Delaney's Birthday

Delaney turned 5...can you believe it???  She had a great birthday party at our park district's pool with some friends from school, some friends from the neighborhood, and the Faths (Derek works with Mike).  The party at the pool flew by.  It was nice, though, because people who wanted to stay were able to.  She had a High School Musical cake.  After the party the Faths came for pizza and the Beckers (our neighbors) came down for the present opening.  Theresa took some great shots at the party and at home opening presents.  Here you go....

Delaney and Olivia

Delaney and Matthew (the boyfriend...or is it ex???)

Some of the party goers

Delaney and some presents

Izzy, Delaney, Chloe, Maddie, Michael, Samantha

Taste Pictures

The following are some pictures from our day at the Taste...  

Ear Piercing

We broke down....Delaney's been asking to have her ears pierced, and we decided that it would be a good 5th birthday present.  We talked about it being a big responsibility, how the earrings cannot be changed for a long time, how often they need to be cleaned, and that Mom and Dad get to pick out her earrings for awhile.  Even with all of these rules, she was so excited!  She picked out a pair of pink (surprise!) studs.  She held on tight to her Webkinz and chose to have them done one ear at a time (the girl said that they could do both at once, but Laney's tough).  Her first ear was no problem at all.  A little wince, but that's it.  The second ear (her left) was a different story...she screamed after it was over.  But, as soon as she was offered a sucker, she was good.  Here are some pics...

She was so proud to show all of her friends at her birthday party, at school, and at Spanish class.  She admires them in mirrors whenever she has the chance.

Taste of Chicago

Last week I took a day off work to head down to the Taste of Chicago which is held in Grant Park in Downtown Chicago. Its sad to say but it was our first visit to the city since we came back from Singapore. We all had lots of fun and tried a ton of food (see list below). We were all exhausted after our day downtown and enjoyed finally sitting down on the Metra at the end of the day. Here is a list of food we ate:

Jerk Chicken with Red Beans
Cheesecake
Pizza Bites
Cannoli
Blue Raspberry Italian Ice
Italian Fries
Toasted Cheese Ravoli
Chopped Salad
Garlic Mozz Cheese Bread
BBQ Meatballs
Stuffed Breadstick
Steak Taco
Bao
Mini Meatball Sandwich
Lemon Italian Ice
Italian Steak Sandwich
1/2 Cheeseburger
Thin Sausage Pizza
Pierogi
Tiramisu Gelato
Sesame Beef on a stick

All of these were "Taste Portions" which means they are small sample sizes. (Just in case you thought we were struggling with obesity).