Category: News

Not yet 4 1/2 years old and Maeve already has received her first marriage proposal. We were visiting our friends Georgia, Evan and Owen last night for a playdate and dinner. This was the exchange while we were sitting at the table together:

Evan (leaning over to Maeve): Maeve, will you marry me and grow me a baby?
Maeve (without hesitation): No way!
Georgia and I tried to stifle our smiles – she had prepared me a week or so ago that this might be coming. Evan loves his new baby brother and his friend Maeve!
Me (trying to soften the blow): Maeve, that is such a sweet offer that your friend made. It would be nice to say thank you.
Evan (strong in the face of heartbreak): It’s ok Maeve. You can think about it. It wouldn’t happen for a really long time.

He is such a sweet boy! I am left wishing that we could arrange their marriage…

We have been trying to take advantage of the Chicago museum free days – there are so many great opportunities, it’s unlikely that we will get to them all this month. But we are having fun and staying out of the cold.

Maeve and I hit the Museum of Science and Industry last week and went to the Shedd Aquarium this week. The new area with the Polar Play Zone is really neat, and the dolphin and whale show was a highlight! I had a photo that my dad took three years ago in my mind as I was snapping away on Tuesday. Please check out the Shedd reflections album in the MobileMe Gallery to see both the picture I was trying to replicate and the one I got…

We are looking forward to sharing more of our adventures with family and friends in 2011! Wishing you all health and happiness!

I love this – I saw it on a few cards this year and it really does sum up how we are feeling this year! Maeve is so much more into the holidays and that makes it more fun… She was excited to get the tree and we had a jammies day to decorate it. It might be our best tree to date. Chris did a great job on our outdoor lights too!

She still wants nothing to do with Santa Claus in person, but we’ve enjoyed watching all the Christmas specials on TV and attended her first performance of the Nutcracker. Maeve and her friend Mia did pretty well at the ballet school production and we were thankful for 2 intermissions. My first clue that she might not be entirely into it was when she leaned over 10 or so minutes in and asked, “are those kids going to talk?” All we can do is continue to help her acquire an appreciation of the arts…

We got into the spirit of the season with a festive outing to the Walnut Room with Maeve’s Nanna and Grandma, followed up by a trip to the Christkindlmarket. Downtown Chicago was bustling on a relatively mild winter afternoon – I love the energy of this city! Chris and I also attended a couple of super fun holiday parties thanks to grandparent babysitters. Then the snow came…

With the Christmas music on constant loop and the Yule Log in HD on TV, it really is beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas! Can’t wait to celebrate with our families in the Detroit area next week. We are grateful for so much this year (especially the new healthy babies in our lives) and are lucky to have had some really fun adventures near and far!

Our wishes to all for a safe and happy holiday, and all the best of what’s to come in 2011!

We are excited to be in Colorado this week for our Thanksgiving celebrations, and are so thankful for all our friends and family, our parents’ support and love, and most of all, our wonderful daughter Maeve. We look forward to seeing so many of you during this upcoming holiday season and will be thinking of you, near and far!

Maeve was a terrific traveller this weekend, and actually rather excited about our detour as we got to take a big bus to Aspen when our flight was rerouted to Grand Junction. She continues her important developmental journeys and, while some kids have a hard time with sleeping, Maeve is proving to need some extra help in the area of toileting. We are happy to have some new guidance and reassurance during what has proved to be a challenging time for her…and we know she will get through it successfully with our encouragement! Thanks to everyone who has provided recent support to us as we work on this – especially Aunt Megan, who had Maeve over for a fun playdate with Lucy last week so we could access some other resources.

We are most looking forward to riding the gondolas on Snowmass Mountain, and Maeve is having the best time eating snow and playing with Auntie Anne and Uncle Cole’s doggy, Bella. Hopefully we can get Maeve out on some skiis later this week too!

Our baby turned 4 today! We came home from our wonderfully relaxing kid-free vacation to Maui this morning to celebrate with her and some of our family. Maeve had a terrific week+ with Nanna, Grandad and Duffy, and we are enjoying a visit from Aunt Heather as well. Grandma came over from Michigan and our Chicago cousins (along with visiting Aunt Cinda and Uncle Bill) all came to party with us!

Maeve’s doing great at her new school, getting back into soccer class and will begin her art class this week. We are excited for our friend Evan’s birthday party this weekend, and she will have her annual check up next week. We are so proud of our big girl and thank you for sharing in her adventures with us!

This last bit of summer has been such a whirlwind… I thought we were busy a few months ago, but trying to cram in all the pool/beach/outside time we can while the weather has been glorious has been exhausting fun too!

Last week we headed down to Millennium Park on Monday to see Ms. Julie sing – she was our old Wiggleworms teacher. We enjoyed a word art project and the hoola hoops, and then shared a picnic with Daddy by the Bean! Tuesday we had a playdate with Maeve’s friend from Black Bear, Sisi, at a wonderful tucked away park called Adams Playlot. The girls played in the sandbox mostly, but Maeve and I went back after lunch to beat the heat at the splash pad with a slide! Wednesday was gorgeous and we enjoyed it to the fullest – we went to the Green City Market and Farm in the Zoo with Olivia, Tessa and Sarah in the morning. Then we joined Evan and Georgia at the pool in Wilmette in the afternoon! The rest of the week included some errands and prep for Mommy’s girls’ weekend, but then Maeve and Daddy had an adventure. They headed over to Saugatuck to our friends’ cottage on Saturday to enjoy the beach. Georgia took the kids to paint pottery while the daddies went fishing too. It sounded like Maeve had a great time!

This week included the following:

Monday – trip downtown on the Metra and the water taxi

Tuesday – Oak Park to Olivia’s and a new pool that had a lazy river

Wednesday – art projects at home and bouncy fun at Pump-It-Up

Thursday – Playdate with Will (friend from Black Bear) at Family Grounds Cafe and dinner with our cousins Anne & Cole, and Katie & Ben

Friday – Playdate with new neighbors Jackson and Abby

For Labor Day weekend we are off to visit cousin Nathan, Auntie Beth, Uncle Matt, and Grandma!

Well, Fall is on our minds now. Not only did the weather cool off (from 90 to 80, but still…), but we got Maeve’s schedule completely lined up for her Fall semester of school and classes. We also managed to have a bunch of fun this week too!

Monday – Sign up for art class and preschool at the Y, lunch with mommy’s friend

Tuesday – Storytime and ice cream at Brown Cow with Olivia

Wednesday – Green City Market, Lincoln Park Zoo, Centennial Pool and dinner at Evan’s

Thursday – beach and picnic with Katie, Megan and Lucy

Friday – bowling and lunch with Gwen

Saturday – birthday party for Gaby and Ben, including rides on the el and the bus

Sunday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NANNA!!! We had a wonderful outing to Lincoln Park this morning for the WTTW Fun & Run. They had many characters from our favorite PBS shows, including Cookie Monster, Elmo, Duck and Dog from Word World, Clifford, Arthur and, of course, Curious George! Maeve wanted to wait in the lines for the inflatable slides more than for the characters, and she had even more fun after we ran into our friends, the Steeves family!

Last week’s Altman Summer Camp rundown:

Monday – Breakfast with our cousins wrapping up a great visit with Kaitlyn, then Aunt Katie came with us to the Art Institute and the Whealan pool

Tuesday – Bowling and lunch playdate at our house with Evan

Wednesday – Aunt Katie joined us for the Chicago Botanic Garden to visit the trains and then the Centennial Pool with Georgia and Evan

Thursday – At the Y to play and meet Maeve’s new preschool teacher (more on this exciting development below!)

Friday – We went to the library to beat the heat

This weekend we laid low, but enjoyed the gorgeous sunshine in our yard and a family outing to the pool in Wilmette. Tomorrow we sign up for art class at Horner Park and then head over to the Irving Park YMCA to sign Maeve up for preschool there. Last week we met the teacher and saw the room – we loved both and it looks like the perfect fit! I’m excited that we now know she’ll be in school M/W/F mornings. We think her schedule is complete with soccer and art so we are going to wait on Spanish til at least the winter to make sure she settles into her new school and routine.

So I think it’s technically Week 4 of summer camp in Chicago, but with all our to-ing and fro-ing I’ve lost track. All I know is that it’s somehow already August and we have to make some preschool decisions next week and solidify Maeve’s fall schedule! We have signed up for Lil Kickers, a soccer class, with Maeve’s friend Avery from Black Bear, but the rest is currently a mystery. We intend to do preschool part-time, another art class with Ms. Cheryl, and spanish at Language Stars as well!

Here’s a recap of this past week:

Monday – Whealan Aquatic Center with Mommy

Tuesday – Bowling and playdate at Evan’s

Wednesday – Wonderworks with Olivia and Lily (Brookfield Zoo was rained out), YMCA

Thursday – Playgroup reunion with Charlie, J.T. and Reilly in Arlington Heights

Friday – Centennial Pool with Evan, park playdate with Avery

Saturday – Lily’s birthday party at River Park

Our cousin Kaitlyn is here for a visit this weekend, so we will have a fun cousins’ BBQ this afternoon with Lucy!