Des Moines Trip

Cousins Brianna, Alaina, and Alysa

Nate and I took Alaina to Des Moines for Columbus Day weekend. It was the perfect weekend to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bruck. There was no school today and Nate and I both took off work on Friday. That gave us four days to spend with family in Iowa. The last time Nate's family saw Alaina she was still crawling. They loved seeing her as a walking, talking toddler! While in Iowa we took Alaina to a pumpkin patch and the apple orchard. She absolutely loved both places! We also hung out with Nate's sister, Sarah, and Alaina's cousins, Brianna and Alysa. Such a fun weekend!

Alaina loved looking at the gourds at the Apple Orchard

She also befriended a stray cat

Mommy and Alaina at the apple orchard

We took about 10 pictures like this trying to get Alaina to look at the camera.

Alaina enjoyed sitting with the pumpkins.

Looking for the best pumpkin!

Daddy and Alaina in the hay maze.
If you can't read her shirt it says "I'm Batty for Daddy"

Grandpa showing Alaina the donkey

Alaina loved the farm animals! She was not afraid of them at all. She wanted to pet all the animals and even made some animal noises.

A cute picture of Aunt Sarah and Alaina

Five Happy Years

I can hardly believe that Nate and I have been married for five years already! Our official anniverary was on Friday, October 1st. We both worked that day so we decided to have a 'date night' in Chicago on Saturday. I bought Nate tickets for the Wrigley Field Tour for his birthday. We went together on the the tour on Saturday and then went out for a nice dinner. Our date night was a lot of fun. We haven't had too many date nights since Alaina was born. It was nice to have some time just for the two of us. We look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries together!

Cubs locker room

Press box

Beautiful Wrigley Field

First Week of Preschool

Welcome to Miss Kalli's Pre-K Class!

The door to our classroom decorated with the kids' handprints.

Today ends my first week with preschoolers. Although I started back at work at the end of August, the first day for students was September 13th. It's been a busy and tiring week! I still teach two sessions of half day pre-k with 20 children in each class. Needless to say I am pretty exhausted at the end of the day. Overall, I have great kids and I think it will be a fun year! :)

After being RIFed at the end of last year, I am very thankful to have the same job again this year. Our school district is operating much differently this year. Extreme budget cuts have had a huge impact on the Early Childhood department. Because of the budget crisis I have decided to take advantage of http://www.donorschoose.org/. This website collects donations to help teachers get the materials they need for their classroom. I currently have a project posted on this website to help my classroom get a complete Alphabet Center. Check out my project at: www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=412130. Spread the word about http://www.donorschoose.org/ to all your teacher friends.

Trip to the Apple Orchard

Alaina went on her first trip to the Apple Orchard last Sunday. We hope to make a few more trips out there before the season is over. Alaina loved looking at the farm animals and can even identify a few animals by name! Papou helped her ride a pony. We thought that Alaina might be a little scared of the pony ride, but she absolutely loved it! She was smiling and laughing the whole time. It was so cute! After the pony ride we shared a piece of apple pie and some ice cream. Ironically we did not pick any apples at the apple orchard. We'll save that for another trip. Below are a few pictures from our fun afternoon at the Edwards Apple Orchard.

Alaina kept saying "Oink, Oink" as she watched the little piglets.

Alaina is still working on learning the word 'goat'. She called all the goats Zoe.

Pony ride with Papou!

Look at that smile!

Yummy apple pie and ice cream!

Labor Day Weekend With Friends

My old roommate from college came to visit us this weekend. Jill came all the way from Kansas City. We spent the long weekend just relaxing and hanging out together. On Saturday we drove to Milwaukee and met up with our other college friend Dan and his wife Renee. The five of us went on a brewery tour and drove to a beach on Lake Michigan. It was nice spending time with friends over Labor Day weekend. Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend as well!

Kalli and Jill at the Lakefront Brewery

Jill, Kalli, Renee, Dan at Lake Michigan

Who knew Lake Michigan could be so pretty?

It's been a long time since we've been to a beach.

So nice to walk on the beach with our shoes off!

Meat Smoking Party!

Last Sunday we had a meat-smoking party. It was really just an excuse to get a lot of my teacher friends together before we start work again next week. Nate used his new smoker to make a huge beef brisket for everyone.It was a beautiful summer night, not too hot and humid like it has been the past few days. Below are a few pictures from our fun summer party.

Parker pushing Alaina in her swing. So cute.

Parker and Paul

Lots of food and friends. Perfect.

Having a snack with Papou

Table for the husbands.

Getting late, but still having fun in the backyard...

Family photo after the party.

Do you think someone looks a little sleepy in this picture?

I'm sad that summer is quickly coming to an end. I have really enjoyed my time with Alaina. I'm learning that starting the school year is so much harder when you have children of your own. Sometimes I wish I was a stay at home mom. Other times I think working full-time makes me a better mom. HA! Guess I'll never be content... Hope you enjoy these last few days of summer.

Alaina is Walking!

That's right, Alaina is walking independently! She has been walking short distances for a few weeks now- from one piece of furniture to another. She was always looking for something to grab on to. Then last week she took off walking on her own! She's a little unsteady at times, but can get around pretty well on her own. She often sticks her arms out for balance which is so cute. Alaina is such a big girl! She is 15 months old today. At her doctor's appointment this morning, she weighed 20 pounds and is 31 inches. That puts her in the 20th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. Alaina continues to be a long and lean girl!

Below is a short video to show off Alaina's walking skills. She's still a little wobbly, but she can walk pretty fast. She loves to carry things around the house when she walks.