Legos!

Learning to open one bag at a time, then sort them into color-coded piles.
The finished product, he was so proud!

Last week, Alex spent some time with his new friend, James, who loves Legos. This inspired Alex to spend a little of his own money to buy some more Lego sets. We spent all day putting together a Lego airplane and Toy Story car. The trick now is to keep the Legos separate from Abby :) I will try to remember to get a photo of the airplane tomorrow. It was a masterpiece!

The Many Faces Of Abby

I don't know who taught Abby to make this funny face whenever we put a camera in her face, but lately, if you say "cheese", she makes this face :)

Never In Three Years...

Did Alex EVER do this!

Joliet Airport Festival

Of course there was a bounce house to try out!

"Can't we just sit in here for a minute?"

Alex and Daddy exploring the airport.

I guess "festival" is a misleading term so let's call it an open house. Joliet has a small regional airport that we were happy to go explore yesterday. While Alex could climb in the helicopter and the bounce house, he was a little disappointed that he was not permitted to climb in the small planes they had on display. They all had signs saying "Do Not Touch" on them, although a few of the owners allowed the kids to climb up and take a peek inside. This was very much a boy-dominated event but Abby and I had fun running around in the grass.

Corporate Challenge Race

On May 27 Brad and I ran with his team from work in the Corporate Challenge 3.5mi race downtown, amid 20,000 other runners from over 500 different Chicago area companies. It was on a Thursday night and took us 2.5 hours by bus to get there. Yikes! Anyway, we ran at 7:15pm and it was a BEAUTIFUL night to be in downtown Chicago. We ran together and finished at the exact same time, despite my attempts to sprint passed him into the finish line :) Luckily the ride home did not take nearly as long as the ride into town.

My Kind Of Town...

Chicago is!

Congrats Chicago Blackhawks on the Stanley Cup win! We can hear lots of celebrating outside tonight that's for sure! A mix of cheers, fireworks, and celebratory gunshots :)

Can we go to sleep now?

Finishing Out The Season

Abby, so sad that the season is ending.
Karen is out of school for the summer and was happy to come cheer for Alex!

Yay! Snack time!

5y 0m 7d

All of the Kindergartners were classified by their chronological age at the screening.

Last night was Alex's last soccer game of the spring season. I don't know if they won, or if they had a winning season for that matter, but they played well and you can really tell a difference in the kids between the fall and spring seasons. They definitely seemed more focused and a little faster this season. Alex is going to try soccer camp in a few weeks and hopefully enjoys it.

Yesterday morning Alex was screened at the elementary school for Kindergarten. He did very well and seems more excited about going to school in the fall now that he has met all of the teachers. They are all very sweet and when I asked him which was his favorite, he replied "all of them!" Then it was off for his Kindergarten physical where, despite receiving a shot, he was in good spirits and anxious to go to Portillos for lunch. His growth is sort of slowing down but he remains tall for a 5 year old.

Alex is 5!!

Posing on the back of Grandpa's motorcycle.
We invited Alex's friends to the firehouse to take a little tour around the station right before the party on Sunday. Here's Alex and Josh on the firetruck at the fire station. The firemen were very accommodating and humored all of the childrens' questions.

Alex driving the newest truck at the station.

Happy 5th Birthday Alex!

Going for a ride on his new scooter.

Alex turned 5 on Sunday but celebrated all week long with visits from Grandma Kathy, Gigi, Grandpa, Patti and Grandma Eileen throughout the week. Sunday afternoon we met Alex's friends at the fire station for a tour and then invited everyone back here for dinner and cake. He's coming down off the "birthday high" this week and we are enjoying the start to our summer. I'm trying really hard not to over schedule so that we can enjoy the free time before Kindergarten starts. While he is looking forward to Kindergarten, he has expressed some concerns about having to go to school everyday. Knowing that it is only Monday-Friday has appeased him somewhat, but when we told him he'll be in school/college for 13+ more years he just kind of rolled his eyes.