Breakfast at the Holiday

Enjoying breakfast at our favorite neighborhood place

Another year older...

Matt and I celebrated my birthday with dinner out at David Burke's Primehouse. It was sort of a dinner out for him, too, since we had to cancel his birthday plans. Grandma and Grandpa were in town to help us with some projects around the condo (we're prepping to sell the place), so they babysat.

The desserts at this place were awesome!

Birthday donuts

Cheesecake lollipop tree

Weekend

Matt took last Friday off to watch the NCAA tournament, so we had a 3-day weekend together. Since the nanny still works on Friday morning, we decided to go on a breakfast date and check out The Little Goat. I had been there once before, but this was Matt's first time. Very good breakfast food! We want to try it out for lunch sometime.

Bloody Mary!
Yes, Matt, you are still in the picture!

We took the girls over to Clint's for a little NCAA tourney watching on Friday afternoon. Avery was in her "I only pretend to like sports when I'm with Daddy" shirt... and I forgot to get a picture of it. Morgan was all decked out in orange and blue for the Illini game. And this was the only blue onesie I had... definitely a hand-me down from Samantha/Meredith!

Go Gators!

I L L - I N I

On Saturday, we celebrated Sabrina's first birthday. She wasn't so sure about all the singing and the crowd at the party, but she eventually dug into her smash cake. I think she played with it more than ate it, but she had a good time. The girls loved watching all the kiddos run around.

On Sunday, I took the girls to music class in the morning. This week, the teacher had bells and the girls loved those as well. The girls are testing out different sleep/eat schedules these days, so they were more awake for the class this week. We also did a little shopping at the Lincolnwood mall in the afternoon. I had grand plans of grabbing lunch at the Olive Garden, but the wait was way too long.

Weekend

Catching some Z's

This is what happens on Monday morning after a very busy and fun weekend! Two very sleepy little ones! Usually, I play with the girls in the morning before the nanny gets to our house. Monday morning, the girls made it about 10 minutes and were zonked!

They did miss a few naps over the weekend, so what can you expect. There was a lot going on!

Grandma and Grandpa visited to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. The guys hit the Auto Show on Saturday while the ladies went to the Lincolnwood Mall for some shopping. It's a different experience shopping now. I head straight for the kids stores. Little girls clothes are so much fun to shop for. Of course, I hate to spend much money on clothes they only wear once or twice and then grow out of. I managed to get out of the mall with only two pairs of pink jeggings for the girls. I couldn't pass them up! The best part about the Lincolnwood Mall is that it's right next to an Olive Garden... yum!

After shopping, we all met up at Haymarket for a few drinks. We got a super delish dessert for my dad's b-day and sang happy birthday to him!

This bottle didn't stay full long!

Saturday night, Grandma and Grandpa babysat for the girls so Matt and I could have an adult night out! We went to Bub City to celebrate Kari's b-day. Good food, fun times and maybe a little too much whiskey for the hubby. :)

On Sunday, we met up with the folks and Ross and Erin at Garcia's for lunch. Then they had to head back to Rochester.

Sunday night the bowling league started back up. DeezNuts is back in full force this year! We have 6 people (Sandi, Brett, Ross, Erin, Matt and me) that are going to rotate bowling so that someone can stay home and watch the kiddos. It's been a long time since I bowled, so I was a little rusty. But, it was fun to get back to the lanes.

Happy b-day Erin (a little late)

Last night, we went out with Ross, Erin, Brett and Sandi to celebrate Erin's birthday. It was a few weeks ago,  but we haven't had a chance to go out yet. We went to Nano for sushi and then to the PO to watch the Iowa game. We all had a good time... and today Matt and I have been veg'd out on the couch recovering. We're kinda old.

Flaming sushi!



Brett and Sandi got this Halloween costume for Sofie - it was a hit!



At the PO - getting ready to do Hawkeye bombs

Too cute!

Hawkeye bomb (this may be why he feels like crap today)

That's a lot of yellow!

Happy birthday to my favorite sister!

Um... I think that's supposed to be for Sofie!

Um... this is what happens when you do too many shots!

Trying out a couple of new places in our 'hood

Wednesday night, we went to Paddy O'Fegans for dinner. The place opened a few weeks ago. It's an Irish pub (if you couldn't guess that from the name!) a few blocks from our place. The beer list was really good - what more can you expect from the Irish!!! The food was ok, nothing to come running back for. The service... well, that was not the greatest. Matt thought our waitress had never actually waitressed before. She was really sweet, though. First, Matt asked her what the Sam Adam's seasonal was and she said Octoberfest, so he ordered that. She brought him a Bell's Oberon. She apologized and told him she'd take half off the price or something like that. Matt was like, no big deal - I'll drink it anyway. Then, when our food order came out, she brought us both the same thing. I had ordered a burger and Matt got the fish-n-chips, but with sweet potato fries instead (which she told him was a sacrilege in Ireland). The bad thing was I even saw her write our order down and she wrote that I wanted the burger. Not sure what happened between her walk from our table to the register and why she couldn't read her own writing... but, I got my food about 10 minutes after Matt. Then, when we finally got our bill, she had charged us for 2 fish-n-chips (which was more expensive than the burger), but had given us a $2.50 credit for her "MISTAKE" as it was shown on the receipt (which was for the first beer she brought). Too funny.

Thursday night, we checked out a tapas place called Meze. It's in the Fulton Market area, sort of out of the way (Lake and Peoria) - not one of those places you would walk by and see and want to try out. When we got there, the place was empty. It's very loungey and clubby feeling. I think it actually turns into a dance club later in the night. The music was sort of techno and then some weird French stuff = very interesting. I decided to "check-in" on Foursquare and up pops a Groupon for the night - $40 for $60 worth of food and drinks. Sweet! : ) All of the food we had was really good! The drink list was not as great. Apparently, they were getting a shipment in the next day of wine/beer, so they were out of a lot of stuff. Matt's beer options were Miller Lite, Hacker Pschorr and Heineken. I hope they keep up that Groupon offer! I'd definitely like to go back!

Weekly Update

I'm going to make the effort to actually update this blog once a week! I've been totally slacking off!

A couple of pics from the last week...

Friday night, Matt and I went out for Greek food in our neighborhood to Athena. We sat out in the garden area and it was gorgeous. Perfect weather! Made me miss being in Greece. I told Matt we need to go back there sometime in the future - one of my favorite vacations ever!

Saganaki and Tzatziki - yum!

My parents were in town (my Dad was having a reunion with his brothers and sisters). My mom's train got in Friday night. On Saturday morning, we took a walk around the city. It must have been window-washing day, because they were out in full force!

I would NOT want that job!

After a VERY rainy morning, the weather cleared up and the day was gorgeous. We went to the Cubs vs. Cards game. We were definitely divided on our loyalty - I grew up a Cardinals fan and my parents still are. Now that I'm in Chicago, I cheer for Chicago. If I had grown up in Chicago, I'd probably take a side and be more of a "Cubs" or "Sox" fan.

On Saturday night, we hung out at our condo. We played Millionaire party mode. I think Brett was the big winner. We also played Gummy Bear mini-golf - what a train wreck! We were NOT good at that game, but it was very entertaining! : )

Who wants to be a Millionaire?

On Sunday, we went to the Chicago Air Show. Kind of a hassle getting there, but SO glad we went. The weather was beautiful and the show was fun!

Crowded!

View of the city

Brett and Sandi

Typical Matt - "do not take my picture"

Happy Birthday Matt!

Yesterday was Matt's birthday, so we went out to Smith and Wollensky to celebrate. We had tons of food and a few drinks and lots of fun! I didn't have my camera, so I have NO pictures of Matt on his birthday. Considering how much he hates getting his picture taken, I will call that a part of his birthday gift! : ) A couple of the pics I took with my iPhone weren't terrible.

Massive piece of chocolate cake for dessert!

Sofie got a few leftovers!

We finished off the night at our place with some euchre (no karaoke, per Matt's request!) and what I like to call "ghetto chocolate martinis". Basically, I just make a chocolate martini with vodka, chocolate syrup and whatever else we have around the house. Usually we have Bailey's, but last night I used skim milk! They weren't all that bad! : ) Of course, this morning, I was re-thinking that decision. Ugh.

Oh, I found this on my camera... forgot I had taken it. Last week, Matt and I went to the Cubs game with work and he really wanted to get a picture with this dude! Too funny!

Tasty

On Saturday, Matt and I ventured over to the Taste of Randolph for lunch. Our "lunch" ended up lasting all day and we came home full and sunburned! A few friends from work met up with us as well.

We started off with guac from Decero - goes well with beer and champagne!

Pulled pork sliders and mac-n-cheese from Crossroads

This was a duck leg, but I didn't get back in time before Matt had eaten it all!

The people watching at these festivals is always so much fun! Lots of interesting people and lots of dogs!

Who knew they made shades for dogs?!?!

Oh, and I can't forget the entertainment at the Taste of Randolph! There was definitely a strange show going on with some scantily clad women. I'm not sure what it was because I didn't hear the announcments at the beginning and I didn't see any signs... but whoa!

Ummm... I thought this was a family event?!?

I think she was dancing to "Push It"

We finished off the Taste of Randolph with Belgian Chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels - yum! We also stopped off for a drink at Haymarket on our way home (you know, because it was such a long walk home).

Visit from the p's

My parents came up to Chicago this weekend for a visit. On Friday night, we met up with the Wilken crew (Grant and Patty were also in town) at Uncle Juilo's for margaritas and Mexican food. Fun times!

On Saturday, my Mom and I got in some shopping and met up with Matt and my Dad for lunch at Haymarket. My Dad fixed our a/c up, which of course we did not need this weekend! Hello... what is up with this weather?!?! Is it May or November?!?! Ugh.

On Saturday night, Ross cooked out and we had lots of great food. The girls played a few games of Bananagrams. Sofie entertained us all. She is seriously like a big baby deer. Her legs are so long and she seems to have only partial control of them. : )

She kept trying to get our food at dinner. She finally got a hold of an ear of corn, but she had no idea what to do with it! It was hilarious! She just kept running around with it in her mouth like it was a toy. She was pretty sure she didn't want to eat it, but she didn't really know what to do with it. Eventually, we got it from her and my Dad snuck her some leftover burger. He was definitely her favorite for the night!

What do I do with this thing?!?!

She wanted dessert, too!

All the excitement all night was a little too much for her...

Sofie sacked out on the couch

On Sunday, we all met up for brunch at Le Peep and then spent the rainy afternoon at our place playing cards and Bananagrams. We had a euchre tournament, which my mom and Kyle ended up winning.

Even "Chuck" joined in on the fun - he wasn't the best euchre partner, though!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Matt and I went to Morton's to celebrate Valentine's Day last night. We had SO much great food! Morton's takes pictures of you and gives you a printout in a card to take home. : )