A weekend affair

Mike and I spent this past weekend in Chicago .... alone .... without kids. It was heaven! Don't get me wrong - I adore my kids - but there is something so amazing about spending time with your spouse alone (thank you again, grandma!). Mike had been in Chicago all week for a legal seminar and then I flew out for the weekend. I felt like I was having a tryst with my boyfriend.

Never having been to Chicago before, I didn't know there was a river running right through the city. We took a great river cruise to get some of the history and see the city from the water. From there, we window shopped along the Magnificent Mile in stores like Prada and Burberry.

Mike is quite the romantic, much to my delight. When I first got to the hotel, he was still in meetings but there was a Tiffany bag (with a great necklace inside) and Wicked tickets on the bed ... plus chocolate-covered strawberries in the fridge. The man knows me so well.

Finally being able to see Wicked was the best! We both know the entire soundtrack and have seen snippets of the play on YouTube, but seeing it live ... from the 2nd row ... was incredible!

We ate amazing food, paid too much money for taxis to take us everywhere, saw a movie, drove by Oprah's studio (just because I wanted to see it), ordered room service and just reconnected. It was the best.

Trying to find balance

I have two conflicting desires .... 1) I like order and a clean house and 2) I want to have a fun house where my kids and their friends feel welcome and want to be. I'm still searching for a way to have both without driving myself insane, although I'm not sure that's entirely possible. Now, looking summer in the face, I'm realizing that this will be a daily issue. Is it too much to expect my children to be self-motivated angels that clean up after themselves without being asked?

Sheer joy

I came outside to find Elle like this .....

and this ...

and this ...

She was squealing with delight. What more could I do but take a picture? She screamed all the way to the bath but at least I captured the moment.

Hello? Hello?

I'm going to give this a go. I've been promising my sister that I'd start a blog (even though I'm sure it will become an obsession for me and I really don't need one more thing on my plate...) so I'm making good on my promise. Proud of me yet, Kelly?

I'm hoping that having a blog will force me to record more of my family's happenings and that I'll end up taking more pictures - both of which I need to do more of. I'm also hoping that by keeping a blog, I won't feel so guilty about not staying up-to-date on my scrapbooks anymore. So enjoy, or not, and I'll try to enjoy myself along the way. :)

Here goes .....