Thanksgiving in Chicago

No 80 degree Scottsdale weather this year. We stayed home for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! Our friends Tiffany, Shelly and Kaitlynn joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. We cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings--I even made my Granny's dressing and David was in charge of our first turkey ever to cook . (Fresh, free-range turkey by the way--from the butcher--none of those frozen butterball's for us!). Anyhow, we took full advantage of all Chicago has to offer and in spite of a recovering sick girl with an ear infection, we had a great time.

Who needs New York, Macy's and Rockefeller Center??? Come to Chicago for the Thanksgiving State Street parade and lighting of the Daley Center Christmas tree instead. Second City?? I think not!

Walking to the parade--
hard to tell but it's snowing in all these pictures

Watching the nutcracker float by

Ella is getting colder while
Big Bird is approaching in the background

Big Bird!

Papa, Ella & Popeye
Ella was thrilled to learn about Popeye
and how he loves spinach just like her!
(Really--it's one of her favorite vegetables)

Massaging the turkey before the roasting

Kaitlynn enjoying all of Ella's toys before Thanksgiving dinner

Papa, Ella & the Joan Miro sculpture in the background
Waiting for the lighting of the tree

Santa and the mayor lit the tree

I love bratwurst!
At the Christkindlmarkt after tree lighting

Watching the toy train at the Christkindlmarkt

She's gonna blow

So I really have no time to be blogging right now, but am desperate for some help. Please--help me! How can I teach my 3-year old to blow her nose? We've conquered the stubborn attitude and she's actually trying to do it, but is not successful. Each time it takes her a minute to remember to blow out instead of sniff it up--but even once she's blowing out, she won't blow hard enough to get the snot out! It's literally about to make us crazy as she is sick with a cold, feverish, whiny and can't breathe through her nose. The sucker does not work--this is stuff that's up in there and must be blown out.

We've tried every trick like the birthday candle, blowing the tissue's around, etc. The problem is not getting her to blow out--it's getting her to blow hard enough to get the snot out!

Help! Help! Help!

Top 10 signs your child is spending too much time at the OB-GYN

10. Looks forward to appointments mainly to see the fish and the toys at the office.
9. Couldn't get a flu shot the other week, because the baby in her tummy was too small.
8. Needs us to test her blood alot.
7. Has us pull "regular baby" out from under her shirt all the time so she can bathe and nurse her.
6. Says all those silly hormones are just making her gag all the time.
5. Often performs ultrasounds to see the baby wiggling around in her tummy on the little t.v.
4. Listens to the heartbeat of the baby in her belly with her play stethoscope.
3. Pretends to pee in a cup, or asks you to pee in a cup.
2. Asks where the stirrups for her feet are on her pretend Dr. bed.
1. Last night while playing "Dr." she as the patient says, "Do you do VBAC's anymore?" seriously, she said that.

Planting Monkeys

If you recall, Ella got to plant flowers with my Dad in California last week. Tuesday night, when I was at rehearsal, David said Ella was talking about planting flowers with Pa. David said, "What kind of flowers did you plant?" Ella promptly replied, "chimpanzees!" Of course, what she meant is pansy's.
David's been asking me repeatedly to put this on the blog. I kept reminding him that he had permission to post on our blog whenever he wanted, but that he would actually have to register with blogger first......I gave up.

Boucled'or

Goldilocks and the three bears

Ever since my Dad visited this summer and told Miss Bella the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, she has been quite enamored with it. She often wants to act it out, basically reciting the whole book and told us some time ago that she would be Goldilocks for Halloween. (Thank goodness!! No princess, etc.). So yesterday she got to wear her costume to French Wiggleworms, where we learned how to say Goldilocks in french, Boucled'or.

Then yesterday evening we met up with our friends the San Juan's and neighborhood hopped down to Lincoln Park (where we used to live as renters :-)) and went trick-or-treating on beautiful Burling Street where it is barricaded off from traffic. I can't begin to tell you how many full-size candy bars Ella got! It's all beautiful single family homes, of course with walk-up stairs--so that was a bit frustrating and wore Ella out by the end. But they were all decked out in Halloween decor-some scary, and some not. It's funny how Ella would deal with the scary things--like the very real looking skeleton hanging over a porch--when she saw it she said, "How cute!". She also really enjoyed seeing all the other kids in their costumes and would exclaim, "She looks so pretty in her costume". The three bears became a bit cumbersome with the stairs and all, so I ended up carrying them--but David and I took turns taking her up to the houses, so he had to be the three bears too :-) Overall it was a great evening. On the train home she wanted some candy out of her bag. But my good girl chose the one mini bag of pretzels she got! She did understand how to choose all the chocolate though, and did quite well with most of her selections.

On the 'L to go trick-or-treat
Going trick-or-treating with Papa

Goldilocks and the three bears

Mary (Jyothi) and her little lamb (Asha)

Pirate Ryan

This porridge is not so good afterall
Made it down some more steps with Mama
and the three bears