Jon's brother, Dan, and his wife, Courtney, life in Lake Bluff in the North Shore of Chicago, so we got to spend Monday with them in their warm apartment filled with fun reminders of their recent time living in India. They brought back all sorts of wonderful handmade clothes and presents for the whole family. Addy had fun playing with two sets of bangles bracelets that they gave her from India that probably cost 500 rupees, but my ruthless bartering brother bought for like 3 instead. He offered me 100 bucks for Addy, but was kind enough to up the offer to $1,000 when we got in the car to leave.
We celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving last week as you can see by some of our favorite presents in the pictures, below (like our new homemade Cubs blanket and Addy's hat and scarf.) Addy was very well behaved in a new house and enjoyed playing with her 9 cousins that stayed in the same farm house we did in the far west suburbs of Chicago. It was a great time of food, football and family.
After 8 long hours of plane and car rides without a nap, Addy returned home from a week in Chicago tonight. We had a great time with the McKendricks and Erbecks on Thanksgiving and also with Uncle Dan and Courtney on Monday as well. Pictures and highlights to come tomorrow night.
Addy does her best Marlon Brando impression as Don Vito in the Godfather. We didn't have the heart to tell her that he did it with an orange and not an apple.
Well it turns out Addy has Mom's Obsessive Compulsive Cleaning Disorder. Wednesday we went in to get Addy and found that she had taken all of her bedtime buddies, blankets, and pacifiers and cleaned them into a single pile in the middle of her crib. Dad's worst nightmare has been realized - two clean freaks in the house! I guess i better learn to start cleaning up after myself before my daughter has to shame me into putting my toys away when I am done with them.
Mom and Dad went out on a date night to the Fat Canany last week before Jon left for the weekend. Here is Mom showing off her fantastic outfit outside the Cheese Shop.
We are in the big bath now these days, and after about three weeks, Addy is finally starting to relax in there and play with her bath buddies, and impersonate them as she does here, pretending to be a lion. ROAR!!
Jon was in St. Louis this weekend in the wedding of his friends, Patrick and Katie Murphy. Patrick, aka Doc, worked with me at Kanakuk back in the day. Congrats to the happy couple. I will get some pics of Addy up later today when I see what Kristyn took over the weekend. Addy is currently climbing the stairs by herself, so I have to go! Addy.. no no
Addy has a new favorite toy, a pink rocking horse Kristyn found at a thrift store for 5 bucks and has since named, Jem, after the Pink haired cartoon rocker from the 80's. (See below) Flashbacks anyone? You can admit it, you watched Jem...ok, anyway, so Addy loves her new horse as you can see below.
Anyone want to guess who found out how to take the cap off a pen this week? Now we just need to teach her how to put her thoughts down on PAPER. Hey, at least she didnt draw a frown on her face, that might be a bad sign. Then again, drawing whiskers on yourself is not a sign of mental healthy either
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (a fellow WM Alumn) is regular watching here at the Ritner home (usually the reair version at 8 AM the next morning.) Thursday morning, I was stunned to see one of my classmates from William and Mary's Class of 1997 and fellow Sigma Chi pledge brother, Matt Couch, on the show during an interview segment with Daily Show correspondent Dmetri Martin. Matt works in Student Life at Ohio State, where the show was taping this week, and the segment is pretty funny, although anyone who knows Matt and his wit, knows he is doing everything he can to keep his own humor from taking over the interview. Check it out...