(meeting knox: TYS to ORD, lottie and harlan), angry birds & yankz this

miranda, this is for you :)

hi everyone! meet my new nephew - knox! isn't he the cutest???

9 1/2 pounds of baby boy
(the one-day old looked like a two-week old)

he was born a few weeks ago in chicagoland, lottie sue and i went up to play with harlan and to meet the newest member of our family.

here he is again - SO CUTE

ok. just a few more then i will stop.

doing what he does best: sleep

smiling because he is happy OR passing gas - you be the judge

mommy and baby did just great at the hospital. they are into week three at home and aside from being sleepy (mommy and daddy) everything is working out fine. i mostly have photos of harlan and lottie sue during our stay, i was in charge of h-dub and lottie sue while becce and mike were in charge of knox.

here is our story... so lottie sue and i packed our bags and did TYS to ORD.

lottie holding up her cinderella doll so she could see out the window

once harlan and lottie are reunited, they take off

after becce and harlan picked us up at the airport we went into the city for lunch. driving to big bowl (yummers and shout out to the linkers as bb was a stone's throw from your summer place), we passed a few places of note.

the city cat doctor - this is where ernie
and kevin became less of a man...

and then we passed our old building, great place/location - our doorman always called matt "mike" - and it always cracked me up.

i kept saying "oh lottie, mommy and daddy used
to live here! LOOK!" - she was less than amused

after lunch we made it to hinsdale village, the new residence of the apple family. i can't say enough good things about the hood. it's super cute, very family friendly and super close to the city (i think it's 21 miles from downtown - all you have to do is pop on the train and voila, you are there). here we have harlan and lottie sue running around the back yard. they kept running around yelling "WE HAVE A MISSION!" - a la little einsteins.

not sure what they are looking for

the train runs right next to their house. right next to it. this is great news for thomas-loving harlan but probably not the best news for anyone else. i didn't think it was bad at all, btw. but this is just a rented home, home to be purchased after they scout the train trackless areas out for a while.

the kids waving to a train going by

after running around we decided to get some food at dip n' dogs, a local burger place. the burgers were good but watching the teenagers there was even better. wow. i am so glad i am not a teenager anymore. but i digress... here we have harlan with ice cream after dinner.

super happy about getting sprinkles

there was a 5-year old boy running around he came over to lottie sue and said "here you go. it's a flower" while batting his eyelashes and smiling at her sheepishly. it was super cute. she was like - yeah yeah yeah. thanks. i am trying to eat my ice cream. it was her first flower from a boy, oh yeah - it was actually a weed or something but still. he thought it was a flower.

after this happened harlan ran over and picked her a weed as well. so sweet. he will not be outdone. no sir.

lottie carried the "flowers" home and played with them for a while

oh yeah, i think the apples may need a minivan - HA.

mike in the trunk to and from dinner

after baths it was sword time...

en guard

the next day becce and mike head out to the hospital.

yay! about to meet the newest baby boy!

i was going to wait until baby boy arrived and everyone was settle before i brought the kids over.

we went to the library. they tried to play a game on the computer, but couldn't figure it out so they ended up watching me play. please note that i told them it probably wasn't a good idea and that we should do something different. but no, they wouldn't listen to me.

if they could only read and follow instructions...

after the library we took up at the park. i did everything i could think of to tire them out.

i bet harlan he couldn't climb the wall 50 times

lottie sue takes a turn

double slides are awesome, i went down it
and got a static shock at the end on my end

lottie waving to a girl and hydrating

lottie bouncing

harlan bouncing

then it was time to go to the hospital and meet baby brother! we stopped in the gift shop and the kids fell in love with the motorized puppies. i am serious, they talked about them 24/7.

lottie had a girl puppy, and harlan a boy puppy

and yes, i have no "meeting knox" photos - oops. i will have to steal some from mike. i will get back to that later - sorry! lottie does refer to him as "baby knoxville" and that made everyone laugh. after we met him (it was sweet, harlan and lottie kissed and held him then got bored and wanted to watch tv) we went out for dinner at our favorite spot - you got it, dip n' dogs!

harland requested we eat at the bar inside this time

the rest of the days went like this, wake up and have breakfast...

fun times

then fill out morning with playing, we would visit becce, mike and knox at the hospital around lunchtime, then we would go back home and do an activity (movie, pool, park, etc.) and then it was naptime. then we would go back to visit the family and then back home for dinner/baths/bed.

it really was fun, lots of action-packed days. i had lots of laughs with those two crazy kids. they got along very well, don't get me wrong - they had their fights but overall it was them against me.

here we are at the pool one day

one afternoon we watched a movie, it was an ariel movie and harlan DOES NOT like the mean octopus lady. here is lottie on the couch eating her popcorn.

relaxed

and here is harlan watching the movie - from the stairs...

not relaxed

the kids and i made a trader joe's (I MISS TRADER JOE'S) run to get a few things for becce, mike and knox's return home. i let the kids pick out flowers and food (they did pretty well, they thought becce would like cookies and salads).

they really thought they were hot stuff with these carts

all things must come to an end...lottie sue and i headed home on a sunday.

TYS-bound

that's all i have for our trip, here are a few random photos of life here at the mowrer house.

i like to call these first two photos "how quickly the tide turns..."

happy

not happy

jasmine sees a dinosaur at bath time and is
smart enough to high-tail it outta there

i made this nap mat cover for rowdy out of leftover fabric
(yes - i know, super cute)

rowdyman ready to watch his first football game of the season

alrighty, i leave you with a few items of interest:

• angry birds. you will love it. it will be your new favorite iphone app. EVER. it's epic.

• now you can read most magazines on your puter, click here to sign up
• the new issue of lonny magazine is online and ready to read
• the times had a story on music and exercise, amy and jo - this is for you
• danny perasa and his wife, annie, recount their twenty-seven-year romance to storycorps. please watch, it's a great piece
  

• i have these on my my shoes, never mind the fact that my shoes will never become untied (i have this problem and yes - i double knot them so don't ask) - it makes my running shoes like slippers (big thanks to hilary!)
  

just slide em on. genius. buy some yankz!

• oh my gosh, this is so us
• here's a story on how to fly by using a camera and a ladder, if you like that then you will LOVE this blog: mila's daydreams
  
• here's a backstage look at mad men

ok, nighty nite. it's the end of the labor day weekend and we had a lot of fun...we went to a football party and then went up to the lake to see CERA. i have photos (thanks to amy!!!) to share with you this week.

i also joined a running team (no laughing) and our training starts on tuesday for a race in november. i will be writing about that saga and also and my running playlists - i am serious about them and am always looking for a song that can make the cut. anywho, blog to ya later. over & out.

matt scorsese, sharpies, flipping out, easter & lesley the buzzkill

this is out first foray into imovie, matt did most of the work while i did what i enjoy - being a critic here and there. with his creative genius and my discerning eye we have the final product. i LOVE it, it made me cry to be honest but what can i say - i love my family!

directed by matt scorsese

this past weekend the apples came down for Easter. the kids got along very well most of the time but sometimes notsomuch. the first night they decided to draw on themselves and each other with sharpies. becce and i went out to get a pedicure and came home to this...

matt and mike were babysitting, btw

here's a close-up of lottie...

matt went in to the study and found her drawing on her arms, body art

when we came home and saw them my first thought was how this was blog GOLD. it's hard to get upset when something is funny. i was truly happy they didn't draw on my precious chair, now that was honestly the first thought that ran in my head. full disclosure and all...

ever since my trip to the gymnastics place with the hussars i have been wanting more trampoline time. it is so much fun. so we took the kids on friday morning and of course had a great time. the adults played as hard as the kids, we were all pretty gross when we left. i had to take rowdy to his 6 month appointment and had to apologize for my appearance. BUT i am totally awesome, i did a front flip on the trampoline. i cannot tell you how great it felt, it has been YEARS upon YEARS since i did one. matt and mike tried to do one as well. they were very close, but no cigar. see for yourself!

flipping out

here are a few more photos from that morning...

matt digs lottie sue out of the foam pit

where's mike (a la "where's waldo")

matt got some major air on floor exercise, check out harlan running after him

mike doing a herkey on the trampoline

we have video of harland and lottie at the gym (and having a dance session at home to beyonce's "single ladies" - it's harlan's favorite song) that we'll put up for you soon. we are all about movies now. we're so hollywood.

we were lucky enough to have a visit from the gilmore family - little cj was in the house and looking as cute as a baby can. geez. seriously, he needs to modeling contract. stat.

becce with little man gilmore (and with a little BOY in her belly)

cj sleeps. a lot.

again...sleeping

after church on sunday we met family over at the crown plaza for lunch. we don't have many photos because we were managing kids but i have a this ONE of granray and rowdy.

both are super cute

lottie was eating and saw harlan in the floor so she then wants DOWN RIGHT NOW to roll around just like her cousin.

i am sure the floor was relatively clean

after lunch matt took a family portrait of the apples since everyone was dressed up and respectable looking.

matt showing mike a few shots as becce goofs off

the winning shot, i think it's so GOOD - it's going on our mantle

this is one shot of lottie sue in her dress, we didn't get a family shot due to rowdy going straight to napland once we got home. oh well, one day we will get a family shot.

little miss lottie sue picking me a bouquet of weeds

becce and mike drove harlan around campus to show him a few places from their past. mike took a shot of the rock, it's HILARIOUS.

geez, lesley - don't be such a buzzkill

i leave you with this, lottie sue participated in several easter egg hunts and had a ton of eggs filled with candy. i kept them hidden and out of reach (or so i thought) for two weeks but then i saw this...

she denied eating chocolates even when caught red-handed

i was in the kitchen and heard candy wrapper crinkling, when i went in the dining room she was under the chair on her belly with her feet kicked up about to eat her third chocolate.