Cincinnati

I'm behind. The first weekend in October we took a quick trip to Cincinnati (about 2 hours north of Louisville). So fun. Have you ever been? Well if not, I have so many pictures you'll feel like you were there with us :)

Day 1. We spent the first day at the natural history museum. (we got in for free with our Science Center Pass. whoop whoop) An old train terminal was renovated an turned into 3 museums. It was a really neat building.

Their was a cave in the museum. Molly and Gabe's favorite part. I think we went through 4 + times. There were 2 ways through one had stairs and water the other was lame, but could accommodate wheel chairs and our stroller.

The handicapped way did have look outs (notice Drew in the window)

We ate dinner at the Montgomery Inn. Drew loves their BBQ sauce. It was a neat restaurant I'd recommend it.

We spent the night at an old hotel. Not sure that I would want to stay there again. But we did have a nice view.
No one got a good nights sleep. Gabe is a mover and kept almost knocking Molly off the bed. Lincoln HATES pack and plays. All of this led to mom and dad being woken up just about every hour by calls for help. Molly told me she didn't feel well in the morning and started throwing up. YUCK. She still wanted to go to the zoo so we preceded with our original plan. Most of the zoo she just stayed in the stroller. Molly is a real trooper. She never complained and would give us the cutest little tired smile.

Day 2. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Beautiful. (1/2 price admission with our Louisville Zoo pass. sweet)

aren't these dangerous? apparently not cool demonstration though.

Minus Molly getting sick and us freezing at the zoo it was a really fun trip. (It was 10 degrees colder Saturday than we had planned for) I'm looking forward to doing it again. Maybe next time we'll hit up the Newport Aquarium.

show and tell part 2

I built my first picture frame back in November! I used some base boards that were in the rafters of the garage. I'm pretty proud of it, but don't look at it too close ;). After it was done I stapled some chicken wire to the back. It's pretty big 37in*26in.

Add a little art work and tada.
A nice addition to the kids bedroom. It's also helping to de-clutter the fridge.

show & tell

I've been casually looking for some wooden chairs to refinish for our basement. I'd like one for our computer desk, one for my sewing table and maybe a third just for good measure? Anyway I found a set at goodwill. And didn't buy them. I was kicking myself. When I went back they were gone, but I found something else.

This bad boy.

One man junk is another mans... well probably still junk, but I do love a project. :) It was in pretty rough shape and that red was so bright. But I thought this trunk was worth $11 and that it would make a cool coffee table for the basement.

My little helper who LOVES trying to eat grass. :(

Who knew apples taste even better ;)

After a few coats of paint.

I distressed the wood a bit. I didn't want it to look too perfect when the metal itself is pretty dinged up. I love that the whole thing maybe cost $25. It holds all of our throw blankets and adds a little character to the basement. I told Drew that the trunk probably has a story. Drew said yeah someone didn't want it and brought it to the thrift store... boo... I also bought two cool fence handles from Hobby Lobby to attach to the sides. They'll cover the holes where the old handles used to be. Right now they're sitting inside the trunk eventually they'll be attached.

This was a project from back in the beginning of October... And guess who found another trunk sitting on top of a dumpster yesterday? That's right this girl. Drew told me that I should be embarrassed. (The trunk I found yesterday isn't as cool. It's smaller. It's all wood. Maybe homemade, but just as ugly.) Happy painting!

happy happy birthday

Last Tuesday (13) was my birthday. I got completely spoiled and I'm a little embarrassed to blog about it.... We kicked off the night with pizza. Drew made me a clone version of DQ's ice cream cake. (I think it's the first time Drew's made me a cake. ever.) Yummy. My parents gave me a laminating machine. No more sticking two pieces of contact paper together for me. :) Suzie got me a cricut. So excited. (Any friends who have a cricut, what accessories do you have that you love?) I just bought some vinyl yesterday. I've been hinting, well telling, Drew for a while that I would love a tripod and wireless remote for my camera. I've also been talking about how I want photo shop. Drew delivered. He also got me a photo shop for dummies book, an external flash and a new camera bag to hold all my gadgets. Maybe next year our Christmas cards will feature our whole family. :) Completely spoiled. And the pictures are still on my camera...

hApPy 28!

Christmas picture photo shoot

Trying to get 3 kids to look at me and smile is like pulling teeth... Oh well we finally did get one. You'll have to check your mail box for that one ;)

Some Side Notes:
*Can you tell we have pink eye? Yuck. poor Gabe and Lincoln.
*We have no shoes on. Molly said "are you trying to freeze me to death?" The answer "YES" 60 isn't that cold...
*Lincoln turned 9 months yesterday and got his first tooth. Yay Lincoln!

Happy Thanksgiving!

a week later...

We had a great Thanksgiving. It's the first time we've been back to Chicago for Thanksgiving since we've been married. Drew went and played some tackle football in the morning with all of his old cross country buddies. I was a little worried he was going to come back injured. Luckily Drew and Ben didn't get hurt. Unfortunately, one of our high school friends didn't fare so well. He broke his check bone in 3 places. OUCH... Hopefully he has a speedy recovery. After that we went to Drew's Aunt Julie's house. It was really nice. I love Drew's family. For the first time in a long time I missed not living by family. No pictures, but a lot of good company. After spending most of the day there we went and spent a little time at my parents house. Then we went back to Drew's moms house to put some over tired kids to bed.
Lincoln my great sleeper, self soother who has always been horrified by pacifiers wouldn't sleep. aahhhhh! I'm not a girl who functions well without sleep. Poor little man couldn't breath. We took him to urgent care and then we were admitted to the hospital. Wednesday and Thursday were nice. Friday and Saturday were spent in the hospital. But through it all after the breathing treatments he was all smiles. I really can't get enough of Lincoln. We came back to Louisville Sunday morning. Lincoln is breathing fine and we are now the proud owners of a nebulizer. Hopefully we won't need it again.

Chicago's Museum of Scrience and Industry

Wednesday we went to my favorite museum with my parents. So fun. Ready for picture overload?

Gabe and Drew along with Molly and Grandpa successfully finished their submarine simulation missions.

The model train goes from Chicago to Seattle. I think Gabe and Grandpa would have stayed in this room forever.

There was a tornado simulation. Of course when we had the opportunity we had to go inside and walk through the tornado. Or you could call it a Conado like Molly. It was awesome.

There were huge petri looking dishes hanging from the ceiling filled with water. They would make different shadows on the ground from different noise vibrations. Lincoln liked crawling around after those. And because there was a tornado not too far away I wasn't worried about him getting ran over. (fyi I do carry around hand sanitizer and I did rub it all over Lincoln when he went back into the stroller. Although this activity may have contributed to him getting sick...)

look at me I'm a hamster!

Some of our favorite exhibits aren't pictured.
Gabe LOVED the coal mine. You go down a scary dark elevator into a dark room where you take a train deep into the mine. It's dark and loud; they give you demonstration of how mine equipment has worked over the years. It's a great tour and I was thrilled that Lincoln didn't make a peep.

Molly said her favorite was the babies. Disturbing and really interesting. There are babies that have been preserved at all stages of fetal development. You can see a few weeks after conception all the way to 34 weeks. Looking at this perfect looking little boy who was still born breaks my heart every time. Drew was disappointed to learn that babies really can't hear us in the womb. Molly said it was her favorite because she got to see what she looked like when she was in my tummy. She also liked the hatching chicks and the fairy castle house.

My favorite part was that we get into all the Chicago museums for free with our Louisville Science Center Museum pass. Score.