downtown family date

we had a great family night last friday when we took declan downtown for dinner and to his very first NBA game at conseco to see the pacers. i got tickets from work (pre-season so no one was really fighting for them) but they were fantastic seats - 12th row, center court and it was the perfect opportunity to treat our little man!

dinner at scotty's brewhouse, it was a very beautiful fall evening!






outside the fieldhouse

pre-game fun


heading down to our seats

view from our seats

he's in heaven





larry bird sighting

loving boomer the mascot

what a great time! i hope we can fit in many more special events with our little man before this baby arrives!

look who's talking

we have been very proud of how well declan is developing in his speech, he is mainly speaking in phrases now and even some sentences lately. he talks and sings nonstop at home. and he is communicating better with others around him too, with a lot of extra encouragement! in the past month i feel like his speech has exploded. here are some of the common daily phrases in the repertoire, i'm so proud!

"i want that one sarah" *this is the #1 phrase and that one refers to whatever is in his little head at that moment. i almost NEVER know what he means!
"what's daddy doin?"
"daddy at work?"
"daddy at meeting with doctors?"
"no want to go to school"
"no want a baby"
"lub you mommy"
"lub you daddy"
"put lights on the missmiss tree"
"is a ghost scary?"
"i want to wear wiggles jammies" (which we don't own and i certainly hope they don't make)
"mommy and daddy in indiana"
"come on sarah, get the cup"
"come here daddy"
"move mommy"
"get more _______ at target"

current favorite food: meatloaf and mashed potatoes

playtime obsession: playing basketball downstairs WITH simultaneous basketball on TV. we scour the 900 channels to find any basketball game, sometimes we have to settle for a wnba game or a pacers scrimmage if necessary. boring!

favorite evening routine: bath with dora bubbles, racing naked to all the windows to find the moon and stars, selecting his own pj's, stories with mommy, snuggles with daddy, taking various books/ball/trains to bed

special talent category: he recites the entire book "goodnight moon" from memory (including the author) without the physical book! we've been reading this one since he was a baby so i can't say i'm surprised! i keep trying to get this on video but it is tricky.

4 mitchell pumpkins

so this is the official announcement, we had to buy 4 pumpkins this year! declan will be a big brother in march! i am 17 weeks pregnant with #2 and feeling good. i am impatient to meet this little one already, no new mommy jitters this time! we will be finding out the gender on november 5th so stay posted for a pink or blue update soon.

visit from chicago friends

our friends rory and erin came down from chicago a few weekends ago. they brought their pups abby and fifty which was declan's favorite part of the visit! the dogs even slept on the stairs guarding his room while we were out on saturday night.

declan giggled and chased the dogs all over the backyard. he loved to throw the tennis ball for abby and she would retrieve it and come drop it at his feet. the dogs are from lincoln park so they especially loved frolicking in our ample suburban fenced-in yard...







we got a sitter and enjoyed a late night out at a new restaurant in town, napolese. unfortunately i didn't get many good photos of us adults, never do. but i did get all the boys eating brunch on sunday morning with their morning hair and glasses!



we all had so much fun, come back soon!

football + friends

we had our friends the stewarts over for the colts game the other weekend. declan and parker had lots of fun playing with the train table and parking garage and shooting hoops, typical boy stuff. and baby kate is getting so big, hard to believe she is almost 1!







they even sat still and watched the last few minutes of the game on the couch like big boys!

donut date

declan has been talking about donuts with sprinkles lately ever since reading a new curious george book where george eats donuts. so i decided we needed to have a donut date this morning, it wasn't really that hard of a decision!

don't mind the double band-aid on his wrists, there is no injury just a current band-aid phase.

fun new print, questionable message

tim and i saw this poster in the gift shop while on our vacation to the beachwalk resort back in june. we thought it would look neat in our basement which is navy and red, plus it would be a reminder of our trip. i finally got a frame and hung it this morning so here is the result. i think it looks pretty cool.

upon purchasing it, we noticed something kind of peculiar about it! can you guess?





so if you study the close-up you can see that this might be a poster depicting an "alternative" family. where is the daddy? and why does the mom look so butch? anyway, we still bought it figuring it would be a funny conversation piece, and most people don't even notice the peculiarity at first glance unless we bring it up! considering the location was such an idyllic, midwest resort built for families, it is an ironic message, "beachwalk, the way life should be"... without daddies!