Reason #1,532,874

Just another reason why we love Chicago - you don't have to even be looking to find such a treat. On this day we parked our car to have lunch and found a huge used book store!

After we filled our belly's we wanted to see if the "inside looked as good as the cover". Did you get my joke?!?! We discovered the best used book store we have ever been in...okay so we have only been in a few :) Please be sure to check out their website:

http://www.open-books.org/

Every Saturday at 11:00am they have Children's Storytime. You can expect a future blog post on this soon! Besides that they are so involved in the community - check out their calendar of events when you need a summer activity.

Lyla loves - loves books! You can imagine her delight when she had "Chamois House" all to herself. She must have brought me 20 books to read!

 Surprisingly we only left with 3 books...all of which Lyla got to pick.

I love you Chicago!

Before our bookstore discovery we had to run to Home Depot. Nothing too exciting to report - just a cute one of Lyla saying "roar" to the Bengal Tiger on her shirt.

And one of daddy being handy! This one just cracked me up - to know Michael is to know this is a hilarious sight!!

Part 1: Friday - Sunny in the 60's TO....

Part 1: Friday afterwork - Sunny and in the 60's.

Finally we had the perfect day to head to the Lake afterwork. These days are very typical when its warm outside. Daddy goes to the Driving Range while Mommy and Lyla go on a long walk along the Lake. Remember way back when when we discovered the Bird Trail?!?! I look forward to lots of new discoveries now that Lyla is walking and talking. So here we go - the adventure started with a walk to the Lake Front. 

Pointing to the birds and saying "Bird"...remember last year when Birds freaked her out - we have already come along way - YAY!!! On this day, she also said "wa-wa" (water) for the first time.

Next up - Lyla's first time touching a tree. For some reason this excited me greatly. I kept saying - WOW, Lyla it's a tree - It's amazing.

Next thing you know she is hugging the tree. The Hippie gene running through her blood - YES YES YES!! Our little tree hugger!

But it didn't stop at just a hug. What comes after a hug? A kiss, of course!!!

A friendly passerby offering to take our picture...

Next up, a new discovery right beside the driving range.

Yikes...getting a little scared at this sight -thinking to myself "I should probably stop taking pictures and start watching my child so she doesn't break her neck."

Oh dear...

Oh the joys of playing on a playground. If only I had my play gear on....Lyla watch out...mommy will be going across the monkey bars next time...pregnant and all!

So the weekend was off to a fabulous start. We headed home for dinner and March Madness...do you think Lyla was ready to eat?

Onto Saturday and Sunday....

Part 2: Saturday - SNOW in the 30's

Part 2: Saturday - SNOW and in the 30's

Ughhh - we are trapped inside - what can we do - I know play dress-up...entertaining for all! Look at daddy fixing her sleeves - haha!

Circle Time...

Spin Lyla Spin - clap clap clap...

Getting a little dizzy now...

Ut oh hat fell off...which means it's time for the fairy costume to come off too. Short lived...

Next up - a frilly skirt with hat...

Okay Lyla enough with the Peek-a-boo...keep the hat on for some Kodak moments...

Hat off...the beginning of a game...

Mom, I have had enough of this hat...

Cheese....

Oh I get it Lyla - you'll wear the hat only when I don't ask you to put it on!

And finally - ditch the hat - onto Rain boots!

LOL - trying to get the hang of them.

I will never grow tire of those thigh rolls!

Whatcha looking at Lyla??

Oh you needed the yellow crayon for your masterpiece...

Ut oh - rain boot tragedy!

Going in for the rescue....

I want out!! Snow, snow go away!!!

If I am confused by this weather - Lyla sure has to be! The poor thing wanted out so bad...

Part 3: Sunday - RAIN in the 40's

Part 3: Sunday - RAIN and in the 40's

Well at least we got out of the house. Michael kicked off the running season by running the Shamrock Shuffle Sunday morning...in the rain might I add. Lyla and I were nice enough to get up early and drop daddy off downtown - what he didn't know was I had an ulterior motive. Lyla and I were going to go to breakfast. I have to say it was kind of strange just the two of us having breakfast - a good strange - but daddy was missed for sure! We headed to our favorite neighborhood diner for some pancakes and fruit.

Grapes....or as Lyla likes to say "apes". Lyla is going to turn into a grape! She picked out every last grape and of course wouldn't touch anything else.

After breakfast, Lyla and I went home for some couch cuddling and Sesame Street and before we knew it "Daddy's Home." A cold - wet daddy that desperately needed a warm shower!!! After a long nap for Lyla and March madness for mommy and daddy it was time to entertain Lyla "indoors" again.

Time to open Lyla's new playdoh kitchen set...would she get it?? Here's your answer :)

Putting her food in the oven....

And closing the door....

Concentrating on cutting her spaghetti noodles perfectly...

At the end of this day I was pulling out all stops...what can we do now to keep Lyla entertained? Ah ha - an early Easter affair.

I love you Target $1 aisle - I love you so!

Just what we needed on this day - I new activity that held her attention as long as her crayons do :)

I stopped trying to explain that it would look better if she spread them out instead of putting them all on top of each other...it's Lyla's world!!

So proud! I didn't get a picture of her racking them all off the glass. They are now covered in cat hair and dirt and no longer stick to the glass. If you are thinking about going to Target to get some - you better get there before me cause I am going to buy the entire bin for a rainy day...pun intended.

Note to self - have a box of "go to" items for snowy/rainy days...it's very hard to keep a VERY active Toddler happy and entertained indoors!!

So that concludes our hot/sunny/snowy/rainy weekend - we survived!!