Saturday, October 27, 2012

Ready for Halloween

First a disclaimer, I don't really like Halloween and I never have. So, it was a total blessing when my Aunt Karen said she had football outfits that her boys used to wear that we could borrow.  Phew!  We picked up the outfits on Thursday evening and ever since the boys have had some portion of the outfits/uniforms on. 
 On Friday, the boys got mail from Grandma and Grandpa Schrag! :-)
 And then this morning, we had to head outside for some "real" football.  It was pretty cold so the boys had several layers of clothes on.





 The boys played a brief but intense game. You know, one-on-one football is pretty tricky, a lot of the usual motions of the game just don't work out very well.

 They had fun anyway!


 And just as quickly as their game started, it was over.
I think the boys had their helmets on for all but 3 or 4 hours today. They played football in the house, they played soccer outside with their helmets, they sat and watched K-State and then Nebraska play football with their helmets on.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Family photos

A while ago, we had a local up-and-coming photographer come out to the farm to snap some family photos for us. We hadn't had any formal photos taken for over a year and I felt it was time we did something about that. Isaac Fast did a great job with our family, especially the boys.



 I love this photo of my three guys - it makes my heart smile.

Thanks Isaac for coming out to the farm and capturing our family in photos!
How fitting that I post these photos on our 9th wedding anniversary?! Our nine years of marriage have truly been a blessing. We've grown and journeyed down the paths of life together and for that I am very thankful. Happy anniversary Benjamin - I love you!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Back at the ranch

So life around our house continued on like normal even if Ben and I weren't here to help or enjoy it last weekend. My mom and dad cared for the boys while we were in Chicago and we are so thankful for their help!!  It must be quite an adjustment to go from empty nest to family of four.
The tomatoes I plucked from my frostbitten plants are still ripening on my washer and dryer.  Thankfully, just last night, enough of them had ripened that I could condense the pile to just on top of the washer.  
I hadn't seen the top of my dryer for so long that it was shocking to see the white top staring at me when I passed by the doorway. :-)
More tomatoes for the freezer!  At some point soon, I'm going to have a sauce making marathon on my hands.....immediately followed by a canning marathon.  
 Levi has been spending quite a bit of time at the piano lately.
 At times he actually plays gently enough and randomly finds notes that sound good together.
 At other times it's not quite so easy to listen to, but we encourage him regardless.  He continues to show us that he's interested in music - drums, piano, guitar, trumpet, etc. It'll be fun to see what happens to that interest as he grows.
 Last night we had a Parent/Teacher Conference for Noah. Thankfully, his teacher had lovely things to say about Noah and his participation in class.  We are very grateful  that so far in school Noah hasn't struggled with learning, following rules or social interaction.  I know it's not always going to go so smoothly, the subjects will get harder and the social interactions more complex, so I'm enjoying these early/simple years while we've got them.
 Noah has weekly spelling tests, so every evening we go over his spelling words.  He also reads each night before bed.  It's fabulous to watch him learn.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Saturday & Sunday

Those dang Huskers. I seem to say that a lot. Saturday we went to the Nebraska/Northwestern game.  It was a beautiful day for football and in the end the Huskers squeaked out a win. 
 Sunday we went to brunch at Longman's in Logan Square (just like we did in July). It was just as delicious the second time as it was the first...maybe even better.  This time they had bourbon glazed donuts with bacon.  Yes, bacon and yes, they were incredible.
 Ben reluctantly agreed to walk through the farmer's market with me after brunch. The produce, flowers and baked goods were beautiful, bountiful and expensive.  Our strolls through this market are for looking purposes only.



 The Logan Square neighborhood has lovely quiet streets
 and lots of bikes.
 Sunday was a glorious day. The sun was shining and it was warm. A lovely day for a walk
 through all the falling leaves.
We left the apartment around noon and off went toward home!

Friday in drippy Chicago

 Friday was a drippy day in Chicago.  It didn't rain it just dripped for most of the day.  Rain is a pain, but drippy weather is fine by me.  I had my navy blue jacket that my mom bought for me when I was a freshman in college along so I was good to go.  It's always good to feel way out of style when in a major US metropolis. :-)
Look at my lovely travel partner/guide.  We used public transportation to get around the city, which means we did a fair bit of waiting for buses and trains but for the most part it was an excellent way to get around.
 First stop on Friday was a tour of Wrigley Field.  Ben's been to a couple games at Wrigley, but I'd never been in the ball park before.  It was interesting to learn about the history of the Chicago Cubs and the park itself.

 Like I said, it was drippy outside, especially at the beginning of our tour.  Thankfully, we were under the upper deck at the beginning of the tour.  The grounds crew was in the midst of tearing out the sod while we were there.  The plan is to re-level the field and re-sod it this fall.  Apparently, this is the third time the field's been re-sodded this year.

 The ball park feels old, but well cared for.  I can understand why people seem to worship the place.
 From the patio of the upper deck there's a pretty nice view of downtown Chicago.
 Through an unmarked door in the first level of the stadium/park we went down a flight of stairs into the Cubs clubhouse.
 We were only allowed to see this much of it:
 and then we walked out into the Cubs dugout.  It was just as simple as it appears on TV.  The only fancy thing in this dugout is the padded bench (the visitors just get a plain wooden one). And the roof of the dugout is low enough I would have hit my head on it if I'd stood straight up from sitting on the bench.  Stuck right in between the clubhouse and the dugout is a tight space with a urinal - it seemed rather gross to me....but I'm a girl.
From behind home plate looking toward the pitchers' mound.
 After the tour we ate lunch at Murphy's - a place our tour guide said served the best burgers in Wrigleyville. Since we didn't try burgers at other restaurants in Wrigleyville we can't say if they're the best or not, but they were pretty good.
 In the afternoon we toured the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park.
I didn't purchase the $5 photo pass, so the only photos I have are of the outside...but below is the exterior of the studio.  Frank placed exterior doors in obscure places to force people to look at the structure and take in the space they were about to enter.

 This is the front of the house. He designed his home prior to developing his signature Prairie Style, but there were definite hints of it even in his early work. He was a genius - one of the most tangibly felt design elements of FLW for us was his use of dark, tight hallways that lead to big, bright rooms.  He used the halls to move you through a necessary space quickly and then the bright room at end was even more impressive as a breath of fresh air.
 For dinner we met Andy and Lia at Farmhouse.  It was fabulous food, atmosphere and company.
 From Farmhouse we traveled over to Margie's for ice cream.  Ben and I went to Margie's this summer when we were in Chicago and it was just as fabulous this time as last.
 The wood paneling, brown pleather booths, neon signs
 and the jukebox at the table is awesome.
 Oh, and the ice cream and fudge sauce are simply ridiculous.
And after all that, we were tired and full!