Life's Little Blessings

  Sitting in the BIG chair.....they thought this was way cool   So today I was finally able to take the girls to the DuPage Children's Museum.  We had received a free voucher for our entire family to go and I thought the perfect time to was when the girls were on Winter Break from school.  They had a blast.  Eva went a few years ago when she was about 2 1/2 but she doesn't remember it.  It was Maggie and my first time their and I can't wait to take them again.  I would like to take them at the end of Jan when they have the Sea Beast Puppet Company perform.  I have am putting a few of the many pictures I took below.  I think their favorite part was the area with the water tables and bubbles also the BIG chair.                               Making music in the Rhythm Room          ...

I found this recipe on the Campbells website, and thought I would try.  It was very easy to make and it did turn out great.  Hope you will try this recipe and enjoyed like I did. Sweet and Tangy Chicken   1 tablespoon butter 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or Healthy Request®) 1/4 cup water 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon vinegar 1 cup regular long-grain white rice , prepared according to package directions (about 3 cups)   Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until well browned on both sides. Stir the soup, water, brown sugar and vinegar in the skillet and heat to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Serve the chicken and sauce with the rice.

So last night Jim surprised the girls with a HUGE pumpkin and carving tools to make a jack-o-lantern.  They were so excited about doing it, since it was late we decided that this was going to be a fun family activity for the morning.  As I was getting everything ready to carve the pumpkins, Jim was cutting the tops off.  Maggie didn't even want to try to clean the pumpkin, so mommy got stuck doing hers plus the big one.  Eva did her little pumpkin that she got on her field trip mostly by herself.  I had to help a little bit.  Once that was done it was time to carve the faces.  We made them all with happy silly faces.

Today I had an opportunity to volunteer at Eva's school for a special activity.  In her gym class they have been doing roller skating and there were 3 different dates that parents could come and volunteer on.  I picked today because I didn't have to worry about Maggie because Eva's gym class was during Maggie's preschool.  Eva was so happy to see me even thought she knew I was coming.  I had so much fun helping the children get all their pads, skates and helmets on.  I had so much fun watching Eva and all the children trying so hard to skate and weren't afraid when they would fall.  Eva would fall but then she would just get back up.  I am so glad that I was able to brighten up her day.

I can't believe my little Maggie has taken her first school pictures.  I really like the way they came out and she is soo adorable.  

Earlier this week I had noticed that Eva had another tooth coming in her month and it was breaking through right behind her baby teeth.  I asked her if her bottom front teeth were hurting her at all and she said no but she had noticed that when she brushed her teeth it felt different.  So I decided to make an appointment with the dentist to make sure that it was normal. So today we went to the dentist and it was confirmed that Eva has her FIRST loose tooth and that her adult tooth is half way through.  She should loose it by next weekend and it looks like her other front tooth on the bottom will be next.  I took a picture of her adult tooth coming in since I have no pictures of her or Maggie getting their first tooth. Her wiggly tooth, that is what she calls it, is right in front if her adult tooth.

Congradulations to our family friend's son and his wife as they welcome their daughter tonight.  They named her Arabella Milann, her middle name is a combination of her mom's first name Mila and his mom's middle name Ann.  She was born at 7:13 pm and weighted 7lbs 7.3 ozs and 20 1/4 inches long. 

So this weekend was amazing!  My husband Jim totally surprised me and spoiled me rotten for my 30th birthday.  We first took the train into the Chicago and then walked from Union Station to our hotel.  Yes, we are stayed the night.  We stayed at the Swissotel.  I had to take pictures of our view from the hotel windows because we were on the 36th floor. For dinner we went to a restruant too was called Fog de Choa, which was a Brazilan steakhouse.  It was amazing.  They had a gourmet salad bar and when you ready for the main meal you would flip these cards over and it would indicate to the goucho servers that you were ready.  They would come with meat on swekers and crave some off for you, they had 12 differnet types of meat.  With the meat they served us with cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, carmelized bananas and fried platentas.  Everything was so delious.  When had dessert, they wrote Happy Birthday with strawberry sauce on my plate...

I would like to say congradulations to my friend Zulema and her fiancee Aaron as they welcome their first child and son into the world.  They named him Levi Lucas and he was born on July 13th @ 6:06pm.  He was 8lbs 9oz and so adorable.

Welcome to the world and to our family Audrey Rose!  Today my cousin Elizabeth had her first child and daughter.  She was born weighing 5lbs 2.7 oz and 19 inches long.  My cousin Elizabeth and Audrey