Happy halloween! Buzz buzz...

Jackson as a bee, Audrey as a flower, and Lou and I as a 1950's suburban couple.

Random stuff

Leighton returns from California Colorado with this t-shirt for Jack. It's just a tiny bit big. Jack says he's going to "eat a lot, so he can grow big and strong and fit into Unc's t-shirt".


Audrey is big enough for the exersaucer.


A little glimpse of Audrey's favorite snoozing position.


Jackson in his Old Town School "Wiggleworms" class.


Couldn't resist posting this little cutie pie. Pretty in pink!

More cake? Yahoo!

Some shots from Boompa's birthday celebration below. Jack helped blow out the candles.

2007 Crosman Memorial Award

I'm sorry that the last few posts have just been about me. It's just been a good couple of weeks, I guess. In case you haven't heard, I was awarded the Crosman Memorial Award from the Illinois Library Association, which is "presented in recognition of outstanding library professionals at any type of library, who have been in the field 10 years or less." The Library sent out a press statement, and I was interviewed by the Berwyn Life. The article was in the paper this weekend, so I picked up a couple of copies. I also scanned it. The post title or the image take you to a PDF of the article.

I also just noticed that the paper has all of the photos taken by the staff photographer available online.

One final edit. I actually got the award today (10/30). Someone from the ILA came by the library and presented it to me. :)

Bring on the cake

We made our annual trip to Iowa for Grandma Jean's birthday. This time we met up in Des Moines at my brother's house. Julie Ann and Matt hosted a yummy lunch, we went to the park, the kids came back to the hotel to go swimming, and then we all went to one of our old favorites, Robin's Wood Oven Grill, for dinner. It was an action packed day! Bella and Jack always seem to have such a good time and get along so well. It's really fun to watch. Audrey enjoyed watching all the action too. We're all looking forward to my new nephew's arrival - due November 26th!

Suzy comes to visit

Suzy gets to meet Audrey for the first time. We had a really nice visit, and we hope to see her in California soon.

Great American Beer Festival

Thursday Scott and I went to the Great American Beer Festival. It was a lot of fun. There were over 400 breweries offering 1,884 different beers to try. You got a little plastic glass to sample as many beers as you want (or can). Many people came wearing strings of pretzels around their necks to nibble on during the festival. The festival is still going on, but Scott and I only went the one day. We're already talking about possibly going again next year.


Scott and I enjoying the VIP room of Draft Magazine (we also won Draft hats).


Me, with the festival stretching out behind me.


Scott showing off his sample glass.


No explanation needed.

More festival pictures are available at the festival website here.

Pike's Peak

Today, Scott and I drove to Colorado Springs and took the Cog Railway train up to the top of Pike's Peak. The peak is 14,110 feet up and, let me tell you, I could feel it. I was totally dizzy and light-headed. And the temperature at the top was about 30 degrees colder than at the bottom. It was wacky. Here are a few pictures (I'm not using Photoshop to resize so hopefully they will look ok)...


Me in front of the altitude sign proving how high up I was.


Scott and I with our train in the background.


One more of me on the peak (and, yes, that is my Shell Family jacket from the Alaska cruise)


One of the old cog trains.

Tomorrow we're going to the Great American Beer Festival so I'll try to post some pictures from that Friday morning.

Jack's first day!

Jack had his first day of preschool October 10th at Kensington School. He was very brave - no tears. He likes his teachers, and he had lots of fun. It looks like there's a little elf behind him?! Who could that be?

Bedtime

Jackson is playing with his new trains, while Audrey polishes her reading skills. (Wow, are Jack's legs getting longer!)

Audrey and Boompa

Someone besides Mama is holding Audrey, and she's not screaming. Yay Audrey!

Deja Vu

Bathtime for Audrey

Wow!

I've never seen a bug that looks so much like a leaf.

Bubble beard

Apparently it's not too early for Jackson to grow a beard... or should I say one large sideburn and a soul patch?

x-mas 2007??

As you can see, the website has been updated to include the 2007 Christmas Lists link (hit F5 to refresh if you don't see it).

Feel free to email your lists to me and I'll post them.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can add / modify your lists yourself by doing the following:

1. click on the 2007 Christmas Lists link.
2. copy and paste the entire 2007 Christmas List into a text editor (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Notepad, etc.).
3. make your changes to the entire list.
   
4. save file as xmas2007.html somewhere on your computer (note .html not .htm).
   
5. log onto blogger as if you were going to create a post.
6. click the upload file button and select the xmas2007.html file on your computer.
7. once the file has been uploaded, cancel the post you've started (since you're not actually making a post, just uploading the file).
8. done.
   

The Chunk vs. The Tink

Some shots of Jackson at 4 months and Audrey at 4 months...

Happy Birthday Me

Sorry that it will be a while until we have my birthday dinner. I have my gala and Houby Fest this weekend, and next weekend I'll be in Denver visiting Scott. I'm flying back Sunday and should be home around 4:30 or so, but I may be too pooped. We'll see. In the meantime, I had a nice cake at work on Monday (and I don't mean the hat).