Pictures from last week & a return to a college favorite

While I've been sick, my camera has gotten some much needed rest so I wanted to put up some pictures from last week. The first picture below is from Jordan's preschool field trip to Henry Vilas zoo. I found it a little harder than I thought to take pictures because Maya was not content to sit in the stroller and instead wanted to join in the line with all the other preschool kids. Poor Jordan was not feeling the best that day but did manage to enjoy looking at the animals with his buddies. Later that afternoon, Jordan had his last soccer lesson at Keva. Papa Steve, Grandma Cindee, Uncle Eric and Nate were all able to join us to watch Jordan show off some of his skills.

But unfortunately, halfway through the session, Jordan's fever came back and he asked to go home. You can really tell from the above picture that he was trying hard to put on a brave face but really he just was not feeling the best. Poor guy.

Maya loves these little troll guys that used to belong to my brother Mike. We accidentally brought one back from Shawano and she discovered it in her little bag so she had to give it a hug.

And here she is modeling the new rainbow hat my Grandma Sommer made her. I just put away all the stocking caps/mittens from the winter so I think she is happy to have a different hat that she can play dress-up with.

Maya continues to amaze me every day with her vocabulary. For those of you who don't know, Jordan was a very very late talker. He didn't say very much till about the time he turned 3. So it's just a different world having a child that talks so much as such a young age! Today she said "Ride pink bike Maya", referring to this magical pink bike she saw in a book and now wants in her possession. Her new joke is to say "Bill eat Newt.", which means that Grandpa Bill ate her Fig Newtons, which in all reality never happened. But she thinks it's hilarious. She can also spell her name and pretends to write it all the time on her Magna-doodle (she really likes practicing the M). I don't know if it's because she's the second child and therefore exposed to more talking or if it's because she is a girl and perhaps more vocal...or maybe she's just a genius. I like the last option. : )

Since my mom was here through this afternoon, I was able to meet Nate for lunch on campus. We went to our absolute favorite State Street restaurant, The Mediterranean Cafe. It is a tiny tiny place which you could almost miss if you weren't looking for it. But it's wonderful. We always split a Schwarma Plate (a lamb/beef gyro with salad, rice and hummus) with an extra side of hummus. It was so nice to be back on State Street. I spent so much time there during college but now that we live off campus, I don't get down there as often. It's funny to remember those days of when my biggest concern was what party my friends and I were going to go to that night or where we should eat for dinner. Those are good memories but I'm very content with where I am now in my life. But I do miss sleeping in till 11 AM sometimes. : ) But best of all, it was nice to have some alone time with Nate. We don't get to get out by ourselves too often anymore and it made it extra special to be visiting familiar places from our past. I mentioned to him that we have been in Madison for over 10 years and it's amazing to see how much our lives have evolved together. Thanks Nate for being a wonderful husband and the best dad our two adorable kids could ever want!