Birthday in Chicago

On Oct. 29, Nora and I headed to the train station to have our night in the big city.  I had been looking forward to this day/night for a long time!  It is so special to have one on one time with my kids and it doesn't happen as often as I would like.

Excited to get on the train!

We got to Chicago around noon on Saturday.  We took a taxi (which Nora loved) from Union Station to our hotel.  After we checked in, we walked down Michigan Ave. to Water Tower Place.  Grabbed a quick lunch and then went into American Girl Place!  It was overwhelming!  We walked all over the store, looking closely at everything.  After a little while, Nora picked her doll.  She chose a "Truly Me" style with blue eyes and caramel colored hair.  I let her pick out a couple 

little accessories and we were finished.

Just hanging out on Michigan Ave!

 

Finding things to play with in the American Girl store

More store fun!

Big girl with a bigger bag!

Nora named her doll Rosie (with no help from me) and we walked back to our hotel to play with her for a while before dinner.  Dylan's Candy Bar happened to be right next to our hotel, so we stopped in there for a look :).  We decided on pizza for dinner, and when in Chicago, Giordano's is a must!  Nora loved riding in taxi cabs, so we took one to dinner and enjoyed every bite of our pizza!  (The Cubs were in town playing in the World Series, so Cubs fans were everywhere and LOUD 😒😉.  And there were a lot in Giordano's.)

Like a kid in a candy store :)

Playing with her new doll "Rosie" in our hotel room

Enjoying some delicious Giordano's

While around town during the day, we saw horse drawn carriages and Nora wanted to ride in one.  So, we literally chased one down, and when someone else beat us to it, we decided to just walk back to our hotel.  But then we turned the corner and saw them all lined up ready to go.  So, off we went on a 20 min ride around downtown Chicago.  It was so beautiful and chilly!

Nora wanted to take a carriage ride around the city...so we did!  It was so fun!

After we made it back to the hotel room, we finished a movie we had started on the train, ate some candy and snuggled in.

Snuggling with my girl in our big bed!

Candy before bed was not a good idea...crazy girl!

Sunday morning, we got up and went up to the pool to swim.  The pool was beautiful!  After swimming, and getting ready, we checked out and made it to our lunch reservation at the American Girl Cafe.  It was really fun, and Nora enjoyed all the little details.

See!  So pretty! (This is a photo from their website)

Ready to swim!

Lunch with Rosie at the American Girl Cafe.
And we even got to keep the little cup and saucer for Rosie.

Just like celebrities :)

After lunch, we had enough time to go to Shedd Aquarium for a little bit.  We enjoyed exploring all the little aquariums!  Then it was off to the train station to head home.

Waiting to go into the Shedd Aquarium 

Cloudy Chicago skyline

Last cab ride for the weekend

At Union Station ready to ride the train home

We had such a great time.  I loved spending so much quality time with Nora!!

(Also, sorry for the messed up text and pictures...I got tired of trying to figure it out.  And I needed to make dinner 😉)

Pumpkin Carving

Oct. 26
After birthday dinner, we had a great evening carving pumpkins!

Ethan- scooping out the goo

Atley wanted a try!

Nora's turn :)

Just some cute pumpkins on the porch!
Nora and Ethan designed their own pumpkins and Ethan carved most of his by himself!

Pumpkins in order... Nora, Jared, Becky, Ethan

A couple of October 26 Birthdays

Nora loves sharing her birthday with her daddy!  This year Nora turned 5!  A whole hand!  How did that happen?  She has such sweet spirit!  She knows no stranger and will talk to anyone.  She has a strong opinion about most things.  She loves life and loves people.  And I love to watch her learn new things and figure things out on her own.  5 years has definitely gone in a flash!  Happy birthday Nora girl!  We love you so so much!!  And happy birthday Jared!  You are the best husband and daddy we could ask for!

Last sleep as a 4 year old

Gifts from under the bed ;)!

One last gift was on the table! (I LOVE Ethan's face in this pic!)

She's one excited girl!!

This is what was in the box.  She and I headed to Chicago for a special birthday weekend on Oct. 29.

Birthday donut!

 After breakfast, I got to spend the morning with Nora at school.

Singing the good morning song with Callynn

Checking out pumpkin goo

Nora's classmates sang to her :)

Me and my big girl!

Birthday dinner with the birthday buddies!

"Shiplap" Projects

Jared and I have done a couple projects around our house recently.  If you haven't heard, shiplap or shiplap type walls are all over the decorating world!  So, I decided we would give it a try!  And I'm so so happy with the results.  We started with the wall behind our kitchen table.

Before

He's so good to me!

Progress!

After!! 

I love this leaded window we found!

Before and After!

After we finished the kitchen wall, I found another wall to re-make!  Our entryway wall, was next on the list!

Before 

Hardworking hubby!

Almost finished :)!

After!

I love this!! And I'm searching for the right bench to go in front. 

Salem Weekend

Oct. 22-23
We had a great weekend in Salem when we went to meet baby Burke.  Saturday night, my parent's church was having a fall festival, so we went!  The weather was amazing and we really had a fun time!

Finley, Ethan, Scout and Nora taking a hay ride!

Pumpkin painting with Atley

Nora going for another hay ride with daddy

Sunday for lunch we went out to Grandma Karen and Grandpa's to celebrate Nora and Jared's birthdays.

I love that they share a birthday!!

Everybody blows out the candles 

Grandpa brought out a 22 rifle he had gotten for Ethan (to be kept at his house).  Ethan could barely eat his lunch, he was so excited to try it out.  He hit the target every shot!

Learning how to load (it's just a single shot)

He even hit the black bullseye, and was so excited about that.

Ethan and Grandpa

Meeting Baby Burke

Oct. 22
We have a new nephew!!  Jared's brother, Dustin and wife Amanda are new parents to sweet baby Burke.  He was born on October 20, so we made a trip to Salem that weekend to meet him!  He is perfect with a ton of hair!!

He's still a baby hog!

She was pretty happy to hold him too.

We needed Dustin in the pic for the Collier boy photo

Getting my snuggle time in :) 

Atley checking him out

This was the best I got of the 4 Collier grandkids :)

Camp Out and Girls Night

Oct 15
Ethan had his first Cub Scout campout a few weekends ago.  He and Jared went and had a great time. They hiked, made up a skit, ate something made in a dutch oven, slept in a tent and I'm sure some other things :).

Jared, Ethan and a tent!

While the boys were away, we decided to have a girls night! (Zach and Nathan went too, so Liz and Nikki joined our girls night!)  Movie and then dinner!

Atley's first movie, and she did great!

Nora, Liz & Atley watching "Storks"