First Day of Preschool 2010

Today Alexis had her first day at her new preschool! She will go full days on Tuesday and Thursday all school year, and she will also get to take ballet class while she is there. She had a great day and said that she LOVED IT! We love it that she loves it!

August Randoms

Here are a few random shots from August. Dave is in a new phase where he loves to put on everyone's shoes and shuffle around. He also brings us all of the shoes on the rug by the door, until we have to finally hide the shoes up high so he will go and do something else!

He also loves flashlights... he will hand it to us and say "On!" until we turn the light on for him.

Alexis thinks it is so funny when Max smashes himself into little tiny places...

Dave can say "Max" and does so at every opportunity... which means any time he sees either one of our cats, anyone else's cat, and all small dogs! He must think that a 'Max' is any small, furry animal.

Dave holding his favorite flag... and by flag, I mean machete, because that is what he uses it for on my flowers (note all of the flower petals on the ground).

Both kids just love being tossed on the couch, thrown in the air, or zoomed around in a circle... hopefully I will have some roller coaster lovers one day! Take a look at this video of Dave 'flying'. Thank goodness for Daddy jobs like running around in circles holding 25 pounds of dead weight out in front of him... I'm happy to just hold the camera!

Tall Ships Fest

Last Thursday, Cort took the day off and him and Alexis went downtown to the Tall Ships Festival at Navy Pier. They lucked out with the coolest day in August, and had a great time together!

Alexis was very excited to take the train... and also a trolley!

Alexis LOVED this ship because of the unicorn head...

Sitting on an anchor...

Taking a break on one of the ships...

Holding up the giant rope...

Crazy driver...

Seat

Car seats are soooooo much more fun upside down and inside the house!

Emma's 1st Birthday

We went to Michigan this weekend for Emma's birthday party. She is getting to be such a big kid now! Here is a picture of the birthday girl...

Dave LOVED Emma's new duck toy...

Watch out, Alexis!

Dave is looking very serious... maybe he was recovering from running circles around the kitchen/living room/dining room 500 times.

Emma feeding her Daddy...

A cake for all...

Duck-cakes!

Dave had to go shirtless after he found his way into the bathroom and then, of course, into the toilet water.

The birthday girl takes a few pokes at her cake...

Cake in the hair!

Dave is just hanging out on Emma's new chair...

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Last Day of Ballet

Alexis had her last day of ballet class last week. Cort got to go with and watch the class, and he got some great pictures and videos. Alexis is starting at a new preschool in a few weeks, and she will take ballet class during the day while she is at school.

Warming up with some arm circles...

One of the games that they play in ballet is "Guess That Animal". The teacher whispers an animal to each kid, and they have to pretend to be that animal, and everyone else guesses the animal. Listen closely... pretty funny to hear the guesses!

Doing some leg pointing...

Another fun game... the teacher is the bear, and the kids have to practice tiptoeing as quietly as possible, so that they don't wake up the sleeping bear and get eaten.




Alexis is a very good leaper... she has to jump over the river full of alligators!

Happy little ballerina!

Father's Day Interview 2010

I just realized that we were in Colorado for Father's Day, and I forgot to do a Father's Day Interview with Alexis this year. So here it is, a few months late...

I like it when Daddy "plays a game with me, like Candy Land."

Daddy is as handsome as "Dave".

Daddy is special because "he plays with me."

I want to tell Daddy "that he is happy!"

Daddy is best at "changing poops."

I make Daddy smile by "giving him a flower."

What makes Daddy sad? "Dave trying to turn off the T.V."

How tall is Daddy? "That lamp over there (pointing at the huge lamp in the corner)."

What does Daddy do when we aren't home? "Goes on his computer."

What is Daddy's job? "Goes on his computer." (I suppose that is how I would describe most people's jobs, too!)

What is Daddy's favorite food? "Pizza with sausage."

How do you know that Daddy loves you? "Because he gives me hugs and kisses."

What is something Daddy always says to you? "I love you."

What does Daddy do to make you laugh? "The airplane!" (Holds her up in the air with his hands and feet and swings her back and forth like an airplane.)

What was Daddy like as a kid? "Maybe like my camel." (I think she was saying what Cort liked as a kid... the stuffed camel that she has that used to be his...)

Do you think Daddy is smart? "Yes!"

What does Daddy smell like? "His hockey clothes!"

What does Daddy look like in the morning? "He has crazy hair."

What is Daddy's favorite place to go? "Games."

What is Daddy NOT good at? "He is a crazy driver!"

Alexis would like to add" I like playing with the talking cat on his computer, because she talks. And Daddy always lets me play on his computer and sometimes he lets me play on his phone."

Weekend in Wisconsin

Last weekend was the Grandpa O'Shea Memorial Golf Outing in Wisconsin. We went a day early so that we could see our friends Andy and Jessie that live in Middleton, and then spent Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market on the campus at the Univ of Wisconsin. I only have a few pictures from the Farmer's Market...

Afterward, the guys went golfing and the girls (and kids) got on the bus that the Wisconsin O'Sheas rented, and we headed for the water/fountain park. Dave and Alexis liked the bus!

They had a blast at the splash pad!

Henry was so tired that he took a snooze in Gracie's stroller... it was a tight squeeze!

Alexis is a great helper and changed Gracie's diaper...

Last year we found a hotel with an awesome pool for kids, so we stayed there again this year and the kids loved it!

Oak Lawn Children's Museum

This week I started my new job, so last Thursday, Alexis and I had one last outing before work started up again. We went to the Oak Lawn Children's Museum, and she had a blast! The last time we were here, they were just building the exhibits, and we got a little tour of the museum-to-be after we made our ceramic tile to put on the wall. The museum has come a long way since that day. Here is Alexis playing with the water exhibit...

Her absolute favorite part was the art section... she loved painting the window and spraying it with water to clean it off again. She would have stayed in here all day if I didn't drag her on to visit the rest of the exhibits!

We were lucky enough to be there when the museum employees were preparing a canvas to hang on the wall... they picked several kids and let each kid paint one section of the canvas. Alexis got to go first, and you can see her masterpiece below. Next time we go, we will get to see the painting hanging up in the museum!

Here is the tile that we made last year with Alexis' hand and Dave's foot... now it is hanging on the wall with a bunch of other tiles from other families!

Dr. Alexis zapping the bear...

Milking the cow...

At the market... Daddy's girl, headed for the steaks first.

Alexis did a lot of shopping!

Playing in the sand area...

My favorite part... the wind tube... so funny to see her try to catch the scarves!

Totally unrelated to the museum, but here is our new floor! We had a plumbing leak a few weeks back that caused our laminate floor to warp, so thank you State Farm, we now have a brand new floor! Sooooo much nicer than the old one!