Hanging with her peeps

I feel bad that any time I post on this blog about seeing extended family, it's usually MY extended family.  We just happen to live in a state that neighbors Indiana, where you can't throw a rock without hitting one of my relatives.  But we did get to see Andrew's aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin's boyfriend during November.  Hurray!!!

Sonia's love for Andrew's Aunt Anita has been documented on this site before, and it was still in full effect.

Sosini also decided that Matt was awesome.

This was the only picture I managed to get of Meghan....  That is a tragic crime because she is as gorgeous as she is smart, Ms. University of Chicago Grad School Lady!

Sonia was running around, acting so nutty....  Uncle Bob was more than willing to rile her up even more.

More shenanigans with Aunt Anita!

Sonia was none-too-pleased to see them go....  Hopefully we'll see them again soon!

November fun

We're getting closer to being caught up....  Here are some of the fun things we did in November:

Andrew's parents went on a month-long cruise and brought us back some awesome souvenirs, including a book on how to make those cool towel animals that the cruise ship room stewards create.  So far, I have been able to make a cat...

...an elephant....

...and a dinosaur, much to Sonia's delight.  She thinks towel origami is hilarious and is always begging me to do more of it.

As the weather turns chillier, Sosini is starting to wear her leotard from her Catwoman costume to give her a bit of covereage on her arms during ballet/tap class.  We also got her some sparkly legwarmers from Target, and she looks at me funny when I call her "Flashdance" whenever she wears them.

Sonia and Sami got eaten by a monster whose digestive system looks suspiciously like a ball pit....

The monster spat the girls back out, though.

Before Thanksgiving, Sonia's preschool class put on indian costumes (apparently, Lisle Park District goes with what Columbus called the people he found here in North America) and performed a few songs for the parents.

One of the songs involved a lot of jumping-- check out Sonia in mid-air!

A lot of kids missed class (it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving); Sonia was one of only 2 girls to show up that day!

The teacher's aide brought her bearskin rug in to show the kids (apparently, it's her annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition), and Sonia was obsessed with it.  Mrs. Cheryl said that Sonia asked her a million questions about why the bear was killed, who did it, how they did it, where they did it, etc. Ohhhhhh, Sonia.

More October fun

One of these days, I'll be all caught up, I promise.  Here are a few more pictures from fun activities in October.

Playing a little dress-up.... Pirate kerchief + Dora fiesta dress = high fashion in preschooler world.

Carving the pumpkin with Daddy

She was not impressed with the "guts" of the pumpkin.

Visiting Keller's Farmstand in Oswego

Her legs need to get a tiny bit longer to make this cool tractor thingy easier to ride.

Keller's had some really awesome playhouses in a great kids' area.

Corn maze!!!

We also went to Blackberry Farm to enjoy more of the fall fun.

Painting pumpkins is a cute activity in theory, but the paint didn't dry completely before it was time to head home (miraculously, my car escaped unscathed) and once it did dry, all the paint flaked off all over our deck.  Lovely.

Another tractor to ride!  This one is still a wee bit too big for Sonia Balogna.  Oh well, there's always next year!

Sara & Maritza visit (part 3)

When Maritza had to fly back to CA and Sara stayed in IL for a while (staying with her daddy, who was working here for a few months), we invited Sara to spend a couple of days at our house.  I didn't take a ton of pictures of the fun we had just hanging around the house, but I did snap a few during the Halloween party playgroup play date that we hosted.

Sara borrowed a Minnie Mouse costume from Sonia's BFF, Aanya (thank you!!!).  I love this picture of Sara Mouse, Princess Johanna, and Catwoman Sonia posing in their costumes....

Tracy made cake pop eyeballs, Toni made dirt & gummi worm cupcakes, and Adalie made kettle corn (in bag in the basket).  Coolest playgroup treats EVER!!!!

These girls were seriously addicted to the cake pops....

Later that day, I took Sara for a haircut (to fix some damage she had done with a pair of scissors while she was hanging out with her daddy).  If you look at the picture of Sonia & Sara holding the cake pops, you can see a bit of the Dora the Explorer bangs that Sara attempted to cut herself.  Oh, my!  Our favorite haircutter, Miss Kateri of Kids Cuts, cut Sara some short bangs to try to blend in with the ones Sara cut.  After the haircut, we played at Kingston Park, a place we used to frequent with Sara & Maritza when they lived here.

So cute!!!  Sara really does look great with bangs....

The girls pushed each other on the swings for a really long time.

They were having a contest to see who could be the most photogenic.

I think they went down the slide like this (alternating who was in front each time) at least 50 times.

Tree posing!

Best friends forever....  We miss you so much, Sara and Maritza!

Hopefully some day we'll all live closer.