Fun Things To Do Around the House When You Are Bored

Jack and Cole on a bored day.

The Laughing Baby

This baby cracks me up -- I challenge you to make it through this clip without laughing or smiling.

Herrick Lake - DuPage County Forest Preserve

Here in Illinios they have all these places that are called forest preserves. Basically they are protected areas preserving nature and can be used for recreation, bird watching, picnics, or what ever. They are quite beautiful, and we are fortunate enough to have several of them around our house. Today we went to Herrick Lake for a little hike. If you are wondering why Cole is not in any of the pictures, it is because I had to hold him most of the time. He could hear the buzzing noises of bugs and locusts in the bushes, and he was afraid "that spider get me, he eat me." So being the nice mommy...pushover mommy, that I am, and not wanting my middle child to get "eaten" by the spider, I held him. I just think of it as my exercise for the day. It was fun and a beautiful place.

National Criterium Championships

First you ask what is a criterium? Being married to a cycling fanatic husband, I have come to learn many new things about the sport.
Criteriums are the bicycling equivalent of the Indy 500. Fast. Exciting to watch and somewhat dangerous to race contestants.
A criterium, known among racers as a "crit", is the most popular form of bike racing in the US, for several reasons. The race course is a closed circuit track around downtown streets. That makes it convenient for spectators. Racers complete a lap a minute or two, traveling at speeds exceeding 30 m.p.h. And sometimes, because of the speed, the tight corners and several dozen racers packed closely, there are some crazy crashes. Well, here in the Chicago area there are a few major "crits" that some of the pros race in. So come rain or shine...in our case rain, a lot of rain, the whole family went to watch this exciting event. I will admit, it is exciting and fast to watch. At times I was afraid the riders would fall, and slide into the kids. We did survive the day and had great fun doing it. Here are a few pictures of the day. Even one of Lily still with smiles even though she is all wet.

Our New Griddle

We got this new griddle last week and have been having some fun with it. I guess you can cook almost anything on it. I'm not a big griddle cooker...O.K., I'm not a big anything cooker, but this has been a little fun. Matt made pancakes the other day, the boys LOVED them. Those of you who know about Lily's eating habits, or lack there of eating anything of nutritional value, know the struggles we have had with her eating. Matt thought she might try a Micky Mouse pancake. He did a pretty good job, but it was still a no go. You can see in the pictures she stuck with her poppyseed muffins instead.

Bowling Fun

We decided to go bowling with the kids. It has been years since I have gone. This bowling ally by our house has automatic bumpers that come up for the kids and 6 lbs. balls. So on a rainy Saturday evening we went bowling. We all had a lot of fun. The kids couldn't wait for their turn to come. It is so fun to watch them experience new activities and get so excited about the small joys of life.

"Tagged"....I'm It

My supermom friend Sarah has tagged me. So here is some things you may not know about me:

Jobs:

Manzinita Manor Nursing Home- CNA
Dominoes Pizza- I'm sooooo embarrassed!
Nanny- two cute little boys named Yale and Greer...probably all grown up by now.
Speech Therapist
Mom- best yet and most rewarding (I agree with you Sarah!)


Weekend Getaways:

Hopefully Nauvoo soon
I'll go anywhere for a vacation

Movies:

The Holiday
The Nutty Professor-I know it's dumb, but it totally cracks me up
Meet the Parents
Sound of Music

Guilty Pleasures:

Sleeping in
Daily chocolate
Getting my nails done
Surfing the internet

Where I have lived:

Salt Lake City, UT
Sacramento, CA
Provo, UT
Phoenix and Gilbert, AZ
Wichita, Kansas
Long Island, NY
Cleveland Heights, OH
Naperville, IL

Vacations:

Hawaii
Lake Tahoe
Newport Beach
Aruba
Alaskan Cruise
Mexico
Disney World

Fab Foods:

Cafe Rio Steak Salad
Spaetzle
Chocolate Cake

IF in a "jam" with spouse, tactics used to get out of the doghouse:

Talk about it with different words as before
Not say anything and just wait to introduce 'loviness' back into passing
Try and do something he loves or wants to do
Try to change. :)

Websites:

Ebay
Blogs
Boutique shops
Yahoo Mail

I Would Rather be:

On vacation anywhere with Matt and the kids
Sleeping
On a date with Matt
Watching a movie with the 3 munchkins

Next to be Tagged:
Hmmmm....who hasn't been tagged yet?

Sydnie
Sabrina
Haley

Hot Summer Days

Our favorite past time lately has been playing in the pool and with our slip-n-slide. Today our air conditioning went out (it's fixed now), so the kids played out in the pool, ate popsicles, and had a great day. They brought almost every toy they own outside and put it in the kiddie pool weather it was supposed to get wet or not.

Most Recent Baird Pictures

Thought we'd start our blog with a few recent pictures of the family. Lily is 4 1/2, Cole and Jack are 2 1/2 and Matt and I are.....in our thirties;) Most of these pictures were taken in July, but that family one was taken in Cleveland in late spring.
We'll post cute pictures and/or exciting events, trips, and outings as they happen. Right now we just enjoying summer, our new home, some company, and sight seeing of the "big" city.

Let's Try This Again

Hey friends and family. We started a blog a couple of years ago and couldn't keep up with it, so we are trying it again. We tried to get the same blog name, but it was taken! Another great Baird family had the same great idea for a blog name. Anyways, we try to stay on top of things this time and post as often as possible.