day two in the windy city...

on saturday, we caught a cab to lincoln park to eat at...




nookies too...was one of my favorite places to eat while in chicago. i had the greek omelet and it was wonderful...i am still thinking about it...and i don't think about food like that often! :0)



after we arrived at nookies...i asked jq for quinn's backpack...that contained every toy that i brought for him and qualls...the backpack was not to be found. it was left in the cab! oh me...so, some kid in chicago is walked around with a cute monogrammed "quinn" backpack and crayon roll...

the older boys went to the cubs game against the la angels. it was a blowout but they enjoyed themselves. while they were at the game...the younger boys and the women went shopping around lincoln park. i LOVE that neighborhood. i could pack my bags and move now! tobey says that i would love it till winter...he is probably right but i would get good use out of my cute coats that i hardly wear now.

after the game and shopping, we met the rest of the crew at the apartment with the best cupcakes ever!!! the best little bakery is right next door...oh me! i would have been in big trouble if i lived by there when i was preggo with the boys!!! :0)

after i played with tobey's ipad for a while...which i totally love!!!

we went and ate at uncle julio's for supper. i was wanting some good/real mexican food and tobey found me the place. it was so good!!!

after supper, we road the train back to the hotel...quinn was dying to ride the train so we did and was it an experience. jq and i have rode the train in nyc but never with two kids...alot of stuff trying to get down the stairs...that was the one and only time we attempted it...and of course, we went to the station that was under big renovation. oh well! quinn had a ball!!!

**as you can tell...i was not really good with my camera on day two...i did get better!!!

day one in the windy city...

early friday morning...we flew out to visit uncle tobey and jessica in chicago. gigi and pops went along for the ride. we got in chicago in the afternoon...uncle tobey and jessica came to our hotel and off we went. we had reservations for dinner...so, we walked around the city (got caught in a storm) then headed to eat. after eating...we went back to the hotel to get ready for saturday!

couple of pictures from friday...

not so good airline...

i have flown many times in my life...we have flown american airlines many of those times. american has always been fine...not this time.

after 6 cancelled flights...

numerous times through security...

over 2 days in and out of the airport...with 2 children...

luggage getting sent to nashville without us...

having to take a taxi out to get more formula for your child because you have packed enough for 12 hours and the formula container has made it to nashville without you...

many lies...lies...lies and being totally convinced that the training sessions for new hires (for american) consists of "how to constantly lie to your customers"

we FINALLY made it home this afternoon...

i have saved every receipt and boarding pass from the last couple of days.

a letter will be going soon to american from a very unhappy customer...

we had a great time visiting the brother and jessica! i love chicago!!! i am already planning my next visit (not on american airlines though)...

more details later...this customer is going to bed!!! :0)

the windy city...

a week from yesterday...i will be here...

visiting my brother and his sweet girlfriend, jessica.

i am sooooo excited!!!

bertie b...

one of my good friends from college, julie, has the cutest little business...bertie b.

don't you love the name???

julie made this shirt for quinn and onesie for qualls. they are OFF THE CHARTS!!! love them!!! julie has started a blog with her tshirts, handtowels, dresses, flower headbands, etc.

go check it out...you will NOT be disappointed that you did!!!

favorite things of today...

orange pushups...LOVE them!!!

so you think you can dance...it is officially summer when sytycd starts. i never delete an episode off of my dvr. i watch them over over and over again. quinn loves it too!

my FAV choreographer...mia michaels. she took the last season off and you definitely could notice her absence in the contemporary category.

cat deely the host...

the city...

love the fashion part of this show. i definitely like olivia's style...not so much her attitude...

with qualls' sleeping here lately...i wish i could get an iv of diet dr pepper.

the braun ear thermometer...why in the world have we not bought this till now?!? so much easier than the others...

bed head hairspray...this smells wonderful and the hold is great!!!

grow with me...

we have been planting flowers around the dickerson house. my mom laughs because when i was younger i would always come out while she was planting flowers and ask "why do you do that...they are just going to die?" i still kind of think that but they are pretty...

front porch...

quinn helped too. he left his hand shovel behind...

pot on the deck...


lilies on the deck...





the garden is sure growing.

radishes...

peppers...

tomatoes...


quinn's garden tools. gigi and pops' got him these along with his wheelbarrow for christmas last year.

quinn and qualls' house outside. jq put outdoor carpet in it and moved it beside the rock patio that jq just finished. he also got flowers for the outside. quinn loves playing in there and i am sure qualls will in the future...

two doctor visits...

wednesday...i went to have my teeth cleaned. we switched dentists when we moved...we LOVED our old dentist, dr. edge. we felt the change was necessary though and one of my high school friends is a dental hygenist at the new office.

this is my new dentist...

dr. beck...

i thought i was going to get out of there with just one cavity and a teeth whitening tray kit that they are running a special on...that was until dr. beck made his visit to the exam room i was in...

he noticed that a tooth on the bottom was a little discolored...so, he asked for this electric current thing that he puts on teeth to see if they are "alive" or "dead." he did the tooth beside the one he was concerned about..."alive." the tooth that he was concerned about...of course, "dead." so, what does that mean? a lovely root canal. WHAT?

my good friend, amy, told her daughter once that a c-section was less painful than a root canal. i told dr. beck this...he wanted to know if i wanted to have a c-section. i told him that unless he was pulling a baby out...that would be a big NO! ha!

i then proceeded to ask him the million dollar ???...because my mom and dad have paid a pretty penny for these teeth...how is he going to fix this discolored tooth? and i also asked since i inherited these teeth from my mom and dad...could he just send them the bill. :0) they are already invested!!!

the game plan is...to inject whitening "stuff" into the tooth when he does the root canal. after this...i will do the teeth whitening trays. so, my discolored tooth (it is not really noticeable...but i know) will no longer be discolored and my other teeth will join in on the fun with the tray kit.

so, after my next dentist appointment...i will have had a lovely root canal, a cavity filled, a tooth injected with whitening "stuff", molds made for my whitening trays and a nice big dentist bill! ha! it will be worth it though...

just a note...dr. beck also has his complete name on his "dentist" glasses. LOVE it!!!

i got home on wednesday from the dentist and 10 minutes later noticed qualls nose was running. i asked jq how long it had been like that and he said it just started. so, from 5pm to 1am...he progressively got worse. he had a temp of 101, coughing and having a hard time controlling the drainage...we started meds trying to get a hold of it but really couldn't. his temp got up to 102.5 thursday night. so, off to the doctor we went on friday. qualls has the croup again along with an ear infection. we have had some very long nights here!!! he has gotten some better over the last day and we are hoping and praying that he is much better soon!!!

mother's day...

we had a great mother's day. we went to church that morning and then went with gigi and pops to the log cabin restaurant for lunch. it was yummy!!! the chocolate pie is the BEST!!!

memaw/granny's mothers day present

gigi's mothers day present

gigi and quinn waiting on our table

jq and qualls

quinn's newest thing...
i can't see you...i can't see you...

boo!

one silly boy!!!

some momma love...

mom,

i am very thankful for you...

i am so very blessed to be the mother of these two boys!!!

a little fun activity...

it started out with this...

but quinn decided he would like to taste the non-cooked noodles...and after that...he was over this little plate...

so, we moved to this...


i remember doing this as a child and thought quinn would enjoy it...after the 1st activity was shot! ha! he did not really enjoy the glue much...because he was getting it all over his hands. i helped him out a lot because he was too worried about the crayons that were also on the table.


as you can see...he no longer wanted to glue and use construction paper...

he wanted to use the crayons for qualls' name...

then...he decided he wanted to draw our family...

i really don't know about the tail looking thing coming from j.q. pretty funny!!!

on another note...

you can order tshirts to help the nashville flood victims...

every little bit helps!!!

a couple of things i have been working on...

my first ruffled pants...

a dry erase book for quinn...

there are many tutorials online for these. i am going to use this one for church.

one page in the book...

another page in the book...

mod podge letters for quinn's room...


the room needed something above the closet door...