Minnesota Zoo

We were able to go to the zoo again. Thanks to the library's free passes, my friend, Darci and I were able to go with our boys. We had a great time with them. Thanks Darci, I think we did pretty good for being outnumbered 3:2.

Jensen and Ladd in the wolf lair.

Jensen really loves fish. They had this great aquarium with a guy feeding the fish and sharks. He really liked it.

Here's Jensen and Ladd's view of the flamingos.

Here's everyone else's view of the flamingos.

Easter

Reed - We had a great Easter Sunday. Allie bought Jensen some treats and we received candy and other presents from Allie's parents and mine.

Unfortunately, Jensen is getting a sweet tooth like his dad. This cotton candy wasn't that great but since it has sugar he chowed it down.

We invited our friends from church, the Chrysler's, over for dinner. Allie made some great fettuccine alfredo and their daughter made cupcakes. It made for a nice afternoon. Here are Kade and Jensen enjoying their Easter spoils. I think Jensen had more candy today than he has eaten in his entire life.

The Easter bunny hid eggs in the park near our house. He didn't do a great job....since there weren't many great spots.

Allie bought this little suit for Jensen a few weeks ago. I know I'm biased but this is pretty dang cute. He is definitely turning into a little boy. He's still only knows a few words but he's getting pretty good at tantrums like a toddler.

Here's another pic of him in his little suit. We had to put up as many of these with the suit on here as possible. He's all ready for GQ Magazine with this pic.

This is what Jensen's basket looked like before he came out. There is some stuff in here for me and a bag of Allie's favorite: Cadbury Mini-Eggs. If you see some at the store, please send as many as you can since we are working on our mini-eggs stockpile for the year.
He was so excited about the eggs. Allie put Cheerios in a few of them so he was able to open and eat the contents of a few eggs before church.

Too many treats for all of us.

Isabella Vettori's Blessing

This is our new little niece, Isabella. It's still really crazy for me to think that my little brother, Leo has a baby, and he's a father. Today they blessed little Isabella, and I hear Leo did a fantastic job. We were so sad that we couldn't be there. But we love you guys and miss you like crazy. And can't wait to hold and just squeeze my first little Vettori niece. I still it's not fair that she got a lot of dark brown hair. She probably has more hair than Jensen has now.

St. Patty's in Chicago

We were able to spend St. Patrick's Day in Chicago for Reed's spring break. We drove down (which wasn't too bad at all) and stayed at my friend Missy's house in Chicago. Unfortunately they weren't there, but we were still able to get a lot of fun things in the 4 days we were there.

We saw them dye the Chicago River on Saturday. It was quite an event. There were so many people and the day was really nice. We had a great time.


I was told that they dump gallons of orange dye in the river. Kind of weird, but the river is not exactly the cleanest thing you've ever seen. So I guess that's what works.


And Jensen would not sit still. He just wanted to run around and play.

This is the "bean" on Millenium Park. You can see skyline of the whole city looking at it. Unfortunately the person taking the picture thought our feet were more important than the really cool artistic bean.

We were also able to go to Lake Michigan. We went all along Lake Shore, which has a great jogging trail, and was just beautiful. And the weather was awesome 50-60's. Compared to Minnesota weather this was definitely a warm spring break.

We ate at some of the best restaurants ever. This was at Portillos that has the infamous Chicago hot dog and Italian beef. We also ate at Gino's East of Chicago that had incredible Chicago deep dish pizza. The cook it with the cheese on bottom and put the sauce on top.
And the crust is just to die for. We also ate at Twin Anchor which is famous for it's ribs. I'm not a huge rib person, but these were pretty dang good. This was also said to be Frank Sinatra's favorite place to eat.

We also went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a beautiful day and Jensen just loved to get out and run around. The animals were ok too.

We thought while we were in Illinois we should go a few hours south of Chicago and visit some of my family in Normal (that's right I said Normal).

Here's my beautiful Aunt Noeli with Jensen. He just loved her right away.

Sarah is my only cousin on both sides that is my age. When we lived in Illinois, she and I were very close. She's the closest thing I had to a sister.

We were able to be there for Zoe's 5th birthday (Sarah's little girl). She is just too cute for words.

Jesse, Zoe and Reed trying to entertain Jensen. I don't know that he's loving this.

Zoe's a little poser. I just had to put this picture in hear. Check out that form and pose. She's even got the head tilt down.

Jensen with Uncle Paul reading a book.

The Vettori's in Normal.

This is the house that we lived in here in Normal. We loved living here so close to family. We miss you guys and can't wait till you come visit us in MN.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE!!!

This is Reed. I just wanted to wish Allie a very Happy Birthday. I can't believe I'm married to such an incredible woman. I'm looking forward to many more birthdays and I hope that each one is even better than the last!

Allie is the best mom. Jensen just lights up every time he sees her. This morning I walked him into our bedroom and he got so excited. When he saw her he started smiling and laughing and then ran over to her. Jensen and I are so lucky to have such a great person like Allie in our lives. We appreciate all that you do for us even though we don't say it enough....Jensen has an excuse...I don't.

Jensen and I made this card for Allie. His contribution was tearing off the letters and trying to eat them which helps add his own little signature to it.

We love you so much and are so thankful for all that you do for us. Have a great day!

ECFE

This is where Jensen and I have been every Friday for the last 10 weeks. Early Childhood and Family Education is what that stands for. They have a great program here in Minnesota for pre pre-school kids. I got the referral from our friend Darci. It gives us an excuse to get out of the house and Jensen gets to play with other little kids his age.

Here we are at snack time. He looks like such a big boy.

We have a singing time. Which all the parents look really silly, but the kids really like it.

Jensen really loves coming here every Friday and I've had a pretty good time too.

Happy Valentines to Jensen!

I guess once you have a kid he's the only one that gets presents anymore. My mom and dad sent this sweet 4-wheeler to Jensen for Valentine's Day. I guess this what it means to be the only grand child (for another month anyway). Thanks Vovo! He loved it! He's learned how to get on by himself, but hasn't quite figured out how to get off without falling. So he just stays on it as long as he can. Sorry about all the pics. They're mostly for the grandparents. Enjoy!