Museum and More!

This past weekend we met my entire family (which never happens) in Chicago for my oldest nephew's 6th birthday party. We went to the Field Museum and had dinner afterward downtown. Bear and I rode back home with my parents because I had a dentist appointment and my mom wanted to spend some time with Bear. Here are some photos of our adventures!

All packed up and ready to go!

Museum attire

The drive

Chicago skyline

Teaching Bear all about evolution

By Sue's big head

Lions of Tsavo

Whole fam with Sue!

Baths with his cousin, Georgie!

Out for a stroll in Nana's neighborhood

Cruisin'

He would climb up there, get stuck, and shout at me until I got him down

My little wolf

My expert photo-editing abilities

EVERYTHING is a phone

My little ninja!

Pictures of Recently Enjoyed Things

Because it really is the little things in life..

Homemade, dairy-free, chocolate popsicles

Bloody Mary's every weekend

Cozy, yet stylish slippers- a necessity for every stay-at-home mom

This happened.

Slightly ghetto? Maybe. So fun? Absolutely

Coconut butter-making

Personally, I prefer my Ryan Reynolds shirtless, but I suppose a giant letter "A" costume will do.

Coconut milk yogurt, the lazy parent's way

Tea-Rex

And "T"-cup.. filled with coffee.

The top knot- preferred hairstyle of lazy moms (and sorority girls) everywhere

New sweats to replace my hole-y, nail polish-stained yoga pants

Adorable little silverware made from recycled milk cartons!

DIY squiggle pants and vintage sweater

How can someone in Cookie Monster slippers look so serious?

Choosing colors for our beach wedding. Paint swatches = genius

Tiny bowls of berries

Homemade oatmeal every morning. This pot was berries and cream- yum!

Vegan, gluten-free sandwiches made with chive and vegetable Tofutti, avocado, tomato, and baby kale

Giant ice cubes, perfect for booze

Leftover plate and bowl covers- perfect for a toddler who never finishes his lunch!

My brother's high chair from 1979

Baby Bear foot prints in the snow

We're actually over the snow (and lots more is coming!), but I always enjoy when it sticks to the trees

Wine gems! Because it would be a shame to water down your vino

DIY tie-dye and mustache print pants

My "new" (old) sewing machine!

And our "new" vintage bowls from my wonderful mom

Valentine's Day

We had an awesome Valentine's Day. Since my birthday is at the end of January and M's is at the beginning of February, we usually don't do much along the lines of gifts (though he did get me flowers:), but I do always like to do a little something outside of our normal routine to keep it special.

One of our favorite things to do before we had Bear was go out for fondue. We liked it so much that we bought a fondue set a few years ago when we were living in Chicago. We have since gotten sooo much use out of it, but not really as much since Bear was born, so that was our V-day plan. Due to food allergies we skipped the cheese course this time around, which was fine with me because I am always so ridiculously full after the cheese course anyway. Instead I just did the broth with different meats and seafood and then a chocolate course for dessert- yum! We saved the chocolate for after we put Bear to bed and we sat and talked (something I feel like we hardly ever get to do these days) and ate chocolate fondue together. We shared a nice bottle of wine and I was the perfect amount of tipsy. It was heavenly.

Well, we tried..

Vegan chocolate almond smoothie- because everyone deserves a little chocolate on Valentine's Day:)

My little Cupid

A couple Valentine's presents for Bear

Heart Breaker is right

Attempting a walk outside

My Valentines

Tulips from M- my fav

Fondue dinner! Steak, chicken, shrimp, and baby portabellas

Bear's first fondue experience

Dessert! To make the chocolate I used a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, a bar of 85% cacao dark chocolate, and chocolate almond milk

The freezing cold weather is driving me absolutely bonkers. I woke up to the sound of snowplows again this morning, blah. We've definitely been getting a little stir crazy, so over the weekend we took Bear to an indoor playground in town. It's free for adults and children under 2, so we figured we might as well give it a shot.

Most of the equipment they have is for older kids, but Bear still had a good time running around like crazy and watching the other kids.

Testing out the baby slide

Not so sure about the tire swing

Trampolining

Playhouse

And a few other recent pics..

Partners in crime

Window crayons! So fun!

Venturing out to the library again today..