ending the week! Updates and that amazing year with Mr. Boober to come. It's surreal to even think that it's been a full year already!