The Mall

Today, I dragged The Dad to the mall. I do so only once each year or so, but it's still torturous for all involved. He was pretty good this year, despite a tight turnaround for lunch before our noon studio time at Flash! (and the only reason he'll consent to go to the mall at all). I stood in line to order at Corner Bakery (pesto cavatappi split four ways among me and the kids, and a turkey panini for The Dad) while The Dad took The Tot and The Girl to run off some energy in the center treehouse. 

Our photo shoot went really well, with individual shots of The Boy (who photographs really well), The Girl (who usually doesn't), and The Tot (who also photographs well), as well as the three kids together, and some family shots. I hate how I photograph, but the point of this exercise is to capture our family on film. After we were done shooting, we ran some errands around the mall to pass the time: the Hanna store to make a return and visit a friend, the Lego store to exchange The Boy's Y-Wing Starfighter that was missing parts, and Galt Toys in an attempt to appease The Tot, who heard "Northbrook Court" and assumed, "Hobby USA next to Nickel City."

When we got back to Flash! to look over our photos and make our selections, The Tot was very upset that we weren't going for another photo shoot. The photographer (Sam) took a couple off-the-cuff shots of him just to make him happy, which I appreciated. It was past naptime and The Tot was crabby. He, and both of his siblings, fell asleep on the car ride home. 

Flashback with a Twist

With the work-holiday, today was like a flashback to November 2008 -- plus two. After staying up way too late last night to work on my first Oliver + S project, I slept in a bit this morning. Then The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, and I headed out to Aurora to visit Cara and her ever-growing brood (the plus two since last year are Kenley and Tillie).

Cara and I had an an old-fashioned mom-visit, complete with tea and toys and kids running around all over the house. The Girl and Gracie, and The Boy and Johnny started back where they left off, playing Barbies and dolls, and battlefield-stars, respectively. The Tot eventually warmed up to the toys in the living room, and was quite upset when we left around 2:30 because Tillie had to go to the pediatrician's office. 

All three kids fell asleep in the car on the way home (w00t!). When we got home, The Boy and The Tot went on the L with The Dad, while I took The Girl to the Treasure Store. We picked up Aunt Sam, who is visiting from Texas this week for the holiday, along the way.  I love the Treasure Store: this cabinet (in white) for $20, plus the usual clothing deals. The Girl drove our departure from the store, but I want to go back for the mod cabinet and about half a dozen other pieces.

We had planned to go to CBA for dinner, but discovered after we parked and paid our LAX fee that it was closed for the holiday (or maybe it closes at 3 p.m.? I can't remember a time that I went there for anything other than lunch). I was quite surprised, but most of Lincoln Park-DuPaul seemed to be buttoned up for the day, actually.  With rumbling bellies, we trekked up Armitage to Halsted to see what sort of food we could procure that would be as suitable for me, Aunt Sam, and an adventurous-but-messily-attired 4-year-old

...and ended up at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba! I've been there only once before, in 2003, for a moms' night out with our playgroup. On that occasion, we waited for 20 minutes for our reservation. Tonight, we walked in and were seated immediately. Cafe Ba Ba Reeba is definitely tapas for an American (Chicago, Lincoln Park) palate, but it suited The Girl just fine. We ordered a few pintxos, potato salad, baked goat cheese with tomato sauce, artisanal cheese plate, chicken empanada, and fried green peppers. Plus mango sorbet and caramel-almond cake. The Girl is, and always has been, a fantastic dining companion, especially outside the negative influence of her brothers. She eats everything, is willing to try almost anything, and can be entertained with a pencil and paper or people-watching. We sat just opposite the main prep bar, so we had lots to see.

Working Moms Lunch

Today, I attended the first NPN event I'd been to since before my fleeting membership expired in 2004. This time, it was a lunch for the Working Mothers Group. Embracing my new status as a working mom, and after a long time spent with the enemy in the mommy wars, I was eager to meet those women of which I had heretofore only caught passing glimpses during school events or rushing for the morning train.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much out of it. I know that networking is a process, and a reciprocal one at that. It was only my first event; I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet. But at a table full of mothers of infants, I really did not have much in common with anyone. I deliberately skipped the nursing-sleep-deprived-new-mother stage of working; except for a few months when The Boy was wee, I was at home to nurse my babies and nurture their babyhood. I have three children, the oldest of whom is already in elementary school, so I'm also largely past the school-tours-and-application-frenzy stage (not to mention past the juggling a toddler and infant stage). And I was also the only mother there who recently returned to full-time work after a long period of setting my own schedule.

I did get to have a yummy Corner Bakery lunch and spent 40 minutes listening and talking to other mothers, and I rode in a cab (twice) for the first time in recent memory, so it wasn't a total loss. I'll continue to watch the WMG events list in the coming months, but I may have to form my own working mothers lunch group.

Nickels

This morning, The Girl and I headed out to Lee Nails for a brief Mama-The Girl playdate. She got her fingernails polished ($5) from my lap, and I chatted with the D2 PTA mom and the CFC mom I knew.

Afterward, we went over to Sears to check out possible replacements for our slowly dying and terribly impractical side-by-side refrigerator (the icemaker is toast and has been since about 2003). The Dad and I currently debating the merits of SBS with icemaker in the door versus a French door or other bottom-freezer model. Why this is a debate, I'll never know, as we're both tall and leaning down to reach stuff in the bottom of the fridge is a PITA.

After The Tot's nap, we took a family outing to Nickel City in Northbrook, a favorite destination for both The Boy and The Dad. The Tot just likes putting nickels in the slots, whether he plays the game or not. I played a couple of rounds of DDR, but grew too tired after I moved out of beginner mode. We had collected 135 tickets by the time we were ready to leave, and I overruled the kids' desire to use it for tiny pieces of plastic junk they'd lose in the car and forget about by the time we got home; instead, we got a bag of M&Ms, which we split 3 ways among much crying. The Dad took the kids into Hobbytown USA, and I headed to Tuesday Morning, where I inadvertently started my Christmas shopping with a $15 Corolle doll for The Girl and German wooden train set for The Tot. We went to Panera in Glenview for dinner--and no one complained about that choice! A sweet afternoon all-around.

Vella Cafe

With The Dad and The Boy out of town with the car, I decided to take The Girl and The Tot on a little adventure on the L this morning. After a thorough read of good-for-kids brunch spots in Logan Square and Bucktown, I decided to hit Vella Cafe. To echo the Yelpers, it's hard to believe that this tiny building under the Western Avenue L stop could be so full of light, air and space, but it was. I ordered the polenta triangles for me for $8, a $3 side of scrambled eggs for The Tot, and a $4 cinnamon-sugar crepe for The Girl. Also ordered fresh-squeezed OJ ($3.50) for The Tot, fruit lemonade ($2) for The Girl, and an Olla something latte ($3) for me. With the exception of the cherry-lemonade, which was too sour for the The Girl, it was all good. The polenta-cheddar triangles were smothered in scrambled eggs, cheese, and salsa verde; yum! The Tot mostly ignored his eggies in favor of eating bits of The Girl's crepe (which she called a "grape" -- a good reminder to use the proper French for such words).

She asked me if I could make crepes at home. I told her I could, but I needed a special pan for it, and suggested we get back on the train to get to that store (Sur la Table). So we got back on the Blue Line, transferred to the Green Line (The Girl wanted to ride the Pink Line, but the green came along first), and then again to the Cubs-Fan-packed Red Line, disembarking at North & Clybourn. We headed over to Sur la Table for our $25 crepe pan (and $4 India Tree pink sanding sugar), then did a bit of impulse back-to-preschool (assuming there is PFA in the fall) shopping next door at the Carter's outlet. And then we went home the long way, transferring to the Blue Line at Jackson.

Wandering in Wicker Park

The Girl went back to camp today. I had planned to take The Boy and The Tot to Des Plaines' Choo-Choo Cafe, but after reading several Yelp reviews that panned the restaurant, I abandoned the plan. I went in a different direction to achieve the same end: a train ride and lunch.

So we took the L to Wicker Park -- The Tot was both excited and mildly freaked out by the train -- and bummed around. I completely forgot that nothing in Wicker Park really opens before 11 a.m. and it started to rain just as we exited the Damen station, so going to the playground was out. We got coffee and pastry (and cupcakes, for The Boy and The Tot) at Red Hen Bread and had just started to wander aimlessly when The Boy and I remembered that Wicker Park is the site of The Boring Store. So we trekked down Milwaukee to go to the store, but discovered that it opened even later than the rest of Wicker Park.

Back down Milwaukee to kill more time, we stopped into Urban Outfitters, one of the only stores open at the normal retail hour of 10 a.m. I tried on skinny jeans and decided they look ridiculous on someone my age. The Tot wanted to walk upstairs, so we did and looked at the tchotckes there. Then we had lunch at Penny's Noodles at The Boy's request, and went back to The Boring Store.

Midsommerfest

After our exciting morning, we headed home so that The Tot could nap. But then The Dad called to say that he was biking up to Andersonville's Midsommerfest with Uncle Fuzzy, and would we like to join him? Hmmm, no need to ask me twice. The Boy, The Girl, The Tot and I jumped in the car and managed to find parking for The Great White Moose (in a *huge* space) only 4 blocks away on Ravenswood and Catalpa.

My "I don't have enough cash" problem was solved when they told me at the door that the suggested donation of $5 was for adults only; the kids got in free. Found The Dad among the throngs of pretty boys and handsome girls along Clark Street and hung out in front of the kids' stage to see the Trinity Irish Dancers (The Girl declared that she absolutely wanted to take these classes as they passed out slips for a free trial class), dance to pop hits from Radio Disney, and listen to a band of 10 teenagers belt out 70s hits that were surprisingly good. We also went to the Alamo lot to decorate funny masks (me, The Boy, The Tot) and a cone (The Girl), and learn about a new venture called Kindercone that imports to Chicago the German tradition of giving kids' a giant paper cone filled with gifts and trinkets on their first day of 1st grade. I think I may get one for The Boy.

We also went to Big Jones for dinner (Hi Mark!). I had a fried green tomato sandwich with bacon that was divine -- the toast was crunchy, the bacon was crispy, the tomatoes were warm and soft, the lettuce was crisp and fresh. And it went really well with a warm, sunny day and a cold beer. The Big Jones' bar was serving drinks to-go, so it was really busy in there and the kids were at the end of their tolerance when we left at 5:45; I'm going back next week just for the red velvet cake.

After dinner, we walked down Clark Street a bit to the Women & Children First bookstore; they were closing very, very soon, but unlike the Chicago Public Library, they let me tell them the book I wanted (Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods) and pay for the copy they retrieved for me. We were all pretty tired and slightly dehydrated by that point, plus the crowds were too drunk and too dense to care about little kids or strollers at that point, so we left around 6:30. The Girl remarked on the way home that she had a really good time. Me, too.

Pizza Art Moms

Last night, I went out with the ladies from my playgroup for a rare treat: Moms' Night Out! We went to Pizza Art Cafe in Rockwell Crossing. Most of our original and morphed group made it for the evening. We ate pizzas, drank wine, and laughed at our waiter, who wanted us to have a spokesperson for our table to order for everyone. Um, isn't that your job? Yelpers said the same thing. I love my playgroup, and hope to see everyone more often over the summer.

CBA

Yesterday, I had a craving for a really good, but somewhat inexpensive, lunch. I also had a bunch of little errands to run at destinations within close proximity of each other, but nowhere near our neighborhood. I picked up The Girl from preschool, and we headed southeast to Lincoln Park. The Tot fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up The Girl, so I was able to run a quick in-and-out errand on the way to lunch.

We had lunch at CBA on Armitage. This is probably not a destination for anyone not immediately in the neighborhood or as a post-class lunch spot after Wiggleworms class, but the pull of The Wrigley Fielder draws me in a couple of times each year. The Girl wanted something with salami on it (she's a weird kid), so she got the E-Town Express, which she loved. The Tot commandeered half my Wrigley Fielder. Total for 2 bagel sandwiches, 2 chips and a bottle of Nantucket Nectar was about $15.

After lunch, we ran errands: Gap Kids for returns, next door to the busiest CVS I've ever seen for postage stamps, back into the car to the Carter's Outlet off Clybourn and next door to Sur la Table for Mother's Day treats. We got back home about 2 p.m. and left the TV off, making chocolate chip-M&M cookies instead.

The ballet-soccer Monday Mania wasn't as bad as it has been, although I made the mistake of walking to ARCC, over to school to watch The Boy's soccer practice, and then back home again, so The Boy and The Girl were pretty much exhausted.

Clean & Green

Although our participation in the official Clean & Green events in both Old Irving Park and Greater Independence Park was a bit of a bust, our family did manage to do a little gardening/improvement of our own today. We were hampered by the weather (on and off rain) as well as The Boy's Saturday morning soccer game, arriving at the GIPNA table too late to register or pick up trash bags. Our neighbors had come to similar fates, so we all cleaned the breezeways next to garages instead. I pulled out all the weeds, rocks, garbage and whatnot from the breezeway next to our garage, then installed our rain barrel on the alley side of the fence, leaving a good receptacle for rain runoff from the garage and giving us easy access to the spigot for gardening use when the weather dries up.

We went over to the OIPA potluck picnic about 12:30. My friend CD had asked me to have my bags available for green-minded folk, but when we arrived, the scant population was packing up to leave. So we went to lunch at Target. Despite the snags, it was a nice day.

Spring!

I love spring in Chicago. It's fickle -- 72 degrees and sunny can turn into 45 and rainy in less than 12 hours and back on its head again soon after -- but after a long winter of snow, ice, salt spray and brown-yellow grass stubble, I'll take whatever I can get!

Today, The Boy went on a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, arriving back to school just before 4 p.m. We missed gymnastics, but ran around with the rest of our crew on the Disney II playground until we were all too thirsty and too tired to continue. At which point, we walked the 1/2 block up to Smoque BBQ for some pulled pork (me), fries (The Boy), brisket (The Tot) and mac & cheese (The Girl). Yum! What's better than a spring afternoon? A spring afternoon capped off with super yummy barbeque from the celebrated (it was featured in Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) local spot.

After dinner, we returned to the playground, where I ran into Beth T. and her young'uns, letting the kids run off whatever steam they'd just built up at dinner.

My Eyes! My Eyes!

That's what The Girl was saying after Dr. Zaparackis, our pediatric ophthalmologist, put the eye dilation drops in and the irises of her eyes started to expand. Two weeks ago, when The Boy went to see the well-known Dr. Z (I ran into Christina from Tippy Toes on her way out of the office as we were entering), he put up a fight to get the drops in his eyes, but wasn't as bothered by the actual dilation. The Girl was pretty OK with the drops going in, but did not like the dilation itself and complained heartily that she could not see very well. I don't blame her. As a 33+ year eyeglasses-wearer, I've had my eyes dilated more times than I can count and the vision disturbance bothers me a lot. Fortunately, both The Girl's and The Tot's vision were pronounced fine. As was The Boy's a couple of weeks ago.

Once the dilation and exam were completed, we went across the street to have lunch at Corner Bakery. I have to thank Becky for the tip that 3 people can share a single order of Pesto Cavatappi, which is what we did, and have lunch for under $13.

Big Jones

Last night, I had the rare opportunity to go out with The Dad "on a school night." We attended a celebratory dinner for his friend, Brian, and Brian's new wife. Another pair of Brian's friends own Big Jones, a relatively new restaurant along Andersonville's north Clark strip, so they generously hosted the party of 12. Big Jones's schtick is southern coastal comfort food, but it also uses fresh, locally sourced organic ingredients. The Dad and I left the kids asleep at home with a sitter, but the restaurant has a kid-friendly menu from which my three would happily eat; I joked that they must have had me in mind when they came up with their target demographic. I had the Chicken Benne with southern greens and grits, which was really, really good -- and that's saying something as the food genre is not one that I eat often or would gravitate towards if left to my own devices. The Dad had the Tallgrass Beef Burger, which looked really good. I skipped the beer for the most part and spent most of my caloric-splurge on the Red Velvet Cake*. One of the best I've had -- delightfully moist and flavorful, with a perfectly rich and lightly tangy cream cheese frosting.

In addition to the great food, the evening was enjoyable for me because the rest of the party consisted of a cross-section of Chicagoans with whom I am not ordinarily in contact. Most people did not have children -- and if they did, the children weren't the focal point of dinner conversation. We talked about politics, the economy, the restaurant itself, obscenely rich people, the Joffrey ballet and dance education, crazy You Tube videos, Chicago Public Schools, neighborhoods, and shooting off rockets with a group of grade school kids with Mad Science.









*Red velvet cake has become a bit of a theme in my life lately, as my new friend Jenna has about 8,000 recipes for it and made some for The Girl, The Boy, The Tot and me on a recent playdate, thereby renewing my love for the red velvet cake. I've made it only a handful of times and have discovered that it is a lot of work, and it's probably best to focus on the baking that I do well and leave red velvet cake to someone with more time, more patience and more red food dye than me! Apparently, I am not the only one who is obsessed with red velvet cake; there was talk that the Trib will run a food piece on the best red velvet in Chicago. I hope Big Jones's entry makes the list.

Organic Goodies in a Tiny Spot

I have been horrible about updating this of late. It's a good thing that my readers are like me as a blog reader: sporadic.

Last Saturday at 8 a.m., I happened to look at my planner and realized that it was one of the Green City Market at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum days. The Girl and I had been talking about going to one of the indoor markets, so I managed to pack everyone up and drive us over to the museum for the market. Despite the gray, dreary, rainy day, Lincoln Park was packed. I managed to find a parking spot on Cannon Drive that wasn't too far from the entrance to the museum, but also managed to forget my produce-and-goodie-schlepping bags in The Great White Moose.

We arrived at the museum entrance, took the elevator (The Girl doesn't like the main open stairway) up to the second floor, and walked into a wall of people in the South Gallery. Unfortunately for me (and The Girl and The Tot), they were a people unaccustomed or unaware of the presence of wee ones; The Tot was quite the tripping hazard. Not much grows in the Midwest for harvest and sale in early March, so the market was a lot of potatoes and canned/prepared foods. Not that any one of our party minded! I managed to spend $30 in cash in just under 1/2 an hour -- on crepes, baked goods from Bennison's Bakery, fresh soft caramels from Floriole Bakery, Honeycrisp Apples from Hillside Orchards (I think), a plate-licking pie from Hoosier Mama Pie Co., and a $1 donation to the market itself in exchange for a cup of coffee from Blue Marble Creamery (too bad no one in my house really drinks milk). We went downstairs to eat our pastry/drink my coffee. On the way out, The Girl and The Tot joined the market's Sprouts for Kids program by trying some sprouts from a shallot plant. The Boy, who of course is the one most reticent about trying new things, did not want to participate.

It was pouring down with the rain as we were leaving the market/museum. Although The Tot and The Girl had jackets with hoods, The Boy and I were bare-headed. I had bought an umbrella at the gift shop, but it was raining too hard for us all to share it. Rather than have us all get wet (and listen to misery all the way home), I asked The Boy and The Girl to wait in the myseym entrance vestibule while I got the car. There was a Green City Market volunteer standing there and she kept an extra eye on them as well, for which I was extra thankful.

On the way home, we stopped at the 1730 Outlet on Wrightwood, which I had passed a few times previously. I was looking for stools, although I did not find any that suited my needs. If I needed modern furniture in the C&B style, this is the first place I'd look. We took a quick cruise through the Tag decor outlet, but though the prices were good and The Boy and The Girl were begging, the decorative pieces contained therein would be destroyed within 90 seconds of entering my home.

Also on the way home, we stopped at Costco. Yes, on a Saturday. Normally, I avoid that sliver of land between Clybourn and Ashland Avenues like the plague on weekends, but it wasn't too awful. Although we had to park in a remote corner of the lot, we managed to arrive at the warehouse during a break in the crowds. The Tot never wants to go in the cart anymore, so my job was made harder by tracking 3 kids in a store crowded with carts that could easily crush a small child, but we managed to make it through within a reasonable timeframe, forgetting only one item on our list. I discovered that you can pay for cafe items at the main check out lanes, so we had lunch at Costco as well. You just can't beat feeding a family of 5 for under $9.

Choo-Choo Train

It occurred to me recently that as I pass through the viaduct under the L and Kennedy Expressway every day -- even multiple times each day -- I really ought to take The Tot and/or The Girl on it and go somewhere. Today, we did.

After dropping The Boy and The Girl off at school this morning, The Tot and I rode the blue line four stops southeast to Logan Square. Unlike his older brother at a similar age, The Tot found the train to be a very curious thing -- although he much enjoyed his train-platform-view of the cars stuck in traffic on the eastbound Kennedy at 9 a.m. this morning.

It only took us about 10 minutes to get to Logan Square, so we had a lot of time to kill before our destination -- The Gap Outlet -- opened at 10 a.m. I took him into Pierre's Bakery for a cookie and some coffee. We were pretty much the only boolays in there. I ordered a cherry empanada, but they had a huge selection of traditional Mexican/Latin American pastry. I want to go back to try a concha, which a man was selecting just as I was leaving -- he said that they are great. We sat at a table near the bank of windows looking onto Milwaukee Avenue to eat our snack.

At 10, we headed up to Gap Outlet. I needed to return a sweater for The Dad; the sales assistant gave me a hard time about it, mistaking the natural flubs in the knit for dirt, missing the (still attached) tags, and claiming it had been worn. She did take it back, but said she'd "damage" it out. It wasn't damaged, but whatever. It was annoying. I did try on two pairs of jeans at the recommendation of the merchandiser who happened to be in the store today, although I didn't get either. The straight legs were too low in the waist (mama of three needs something to keep in that stretched out middle) and the flare legs were too much like the jeans I already own (for which I paid $4 at the Treasure Store).

We finished up and walked back to the L stop at Spaulding, stopping along the way at one of the miscellaneous cheap-junk/household goods shops. I got a pair of tweezers for less than $1 and a resolve to go back next time I need glass canisters for anything. Except for some large die-cast cars, the toys and baby gear were crap, but they had a decent (and cheap) selection of kitchen goods.

After we got back to our neighborhood (The Tot was the object of attention from several of our co-riders on the L), we capped off the morning with a round of swing at the playground before picking The Girl up from preschool.

Neighborhood Favorites

I took The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot with me this morning for "the usual" at Curio Cafe. It was packed. We managed to snag a table (it helps that we can cram into a 2-top), but a party of 5 that came in just after us had to wait a bit. The Tot got into a bit of a scuffle with the little boy sitting next to us; they both wanted the same activity cube. It had been the other boy's toy in a previous life and he did not want The Tot (or anyone else) to play with it. I've had more enjoyable meals at Curio, but that was more a function of taking 3 kids and the ad section of the paper to breakfast on a Sunday morning.

When I got home, Uncle Brian and the cousins came over for Football Sunday. The Tot was in heaven. He loves football. I ran a few shopping errands (Gap Outlet, Kohl's, The Home Depot) for The Dad. Then we took a family walk to the newly unveiled playground equipment at Athletic Field Park, at The Boy's request. It's quite a bit further than the playground at Independence Park, but it's quite nice. They've installed a new water feature between the original covered playground building and the basketball courts. It was obviously not working in 55-degree October weather, but I'm delighted at the prospect of sitting in the shade while The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot frolic in the spray park in front of me.

Plus, Meg and Tracy in park management are lovely people. Meg retrieved my keys from the ceramics studio for me on Friday, after I discovered I'd left them there after pottery class.

Nickels

The Dad took The Boy and The Girl to Nickel City this afternoon, leaving me and The Tot at home for some much-needed rest. I took a long nap. The Dad balanced the video games with a trip to Barnes & Noble to read, browse, and buy books. He also took them to Chili's for dinner.

An afternoon nap

Sunday afternoons in football season are usually my "day off." However, with The Girl and The Boy off to Grandma-and-Grandpa Naperville's house for the night and the mercury rising to a nearly obscene level for early October, I was not feeling up to my usual level of home improvement activity. When we returned from the Arb, I took The Tot on a walk to Home Depot for a hacksaw and white wood putty. By the time I got home at 3 p.m., I was ready for a nap. The Dad took The Tot to El Potosi for guacamole and chips (he was thoroughly unimpressed with his cheese quesadilla), while I enjoyed an exceedingly rare Sunday afternoon nap.

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

One is silver, the other gold. It's been 14 years since I've been a Girl Scout, and the GS credo is still branded in my brain. Today, I got to hang out with one of my oldest friends, Cara, and her daughter Grace. With her oldest two in school in Aurora, and The Boy in school in Chicago, we don't get to see each other as much these days. We did see each other a few weeks' ago, but parties are only good for catching up if you're not the host.

Grace and The Tot had fun eating Dunkin' Donuts munchkins and playing in the bathroom sink together for about an hour at our house before we all piled into The Great White Moose to pick The Girl up from preschool and go to lunch.

We had lunch at one of my favorite spots in the area: Curio Cafe. When we arrived, a group of (impossibly skinny for just having given birth!) moms and nursing newborns was just finishing up. It turns out that it was the monthly meeting of La Leche League of Lincoln Park. The Lincoln Park must be a misnomer, because Avondale is a long way from LP. They meet the second Friday of the month at 10 a.m. - noon at Curio Cafe. C'est tant pis pour moi; I'm long past the point of needing LLL, but perhaps it will help someone else.

Cara had the steak sandwich; I had the plato tipico and they were both very good. Both little girls had grilled cheese, sliced apples, and grape Honest Juice pouches. The Tot had the alphabet noodles with cheese, which (while good) wasn't up to par, and finished the rest of the girls' sandwiches.

After lunch, we headed southeast to hit the Treasure Store, where we both flipped the racks for cute kids' clothes. I spent far too much money and made Cara late to pick up her kids from school. She did better, scoring a pair of MiniBoden pants in size 7/8 for $2.50. The Tot, The Girl, and Grace drove us nuts by playing in the racks.

Grandma!

Grandma Naperville came to visit today. She watched The Tot and The Girl while I had an appointment, and she stuck around to play with The Boy after school. We stopped at Smoque on the walk home and picked up some BBQ brisket to go. Yum!