Big Girl Bed

At last, Anna has her Big Girl Bed.


It was Meg's bed. We painted it to match the trim in her room.

She seems pleased.


Woo hoo! More places to play and hide!


Thanks Aunt Laura, Uncle Ed, Eddie, and Meg! Now if she will only sleep in it....

First Day of School Part II

Ben the Kindergartner and his companion Bear, Alien Force a.k.a. "Al."
Al was made by Aunt Marge Sonnenburg and is Ben's favorite. Aunt Marge knits a bear a day but most of her bears travel to Africa for children who need them there. Al just hangs out in northern Illinois keeping the galaxy free of evil aliens and escorting Ben to school.

The playground was so crowded with photo hungry parents that I didn't get any good shots there.

And Ben enters into his formal education without even a backwards glance toward his parents. I want to note that he didn't actually have a police escort- the officer pictured is a parent.

First Day of School Part I

The newly minted second grader- Jay

Meeting up with buddies!

Lining up for Miss August

Off to another great year!

Jay has a really large class- 32 students this year. Last year there were two rooms and this year they are combined.

Dan plays Rolling Meadows

Well, I am finally blogging again. I was inspired by a visit by very talented Dan and the very, very fine Valley Jazz Orchestra.

Dan the bass man.
The entire Jazz Orchestra


Dan, my other extremely talented 16 year old nephew, Eddie, J.J. and Ben

Dan and Grandma

Not pictured: Uncle Doug.

We all had a great time. It was wonderful to see Dan play live and watch his fingers fly so skillfully on the bass. I am in awe of the talent.

Happy New Year!

To celebrate the New Year we went to Powell Park to sled.
Until she got the hang of it John and I pulled Anna in the little sled. Then she decided she liked to go down by herself. There are no photos though because I was too freaked out to take them and she had tired of it before it occurred to me to document the moment.

To make things more fun John and I did some sledding with the kids.

Here are the boys...

I love this close up of the same ride.

The park is beautiful. The snow fall outlined every branch. Here is Ben bringing a sled up from the bottom after a ride.

I will try to put some more photos up tomorrow!

Cheers and Happy New Year!