Golf

{hole in twelve!!}

{anymore fun things in here?}

{starting his lesson with Daddy}

{all together now....aaaaawwww!!}

I lied.

Today, instead of heart-melting golf lesson pictures I am going to whine about my legs. I promise pictures tomorrow.

You see, I started running with Eddie in the mornings. And besides the regular leg pain and the oh-my-god-my-lungs-are-on-fire-and-is-this-what-a-heart-attack-feels-like-?-pain I've also been dealing with that lovely sharp pain in the front of my shins that I know means shin splints. The problem, however, is that I have no idea what I am supposed to do about them.

So this morning, I asked on facebook if it was my shoes, my dorky running style or just the fact that I suck. A general concensus came back that it is probably my shoes. Many a suggestions were made that I go and get a running evaluation and some new shoes. What does that mean to me? That I probably am going to have to spend a butt load on new shoes. Shoes that honestly, may not see much action. Because honestly, I know I go through phases of things that I love, that I must do daily and then I wear myself out on the fun of it all and I think that it was a good time for a bit, but I'm over it.

And I don't really want to spend a butt load of money on something that I'm going to be over in a couple weeks.

But then that little voice comes into my head and I think about how good it feels to run. Once I get past the pain of it all, obviously. And how I feel that I could really do this for a while. So, now, here's the question, blog readers.


What do you think? Should I start begging Hubby for new shoes, or it is this fixable some other way?

Weekend Fun

Since the weather has turned a little nicer, we spend about 90% of our days playing outside. So when we get a weekend that it is suddenly a little cooler, we all have some meltdowns. Eddie desperately stands at the door saying "pway! pway!!" and throws fits when he brings me shoes that I will not put on him. The only alternative is to bundle him up in his new Spring friendly gear and go outside....let's just say the bright yellow makes him very noticable!

{all the neighbors come to play with the man in yellow}

{we play with our 'ssstinss' (spins) a lot!}

{and bubbles...'mo bubbas!' I am told about every 2 seconds}

{and sometimes we even share with the neighborhood dogs}

I also snagged some golf clubs for Eddie, which he is seriously obsessed with, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow...the pictures of Hubby showing Eddie how to golf make my heart melt!

For my Momma

Fireman Eddie loves you and his new raincoat!

Art Time

We got Eddie an art easel for Christmas, one that has paper that can cover the whole thing, a chalk board on one side and a white board on the other. It's from Ikea, was $15 and is awesome. I like to write holiday messages on it and also use it to show Eddie shapes and numbers. Normally Eddie could care less when I do it, but this time he must have recognized the chalk from this afternoons playing with his buddy down the street. He grabbed some and started scribbling away!

{The final product, with Eddie's adorable scribbles making it even more awesome}

So, in honor of the chalkboard, Happy Spring :)))

Paint Pen Love

Confession: I'm addicted to paint pens.

Blame my mother, who, from a young age, encouraged me to use these on silly things like sweatshirts (with puffy paint and sparkles!!), jeans and basically anything else that I wanted to put my name on. When I was little, if you wrote my name on something with paint pen you were my new hero. So when I figured that it would to be cute to put canvases in Eddie's play room with shapes and colors and number on them, the paint pens section in the craft store called my name.

It turned out kinda ugly, but whatever. Something is on the walls and that's all I care about. I may change the layout, though. Maybe the 4 canvases with shapes/numbers on them in a line and then the color canvases on the other wall? I'm not sure. I just needed something in there and figured it was better to be somewhat educational...the color canvases have the color name in 5 different languages (english, italian, german and french). Kinda cute, kinda ugly, probably going to end up in a different configuration soon.

And then the tub that I got for Eddie's outside toys, well, it was calling for something to be written on it, too.

{Way to state the obvious, huh?}

What can I say? Paint pens call for me like a pinwheel calls for wind.

{or toddler spit}

Now, please excuse me while I find more things to write on...

Normal Day

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so."


After a talk with a friend over some wine the other night, the subject of death and our own mortality came up. We talked about the want to live every day to it's fullest. Over all, a pretty heavy conversation for a random get together with friends. Don't worry, though, we peppered the rest of our conversation with babies, breastfeeding, getting pregnant and a lot of other subjects that would make the boy's conversation go quiet and look at us with a little fear in their eyes.  Ha!

So anyway, thank you, normal morning routine...normal nap time routine for just being with us, being trustworthy and always making me smile.

Thank you, normal day, for allowing me to watch my son 'read' his books and rock on his rocking chair.

{the tiger says "rawr"}

{my eyes}

Thank you, normal day, for allowing me to find the humor in the fact that my son's favorite new item is a random bolster pillow that he found behind our bed this morning. Thank you, normal day, for allowing me son to find such pleasure in something that I cast off to the shadows.

{thank you, my sweet boy, for reminding me that sometimes you just want to be around the things you love the most. Pacis (three in this picture, two more at the bottom of his crib), his beloved Duck-Duck and his new favorite bolster pillow, in addition to his two blankies that you cannot see all ready for nap time}

{sweet dreams, my sweet. see you in the afternoon}

Wordless Wednesday

19 months...

A whopping 19 months after my son was born, I finally went a picked up his birth certificate.


Can you say procrastinator? Ha!


And honestly, I probably wouldn't have gotten it if it weren't for the fact that WE'RE GOING ON AN AIRPLANE!!!! WOOOOOTTT!!


This is big news for anyone that knows my scared-of-flying husband. Turns out scared-of-flying husband remembers how much it sucked to drive to Florida with a baby last year and doesn't want to repeat the terror. YAY!!!! Crying baby win!


If anyone has any tips for flying with a toddler, shoot me an email or leave a comment - I need some support here! Lord knows Hubby is going to be happily sedated, so he won't be much help :)

Kohl Children's Museum

This morning we had some time to kill, so we went to the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview. It is Spring Break time around here, so needless to say, we probably picked the wrong week to go to the museum. Either way, the place was awesome (but packed) and Eddie had a ball running around the different exibits.

{eddie's favortie by far - "chickies!" as he calls them}

{yes, I let my 18 month old paint his face. he had a freaking ball!}

{looking in the mirror and loving what he see's!}

{my boy}

{eddie loves computer time!}

{water and boat fun, as usual}

{how the bug ended his day at the museum, with a big smile and a green nose!}

Whew. What a fun and busy morning :)))

Fail.

Sigh.

I missed a day.


Meh. I'm sure there will be other days that I miss.

Yesterday I got hit with a cold....and felt like I was hit by a truck instead. I slept on and off most of the day and finally feel a little better, but not 100%.

So now, instead of doing a nice most I'm going to nap while Eddie naps. Sweet dreams :)

Shameless Plug

TODAY, PEOPLE! Today was a big day for me.

Today I delivered all of the items I've been working on for my first event and a real event planner. Today  I got my first paycheck as an event planner.


Today I'm happy.


Today I also put some things up on the Red Bird Events blog, which you can visit here.


Oh, and I just got my business cards and have been passing them out to everyone I know. If you've seen me lately, you've probably gotten one or two or ten depending on my mood.

{Aren't they purty?? I love them!}

So, there you have it. I guess I can say that I am officially an event planner, since TODAY I officially got paid. FOR DOING SOMETHING I LOVE!!! Can you believe it?!!?

I'm excited.

Can you tell?

OH, and if you're nosy and want to see the Inspiration Board I designed for the Cherry Blossom themed bridal shower this weekend, you can visit the RBe blog here, here and here. Or here. Just one more.

Sorry.

Anyway, go on over there and click on the Inspiration Board page. With permission from my June bride (!!!) I'll post one of the Inspiration Boards for her outdoor wedding.

Thanks to everyone for supporting me on this. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your encouragement. Love you guys!!

Hugs

Some virtual flowers, with some big loving hugs to a blog reader and friend. You're in my thoughts and prayers.  

Erin Go Bragh

{Ireland Forever!}

{do I really have to wear this silly hat?}

{stop laughing. Irish love is serious buisness, people!}

{see. serious buisness. obviously}

Happy St. Patrick's Day, blog world! Eat some corned beef, drink some beer or green river and have a good time today!

How it should be...

Today we spent a whopping 4 hours, straight, outside. First, Eddie and I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood and played with our wagon and ball.

{GQ eddie}

{posing with his wagon....so handsome!}

In addition to some gardening....aka stealing some plants from a my overseas bestie (hi nicole!!!) who had to up and move to Germany, we also got to play with Eddie's new bestie V. After a little bit...the neighborhood just came alive.....which is really how our neighborhood is meant to be. Everyone just came outside, kids and babies in tow, to say hello, play and just chat. It was sooo awesome and just what I've been looking forward to.

I forgot how much I love Spring....after a long winter stuck inside, the sunshine just feels so good! I think I may have even gotten a bit of a tan today! Well...about as little of a tan that you can get, but it is there!!

We also got to see our other neighbor's new puppies, which are adorable. Add in a bunch of neighborhood kids, and you've got a lot of happy little kids running around with puppies. How happy some of the parents were that had to deal with the wanting of the puppies..well...I'm not going to speak for them :)

And just because a puppy picture never hurt anyone....

{::::cuteness::::}

Pull Back Shot

As my first event as a party planner nears, I've been taking pictures of some of the things I've made to feature on the Red Bird Event website....well....blog. We'll see if I need to purchase a real .com site. Wouldn't that be cool? I've have so many moments lately where I say to myself "I can really DO this"...I'm still a little surprised that my plan is working and that people are interested in and like my work! Go me!

Anyway...

I wanted to take some pictures, but forgot to do it while Eddie was napping. And because I'm impatient and want things done the minute I think of them, I did it with Eddie. Good plan! Not.

The area I wanted to take pictures was right infront of our glass front doors....except I couldn't get far enough back with the doors closed, so I opened them. Then Eddie tried to close them. Soo...picture this.

Custom made "wish tree" that is very fragile, sitting on our couch's side table. Eddie trying to a) touch the tree or b) close the doors on me. Dogs looking to make an escape outside. Cat looking to make an escape outside. Me holding my camera and the door open with my foot. Awesome.

Also notice: books in side table that I'm trying to cut out of picture. Messy Eddie hair. Bright colored toys on the left that I am also trying to cut out of picture.

What you can't see? The dogs that had just begun walking down our street. Me, trying to move Eddie out of the way so I could close the door so Saddie and Jack wouldn't run out, the door getting stuck because the table was too close to the door, me struggling and cursing trying to get the door closed and keep all animals and babies in the house.

Good times!

And since you put up with my silly post...a little peek....

Oh, shoot. An Eddie snuck in!

The wish tree, which is just a little bit of a creative way to do a guest book. Guests can write a message to the couple, place them in the little custom made envelopes and hang them on the tree. Throughout the event the tree will "bloom" with well wishes for the couple. Cute, no? Plus the bride can take the little tree home and display it in her home.

Email me at redbirdevents@gmail.com if you want one :))) hehehehehe - just kidding!

Kinda.

The Best of the Worst

{giant sand box. love}

{chickens}

{penguins!!}

{peacock feathers}

Huh. Looks like we would have had more fun if we actually went to the zoo, no?

Ooops

Today we had planned to go to the St. Patty's parade in Dundee, but woke up to rain. Instead, my mom and I decided to lug Eddie downtown to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show.


Alternative title: The day we forgot the city would be filled with drunk people wearing green.

Alternative title: Chicago traffic sucks, but it sucks even more on St. Patrick's Day weekend.


It was a rough drive. Once we got down town we figured half the battle was over, so we made the treck through the crowds of Navy Pier for lunch. Harry Carry's in NP just opened. An hour wait, a bar filled with drunk people wearing green. Bubba Gump Shrimp sounded amazing. 45 minutes. We were left with....

...dun dun dun....

McDonalds!

Could I bite the bullet? Could I really give my child the dreaded (but yummy!) McD's?

Nope. We found the hot dog guy. Not that much better, but better. I'll take what I can get!

The flower show was meh, as it was last year. Nothing really jumped out at me, which is really dissapointing. Plus the amazing flower shop that was selling some awesome arrangements last year was not there this year. Double meh.

Add in all of the drunk people wearing green and the old women buying lawn ornaments and then almost stabbing people as they walk through the crowds, it was such a bust of a trip that it wasn't even funny. Once we got back to my parent's house though, we had some yumola Irish dinner and called it a night.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

Baby Match

Today we had some lovely unplanned playtime with one of our little neighbor's, 3 year old V.

We went out to play just as V, her sister and Aunt were rounding the corner on their walk. Eddie and I went over to say hi and on our way back to our house Eddie let out a nice tantrum. He found a friend close to his age and he wanted to play! So we went back over, football in tow, to ask V if she wanted to play catch.

She did. Eddie's little baby crush grew. (ps - notice that V is the same height as Eddie? He also weighs about 5 lbs more than her. she's tiny, he's a monster, it's adorable!)

V shared some of her chalk, which, shockingly, Eddie did not eat! Not even once! Progress, people. Progress!

OH MY GOSH. I just died of cuteness.

Unfortunately for you, I did not get a picture of them walking hand in hand down the street. That was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life! One of our other neighbors walked up and said "What is this, Baby Match.com?" Ha!

These two were so cute together and I hope we can continue to have random play time with them throughout the spring and summer. Oh, the joys of finally being able to go outside again!!