Kids Arts and Culture Day

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the CAC Kids Art and Culture Day. Chase enjoyed the mini petting zoo with Dad...

...despite the fact it was really crowded:

Then he rode the train with Mom:

After the train ride he spotted one of his favorite things these days: A fire truck!!

The nice fire fighter let him sit up front as he explained what all the buttons were:

He also thought the big wheels were pretty cool, especially since he could see his reflection (one of his new favorite words):

After that we played with sidewalk chalk...

...and tried some cotton candy for the first time:

Our final stop was the Biscuit Brothers concert, where it finally kicked in for Chase that he hadn't napped that afternoon:

We had to leave the concert early, but it was still a fun day overall. Chase slept all the way home.

More photos of our day are in our Photo Album if you're interested!

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent the weekend in Houston visiting our friends Ryan and Katie (and their little one, Ashlyn). Yesterday we went to the aquarium at Moody Gardens in Galveston. Chase and Ashlyn had a great time (as did we)!

Here's a photo of Chase and me in a shark diving cage:

We had a really nice time. Katie and I got some quality girl time and I finally got her blogging (YAY!!) and addicted to Facebook. As an added bonus, we also got to see our friends Janet and Abir (and their little one, Torin) for a few hours today as they drove through town on their way to Tennessee.

When we got home we decided to try another tactic to keep Chase on the toilet long enough to actually give him a chance to go.

It backfired. He could have read books on the toilet forever. We eventually had to drag him off.

Happy Memorial Day!

Congratulations Kris!

OK, so I have not been the best about updating my American Idol posts. I'm just not into it as much this year. I have loved the competition, but I am not feeling the need to critique like I did last year. So yes, this post is WAY delayed. And maybe it's my last American Idol post. I probably won't do this next year.

So Kris won American Idol over Adam. It was an upset, but I'm pretty happy with it. I think Adam is awesome but his doors are opened much wider to do what he wants to do without having to stick with the American Idol contract. Now he can go on to do the theatre stuff he loves, or whatever else he wants to do. And I really like Kris. I think he's an all-around good guy who is also a great artist. I'm thrilled for him.

Well, that's all I got. I'm out!

What's Up, Doc?

Well, it's official. Brian is now "Dr. Brian." This post is a bit delayed due to our travel and all, but Brian walked through NIU's graduation last Friday and then defended his dissertation on Tuesday (a little backwards, we know). Here is a photo of Brian being hooded at the ceremony:

Chase had a fun time in the stands with the whole family!

After the ceremony Chase finally was able to get a closer look at what Daddy called his "Harry Potter outfit:"

It didn't take long for him to go for that tassel!

While we were in town Chase was also able to do some swimming with both sets of grandparents at their hotels:

And we were also finally able to go the Field Museum. That was the one museum we really wanted to see when we lived in Chicago, but the one museum we never made it to. Chase had fun there with both sets of grandparents:


And I also must mention the fun Chase had with his Aunt Jen over the weekend, who he just adores. Here is a photo of them reading a "Star Wars" book at breakfast the day after Brian's graduation:

It was a good weekend for the whole family to meet up, because we were also able to celebrate Mother's Day together! We went out for good Chicago style pizza to celebrate. You can't go back to Chicago and not have that deep dish pizza!

While we were in town we were able to spend time with friends Bart and Nicole (and their adorable baby, Conor!), who were generous enough to put us up for a few days. I was also able to meet up with some old Chicago theatre friends for a bit and that was really nice, too. Seeing Nicole again was awesome. I shed more than one tear when we had to say goodbye again. Luckily I will be seeing her again this summer! More on that another time.

It is hard to believe Brian is really done. He has been working on his doctorate for so long (7 1/2 years)! I keep calling him "Doctor" and he hates it... But I say, "You've earned it! Eat it up!" His first day back in Texas he literally had nothing to do and did not know what to do with himself. When I got home there was homemade pizza for dinner, the lawn was all groomed and beautiful....

I could get used to this!

More photos of our weekend in Chicago are in our Photo Album if you're interested.

Goodbye Danny

This week on American Idol we said goodbye to Danny. I was happy. I really wanted Chris to get through to the finals. Danny was great, but I just liked Chris' personality better. The results this week made me happy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Air Show

Grandpa K, this one's for you!

Chase's Aunt Jen is in town visiting and we all went to an air show today. Chase had a really good time (as did we)! Here he is pointing out an airplane to Aunt Jen, though it looks more like he's doing a dance move from "Saturday Night Fever" (again... should I be worried?)!

He had fun yelling with Aunt Jen as the loud planes flew by:

And here is a photo of him with his daddy, looking up at the planes overhead. It makes me laugh so hard to see their identical faces. Like father like son!

All was fine and dandy til the Vietnam war reenactment...

...when we got this:

He was pretty good, though. He didn't freak out, but he wasn't entirely comfortable with the whole thing. Poor baby....

There are tons more pictures of our day in our Photo Album if you're interested!

Goodbye Matt

This week we said goodbye to Matt on American Idol. I knew it was coming, but it still made me sad. He was my favorite. I thought he had a really cool voice and he was amazing at the piano, too (I'm a sucker for good piano). He sang "My Funny Valentine" this week and I didn't love it. But that song was ruined for me, anyway, when I had to sing it opera-style for my voice teacher my freshman year in college. Ugh. Ever since then I have hated that song... so I knew I wasn't going to love it no matter how well he sang it!