I-L-L!

This year was the first time that I have ever participated in homecoming at U of I - and it was also Anna's first visit to Chambana! We took Friday off of work because I had to be at rehearsal in the afternoon, so we drove down in the morning to get there with plenty of time. We ate lunch at the new Chick-fil-A that they have at the Union - we took it outside and ate on the quad, because it was a beautiful day! Anna enjoyed that, because I think she was fascinated with watching all the different people. We made our way over to the band building, which for some inexplicable reason Anna seemed to love. There were these metal panels on the floor that she got a kick out of jumping on to make noise; she also liked climbing on the podium. Once music rehearsal started Tim took her to roam around and entertain her. I must say that it was really nice to play in a band again! I got to eat dinner with Tim and Ms. B, and we even caught a bit of the parade on our way to the stadium. Then I had a 3-hour marching rehearsal, and Tim took Anna to Rantoul so that Grammie and Grampy could get her ready for bed. They were nice enough to take care of her for the night so that our goofy schedule would disrupt her sleep (turns out that it didn't work anyway, because she conned them into staying up late!) However, getting up and ready really early the next morning would have bothered her, so it was good that she got to sleep a little later. She ate breakfast with Tim and Grammie and Grampy, then they went to the stadium to watch MI's and Fossil Band's pregame. The game was good too, with the Illini easily winning, but Anna got pretty squirmy (I can't blame her; I'm not a huge fan of football either). After we were all done, we drove up to Cracker Barrel for a delicious, huge meal to finish off the day! I definitely hope I get to do this again! And who knows, maybe Anna will enjoy it more once she's a bit older!

A Frightening Fest

I have been really bad about keeping up with the blog lately. October has been busy! We went to Fright Fest with Grammie and Grampy, and boy was it crowded! It only got worse the later it got too, so it was a good thing that we rode all the rides the last time we were there. The place was decorated very nicely, and I think Anna enjoyed seeing all the spooky sights. Lucky for her the only things that weren't crowded were the kids' rides! She enjoyed the Wiggle World thoroughly, especially since that gave her a good chance to run around and play at the bebow. Plus there's the Big Red Planes and Big Red Cars. She can also ride some things in the Camp Cartoon Network now, and the boats she was able to ride all by herself! She's never ridden anything alone before, so this was a first. We saw a show or two, and Anna naturally enjoyed the music. We also rode the Jester's Wild Ride and Hot Air Balloons, both of which aren't actually kiddie rides but don't really have a height limit. So technically they were Anna's first "big kid" rides! By the time we left the park around 7:30 or so, the line for Batman had to be around 3 or 4 hours long! Yikes! It was a fun, but very very busy day!!

Columbus Day

Anna and I had a wonderful Columbus Day today. The weather has been unusually warm the past few days, but thankfully it has also been dry. We started off our day at Countryside Park and played there for at least an hour. Anna loves the choo-choo, the springy dinosaur, and the bridge that's on the playground. Afterward we went to the book store and found a Snow White book, since that's Ms. B's new favorite thing (she also picked out a Beauty and the Beast and Pooh book, and since they were only $1 each, that was fine with me). Then we went home, got some food together, and walked across the street to have a picnic in the park. Of course she was more interested in playing than eating, but I kind of expected that. Then it was naptime, then Gabba time, then dinner time, then bebow time again, and then she had a bath and read her new stories. I definitely had a great time with her today, and hopefully she did too. It made our summer days seem like a distant memory.

More Gabba

This is another video of our little girlie at the Gabba concert. You can see that the dancing back and forth hasn't stopped!

Backyard Movie Fun!

Recently Kohls was having "the biggest sale of the season," and they had a projector for a good price. I've been talking about wanting to get one so that we could watch movies in our backyard, so we decided to get it. This weekend we used it for the first time, and it was REALLY fun! On Friday we watched Beauty and the Beast, and Anna cuddled with me under a blanket while we watched. She loved how big the screen was, and she kept calling Belle "White," because I guess she must think all princesses are Snow White! We also had the outdoor fireplace going, and it was a very lovely, cozy experience! She got really tired about halfway through and wanted to go to bed, so she wasn't able to watch the whole thing.

This evening we watched another movie outside; this time Snow White (Anna's favorite princess). We lit the fire again, and Anna started off by sitting in her own chair. She seemed to get a little scared of the magic mirror, however, and ended up cuddling with me again before the movie even began. That was certainly fine with me! We had the fireplace going again too, despite it being a fairly warm night. I couldn't believe it, but she sat and watched the entire movie! I mean, she was even paying attention the whole time, which is quite an accomplishment for a not-even-2-year-old! She does love Snow White and got excited every time she came on the screen, but she also liked the dwarfs (but not the evil queen!) Once the movie was over, she happily went to bed clutching her Snow White shirt! Yet another wonderful evening with my wonderful little girl!!!!

Good Day!

Last night Anna had an unbelievable experience. She got to see Yo Gabba Gabba LIVE! I have been debating taking her to see it for a while now, because although she loves the show dearly, I was worried that she'd be too young to really appreciate it fully. I'm so glad that I decided she'd love it, because I was right! We took the train downtown, with Anna dressed as Foofa and Tim dressed as (gasp) DJ Lance! We walked to the theater, but Anna still didn't really know what was coming. We sat in the loge, which is the front of the balcony, and Anna was dancing happily to the pre-show music. Then when the show began, she seemed a little confused to see all her friends come to life... and then she was ecstatic! The show was very well done; there were just little snippets of plot that would center around a song, and then they would quickly move on to another theme and another song. They sung familiar, interactive songs that allowed the audience to sing along and participate, and Anna danced the WHOLE time! Even other parents commented about how she must be the happiest child at the show! It lasted about an hour, not including a 20 minute intermission, but poor little Ms. B was so sad when it ended! They released a million balloons right before the end of the first act (during Get the Sillies Out, I believe), so we were able to grab a couple and take them home. It's funny, because as they were coming down I was a little worried that none would fall by us, and no sooner did I have that thought then we got COMPLETELY covered in balloons! At the end of the show I convinced Tim we should get her a shirt, which of course she wanted to wear immediately, and then we had to take the Blue Line (the Metra didn't work out for our outbound trip). Luckily it was a nice evening, because we had a 3 mile walk! We stopped and got Jimmy Johns, so that was good, and spirits were high since Anna was still pretty excited about the show. She ended up going to bed clutching the shirt in her hands, and I'm fairly sure that her world was ROCKED! I'm really glad we took her; it was a great evening for all of us.

Pumpkins!

Last weekend was full of pumpkins and good times! The weather was just right for pumpkin and apple picking. It was chilly and felt like fall, so that put us all in the right spirit to go to the pumpkin farm! We went to Jonamac, which is where we went last year, only this time we went a little earlier in the season. There were TONS of pumpkins to choose from, many of them still growing on the vines! We took a little walk around the place first, to check it out, and then we went to go find our pumpkins. It was a tough job, since there were so many good ones to choose from. Anna helped out quite a bit, and she directed us to where the best ones were :) She also helped Grammie and Grampy pick out their pumpkins (it was 3 for $10, so we had to find 6 total!) She had a little trouble stepping over the vines safely, so she held our hands most of the time. After that she got to go for a pony ride! Grampy went with her this time, and she loved it just as much as ever. I liked how nicely it seemed the horses were cared for. After that we tried to take our picture in the giant rocking chair, but Anna didn't like it this year and started to cry. Oh well, can't with them all! We went inside to get some cider and donuts, but it turns out that Anna doesn't like cider. After that we did some apple picking, and Ms. B was able to take bites out of the apple like a big girl! She loved it too, but she always enjoys feeling like a hot shot. We ended our day with a ride on the apple train - which was just as fun as last year! On our way home we stopped by the new Chick-fil-A in Aurora. YUM!

Monday evening we carved the pumpkins, which Anna has never done before. It didn't hold her attention the whole time, but she was amused for a while with digging out the insides and picking through the seeds (that was her favorite part). She, of course, loved seeing the pumpkins turn into "guys," and even now when she sees them on the porch she exclaims, "GUY!" ... although it sounds like "die," which is a little disturbing! It's so nice having a festive house now!