The Deuce

Luke is going to be a big brother later this year - Baby #2 (aka the Deuce) is due September 19th.  As is the literal world of a three-year-old, he asks to see the baby in my tummy and when he can't see anything says "No, Mommy.  There's no baby in there."  Cracks me up every time.

While there will be lots of changes in store for all of us, we are terribly excited.  Luke brought down his bear and a little stuffed dragon this morning and said the bear was the big brother.

Luke's 3rd birthday

Luke had a brilliant birthday a few weeks ago....you guess it, another "train" theme.  Pawpaw and Grandma were here to celebrate with us!  And, he even got his first phone call...from a girl!  His good friend, Alina, from his old school in Bartlett called to wish him a happy birthday!  He's a bit of a typical male though - not much of a phone talker.  He's more interested in taking the phone around and trying to show the person on the other end of the line various things.  The kid is definitely ready for the iPhone Facetime. 

A Whole Lotta Snow...for real!

My dad sent me a text message the other morning and asked how Jim Cantore was enjoying staying at our house.  We have this pretty large joke in the family about Jim Cantore and the Weather Channel - Dad's a big fan of the Weather Channel and Mike and I enjoy poking fun at how incredibly dramatic Jim Cantore is.

Well, in this instance, the drama was a bit warranted.  It really has been amazing - there is just so darn much of it!  Here is the view outside our breakfast room window.  That drift is over halfway up the laundry room door.

The snow could swallow up a little Lukester!

Those posts are about 4 ft tall...somewhere out there is our backyard.  

So Long Richmond Lane....Hello Springhaven Drive

It's been a long, exhausting month.  Lots of paperwork, lots of small dramas, lots of planning.  Yesterday, it all finally came together - we sold the old house and bought a new house.  The movers packed us up and had us out of the old house Thursday night and we've now moved in to a lovely hotel room until Christmas.  If moving at Christmas time in Chicago weren't enough stress, we opted to do some improvements to the new house before we move in.  All of that kicked off today with full steam in the hope that before Christmas, it will all be done so that the moving truck can arrive on the 27th.  Lots of before and after pictures are in this blog's future, but until then, we are so incredibly happy to be moving to a lovely new house, in a lovely new neighborhood, with a lovely commute for me, near a lovely new school for Luke. 

Luke has truly been the light of the whole process.  Yesterday, we're sitting at closing which can be a fairly long process.  It's Luke's naptime, and he's already been trucked and hauled around to all kinds of places, staying in a weird place, eating out a lot, having very few toys to play with.  There he is at the conference room table, perfectly entertained with scribbling his "signature" on blank sheets of paper, sorting paper clips, and putting his Thomas stickers as notary seals.  Yes, we did bribe him with the promise of ice cream, but I wouldn't have suspected that even that could bring about such amazing behavior in an almost-three-year-old. 

Tonight, we were leaving yet another dinner out when Jingle Bells came on the radio.  Luke made up his own lyrics:

Choo Choo tracks
Choo Choo tracks
Choo Choo all the way
Oh what fun, it is to ride
On the Choo Choo open tracks

Oh, to have have a video camera.  Now that I'll have about 10 hours back in my week, I expect blogging to be more prevalent.  We'll post pictures as soon as we're a little more settled.  Luke and I will head to Papa and Gramma's house next weekend and then Mike will fly down after the construction is done.  Then, we bring everyone back with us for moving in on the 27th.  Lots of hotels between then and now and a lot of living out of suitcases.

We are under contract!

Apparently, deciding to take your house off the market can actually be a help in selling it!  It turned out that a couple was waiting, hoping that we'd drop the price.  Instead, we cancelled our listing.  Their realtor called to inquire, they saw it today, and by 6:30 this evening, we had a contract.  And, we close on Dec 10th....holy crud!  Needless to say, many wheels are in motion - finding the new house, finding a new school.....oh the fun of moving, just in time for Christmas.   At least, Santa Claus came early for us.  What a crazy year! 

I am 3 days late in posting the pictures from Halloween.  My little chef was quite the character.  As he walked down the opposite side of our street, he kept shouting at me to show me his candy.  He was totally into it!

The "Punkin" Farm

What else would you do on an 80 degree October Saturday but go to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm?  Lots of firsts on this trip:

• First Pony Ride
• First time feeding a giraffe
• First time eating Apple Cider donuts
• First time seeing a Pumpkin Eating Dinosaur
• First time being in jail
• First time pumpkin climbing was more fun than pumpkin picking

Fire Engines

Today was a special open house at the Bartlett Fire Station!  As you can see, a big hit!