April Updates

::: How these months keep just flying by, I seriously don't even know. I feel like I just flipped my calendar to read April, and now, it's gone.  

Overall - we had a great April. Chicago gave us two legit snow storms and more days in the 70's than normal, so it's been a little all over the place, but we've tried to keep busy and make the best of it. 

 

::: One of the best things the Easter bunny brought us is this driveway gate. We love it. Our driveway has a slight slope, so it stops balls and cozy coupes from rolling straight into the street, and it gives the kids a nice visual of where to stop - plus, no one pulls in while we're out playing. Tons of people have pulled over to ask where we got it - and the answer is obvious....amazon. 

::: Speaking of Easter - we had the best day. The weather was PERFECT - almost eighty degrees, and it just felt like the ideal Easter ever. We started the day with opening Easter baskets and heading t church, before we spent the rest of the day drinking champagne and hanging at my parents with tons of family and friends. 

 

 

 

 

::: The day before Easter, Joel ran in an ultra-marathon. He had been training and feeling great - but during his warm uprun for the race, he stepped funny and hurt his knee. He was able to run the marathon of the race, but stopped after that. We were still seriously impressed and glad that he didn't push past phyiscal pain for the mental aspect of "finishing". Still a winner in our book! 

 

::: Our basement is done!! We had the ceilings spray painted black and the dry wall painted and it looks a TON better! It's MUCH cleaner, feels much more intentional, and I am really happy with the progress. I'll try and get a post up on the basement separate to this too. 

 

::: I've been able to sneak out with my girlfriends quite a bit - from book club to beer and yoga to picnics at the park, we've had a super fun time this month. I feel like I have really started to make a great mom/friend group which has made life - and parenting - so much better.

 

 

 

:::I haven't been taking too many pictures of dinners (going to try and get somewhat better!) but here's what I was able to pull from my phone over the last month. 

cauliflower gnocchi with chicken sausage and pesto (c/o Hello Adams Family) 

 

::: Happy pictures from April 

 

March Updates

::: Spring in Chicago is so funky. We've seen great weather and some really shitty weather. Yesterday, the kids and I were having our lunch outside, had been to two parks, and I got sunburn - and today, it's snowing and I'm sitting at a wine bar with a sweater and boots on. 

 

 

::: Life's been great from all accounts. I'm finding less and less motivation to log on to this blog though. I feel like I don't have much to say or share that I'm not already sharing on Instagram. I feel the blog slowly slipping away, and that makes me pretty sad. 

::: We had the stomach flu hit our house last week and it was literal hell. We had been at a party and literally like contagion - SO many people got knocked down after 36 hours of being there - it was insane. It was the sickest Leo has ever been - and I just literally kept catching his puke in my hands. It wasn't fun but I was SO grateful that it was relatively quick moving and that everyone is back to normal. 

::: We didn't do too much for St. Patrick's day. We took the opportunity for a cute photo op on our holiday shirts, and shared corned beef dinner with both of our parents at dinner. It was perfect. 

::: Are you watching Summer House? I think it's a few years old but I just got into it, and I'm obsessed. Given the choice, I would totally rather watch Summer House over Real Housewives. I'm pretty much over NY and BH.

::: I've been hitting is SO hard at the gym lately. My girlfriends and I are on a text chain and since the gym has become such a social spot (and a day care option) I feel like I've been at the gym 5 days a week for the last 6-8 weeks. I can feel some of the strength that I've been working on, but not really seeing it - so I'm hoping that shift happens a little sooner than later here ;) 

::: Over Spring Break, we took a weekend getaway with friends to Galena - and we had the best time. For my own record keeping purposes, I'm going to back post and share some of our secrets to a successful weekend trip with friends.

::: I finally made dinner with the Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi - and holy cow it was so good. What a solid dupe! I will say - it's a little tricky to work with - but overall, especially considering what a light dinner option it is - we loved it. I used Liz Adams recipe from her "Cooking with Liz" instalive she does - and I can't wait to make it again.  (she doesn't have the recipe on her blog, that I can find! Check her instastories!) 

::: I bought these darling easter baskets from a neighbor and I couldn't be more obsessed! 

::: I think I've shared a bit that we are fixing up our basement a bit. Drywall finished this week, and next week the ceiling is getting spray painted black! I can't wait to see the space totally transform. When the ceiling is done, we are going to paint the drywall (revere peweter), do a deep clean, and rearrange bit here and there. I'm hoping to add a ping pong table down there, and eventually a TV, and try to make it as "industrial cool" as I can. 

::: That's it for now. I'm sitting at the cutest little coffee and wine bar that just opened in our hood, but the internet is painfully slow and I have about 15 other things I've got to knock out before I let the babysitter go home! Ha!