Lunch in the Park!

I'm very slowly getting caught up with blogging. I have nothing to do but I can't keep up! These pictures are from last Friday when we went to Lunch in the Park. We have gone a few times already this summer and enjoyed it. Jordan gets to play in the park, eat, and visit the ambulance, fire truck, and bookmobile. Here he is trying to play in the sand!

Chad and Jordan at our picnic spot.
Jordan with Chad's hat.
Jordan and Mommy. I'm loving this picture!
Jordan in the ambulance! I don't think he really gets what an ambulance is for. It's not very exciting inside if you ask me.

After the ambulance we went to the bookmobile and found some videos to check out. I love that Jordan likes to go look at the books there. It makes me proud!

Potty Party!!!!

I never posted pictures from Jordan's potty party! One day I just decided to try getting Jordan to go on the potty and it was going really well so the next day we had his potty party! He woke up in the morning to presents! He got a Diego toy, a potty book, and new undies! He wanted Cars and Diego underwear, and that's what he got!

All day we drank lots of juice, watched potty movies, read potty books, and went to the potty! That night we met the Garneau's at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Jordan being able to use the potty! Jordan loved running around and playing all the games with Maddy!

Papa's Back Porch!

Last week we went over to Papa's house to visit Papa and to hang out for a little bit. We all were out on their back porch. Jordan loves it there. He was looking for frogs and listening to them croak. He was having fun being goofy and playing at Papa's house.

Jordan even has his own little chair to sit on in the backporch!

Jordan was trying to touch Grandma's hair because Grandma just doesn't like people to touch her hair. It was funny to see him try and her try and stop him!
Almost!
Talking to Grandma!
Jordan and Grandma!
Mom and Jordan!

Maddy May Came to Play!

One day our friend Maddy came to play with us so her mommy and daddy could go on a date! We went to the mall and ate lunch and played at Barnes and Noble then we stopped to play at the park. Afterwards, we went back to our house and watched a movie and played with our toys!

Maddy is a kung fu master!

Jordan throwing grass on Chad! Surpise, Baby!
Maddy and Jordan loved playing tag!
Cute!
I'm up to bat!
We even did some finger painting!
Chad and Jen

Train Weekend Part Two!

On Sunday, we took the train all the way from Prairie Crossing to downtown Chicago. It was a pretty long ride, especially with all the stops, but Jordan liked it. We brought the laptop so he could watch a movie on the way. We walked towards the lake and played at a park with a fountain. Afterwards we met our friends for lunch and then ice cream!

Isn't this a cool fountain? Jordan liked putting his hand in the water!

Trying to get sprayed!
It was fun to watch the water!
The hubby looking cute, as usual!
Mom and Jordan!
Jordan and I climbed a huge hill to get a close look at this statue. The best part was running really fast down the hill! Jordan was cracking up!

Train Weekend Part One!

Two weeks ago (AH!) we rode the train on Saturday and Sunday and had a fun train weekend! On Saturday we took a short trip from Libertyville to Deerfield where we walked around the Farmer's Market, played on the playground, and shopped at Whole Foods and Barnes and Noble.

Chad and Jordan waiting for the train!

Jordan and Mommy looking at the tracks.
On the train!
Choo choo!
Jordan liked looking out the window!

Frienday and Birthday!

Where has the time gone? What have we been doing? Lots, but I haven't been blogging! I'm a slacker lately. Here's where we left off: Friday, July 10th. We had a busy day planned but it rained on us so all our plans changed. We needed to get out of the house though so we went to visit the Garneau's. Jordan love getting to play at Maddy's house. Here they are having a snack! I love how Jordan is making a crazy face and Maddy just looks so mature compared to him!

Here they are making an awesome mountain with Kathy. Doesn't it look like they are discussing something important?
A little bit closer. How cool is this thing????
After Frienday, we headed over to Silo for yuuuuumy pizza and to celebrate Jane's birthday.
Jordan liked the cake, but soooo loved the frosting even more! Can you tell?
Opening presents.
Alex and Jordan playing.
Jane and me. Happy Birthday, Jane!

Reading Magic

Most Recently Read Book:

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our children Will Change Their Lives Forever

By Mem Fox

There are some great books about reading out there and this is one of them! I love Time for Bed by Mem Fox. It is such a sweet book that's perfect for bedtime. This book focuses on her enthusiasm for reading aloud to children. Her energy jumps out of this book. I love the general no-nonsense ideas that just make reading to children seem to common sense. It totally is, but it's refreshing to just read someone say it and explain it so matter-of-factly that it just makes sense. There are some really cute cartoons, too. I am excited to share her ideas with the parents of my students. I think a parent could relate to this book. That is just one reason I enjoyed it so much. I literally read it in one day, it was just awesome. My only complaint is that I can't find her website online! It seems like it's gone! Where are you, Ms. Fox!

Love You, Papa!

Yesterday my dad had surgery (we drove all the way downtown to Rush in Chicago!) but he made it and he's home now! We are hoping he is feeling better. Poor Jordan is worried about Papa. We are thinking about you and we love you, Papa!

South Loop Chocolate Tour

Woo hoo! Last week, Chad and I were fortunate enough to be invited to go on the very first South Loop Chicago Chocolate Tour!!! We were so excited for a night out and with chocolate! Bonus! I was kind of caught up in eating chocolate, I barely took any pictures, but I do have a few!

We started at Canady Le Chocolatier, which I have to say is absolutely awesome. The owner himself was there to welcome us and talk to us about chocolate. A lot of it was over my head, but it made me completely respect him and his chocolates having heard lots about the process of making chocolate. Look at this case of chocolate! I could have eaten the whole thing! The craziest part is, we live over an hour away...but I have been back twice already since the tour! We sampled his gelato and had to go back. Have you ever heard of blood orange gelato? Well, now you have and you better go get some! This place rocks!

This is a plate of yummy chocolate concoctions from Panozzo's. We would have loved to actually eat or buy some of their Italian food...but the chocolate was great.
Here we are at Three Peas Art Lounge. This place was really cool. It's an art lounge with drinks and cupcakes. The art on display was all about motherhood which I thought was really cool. They do change their art, but I was digging the motherhood display, uh, and the cupcakes!
Here is the link for the Chicago Chocolate Tours Photo Gallery so you can see more pictures from last week! I also strongly recommend that if your headed to Chicago you see if you can go on one of the Chicago Chocolate Tours!!! They are awesome!

The Dragon's Eye

Most Recently Read Book:

The Dragon's Eye - The Dragonology Chronicles

By Dugald A. Steer

It seems like I started this book forever ago and then got stalled! I really liked this book, I just seemed to have gotten sidetracked. Today, I got back to it though and I finished it. I think young readers would really enjoy this book. Steer actually edited the book Dragonology which is more of a "nonfiction" collection of information all about dragons. From there, he wrote this series, which starts with The Dragon's Eye. I love the idea of students reading something nonfiction...or at least something that represents the style of nonfiction writing and then bridging that reading with reading fiction.

The story is about a brother and sister whose parents are off somewhere and send them to live with a friend, Dr. Drake, for the summer. Once there, they find out they are going to be attending Dr. Drake's summer school to learn about dragons. They end up thrown into an adventure to find the dragon's eye before it gets into the wrong hands.

I like the adventure in this book. When they get to ride a dragon for the first time it had me right there with them. It reminded me a little bit of Eragon, I think if a student read this book he or she would enjoy Eragon when he or she was a little older. I read online that some people suggested that Dragon's Eye reminded them of Series of Unfortunate Events. I have also read that series and I kind of see the similarities, but I have to say there are great differences as well. Yes, the children are on their own and put into the care of strangers, but these characters are put into the care of someone who genuinely cares for them and is intelligent and invested enough to responsibly take care of them. There is a bad buy who is out to get them, but this villain, also, is more intelligent (in some regards at least, ultimately, he does make mistakes that lead to his demise). This book is not as dark and depressing as Series of Unfortunate Events. I have to add, this book is a much easier read compared to Series of Unfortunate Events just thinking about language and implied meaning but I think still as engaging.

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Most Recently Read Book:

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Sexton

This was a really cool writing book. The entire book consists of pictures and little snippets of discussion about writing and ideas for what to write about in relation to the picture. The author does a great job of hitting on so many different points of writing, even some that I had never heard of. One example is "macguffin" which is actually hard to explain, but really cool! If you click the link you can see what Wikipedia says about it. I got some great ideas from this book that I can use or adapt a little bit for my students. If you are looking to use these activities with students, I think they are more appropriate for at least high school or adult writers more than for kids or young adult readers. I love the idea of using images to get ideas though! Very cool!

Swimming With Daddy

Last week I took some pictures of Jordan and Chad swimming (before the lifeguard told me cameras are not allowed in the waterpark!). Jordan will ask Chad to swim with him. It's so cute how he's asking us so many things now and holding conversations. It's really sweet. These boys have so much fun together!

Candy Girl

Most Recently Read Book:

Candy Girl

By Diablo Cody

I feel as though I haven't really been reading at all lately...although I have actually been trying to read (slowly) through all my National Boards stuff, so technically I have. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that I'll be reading less because of National Boards.

So, this was our book club book for this month. I honestly would have never picked up this book to read it had it not been for book club! This book is about a girl who decides one day that she's going to try stripping and then she likes it so she goes back to do it again until finally she is stripping full time. I have to (proudly) admit that I have never been to a strip club and I had no idea what it was all (really) about. It was interesting and I learned a lot.

This book is a memoir so it's all true. The only thing that really bothered me really was that there wasn't that much exposition that would have let us kind of get to know the author better so it was hard for me to understand who she really was. Other than that, it was a good book. Weirdly, it was a fast read, also.

Fourth of July 2009 Part 3

On Sunday, we went to the festival/carnival again! This time we went with Chad's parents and my parents, and then met the Benassi's and Castillo's there later! Jordan was excited again about the ambulances! Here he is with Grandma Sue! He could only look at at them, he couldn't go inside, but he liked it anyway.

We ate lunch at the Munch. Bubba should have just gotten an ice cream for Jordan because Jordan ended up eating all of his!
Bubba, Jordan, and Grandma Sue
Jordan got to go on more rides! Here he is in a snazzy, purple, sports car!
The train again!
I went on these spinning elephants with him, this picture just shows us inside. His face was so funny when we started spinning like crazy. It was really cute. He shouted, "Woah!"

Fourth of July 2009 Part 2

On the real Fourth of July, we went to the parade with our friends the Garneau's and the Benassi's. Here's Jordan with his cool, decorated bike!

Here are the kidlets lined up waiting for treats from the parade! Jordan is on the left in the baseball cap, Alex is in the middle with the plaid hat, and Madd is in the polka-dot dress!

After the parade, we went to the park where they had lots of cool things going on. Jordan was most excited to sit in the police car and the ambulance. He probably could have stayed all afternoon! He was pushing the siren button like crazy!
Dad and Jordan in front of the police car!
Me and Jordan in front of the back of the ambulance!
Jordan listening to the man talk about the ambulance.
It started to drizzle and Jordan was pretty tired so we headed home to take a nap!

Fourth of July 2009 Part 1

Friday before the Fourth of July we had a fun-filled day! In the morning we headed over to Lunch in the Park where Jordan got to sit in the fire truck! He was so excited! The fireman gave him a badge sticker!

He also got to go inside the Book Mobile and read a book!
After nap, we went to the carnival where Jordan got to ride some of the rides! Here is he on the bees!
I went with him on the rollercoaster!
He loved being on the train!
These were a little wild, but he liked them. The hot air balloons went up and around. Jordan is in the blue balloon, you can see his little face in the bottom, right corner.

Great America!

Last week, my brother came down with my nephews for a few days. On Monday, we went to Great America. Jordan had never been to Great American and he had a lot of fun. He loved the rides and did a great job of waiting for everyone and waiting in line. Luckily, he did take a nap, because that would have been a disaster. After his nap he was totally ready to go.

Here's Jordan on his first ride! I took him on Triple Play, which is kind of a big kid ride, but he loved it! Wile E. Coyote and Speedy Gonzalez with Jordan
Wile E. Coyote and Speedy Gonzalez with Sawyer and Wyatt
Jordan showing off his awesome tattoo!!!
Tough guy Sawyer with his tattoo!
Sawyer and Jordan watching Wyatt go on a ride with Chad since he was big enough.
Little kids' rides! These ladybugs are classic. Jordan and Sawyer!
Sawyer and Jordan again. These went up and down. I love their "cheese" faces.
Wyatt and Jordan
Silvia, Rob, and Alex came and met us at the park. Here we are watching the parade: Alex, Silvia, me, and Jordan
We bought Jordan a light up Superman cape (I got a pink Supergirl cape). We had fun running around and playing Superman the other day!
The cape is a little big so he was holding it up! We stayed to watch the parade. It was fun!

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading

Most Recently Read Book:

How to Get Your Child to Love Reading

By Esme Raji Codell

Ah! I should be sleeping but I'm blogging about this book because I just finished it and now have to talk about it. I think this one is going on my list of books to buy, too! Raising Bookworms had awesome ideas for how to read with a kiddo and it is perfect for relaying that information to families I work with, and it had lists of books...but this book is the ultimate when it comes to lists of books! I haven't seen anything like it. This book is only $18.95 so to me it is so worth buying. It has lots of ideas for reading but mostly has lists of books and then activities mixed in that you can do with our around the books. I think this book would be a great reference. I find books from other people or from online sites, but this book is so easy to refer to and just has sooooo many books.

I do have to admit that I didn't read every word in this book, I read the beginning, some things throughout out and the end, but I did turn to every single page to see what it was all about...and it's a thick book. The lists take up most of the book and there are just too many to read each and everyone, this to me would be a really useful book to refer to for book ideas depending on what you were looking for, but it definitely has everything, from baby books, to milestone books, to poetry, to history, to drawing even. It's awesome!

Sunday Funday Antics

I have blogged this week but somehow I'm still a week behind! Here are pictures from our crazy fun day last Sunday! We really packed a lot in!!!

We drove to Deerfield to play in this awesome park! It was our first time and we loved it! We are definitely becoming experts when it comes to parks!

Chad and Jordan pretending to be Spiderman!

Jordan and Mommy!

After the park we went to Cheesecake Factory to use a gift card I got from Chad's parents for my birthday. Jordan tried on my sunglasses to keep him busy....

Here's my Luau salad! This was the lunch size! It was awesome...this week I saw the Eat This, Not That guy talking about salads and how some can actually have tons of calories in them...I'm sure this wasn't the most healthy salad...but I did at least eat the veggies, right?
We went home, took a nap, and then jetted over to the waterpark!
Jordan got a little cold and we sat by the side of the pool. I don't have a picture, but we also spent a good chunk of time playing with the lockers, opening and shutting them, I tell you, it's crazy what can be entertaining to a two-year-old boy!
After the water park we went over to Grandma and Papa's house to eat pizza and hang out with Jordan's cousins! They played with trucks and trains and then played downstairs in Papa's pond. Luckily, no one fell in this time! It's so fun to see Jordan with his cousins. He likes to do what they do and is so intrigued by them, you can see him leaning over to really see what they are doing!

Raising Bookworms

Most Recently Read Book:

Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment

By Emma Walton Hamilton

This book is great! I am putting this on my list of books to buy! There were way too many pages I wanted to copy information from that I figure I have to buy this for all the great ideas. I love that this is not written by a person who is an educational researcher or even teachers reading and that it is so practical. There are lots of ideas that I would naturally do with Jordan because I am a teacher but I love that it's all laid out and that there are great examples and lists of books for different ages. Sometimes it's hard to list all the things an adult can do while reading with a kiddo or to lay it out in a sequence. This book has it all right there! I am so excited to use the ideas in this book and to share these ideas with my students' families this year.

Speaking of the author, she is actually Julie Andrews' daughter! I love Julie Andrews...now I'm gonna have to go look at some of their picture books!

What Really Matters For Struggling Readers

Most Recently Read Book:

What Really Matters For Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs

By Richard L. Allington

I have been on a reading about reading kick lately as I'm preparing for National Boards. This book seemed to reiterate a lot of what I have read recently about getting kids to just read more in general and how important that is along with getting books that are just right for them and are interesting to them as well as providing activities that get them to think about books. I liked all the facts in this book and the concrete examples. There were some parts, obviously, that were geared more towards classrooms or whole schools so they didn't relate to me as much, but it was definitely a good book.

Strawberry Festival 2009

On Saturday we headed over to Long Grove for the Strawberry Festival. Grandma and Papa picked us up and we all went together. Jordan was ready for a fun day!

At the Strawberry Festival Jordan rode a pony:
Papa ate a chocolate covered donut on a stick:
We drank Jamba Juice smoothies:
Jordan ate a hot dog for lunch:
...And ate treats from the Long Grove Confectionary!
Afterwards we drove down to Ikea for a while and then it was time to head home for a nap!

Lunch in the Park!

On Friday, we had the insane idea to ride our bikes to Libertyville's Lunch in the Park. It's about a 4 mile ride and it was a pretty hot day. Poor Chad was struggling because he had to pull Jordan in his bike trailer, but we made it. Jordan played on the playground, we ate pizza from Rosati's, we listened to music and then we made the wild ride back home.

Jordan has actually be posing for pictures lately!!! Here he is on the playground!

Dad and Jordy!
Mom and Dad