Weekend in Chicago in 60 words or less

Navy Pier -AKA- Tourist trap

Parking cost $24....wtf?

Stopover in Madison/Bluegrass Band/Most AMAZING ice cream ever
Max contemplating if he has enough k-nex pieces to make this.
His conclusion.....almost.

Low Point. Ed Debevick's. Three Plus Hours.

Double Decker ride into Chi-town.

What? It's not the Sears tower anymore? Lame.

Highlight. Aquarium. Max=Rock star.

The End.

A first

I know it's little, but here it is. Sadie's first real smile caught on camera.

This is for you Emily......

File this one under the because I can category.

Life on the mean streets of Maple Grove

Life on the streets of Minnesota are sometimes rough. There is never a weekend void of some sort of carnival or celebration. This weekend we lucked out with one being right in our backyard, almost. We kicked off the Maple Grove Days celebration by going to the longest po-dunk parade known to man.

What's funny is that we don't live in a small town so I was expecting a little more. Let's just say the highlight of the show was a toss up between the unicycle club and a vet clinic walking some dogs. We decided to go at the spur of the moment and I didn't come prepared. Luckily my awesome friend Esther brought bags for the loads of candy thrown at us. Tootsie Roll anyone? This parade happened two days ago and Max is still dumbfounded over the fact that Esther knew to bring bags. He keeps asking how on earth did she know to bring bags....over and over!

Today we hopped over to the community center for the business fair, carnival and art fair. The fair consisted of booths that handed out silly coupons and temporary tattoos promoting their business. It's just my luck that Max came home with a cross tattoo from a Christian Day Camp and decided to plaster is on his face....."look mom, X for Max." No big deal normally, but tomorrow he has a talk in church. Lovely.

We ended up eating dinner at Buca de Bepo thanks to one of those aforementioned coupons. It was Sadie's first sit down restaurant experience and she did amazing. I however figured out that if I ever travel to Italy it will have to be without my hubby. I think he said bopity boopity 47 times. (it's from the family guy)

On a good note, my house is looking mighty clean tonight. John is having a few buddies over for some lame UFC fight. I always like to act annoyed that he enjoys the white trash (ya, I said it) sport of UFC. Secretly I don't mind because if people come over, he will clean up the house....I'm talking vacuum and all.

The Lazy Days of Summer

Our family is bringing that cute little saying to a whole new level. Although we've enjoyed this summer season, is seems like we don't have much to show or tell about what we've been up to except a tired Mom. See what I mean?!

When Matt and Christie were here visiting we decided to go on a walk around the block that lasted for no more than 10 minutes. When we came home I was so exhausted and sweaty that I passed out without even taking the baby out of her carrier! Matt had fun taking pictures of me without my knowledge!

When my Dad visited, he snuggled with Sadie every waking hour he could....except he wasn't awake.

Max has conveniently discovered that Sadie's car seat can double as a headrest for his napping pleasure.

The other day Sadie was wrapped up and sleeping much like this. In our family we like to call it a baby burrito. Anyways, Max told us that we should use her to play the log roll game on the trampoline....her being the log of course. He cracks me up!

This is a little off topic, but hey this is my blog and I am scatter brained these days so I don't care! We had a low key 4th this year. Last year we had relatives in town, celebrated a birthday and I ran my first tri-athlon. This year wasn't quite as exciting but still nice. We had the Ferrin's over. They are transplants of AZ like us and we barbecued up some good eats. The boys were thrilled to do fireworks of our very own especially because that meant they could stay up up waaay past their bedtime. Why does that never translate into them sleeping in...ughhh! This is suppose to be a lazy summer!

Blessing Sister Sadie

My parents were in town for a long weekend visit. We did a lot of fun things while they were here, but the most memorable thing was blessing Sadie. My Mom picked out this pretty little frock and brought it all the way from the Beehive State. I think she looks like a little pioneer with that cute little bonnet. I didn't get any close ups, but my friend Julie made these adorable booties that were perfect for the occasion. Doesn't she look sweet?

As always, I was running a bit late for church. Who wouldn't be with a newborn and 9 o'clock church? Did I mention we don't have a church around every corner like out west? It takes about 15 minutes on a good day to get there. John decided to leave early to "get a good seat." I'm glad he did because even with the superior race car like skills I used that day, I pulled into the parking lot it at 8:59! I'm glad we made it just in time. John gave Sadie a beautiful blessing. It was a perfect Father's Day.

Let the Chaos Begin!

Yesterday Maxers finished preschool. They celebrated on Wednesday by holding a graduation ceremony for the class. Thanks to paternity leave, John was able to attend. The funniest part was that Max kept calling it his con-graduation.....you know, it's when you congratulate people on graduating?

I'm sure every Mom feels this way, but Max has grown and learned so much over the last year it is amazing. Gone are the days of grunting, frustration and Chewbacca sounds. (wookie speak)He now knows all of his letters and sounds and numbers up to 10. This probably might not seem impressive to most, but considering where he was a year ago I consider it a miracle!

Jackson finishes his last day of school today. He managed to talk his Dad into bringing him lunch from Chipotle. We are so grateful that John has a few days off to spend some extra time with boys....they might get neglected otherwise! Both of my boys can't wait for summer to begin. I on the other hand have a few mixed emotions. This summer is going to be crazy!!

Bring on the summer chaos!!

In other news.....

Sadie turned one week old on Wednesday. That day she received her first jewelry from her Aunt Sarah! Thanks Aunt S. How cute is that? All I know is that if she is getting jewelry when she is only one week old, we are in trouble! This is going to get expensive!

A few things....

I love, love, love her monkey toes!

She is all business, this girl knows how to look serious.

She has already mastered the Uncle Rico/ John Glenn Parrish III look.

Sadie is cute even when she yawns.

This is one sweet 4 day old!

Drum Roll Please!!!!

Introducing our sweet little thing

Sadie Meilynn Parrish

I know John filled you in on most of the details, but pics are a million times better, right?

My boys came for a visit that afternoon. They were so excited. I'm pretty sure they collaboratively said "i love you baby" at least 100 times!

Thanks again to our superstar Sister in Law Christie for making the trip out from Chicago to watch our crazy boys these past few days. I'll post more details later...for now I'm going to bed.

Baby Girl in da House

Here are the details:

• Jamie was induced around 8 am. Baby was born at 11:17 am.
• Epideral didn't take and the labor was coming fast so Jamie ended up delivering without the aid of anesthetics.
• 7 lbs. 11 oz and 21 inches long.
• Mom and Baby are doing great. No surprise that Jamie was amazing during delivery.
• We haven't settled on a name, but have narrowed it down.

I'm having trouble uploading pics right now. You'll just have to take my word that she is beautiful. Hopefully we'll have a name and pictures for you tomorrow.

-John