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My Birthday

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I had a wonderful birthday this year. Kyle got home from work and, after we shared a birthday cupcake with candles with the kids, he whisked me away for a romantic dinner at Capri Ristorante. It was so nice to go on a fancy date with my wonderful man. It was good food and had a nice atmosphere with candles, nice table linens, and quiet music. I loved it!

On Friday, the 24th, Megan had been sick all day. When Kyle got home he really wanted us all to go over to my friend Liz's house so he could get something for our printer. I really did not want to go, especially because I had a puking child, but somehow he talked me into it (funny how he can do that). So we arrived and then I knew why Kyle was insisting we all go - it was a surprise birthday party for me with all my best buds! I was so surprised and almost cried to see my sweet friends all dressed in leis and the "cruise" decor. We had some awesome food and listened to island music, then we ate a GIANT chocolate cake. It was so great. Thank you to Liz&Allan, Melissa&Trevor, and Amy&Jeremy&Will for making me feel so loved!! You guys are awesome!

On Saturday, the 25th, our little family participated in the Glen Ellyn P.S.S. (pediatric stroke survivor) We Love You 5K. This was my idea. I chose this particular 5K because it met my criteria - around my birthday, close to home, inexpensive, and NOT on a Sunday (almost all events out here like this are on Sundays).

I am NOT a runner and have never been very fond of exercise but a few months ago Weight Watchers started a program where if you participate in a 5K they'll give you a charm to put on your keyring. I found a great deal on some walking shoes and started my program. I increased my speed and distance each day and worked really hard. The day of the race came and I was really nervous that I was just making a fool of myself but I was really excited too. I was so glad that Kyle and the kids were there to do it with me. I don't think I could have done it without them.

We had a great run/walk and finished at just over 48 minutes. We found out our race results - I came in 19th in my age division and Kyle came in 8th in his age division. I'm really glad we did it and now I'm considering doing another 5K in November (but we'll see).

The next bit of news - Logan is WALKING! My baby is just not a baby anymore. He has also learned his first word! Nope, not Mamma. Not even Dadda. It's "cah-cah" (cracker). Figures that my big eater's first word would have something to do with food.

Kyle has LOVED his rotation in pediatrics and Megan has been enjoying preschool. We are enjoying an "indian summer" this week with highs of 80 degrees. It's hot but the leaves are all falling off the trees and blowing around...pretty fun. We're all doing well and we still love our life here in the Windy City.

We've had some kitchen chairs since we moved to Chicago that I just haven't been a huge fan of; so I decided to do something about it! I really enjoyed learning a new skill and creating something beautiful out of something, well, not so beautiful. It was not as difficult as I thought it would be but it did take longer than I'd planned because whoever put these chair cushions together the first time had been a maniac with the staples. It took me about 4 hours to get all the staples out and about 1 hour to put all the chairs back together again. I couldn't have done it though without my friend Melissa and her snazzy staple gun. We had a fun time picking out the perfect fabric and just hanging out together doing something crafty. (Oh, and thank you to Kyle and Trevor for watching the kids while we had our fun!) I feel quite empowered now and can't wait to find more DIY projects to do around the house.

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Logan had a wonderful first birthday. He had so much fun eating all the yummy fruit and cake at his party and playing with his friends and new toys. (Mommy will have fun dressing up her big boy in all his new clothes!) I had such a fun time making his cake for him. I made the monkey face out of milk chocolate and peanut butter candy melts and black gel icing. The cupcake faces were made with mini Nutter-Butters, peanut butter M&M's, Nilla wafers, and black gel icing. I love having a reason to learn new things and be creative, but I'm glad it's only a couple of times a year I have that much frosting in my house! Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family that have shown us such love and support over the past year. Our "little bear" is growing up so quickly and we feel so blessed to have him in our lives.

We Love Our Pool!

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