A Spooktacular Halloween

As I sit here five days before Christmas, with Home Alone playing in the background of course, I figured it's time to post about Little m's Halloween fun. And my, what fun it was. Chicago really knows how to celebrate! We attended so many great activities this year and it was absolutely adorable watching the excitement in my little gal's eyes.

Carving pumpkins at Whole Foods Market

Crafting!

PJ pumpkin carving party!

So great seeing all our toddler friends dressed up!

Last year I randomly stopped at a garage sale and found two cozy costumes for 50 cents each, hence why I bought them both. Little m chose to dress up as a spider for a party at her daddy's work and my mom's group annual Halloween lunch - both on the same day, what an exciting time that was!
For the Halloween festival at our local park plus for the real deal, Halloween night, she chose the butterfly costume. Plenty of room for a coat underneath, which sadly, was a necessity this year.

Decorating pumpkins at Wicker Park Boopalooza

Actually,  it was more like umbrellas and rain coats were a necessity this year, but thankfully after the first 20 minutes of trick or treating, the rain let up. Trick or treating was so much fun but I can't even count how many sets of stairs I walked up and down. I was one tired mama by the end of the night! Little m became a pro at saying trick or treat and she especially loved when people let her choose her own candies! My little trooper spent close to two hours trick or treating on a couple of nearby streets that go all out every year.

Happy Halloween!

My parents visited over Halloween this year, which was a lot of fun, and they brought this cool light saber with them for Little m to carry around. So cute. Little m loved helping her granny fill up treat bags to pass out. To wait the rain out we practiced playing hide and seek by hiding treats up granny's pant legs and having Little M find them. Too funny.

Counting out treats

The lead up to Halloween night was just as much fun as everything else, I must say. This year Little m painted a pumpkin and then we stuck Mrs. Potato Head eyes, mouth, and arms in it. It turned out really cute and lasted SO much longer than the pumpkins we carved.

Painting her very own pumpkin

Actually, to be honest, I will tell you that I threw our pumpkins out just a week ago after digging them out from underneath a pile of snow. Two holidays collided at our house this year as our pumpkins sat for a couple of weeks in the glow of the Christmas lights!

I can't wait to see what next year brings! 

First New Hairdo

Little m had her first haircut back in October for no other reason than the fact that I won a mother-daughter haircut and it was about to expire. I probably would have let it keep growing since the ends had the most delicious curls, but I must admit that it does look a bit tamer, especially on the days where I remember to brush it :)

Watching Diego kept her totally occupied and I'm not sure she even realized what was happening! Oh my big girl, it did not phase her one bit. She is just the cutest.

Good Reads Lately

This year one of my 36 in 365 goals was to read 25 books from my goodreads list. I'm happy to say I've blown this one out of the water and am already on my 30th book with two months still left in the year. And only one of them did I have to listen to on double speed in order to finish in time for my book club meeting! Some are newer and some are older but hopefully this list of my favourites will help you find a book that you can't put down, because isn't that just the best? All of the summaries and images are copied from goodreads.com.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol...

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Meet the Cooke family. Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke. As a child, she never stopped talking; as a young woman, she has wrapped herself in silence: the silence of intentional forgetting, of protective cover. Something happened, something so awful she has buried it in the recesses of her mind...

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
When Kimberly Chang and her mother emigrate from Hong Kong to Brooklyn squalor, she quickly begins a secret double life: exceptional schoolgirl during the day, Chinatown sweatshop worked int he evenings. Disguising the more difficult truths of her life like the staggering degree of her poverty, the weight of her family's future resting on he shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy who shares none of her talent or ambition. Kimberly learns to constantly translate not just her language but herself back and forth between the worlds she straddles...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist names Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten...


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

In nineteenth-century China, in a remote Hunan county, a girl named Lily, at the tender age of seven, is paired with a laotong, "old same," in an emotional match that will last a lifetime. The laotong, Snow Flower, introduces herself by sending Lily a silk fan on which she's painted a poem in nu shu, a unique language that Chinese women created in order to communicate in secret, away from the influence of men. As the years pass, Lily and Snow Flower send messages on fans, compose stories on handkerchiefs, reaching out of isolation to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments...

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school - until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?...

Have you read any of these titles? If not, give one a try and let me know how you like it! 

A Day at the Orchard

I have such fond memories of apple picking during the fall season as a child. We were fortunate to have a big orchard minutes from our house growing up. Here in Chicago, the closest orchards are an hour away, which isn't horrible, but it takes a bit more planning that a five minute drive. A few weekends ago, we packed the car up and headed out to County Line Orchard in Indiana. We got there right for opening at 9am and I'm glad we did because it just got busier and busier throughout the day. 

First up, was the children's farm. Little m is obsessed with animals and she basically ran around like a maniac saying, "More anmals! Real anmals!" This girl has no fear and is more than happy to feed and pet anything that will get close enough to her. 

Next up we took the "Moo Choo" tractor ride around the farm and orchard. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with the two of us. As we passed the orchard, Little m just kept pointing in amazement that apples were actually growing from trees! 

Next up, we hopped onto the tractor to hitch a ride to the corn maze. It was a very exciting ride for the little one!

The pumpkin patch came later, and I was reminded how difficult it is to get a good picture of an active toddler! Here is her pained "cheese" expression!

And finally, apple picking! We ended up with 13 pounds of a variety of apples, plus our fair share of taste testing while picking. I think Little m ate her weight!

And after a busy morning, we ended with a picnic lunch where we fought off the bees while eating pb&j plus delicious (still warm!) pumpkin and apple donuts from the orchard's bakery. So good.

Finally, I was able to capture a real smile and I think it shows how much she enjoyed our day at the orchard. This will definitely become a yearly tradition! 

Eleven Years in the Making

In the past few years of having this blog I've talked about M's exam writing only a handful of times. In reality, these exams have consumed our lives for the last eleven years. ELEVEN! And I say "our" lives lightly. Of course I am affected by them (especially after having a child and having to be a single parent) but I'm not the one who has to write them, so really, I have no idea.

But I do think it's important to document this painful! experience because in a few years, the memories will be distant.

Since I've known M he's been writing two exams a year, an April sitting and a November sitting, with many online modules and assignments thrown in just for extra fun. Each exam required four months of preparation and hundreds of hours of studying. It was pretty much impossible to make weekend plans. Easter holiday was missed every year. Stress stress stress. Tears and heartbreak at bad results. Feelings of failure, inadequacy, and questioning - is it really worth it?  Heavy hearted celebration at good results, knowing that studying for the next exam would begin too soon. Not being able to fully relax during the two months it took for results to come out. Thousands of dollars spent on exam fees and books. Anxiety and dreams about bugs in the middle of the night. People comparing these exams to a CPA or CMA - just don't. And still, even after reading this, not fully comprehending this long process unless you've lived it.

Anyway, all of that is over now.
On July 12, we found out M passed his very last exam. It was the second happiest day of my life! Usually I am overly eager to check the website for results but this year I just couldn't make myself do it. M signed up to receive a text message, which he received at the 18th hole of a golf game he was playing. A minute later he texted me "OMG!". Instant tears and then it was party time.

We were at a family cottage during this time and when M got home from his golf game, everyone stood in the doorway, giving him a round of applause and hooting and hollering. Haha, it was quite funny, but even now, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

I'm so unbelievable proud of my husband for his determination and hard work! And so happy not to have to share him anymore.

Good riddance. 

Fall Bucket List

This is the first October in many years that M hasn't had to study for an exam. I am thrilled! I love all of the fun fall activities and it's so much better experiencing them as a family as opposed to just me and my gal. I have a love of lists so it made sense to create a "Fall Bucket List".

It makes me happy every time I open my cupboard door and see the list. It's also nice to have ideas readily available for weekends or days that I'm not working, plus it gets us out of the house, which is the only way to keep my little one out of trouble.

And doesn't it feel great being able to check things off a list? We're not far into fall and we can already check off hay ride! It was a hay ride through the city streets, but still a hay ride, right?

What's on your must-do list for this season?

Ice Cream Social

It's been a month and a half since Little m turned two but I can't not document the big day! Horror of all horrors! Last year, for her first birthday, I hosted a rainbow themed party at my parents' house back in Canada. It was so much fun, but this year I really wanted to do something in Chicago that included all of her little friends. And obviously, I know this party was more for me than for Little m, but after having a child (and with the invention of Pinterest), party planning has turned enjoyable for me.

Me and the birthday girl!

I wanted something simple, so chose an "Ice Cream Social" theme. It was not simple. Not at all. Actually, planning was simple, but the execution was not. I arrived home the day before the party after a week away in Washington D.C., and had to clean the house, shop for groceries, prepare everything, etc. all the night before and morning of. Thank goodness I had major major help from my parents, or I probably would have spontaneously combusted. My mother-in-law also assisted with some food prep, which was nice. M didn't arrive home until the day of the party, so I couldn't even load him up with jobs. Anyway, everything turned out well - if you enjoy being surrounded by screaming toddlers, that is. 

Let's get to it. 

The party was at 3:30pm, so I served finger foods that I thought both adults and kids would like: tons of veggies and dip, cheese and crackers, grapes, cherries, and heart shaped watermelon pieces, tortilla chips with chicken salsa dip from Treasure Island grocery store (to die for), and the ever favourite crowd pleaser - bacon wrapped water chestnuts. 

I spent WAY too much time and effort filling water balloons and freezing them to create ice cubes and it was an utter Pinterest fail. Water balloons are so thin that they break easily if touched by anything, including juice boxes! It wasn't a big deal since the ice was already frozen but I will not be attempting that again. 

For dessert I bought a ton of ice cream and frozen yogurt, all types of cones and waffle bowls, plus all the fixings for ice cream sundaes. I cannot find the equivalent to a Bulk Barn in Chicago, so I had my mom pick up a lot of the toppings, which included: blueberries, raspberries, mini marshmallows, gummi bears, chopped up oreos, reece's pieces, homemade brownie crumbles, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, chocolate sprinkles, and maraschino cherries to top it all off. We had lots of leftovers, which I was not too upset over ;).

Instead of a more traditional goodie bag, I sent the kids home with a rice krispie treat in the shape of a sundae, inside of a chocolate sprinkled waffle cone. It turned out less cute than the example I saw on Pinterest, but such is life. 

This little monkey pretended to be so bashful during the birthday song, but we all know she was enjoying every moment.

And now just for fun, let's compare 1st birthday to 2nd. Look at that hair growth! 

I think the ice cream was a hit! It was the only time during the party that I could hear myself think over the noise of 12 children :)

Exactly 15 minutes after dessert, the sugar high hit and Little m was spinning circles in the middle of the room. Hilarious. 

Oh, this girl. I just love her to pieces. 

Thank you to all of our friends and family from near and far who came or sent their best wishes for Little m. We had a great day.