More May fun

Sonia likes to play beauty shop, but I don't think she's ready to open up her own hair salon just yet....

Unlike Christmas, on her birthday, Sosini took her time and actually played with each toy before ripping open a new one.... What a difference 5 months makes!

Later that day, Sonia had a lovely birthday party with her friends.  I don't think the weather (low 70's, sunny, slightly breezy) could have been any more perfect!

One of her favorite birthday presents is a playdough cake-making contraption.  She loves decorating these little desserts!

As usual, we have had criminal amounts of fun with our playgroup friends this month.  One sunny day, we went to Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, and after lunch, we played a rousing (if slightly chaotic) game of Red Light, Green Light:

At Blackberry Farm, Sonia found a new friend:

And at the Brookfield Zoo, Sonia insisted on riding the giraffe on the carousel, even though it was the only animal on the entire merry-go-round that didn't go up and down.

Next up on the blog: pictures from our week-long trip to Texas!

Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike's visit, part III

Backlog, ahoy!  I have been busy/preoccupied/lazy/whatever, so I have barely posted all month.  Here are some more pictures from the grandparent visit earlier in May.

Once again, Grandma JoJo came to a gymnastics class and took some awesome pictures.  The dynamic duo (Ike & Sonia) showed off their skills and acted like total goofballs.

Grandma JoJo helped Sonia with the parachute!

Before we sent my parents back to Texas to rest (hanging around with an almost-3-year-old is exhausting!!), we brought them to one of our favorite places: the Phillips Park Zoo.

My favorite inhabitant of the zoo:

Grandma and Grandpa tried to teach Sonia how to tell knock-knock jokes, with hilarious results.

Horsing around with Grandpa!

Snuggles with Grandma!

We had such a lovely time with you, Mom and Dad....  Sonia loves her grandparents!!

Happy Birthday to The Great Sosini!

We love you more than words can say.  You are funny, smart, adorable, kind, and the best hugger & kisser on the planet.  We're so lucky to be your parents, big 3-year-old girl!

Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike's visit, part II

My father thrilled my daughter to no end with his unending patience in playing pretend with her cars....  And because of my wacko father, Sonia now sometimes calls Lightning McQueen "Thunderstorm McClaskey" and then laughs uproariously.

My mother and I spent an entire evening dipping and decorating robot cake pops for Sonia's birthday (they are currently in chryo-stasis in the freezer, awaiting the big day). Decorating 48 cake pops took my mom and me 2 solid hours to complete.... but the look on Sonia's face when she saw her robot army the next morning made it all worth it!

Sonia was being such a ham all week....  One afternoon, when we were playing in the garage (it was a warm but blustery day outside), she asked us to take her picture at least 52 times.

Hover kid!

Sonia and I took Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike in to the city to visit one of our favorite places: the Shedd Aquarium!  We love this statue/fountain out front....

Sonia loved watching the otters, posing with and petting this otter statue, and snuggling with the stuffed otter that I just HAD to buy her.

This sea turtle statue is always a big hit!

This is the BEST picture of Grandpa Spike and his little smudge pot!  (I have no idea where he came up with that affectionate nickname for Sonia, but it cracks me up.)

Too bad that dumb blue canopy is kind of mucking up this otherwise lovely picture.

When my mom and I picked up Sonia from preschool on one of the days, we arrived early enough to see her class parading back from the gymnasium with their stick horses.  EPIC CUTENESS!!!  Too bad we didn't have a camera ready to get a picture of that....  But here's our little horsewoman with her horse named "Queen":

Wagon wash!  Sonia thought this was a complete blast.  I definitely need to bust out this activity again during the long hot summer ahead.....

Happy 60th Birthday, Grandma JoJo!

We just had a wonderful week-long visit with my mom (and dad, but he was working for four of the days)....  It included my mother's 60th birthday, an early Cinco de Mayo celebration, a brush with croup, lots of driving around the western suburbs and arboretum to entice Sosini to nap, trying out new recipes, and plenty of other shenanigans.

Sonia was so excited to celebrate her beloved Grandma JoJo's 60th birthday with her!  I love this picture that she took of my mom.  Yes, Sonia took this picture!

My father gave my mother 60 red roses in honor of the momentous occasion.  Our house looked so fancy all week long!

Sonia and I baked a ridiculously tasty carrot cake using a surprisingly easy recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  Our budding photographer loved taking pictures during the singing of Happy Birthday.

Here's one of the pictures she took....  Not bad!!

Seriously, this cake was AWESOME.  I kinda want to make another one.

We ended the day with a fantastic dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant (which is very kid-friendly!).  Happy happy happy birthday, Ma!  We love you and were very honored to get to celebrate with you.  You are a wonderful mom and grandmother, and we look forward to many more years of fun together!