Laura's Baby Shower

Friday evening was Laura's Baby Shower. Laura is the 6th grade teacher at the school at which I work. As I looked back at my very few pictures that I took, I realized that I didn't take any of Laura. They shower was at Shor's house and I ended up helping Laura by handing her presents and writing down what everyone got her so I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of her. Anyways, it was a nice time and baby Paige is due within a couple weeks. She will have plenty of cute, cute clothes!!

The food table. The cookies I made are in the bottom right hand corner. They got moved soon after this because there was too much other food.

These are some of the teachers that I work with. Julie is in the red, then Anne, Diana, and Janet. Cori is the blonde and Barb is on the right hand side facing the other way.

Kristen, Julie, and Cori

Look at all of those presents!

3rd Grade Field Trip!

On Thursday the 3rd grade students visited Fullersburg Woods. This was a Nature Preserve

Jan and Parker on the bus!

Samantha is one of the students that was seeing how many third graders it took to wrap themselves around this tree--it took five!

Look at these bullfrogs and their reflections!

There were deer too!

I am so proud of these pictures of this dragonfly! My big lens was amazing!

This flower is rare from what I am told, but I don't remember its name. Apparently the middle part will turn a bright red when it blooms!

Keri and Sara!

Lots of the 3rd grade students and Keri during lunch time!

Sara and Ursala

This is the puppet show that the students saw about the food chain! It was very cute and they really enjoyed it!

I wish I could take credit for finding all of the animals that I took pictures of, but one of the parents that went with was very knowledgeable and had a keen eye for finding these animals and flowers. I am so glad he was there to share what he knows with the students and to point these things out for me to take pictures!

Spring at Wrigley Field

On Wednesday night we were able to get tickets to the Cub's Game from one of Rick's co-workers. We tried a new way of getting to the game for this trip. We caught the bus at Yorktown Mall and rode on a CTA bus that dropped us off in front of the stadium. This was a very inexpensive way to get to Wrigley and convenient from both of our jobs. The only downside was that the busy doesn't leave until a 1/2 hour after the game ends and we both had to work on Thursday. The game was a blow out 19-5 and even though we were tired AND cold we had to stay to the end. We would take this way again if we didn't have to work the next day.

As I mentioned it was very cold at the game. The wind was blowing off the lake and once the sun went down it became cold very quickly. We dressed in layers but both of us wish we had more clothing. I even drank some hot chocolate to tide me over.

I was able to try my new lens for my camera and it was great. We sat in the second row of the upper deck on the third base line. Most of the shots are taken from there and they make things look like we are much closer than we were.

Looking into the WGN box!

Rick spent a while trying to get both names to be visible on the flags as the wind blew them. Quite a nice picture!

I wasn't too cold yet...I hadn't zipped up my sweatshirt!

Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State, threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches at the game.

This is a picture of one of the houses behind the bleachers that is now a restaurant. I couldn't believe how much detail I could see with my camera.

This is Ryan Dempster warming up in the bullpen before the game. I took three or four shots in a row which are cool to look at but this is my favorite action shot!

Lou!!

Rick took this picture of Derek Lee in action! You can see the ball on the left hand side of the picture after he made contact!

Dempster got on base too! Like a said, it was a high scoring game!

One of the buildings behind the bleachers is being refurbished. You can see the Red Line train running behind the building through the windows. I thought it was pretty cool.

I believe this was Soto's second home run of the night!

After we took a walk to warm up we visited Jim and sat behind the plate---also a great seat and a tad bit warmer.

Sharpie still sponsors the top of the 8th inning....obviously my favorite inning. It would only be better if they sponsored the entire inning!

Rick's elementary principal was at the game as well. We had a nice visit with her.

Jim and me!

Very Busy!

It seems as if our lives have got very busy...especially during the week. There will be a lot of updates coming the next few days and weeks. The Cubs Game, visit with Jess and Eliot, visit with Gwen, OWICH and more!

March of Dimes Walk!

This morning Rick and I joined Jackie and Alex for a March of Dimes walk. We walked for Riley. Riley is Jackie's friend Michelle's daughter who passed away. Riley was born prematurely and lived longer than expected, but is no longer with us.

It was a lot cooler today than we had hoped for to walk 3 miles, but we had fun none the less.

Rick, Alex, and Jackie on the walk! This was the part when Alex WAS sitting in his stroller.

Yummmm...baby yo (yogurt)!

How cute is this picture!

After we walked half way we turned around to finish the second half of the walk. When we got to the 1/2 way point Alex started running! Luckily, Rick wasn't far behind. Jackie joined them too. Here they are on their way back to the trail.

Alex decided he wanted to walk on the way back. This made the trip a little slower, but we was in a better mood. Here was the only "photo op" that we stopped to pose for.

There are elk in this photo preserve. Alex wasn't too interested on the first half, but much more interested on the way back.

This was wrong...so I needed to have a picture.

There were a few pit stops on the walk. This one was the last one and they were getting low on food. Alex helped the volunteers out by drawing on the boxes. I will let you decide which drawing the volunteers did and which Alex did.

Since Alex was walking on the way back Rick was coming up with games to convince him to walk faster. Rick would hide behind a tree and Alex would run after him and find him.

Alex wanted to hold the other babies. How cute is this? This is one of Michelle's twin boys.

He is becoming so grown up!

Awwww...

Alex finally started jumping in the moon walk and having a good time. He wouldn't come out at the end but he did have fun.

We went to Bennigan's for lunch after the walk. Alex had a tough time sitting at the restaurant but he did enjoy his macaroni and cheese!

Alex is learning how to drink out of a straw (and without a straw). Some goes in his mouth and as you will see some comes out!

When you tell Alex to smile at the camera or show his teeth for a picture he tilts his head back. Still a cute picture!