Chantilly Tea Room

I mentioned the thought of a tea party for Syd's next birthday and my mom instantly had the idea to head over to a local place called the Chantilly Tea Room. Why on earth I hadn't heard of this place until now is maddening. You make reservations and the name of the host is elegantly written on a porcelain sign to identify your table when you arrive. The entry way is filled with adorable tea sets, trinkets and books about manners. Sydney had the Mad Hatter package, which was hot cocoa in a tea pot and then a plate full of fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a chocolate scone and a rainbow scone. I have to say I was so impressed with how well behaved she was. She had A LOT of time outs the morning before our high tea and she almost didn't get to go. She decided to trade her iTouch for 24 hours along with a promise of good behavior in order to go. I found out after it was over that for a few more dollars, she could've dressed up with boas, fake pearls, a fancy hat and other treasures while she ate. I think this is a new monthly ritual.

Our hostess, Sydney's table

Everyone (including kids) gets to pick out their tea cup and saucer to use.

Lala, pouring Syd some hot cocoa

Enjoying her hot cocoa

We had so much fun and Syd ate EVERYTHING off of her plate!

Dentist Love

I feel the need to document this just in case this doesn't last forever, but Syd absolutely LOVES going to the dentist. She's constantly asking me when we can go again. She says the people are so nice (she gabs their ear off) and gets a bag of goodies from them each time. She's such a big girl!

She's a Fish!!

Syd's swimming skills have drastically improved this summer. When I say drastic, I mean DRASTIC. She went from floaties and hating for her face or head to get wet to diving for rings, swimming with arms jumping off of the diving board. All without floaties. We haven't had floaties since the spring time. We're so proud of Syd, she's worked so hard. I now have confidence that if she fell into the pool, she'd right herself in the pool and swim to the edge with no problem. Her and her dad go swimming every night and just work on more things. She jumps in the pool by herself, turns herself around and swims to the side of the pool. She dives for rings. She jumps off the diving board, swims to the surface and then to the side of the pool. She dives for rings with the help of her dad giving her a push in the water. She can swim across the pool by herself using big arms. We're still working on backfloat, but this girl is amazing in the water.

Check out these videos for yourself of our big girl :) Here's her jumping off of the diving board.

Here's Syd jumping off the ledge of the pool, turnin herself aroud and swimming to the ledge.

And lastly here's Syd swimming across the deep end of the pool.

Haley's Pics

Our niece Haley sent over a few pics she took during our trip. It's always fun to actually be in some photos versus being the one behind the camera all the time. Granted one of the photos was taken at midnight during the longest day of my life, but beggars can't be choosers. Maybe that was more of my warning so that I don't hurt your eyes. Missing everyone from back home!

Syd, Haley and Aunt Manda

Hahah look how pathetic I look. "it's past my bedtime!" Syd in her t-shirt Evan made for her in her favorite color, "dark purple" of course.

Syd doing some stencils before we left for the plane. Evan, Syd and Haley all drew pictures and cards for each other. Was so adorable. Syd has the cards they made her in her desk.

One last goodbye before we headed off to the airport. Goodbye Chicago!

ohdeedoh feature!

I'm sooo excited that ohdeedoh wanted to post about Syd's desk re-do. Granted, I don't love the chair either, so don't judge me on that. I'm still trying to figure out what the best look is for the chair. Nonetheless, ohdeedoh featured it and not just that, but it made the hottest posts of the week AND the hottest topics, so was featured three times. Very exciting! Check out the feature here.

Chicago Visit: Day 4

Day four of the trip was a wee bit rough for me. I couldn't resist having a piece (and a half) of Lisa's chocolate eclair cake on the BBQ. I thought I was in the clear when I went to bed still feeling like a human. When I woke up on Saturday, however, this was a different story. I had my head in the toilet hurling for several hours of the morning and afternoon. It's a pleasant thing to do with your four year old behind you going "Ew ew ew ewwwww" yet she still continues to stand there and watch. Fun times. Needless to say, I won't be having cake anymore! Very sad realization for me, but I'd rather it make me feel ill so that I know not to do it again. Poor Carly met me out at Woodfield Mall so that I could give her Micah's birthday present that showed up a week late. She no sooner sped off and I christened the parking lot with my loveliness. Chris's Mom and Dad threw us a party with all of Chris's family members that afternoon. I missed the first couple hours of the party and then venture my way down after the tylenol kicked in. It was so nice seeing everyone. We've missed you all more than you know!

Julia and Evan. Both girls were absolutely amazing with Syd.

Oscar has grown about three feet since we saw him last

A lovely shot of me after I finally came down from my cave.

Part of the group outside that was willing to tackle the humidity.

Billy and crew

Syd was building nests all week, it was the cutest thing. She kept looking for birds to lay down in them.

Tracy making sure I'm not going to croak out on the back lawn

The kids all playing in the yard

Haley and Syd

Michelle and Jim

Jim and Lisa

We're so thankful to everyone that came and everyone that helped with the party. Was wonderful seeing everyone. Hopefully it won't be another three years before Syd and I make it back there. Chris thankfully goes back more often. We miss you all already and thank you for making our trip back to Chicago so wonderful. XOXO

Chicago Visit: Day 3

Our third day started off by heading out to Park Ridge to meet my mom's side of the family at The Original Pancake House. Since it was a Friday morning, we could only get a few to come out, but we appreciated it more than they know. Syd was excited to finally meet her other Great Grandpa. We talk about him a lot, so she enjoyed finally meeting him. Aunt Denise was so sweet, she gave Syd an adorable Little Miss Match tote, socks, purse (which she never takes off) and a coloring book of all the tourist attractions in Chicago. Was a very cool gift! Plus she gave us a bag of Garrett's popcorn. :)

Syd with Papa Dick

The Breakfast Crew

From there we headed over to Evanston. I wanted to show Syd where we used to live. Was fun showing her where I'd walk while pregnant and where I'd push her around when she was first born. I adored that condo and apparently Chris did too since he insisted we live there once we got married. Having Lake Michigan in your backyard is hard to beat. I still miss being able to just sit on the rocks, think, listen to the waves and feel the wind on my face. Here's a shot of Syd in front of our old condo.

Striking a pose. So many memories of working on that front garden and planting those very same plants.

In the courtyard of the condo.

Sitting on the bench out in front of the beach. Lots of memories on this bench

Out on the rocks

Then we made a quick stop at Aunt Manda's to say hi......and apparently to raid her fridge. Syd walked in and said "I'm hungry" so Amanda graciously gave her a plate of strawberries. I clearly remember being at breakfast with her just shortly before this where she barely ate her pancakes. Sigh. From Aunt Manda's we headed to see Jen Arnquist and her new addition, Nicholas! He was almost 2 weeks old when we saw him.

From there we headed back to the suburbs, hung out with Aunt Tracy, Aunt Amanda and Evan for a little while longer. Then hopped in the car to head over to a BBQ at the Bollow's with all our friends. Little

Brandon is the cutest little man I've ever seen. Flasher.



Ryan making Syd giggle



Braiiiin



Then it was time for a dance party. Brian can't resist showing off his own moves to the mini-me's





Once Syd started dancing, we couldn't get her to stop. That might be because Katy Perry was playing.



She picked up some break dancing skills from all the boys dancing







We were soooo appreciative of the Bollow's for hosting and throwing the BBQ with all the friends. We missed the Wojo's and Sully's but it was so much fun seeing everyone and all the kids. We miss all of you so much.

Chicago Visit: Day 2

Day two in Chicago was very action packed. Syd headed off with Nonnie, Poppy and Evan to the Morton Arboretum. Syd had an blast and talked about it all night. Since I wasn't there, I wasn't able to get any shots, but the Arboretum looks like so much fun! She told me about walking over a rope bridge, playing in a frog pond and a huge treehouse with lots of steps. Not sure what that means, but it's what I was told about.

I headed off to the suburbs to first visit Carly and the munchkins. I got to see my Godbabies for the first time and they're absolutely perfect. Micah is the most handsome little man ever and Eliana is dainty, beautiful and wonderful baby. Was good to see Carly's Mommy and Dad too. I spent several years invading their home during highschool, so Carly's Mom was like a second mom to me. Miss them all so much.

Micah

Eliana

After visiting with the kiddos, it was time to head over to The Buffalo. This used to be a huge hangout for us in highschool after any performances. Plus Jenny is obsessed with the place and would force me to go regularly. Paula and Carly joined us, but they left before the photo op.

After lunch I wanted to head over to see the house I spent my teenage years in. It's amazing how much the trees have grown since living there. I snapped a photo with the cell phone while driving by. I felt a little stalkerish since there was a guy in the front cleaning out his cars.

Then another stop on the "I want to visit" list was Lake Arlington. I remember when this was first just a grassy field and then when it was dug up for the lake. The trees are large and it's still a fun place to go and walk, skate, talk.

Next stop on Day 2 was to hit both Max and Sam's baseball games. We've been dying to see these guys play baseball over the past few years, so we weren't going to miss a chance at seeing them play. Max's game started first. Was exciting for Syd to see her cousin Haley along with Morrigan and Hannah again.

Max up at bat hitting his double.

The girls

Giving big hugs to Max after his game.

Uncle Chris talking to Max

Next we headed over to Sam's game. This one started at 8 and ended around 11 pm or so. Needless to say, we were beat afterwards! Sammy up at bat.

Syd saying hi to Sam

These girls were so sweet, they had so much playing during the game. No idea how Syd wasn't freezing and how she didn't end up getting 100 mosquito bites because those nasty buggers were everywhere.

The fan base who were sleep walking. We all crashed...hard!