Check It Out

Tyler and Courtney's ikea hack made it on the ikea hacker blog. My kitchen is famous.

Picture Purge

Tyler has started classes and we're finally able to get back into a routine. Here are some pictures we've taken in the last couple of weeks of the not-so-extraordinary moments in life.

Asher likes to play with the kitchen. He's barely tall enough to see over the counter but he seems to enjoy it all the same.

The giraffe. He's become an important part of Addilyn's world.

Another Addilyn picture...so if anyone is interested in gift ideas for Addilyn's birthday one of those kid-proof cameras might be good (and much safer for our camera).

Asher...bear coat...train.

We went to Buca di Beppo's as a pre-semester celebration. Mmm...teether.

Mmm...chicken carbonara.

Asher got himself stuck under his exersaucer the other day.

Don't worry...he managed to get himself free.

Family Photos

Today we got to do a family photo session with a seminary spouse who's trying to start up a photography business. We were so happy to help with the portfolio building and have some incredible photos to show for it. If you want to check it out, go here. Thanks so much Holly!!

Like Sister, Like Brother

...Part 5

Here is the final installment of our catch up session. This everything that's been going on since the move:

Check out Addilyn's shiner. She and Tyler went to the grocery store and she ran into a shopping cart. No one knows how she didn't see it and ran into it with her face. Apparently it was pretty awesome to watch.

Asher has started pulling himself up. He does it on our couches, on his crib, on anything he can. It's super fun. He's got the skinniest legs ever though.

Addilyn didn't want her usually pb&j the other day. We went through all the other options we could think of and she wasn't interested in anything. Finally I suggested "Ants on a Log" which is where you fill a length of celery with peanut butter and put raisins on top. Addilyn wasn't digging the idea of celery so we tried it with regular bread. We call it "Ants on Kansas." (She loves it and has had it every day this week.)

Addilyn with her spaghetti sauce beard.

While Courtney was visiting, she let Addliyn play with her digital camera. Addilyn took lots of pictures (some of which were pretty good) and enjoyed the process thoroughly. When I uploaded pictures today, I found a series of pictures like this. Thanks, Courtney.

Now you're up to date. Whew.

...Part 4: Moving and the Like

We moved. It was just across the street but the snow on the ground sure made things interesting (or messy). We started as soon as we got the keys to the new place on Wednesday (the 6th). We actually hadn't ever seen the inside of the new apartment before getting the keys. We'll take you through it as we first saw it.

The kids room. It's tiny and a little difficult to arrange with the radiator, closet and door taking up 3 out of the 4 corners in the room. That's okay though; the rest of the apartment is a vast improvement over our other place.

The living room (view #1).

The living room (view #2). Look at all those windows! Lots of pretty light during the day.

We even have an extra room they call a "covered porch." We call it Tyler's man cave. Actually we never really called it that but it definitely has been designated as Tyler's area to store stuff and work on projects.

This is a very messy living room as we were getting toward the end of the unpacking process. Tyler may still have 5 more semesters of books left but with this much shelf space I say, "Bring it on."

Our ginormous bathroom with a fullsize tub and room for two people to stand at the sink at one time!

The dining room. We've got space for our table (with a leaf or two), the bulk of the kids' toys, and all my craft stuff; it's awesome!

The kitchen.

A coffee bar (adorably arranged by the Organization Queen: Courtney).

The beautiful, spacious, glorious pantry.

The pantry even has this spot which fits all my spices perfectly.

Sunday evening, with the bulk of the moving done, we celebrated with Smore cupcakes, mochas and a movie. The cupcakes might have been a little lopsided and dented but what they lacked in beauty they made up for in deliciousness (thanks bakerella for posting this wonderful recipe just in the nick of time).

Courtney and Asher.

Thanks Courtney for all your help. You were an integral cog in this moving machine. (I bet you always wanted to be called a 'cog'.)

...Part 3

Courtney already posted about our outing in the snow but I thought I'd post a few of our pictures. If you like to see more of our walk downtown, check out her blog linked on the sidebar. The first stop was of course for coffee. Caribou Coffee was Tyler's favorite from his days in Minnesota and we recently discovered that they've started to steam real chocolate into all their drinks with chocolate. Delicious.

We were getting cold toward the end of our walk so we jogged some of the way back to the train station. Here we're running across the bridge on Michigan Avenue.

Waiting at the train station. I love this picture because it kind of looks like Tyler has four arms.

Courtney didn't have the warmest shoes and took the train ride as a chance to warm her very cold (and very wet) feet.

Train ride fun.

Train ride snack.

We promise Asher was along for the trip but he was very bundled and slept through a great deal of it.