Up, Up, and Away

There she goes folks, she's up, up, up!! Abby is pulling up on ANYTHING she can find and we literally spend the whole time she's awake "saving" her when she gets stuck or falls backwards. She loves climbing up on any of us, especially Alex, and then he thinks she wants to wrestle. She's definitely not a delicate little thing anymore!

U2 at Soldier Field

At Market Bar in Chicago before the show.

Walking to the show.

The spaceship stage.

An insane amount of people.

Trying to get out of the stadium with 60000-85000 of our closest friends.

Many thanks to Grandma Kathy and Gigi for manning the funny farm here while Brad and I met up with several friends from Cincinnati to see U2 at Soldier Field Saturday night. It was the kickoff to the North American leg of U2's 360 Tour. Performing beneath a massive stage dubbed "our spaceship" by Bono, U2 did not disappoint and put on an impressive show. Having never been to a Chicago Bears game, I do not know how challenging it can be to exit Soldier Field on those days, but can tell you that Saturday night we stood shoulder to shoulder with people for over an hour just to walk to the sidewalk outside the stadium. By the time we reached the car, traffic was completely cleared out though :)

Alex's First Soccer Game

There's Alex, right in the middle of the photo, getting pumped for the Shark's first game!

Here we are after the game and entering Alex favorite part of soccer--snacktime!

Grandma Kathy, Alex, and Gigi

The Cheerleader.

Alex had his first soccer game on Saturday morning and it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen! All of the kids sort of move around the field in a pack, bumping into each other, falling down, running the wrong way, coming in off the benches spontaneously to kick the ball, etc. However, after only 4 practices, they did better than we could have imagined. They seemed to understand the concept and all took turns in the various positions. Alex LOVES all the running and is learning that it is OK to try and take the ball away from the other team. We spend so much time telling him to share with his friends and NOT to take the ball away from people, that this is a real shift for him. Grandma Kathy and Gigi were in town for the weekend and were able to cheer from the sidelines! Go Sharks, Go!

First Day of 4 Year Old Preschool and Celebrity Sighting

Alex's first day of PK4

Abby's a shopping champ!

Alex always asks "Can I hold her?" and then quickly changes course with "She's all squiggly, can you take her back?"

Alex had his first day of PK4 yesterday and had a great day! His new teachers are just wonderful and it helps that he is so familiar with the school from last year. Abby and I did some grocery shopping while Alex was gone and I swear she looked over at his empty car seat at one point and said "Alla" (that's her way of saying Alex).

Abby has also started pulling herself up to standing, which is leading to many red bumps on her little forehead. Today was a memorable day for Brad as he shook hands with Rex Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil, during Mr. Tillerson's tour of the Joliet Refinery. What? No photos? Bummer.

We are gearing up for a visit from Grandma Kathy and Gigi this weekend, along with Alex's first soccer game and the U2 concert at Soldier Field. Alex had a more successful practice tonight and I think Saturday's game will be really fun to watch!

8 Months Old

On Friday, Abby turned 8 months old. She crawls like a champ, even pulls to her knees to look over the side of the bathtub! She enjoys all her baby foods and is eager to get a few teeth so she can expand her culinary horizons. She does like to suck on large chunks of bread or fruit and that helps her feel like a "big girl" at the table. Meanwhile, I have purchased stock in Cheerios :)

Visit from Grandma Eileen

Grandma Eileen is wrapping up her visit with us and we have had a fun, busy weekend together! Alex enjoyed showing off his bicycle riding skills around Settler's Park in Plainfield and Abby was perfectly content to cruise around in her buggy. We had a lovely dinner out and squeezed in some last minute back to school shopping.

Alex and I met his new teachers last Friday and he seems really excited to go back to school this week. He actually ran right up to them and gave them both big hugs (he did this when he bumped into his former teachers as well). This is not typical Alex behavior and I am really glad that he enjoys school this much! Today, Brad and I started sealing the deck and got about halfway through. We'll call it a labor of love :)

Soccer Practice

There's Alex in the gray shirt, running laps around the field.

Daydreamer.

Water break.

Here are some photos I took at Alex's soccer practice last week. The kids practice twice a week and have games once a week. They still need lots of practice, but seem to excel at the running around part! I think Alex probably spent a quarter of the practice laying in the grass staring at the clouds, another quarter taking water breaks, and the rest of the time running around. I think we have two more practices until the first game, phewwww!