Ramblings (on cold medicine!)

I have been sick for DAYS. days, I tell you! It started as a throat thing that has moved into a full blown knock me off my ass cold, one that is not fun to have when you also have a two year old says "pway ball! stand up, momma! pway!" when the cold from hell makes it almost impossible to peal your limbs off of the damn floor. or couch. or bed. or chair. otherwise known as, where ever the eff your body decides to give up on you.

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I cut bangs for myself today. while sick. on cold medicine.

this was a very bad idea, but it didn't seem so at the time. i was about halfway through it when i realized that it was a very bad idea. at that point, you're kind of screwed either way....needless to say, my bangs will be in clips for a while.

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modern family makes me laugh. hard.

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what happened to a normal snickers ice cream bar? i am eating a snickers ice cream cone. and it is just not as good.

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thanks dayquil/nyquil for this lovely post.

in the middle of everything!

The title of this post is the motto of the town that we went to recently. Any guesses of what town that is? I'll give you another hint...it's Aunt Amy's home town....Mason City!

In all honesty, Mason City was very cute and bigger than I expected. Everyone in Amy's family was sooo super nice and it was so fun to meet and hang out with everyone. We went down to MC because it was their Prairie Harvest Festival and not only did we (eddie) go on some rides, eat some yummy food and listen to the yodeling band (woot!) we also got to go see Amy's family's farming operation in work! In other words, the whole day was pretty much Eddie heaven....so much so that not only did Eddie not nap that day, but he also was acting pretty good the whole time, which is very rare for no-nap days.

We started out at the festival rides, with Miss Madeline going on everything with Eddie and the bigger rides with Mac.

{climbing up the big slide}

{and going down!}

{for his second time down, eddie went rather....um....loco. he half bounced half slid and ended up in a mess of giggles at the bottom}

{we watched the water fights}

{such a cute picture of Madeline and her favorite person, Mac!}

{watch out! Mac's gunna hurl!}

{they went on the train, which was operated by 10 year olds. weird.}

{conductor eddie loved ringing the bell}

{eddie also loved the airplanes}

{but poor madeline wasn't so thrilled}

{seriously, she must have totally regretted going on the baby rides, she looked so bored!}

{she was much happier on the swings}

{and posed for this picture, when she saw me with the camera...she is so cute!}

{eddie and daddy went fishing}

{eddie's all....huh?}

{eddie loved this totally old-school slide}

{and I loved it because it is the exact same slide as the one at our Lake Geneva park....the one even my parents grew up on!}

And, after all that fun, we set out to find the boys who were farming.

{and oh, how we found them}

{and oh, eddie was so in love}

{we were offered to go for a ride in the tractor with Uncle Al}

{and eddie was soo happy, just repeating that we were in a blue tractor}

{and, to my surprise, he still talks about our ride with Uncle Al. The other day we drove past some farmers harvesting by us and Eddie got all excited. "UNCLE AL! UNCLE AL, MOMMA!" he shouted from the backseat.}

{and after his ride, Eddie thought the funniest thing was Uncle Mac making corn kernals 'pop' from his fingers. Eddie laughed sooo hard}

{pluck}

{pop}

{kelly jumps}

{eddie loves it all}

Thank you Garlisch clan for making our trip sooo fun! Eddie loved every second of Prairie Harvest Fest, and we did too!

New at the Zoo.....

.....walking! with a toddler!

I'm not quite sure why I am so fascinated with having Eddie walk at the zoo, but he seems to be able to enjoy everything just a little more....more animal watching, more interest in the little things, more tears. Lots more tears.

{le sigh. up close to the lion}

{helllllo very big lion!}

{we watched dolphins. lots of dolphin watching, infact. we ate snack and watched dolphins. we drank from sippys and watched dolphins. we cried while watching dolphins. we talked about watching dolphins for DAYS after}

{had to mess with the contrast on this one to bring out the pouty face. it was quite fantastic.}

{we brushed goats}

{very random}

{we haven't talked about the goats since, which means eddie wasn't very pleased}

{we rode the wolf and eddie was very upset that mommy didn't ride an animal too}

{and walking and enjoy the little things means picking up LOTS of leaves. this very special one got to go on the merry-go-round and even came home with us! two year old eddie gets attached to very strange things! lol}

Love and Hate II

As I was taking picture of my beautiful flowers...

{oooohhhh, pretty!}

I was side-lined by a toddler who desperately wanted his picture taken. When I didn't take a picture at the first "cheeeeeeeeeeeese momma!" the pleas got more and more desperate, so Eddie decided to climb on the table and try again....

{please note: real cheese in his mouth. lovely}

{and then he wanted a picture of him grabbing his toes, and thought that was just the funniest thing in the world}

And when I finally thought I had appeased the attention lover, he started to climb after me....

{rawr! attack of the attention craving toddler!!!!!!!!!}

So there you have it...love the camera, hate the camera, ignore the camera....we never know what we're going to get :)

Love and Hate

Some days Eddie loves the camera......some days, he is less than amused...

{happily laughing with momma}

{not so happy when he spots daddy with the camera}

ps - don't you love the laid back toddler thing? feet up, arms back, just chillin'...lol :)

Just another day in the neighborhood

{we fly kites. and from experience, if you want to draw out all of the neighborhood kids, fly a large bright kite in the middle of the street}

{v was super adorable when it was her turn to fly}

{the boys started to try and catch it}

{justin's turn}

{and finally...my turn! hubby has a problem sharing his kite with me!}

{then out comes the bubble machine}

{and two toddlers run and jump and laugh}

{.....oh, how fun it is to be 2 and 3....}

BEAR DOWN!

For all of you non-Chicagoans, today was the home opener for the Chicago Bears! And in a surprising twist, THEY WON!!! Now, this is even more exciting because we brought Eddie to his first Bears game :)

{nanna and grandpa took us!}

{eddie was very excited to see 'hockey'....he had a hard time catching on to the change of sports}

{which is acceptable, since some of the Blackhawk players were there with the STANLEY CUP! It was the first time I've seen it in person and it was so exciting!}

{eddie had such a good time clapping and cheering 'go bears!' and 'boo!' and well....I have to admit.....I had him say 'come on, ya farts!' a couple of times}

{random picture of the view from our seats......I love, love, love going to Soldier Field because the view is seriously amazing!}

{love}

{and after is all, we saw the Bears drumline outside the statium and they let Eddie play for a bit on the big drums. He was sooo excited and it was adorable!}

We were so nervous to bring him, but it all worked perfectly. He sat through the 1st, ate lunch and walked during the 2nd, watched the band at half time, napped through the 3rd and cheered for the win in the 4th. We were all shocked and super pleased with how well he did and, to be honest, how well the people around us did. When we started to get crap from the people behind us for walking out during the 2nd, another guy yelled at the instigator screaming 'they have a baby! shut up!' which was nice :) Lots of people smiled and asked us the normal questions (name, how old, etc) and seemed to not really mind having him around. It didn't stop the swearing, but it wasn't so bad. I brought the ring sling and carried him on my back for the walk to the statium and up the stairs (we're alllllllllllllllllll the way at the top. Like, can change the lightbulbs if they need it) and it worked so well. I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to walk through the zillions of people otherwise. Yay for baby wearing at 24 months!

Thank you Nanna and Bapa for taking us, thank you Bears for winning and thank you Eddie for being amazing!