(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.

photo dump - rich stuff.

i don't know if you have noticed on my blog, but i have an 8K coming up next weekend. i am certainly ill-prepared for this but i'm gonna do it anyway. the other day i did 5.15 miles on the treadmill to see how bad it would be and it was honestly ok - but doing it on the road is going to be harder. anywho...next saturday at midnight amy and i will be running that race. gulp!

also, baby boy apple is scheduled to arrive in mid-august!!! lottie sue and i will be hopping on a plane to chicago so we can be there to welcome him to the family! i am WAY excited.

my old stomping ground

lottie is very excited to get on a plane again, and she is WAY excited to see harlan and meet baby boy. it's gonna be a great trip!

also, a mention about pool toys. IF you have a pool or frequent one you MUST buy a toypedo.


there was one in our pool at the beach and it was by far the #1 pool toy. i am ordering the red, black and white one. TRUST ME. it's the best pool toy that ever existed.

ooookkkkaaayyy...this post is really just a bunch of photos that are random and have been on the camera the past month. this is no method to the madness of this post, just a lot of stuff thrown in together.

here we have "the mustache" rehearsing his lines for our deaton the odds video.

i love fake mustaches so much, they are too much fun

see? instant fun

these were taken in the middle of june, the apples came down for a weekend. here we have harlan and lottie sue enjoying pool time in the backyard. grandmother gave us this pool and it's pretty big. lottie sue received a slide for her birthday, put the two together and it equals hours of entertainment.

up the slide, down the slide and repeat Xs 100

that was a busy weekend, kitty kat was in town and we got to see her and jj!!! i was so happy! here we have kitty kat with jj and rowdy hanging out with morning coffee.

kitty kat and family - i miss you so very much (sniff sniff)

then that friday night we attended an engagement party for shawn and marty, the future mr. and mrs. mason. look! here i am with lindsay!

my wonderful montana friend

marty and matt (with one of his goofy smiles, hahahaha)

mrs. mason and lindsay

me, katie, shawn and lindsay

katie was pregnant at the party but not anymore, little hudson was born a few weeks ago. he is doing very well!

mommy and aunt to be

let's see...this photo is of lottie sue and rowdy up at the lake one morning.

breakfast time

lottie and bb get a closer look at each other with binoculars

one saturday morning a few weeks ago my cousin melinda and family were driving through on their way to chicago. we met up at the cracker barrel, it was so great to see them! lottie sue loved seeing claire and jane!

melinda and jane (holding a planking rowdy)

lottie sue and claire (aka, "my best friend cousin") play with bubbles

rocking chair time

rowdy and melinda

and now a few more random photos...after a GNO at tabby's one night i had the pleasure of meeting up with two of my favorite new yorkers - meghan and michael!

whee!

after dinner one night we took the kiddos out for ice cream. lottie sue made a MESS but was still super cute.

nom nom nom nom

we also spent the day at the lake with the smiths recently. since there is a pool we hardly swim in the lake anymore. we used to float around in the lake ALL the time before the pool and it was so much fun.

a smooch for megan

not sure if you can see it very well, but there was a group of geese that got a little too close for comfort.

meeeeegannnnn...we gonna get you.....

since the monday after the 4th of july was a work holiday, we went over to kingston to spend the afternoon with matt's parents.

rowdyman with one of the dolls grandma made

lottie sue and her "peoples"

our buddy

here are a few shots from the hipstamatic...

rowdy and cj, the morning we left for the beach

happy boy

princess lottie

and now a few items of interest for you...

• i love this blog - letters of note. it's a blog of correspondence deserving of a wider audience. i like this one today.
• random: jeff probst married jenna fischer and hubby.
• READ THIS TOMORROW and not right now!!! as variety notes, the new york times delivered a spoiler-filled story about mad men on monday. jerks! i haven't read this though...
• npr has a list of laugh-out-loud summer books - hahahahahaha!
• npr also has a summer-tv guide for you - lots of good programs on right now for your viewing pleasure.
• here's an article with elisabeth moss, a la peggy olson.
• an interesting article on living rooms from the times.

alrighty, i'm signing off now. enjoy your sunday!

check ya later!