Ken was asking Daniel about his favorites tonight.

Favorite color, blue and green
Favorite animal, dinosaur
Favorite sport, basketball, and next favorite football
I thought I'd get a little ornery and throw in this question. Who's your favorite aunt, Daniel? He replied, "A Grasshopper!" Get it, aunt--ant which must translate to bug for him.

Grace has been talking about going to the sand bar that Ken's cousin, Zac, and I swam to for shells last year right near the condo in Alabama. I keep telling her she will probably be able to go when she is older and a better swimmer. She has been very upset about this. Finally yesterday when I asked why she wanted to go so badly, she answered, "because I want to get something to eat there too!" She thought it was a bar/restaurant!

Manicures!

Took the girls for a manicure yesterday. Not their first, but their first professional one. They enjoyed it. Grace wasn't so happy about the wait for others to get done. Luci loved paying for it from her own new purse. She was sad though when I told her she had to give the lady 3 extra dollars of the change for a tip. Their nails turned out great though. They have very different, but very good taste in style.


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2009.12 Beach selection (17 photos), by juli mahorney

We are spending Christmas in Alabama again. We are in a condo visiting Ken's gradparents for the 4th or 5th time in the past 6 years. The first day the kids went to the beach they loved it. I thought we were just going out for a couple pictures and I couldn't tear them away from it. Grace especially loves getting her feet wet and digging into the sand. Luci enjoys looking for shells. Daniel is still a little timid, but enjoys anyway. We're having lots of fun.

There aren't many people here at this time. The snowbirds start coming next week. So there weren't too many people to be embarrassed in front of. As you can see Grace and Luci are in basically summer clothes and it was only about 63 at best on the beach when I took these pictures. They are either crazy Chicago kids, or have the Kresl gene firmly planted in them (I remember heading to Florida doing the same thing one spring break at about the same age and every other time we vacationed near an ocean when the weather was cold by most standards. Of course then there is also their father's solo polar dive into a pool covered with a thin layer of ice in Wisconsin on New Year's)

We are also enjoying a wonderful indoor pool. The kids are at a great age for the pool. Daniel wears a floating device, but the girls can swim well in the 3 and 4 foot. We played a game where Grace and Luci raced against me to get rings from the pool. Daniel threw the rings while we closed our eyes. I kept telling him to put them closer to me (I gave the girls a head start). The last time we played we asked Daniel several times it he had thrown all the rings yet. He kept saying he had one more. What he was doing was swimming closer to me. When I finally turned around and asked what he was doing, he said, "I'm getting this one right next to you mommy." What a sweet boy.

The food is great so far. I'm gaining a pound or two a day I'm sure. Today I finally decided to burn it off at the gym. Ken joined me. We played racketball. Guess who won. And the company is divine with David, Delores, Susan and Corrine. Here are some beach pictures...




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Here are the kids on the beach. Just seeing if this works.

Love is...

your husband being sent to the store for "white" paint and refusing ivory, even though the paint guy is really not supposed to make white.

In case you forgot what they look like...

It's been a while. We've had computer and then camera and then computer and then camera problems. We lost the camera with vacation and 4th pictures :-(

But now we're back in the game, and what better time to get back in it than Halloween? This year no one could agree on a theme. Grace was not excited about a homemade outfit. She fell in love with several dresses on an after church excursion we had. I spent more than I wanted, but the outfit was complete once we left the store because we had all princess accessories at home.

Luci and Daniel still let me entertain my excitement of the homemade costume. They both wanted to be pumpkins. I was kinda' bummed at the lack of originality, but excited that they would probably be easy to do. I spent under $5 for each, had fun making them and most important-Luci and Daniel liked them. Ken's grandma designed the pumpkin tops. They looked great! No awards at the costume contest, but I saw one of the judges write down Luci's number.

Tongs=White Sox ticket holders

Ken had a very good opportunity to win White Sox tickets last night in a raffle. It's crazy cousin weekend here so Tim is here and they decided to go together to the raffle. When Grace found out the prize was White Sox tickets, she pleaded with Ken not to touch them. To protect him even more, she ran into the kitchen and grabbed some tongs and gave them to him saying, "Here Dad, if you win, use these to pick them up!"

Luckily, since Tim went with and the tickets were going to Tim, the tickets were just handed directly to Tim. Tragedy averted.

If I were a princess...

We read the book and I asked the kids what they would do if they were a princess. Luci said wear a pretty dress that was pink, Grace said feed her people (from the Prince and the Pauper Barbie movie). I asked Daniel what he would do if he were a prince. He said marry Luci. What a thrill that gave her. I asked if he would marry Grace too and he said yes, followed by sweet hugs to both of his princesses and the Queen.

ooops

I forgot to add the Navy Pier fountain pictures...

Daniel's Birthday

We had a great time in the city for Daniel's birthday. I had no time to plan a party so we had a transportation "theme" and brought it to Chicago. We started by CAR to the train station, TRAIN to the city, TROLLEY to Navy Pier, and finally BOAT (water taxi) back to the train station. We were supposed to ride the Ferris Wheel as well, but it was shut down, which was fine with me because does that really count as transportation? We replaced it with a ride on Thomas the Train and saved $24--continuing to make Dad proud (on that note I opted for the water taxi, $2-3/person as opposed to a Navy Pier speed boat trip, $15-20/person).

On our walk to the trolley we checked out the Wrigley building and others in the area. They liked touching the artifacts built into the side of the Wrigley building too, but then we had to make a rule not to touch the other buildings. It was slowing us down as we walked along Michigan Avenue. We also played in the fountains. Although the Taste was going on, we only ran into a crowd on the trolley, having to forego the first one and only Daniel and Luci had seats on the one we rode. The kids really enjoyed the water fountain that "plays" with the kids by shooting water up out of the ground randomly. They had an ice cream cone in the shade and we stopped for Giordano's Pizza before heading back home. Yesterday, Daniel said his favorite part was the boat. Today it was Thomas the Train. When you ask him about what he did for his birthday he starts counting on his fingers, "We went on a train and a boat and a trolley..." We all had a great time celebrating the 3-year-old.
Riding the train to Chicago. Luci kept the others occupied with a song and hand motions.




Michigan Avenue and outside The Wrigley Building.





The Trolley


Navy Pier




The Boat.




Pizza!




Lots of fun and silliness on the train ride home.



He was wide awake the whole trip, but couldn't make it 5 minutes back to the house! Awww.

For the rest of my life...

"Mommy, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I'm going to do whatever you say for the rest of my life! And you will only have to tell me one time."

Luci
June 23, 2009 7:38 am

I have so many other things that I should be doing, but this I had to record before I forgot.

The Best Ride

Grace woke up with pink eye. Luci had it first, passed it on to Daniel, now on to Grace. I of course was saying when Luci got it to a friend that we usually don't pass it around the family. Oh well.

Anyway, thanks to a wonderful neighbor, Grace and I were able to go for a bike ride together down my favorite path this morning. We made it all the way to the 2nd bridge which is about a mile and a half from our home. Grace likes to stop and explore along the way. I had so much fun. Hopefully there will be more.

Book Bee

A book bee is like a spelling bee except the students read books and answer questions instead of spelling words. They recieved a list of 10 books to study before the bee. Grace was excited to be involved in her school's book bee. For each question they answered correctly they received a book buck so they could go pick out books and prizes.

I might be prejudice but I'm pretty sure Grace did the best at the book bee. She knew almost every answer without prompts. She also used her book bucks to pick out a book and a prize for Luci and Daniel and then some for herself.

Also in one picture you can see the Great Mrs. Primozic. Grace thinks she is the greatest teacher, but she just wishes she wasn't a Sox fan. Luci has already stated she will not go to Mrs. Primozic's class solely on that reasoning. But really, Mrs. Primozic is a great, caring and talented teacher who is focused on teaching and learning. She is doing a great job with Grace.

Home Opener

Ken and I made it to the Cub's Home Opener this year. It was a miserable day. Cold and wet. I thought dressing for the wet would help with the cold, but my Bear's game gear would have been more appropriate. The whole time I was thinking, "This will not be worth it if they don't win." But the Cubbies came through with Lilly almost pitching a perfect game. Being able to sing, "Go Cubs Go" with all of Wrigley and seeing the "W" fly was well worth it.