Matthew and Sophie sitting in a tree...

We were in Portland this last weekend visiting some really good friends, Eric and Elly. I must rewind to explain this post a little better. Eric and Chris are best friends and met in dental school. Elly and I hit it off and we have been really close ever since. They are currently living in Portland while Eric completes his last 3 years of Oral Surgery school at OHSU. (He's REALLY dumb;)) Anyway, we have met each other's families and grown really close over the years. In December, Eric's dad passed away and we went to his funeral in Missoula, MT. I asked Elly if there was anything that we could do to help out and she asked if her sister, Elyssa, husband, Mike and their two daughters, Maddie and Sophie, could stay with us for the night so they didn't have to make the long drive from Seattle to Missoula all in one day. We had met them several times and of course we said it would be fine. Little did we know we would be making a love connection. They got to our house late that Friday night and Matthew was already in bed. We woke up early had breakfast and caravanned to Missoula. At the service, and at the after reception the kids played and played together. Sophie is 6 and Matthew followed her around with puppy dog eyes. When we got in the car to go back to the hotel, Matthew said "Mom, Sophie is SOOOO beautiful!" Chris and I were totally cracking up! We told Mike and Elyssa and they thought it was hilarious as well. They sent us a school picture of Sophie that is hanging on our refrigerator and we have become facebook friends. Well we decided to go see Eric and Elly this weekend for their son's 2nd birthday. All of Elly's family came down for the party and Sophie was there. Matthew was sooooo excited to see her and they just played and played again! It was really cute to see him with her and play more with the "big kids" than the 2 year old babies. I only took one picture the whole weekend and it was of Sophie picking up Matthew! Although it was a long drive, it was really fun and worth it to spend time with our friends!!! I am saving these pictures for the wedding slide show! haha

New Furniture/Wedding Cake

Wow, I got strep throat last weekend and holy crap it was TERRIBLE! I have never felt so helpless or in pain. I think it was worse than having a c-section no kidding!! Anyway I am sorry that I didn't post some pictures. I have two things to post that have absolutely nothing to do with each other but whatever! First, I got new outdoor furniture!!! I LOVE IT! We ordered it from Pottery Barn and it exceeds my expectations:) Next, I completed my first wedding cake. I was really excited about it and the bride was really pleased:) I saw a picture of her dress and I have to say the colors on the cake matched perfectly!!!! YAY!

Donuts

Frosting first!

All over the face!!

And in the hair

Ok I will admit that I am one of those moms who uses treats to keep my kids quiet at the grocery store. Most of the time the treat is in a form of a donut!! I used to make them share but then that just lead to more fights so now they get their own. Today I made them wait until we got home to eat them. It is funny how they eat them the same: frosting first and then the donut! Maggie got hers all over (even in her hair:)) So much for clean outfits!

Last Day of School:(

This was before all the rest of the kids showed up.

They were able to bring pillows too, so he brought his pillow pet!

I really can't believe how fast the school year flew by. I mean I know that Matthew was only in 3 yr old preschool 2 days a week but bam! it was over before I knew it!!! He was sad but on the last day they wore their pajamas, watched a movie and had treats:) These are just a couple of pictures. Who am I kidding anyway, I get him all to myself this summer and next year... he goes 3 days a week YIPEEEEE!

Chi Town

At the Spokane airport waiting to get on the very long flight!
At the Field's Museum with Caroline.

This is how Maggie saw the first part of Chicago!

Lake Michigan from the museum!

Sue the Trex! So awesome!

All sort of "animals" to see.

Matthew's tiger impression

Playing at the interactive kid's center

Making hats

Making musicJess and I after Fogo de Chao

The boys!

Maggie and Auntie Agatha (who came with us...invaluable!) at Buckingham fountain.

Beautiful!

The best I could do:)

Ok here are the pictures of Moto. This was our edible menu.

Some courses I honestly have no idea what it was that I ate:) The alcohol pairings were really good.

This was their version of bubble tea. Scallops in a chicken broth of some sort.

This was my absolute favorite course. A "cigar" of green wrapped pork sausage with sesame seeds to look like an actual cigar! AMAZING!

That mushroom is freeze dried mushroom soup!

This was a savory cannoli. Mexican style.

This was "carrot cake". I broke it open and it was like molten cake but carrot. Bizarre but delicious.

This was something beet with chocolate nubs.

Entertaining ourselves with Auntie Agatha's bracelet on the plane ride home!

We went to Chicago last week for the AAPD annual meeting. It was VERY fun and surprisingly an extremely kid friendly city. Maggie was a bit of a wild card and didn't fly or sleep very well but Matthew was perfect and I want to take him back so I can finish doing all the fun activities with him!!! We ate at some amazing/interesting restaurants: Fogo de Chao (http://www.fogodechao.com/), Moto, Eleven, Yolk. We went to the Field museum which was AWESOME and I really wanted to go to the aquarium but it was so busy we couldn't get in. Here are some highlights. Not as many pictures as I wanted. All of the food pictures are from the 10 course extravaganza at Moto http://www.motorestaurant.com/ . Difficult to fully describe but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity! I fully recommend to anyone kids/no kids Chicago is a must see city!!!