Gaines Heritage Festival and Frederick Meijer Gardens

Chicago wedding weekend

October 4, we went down to Chicago for Susan's wedding.  She and Bryan had a beautiful ceremony and fun reception at Greenhouse Lofts, and we stayed in Lincoln Park.  We left Kate in GR with my parents (only our 2nd overnight without her!), and even though we missed her, it was much easier not to have a 23 month old in tow.  

We took the train from Michigan City on Friday afternoon.  The wedding was Friday night.  We hung out with my brother, Adam, for a few hours Saturday morning, then had brunch with the Cavicchioli and Eaton families before heading back to Michigan City on the train.

20 weeks!

sister love:)

Lincoln Park Zoo with Adam

I have to admit, being in the city (even though it was less than 24 hours) made me miss it a lot.  I had a lot of fun living in Chicago my senior year of college and it really is a fantastic town.  We need to visit more often.  And, at Adam's request, we'll have to bring Kate along one of these days:)

gender reveal...

Yep, that's right...Kate is going to have a baby sister in February:)

Summersweet Orchard

We love to pick apples.  The weather was really nice for a really long time this fall, so we took Kate out one afternoon.  I busted out my DSLR for the first time since May (slacker!), and got a few cute pictures of our little munchkin.  I really like fall.

copycat

Kate is super verbal, especially for her age, and she's been saying some pretty funny things lately.  We really have to be careful what we say, because she repeats EVERYTHING!

I must use some phrases repeatedly, because she's picked up on them, and uses them now (in context!).  Here are a few examples:

• good job
• oh yeah
• what's the deal?
• it's ok
• check it out
• all good
• okie dokie
• ready, set, go
• you did it
• come on, mom
• exactly

Kate, you crack me up! I love you:)

ArtPrize 2013

If you live in West Michigan, ArtPrize needs no explanation.  It's such a fun time to be around Grand Rapids.  There are people everywhere and art everywhere, and it's so fun to see the creativity of all the artists who submit their work.

This year, Kate and I had a chance to go and walk around with our friends, Steph and Eli, for a morning.  The next week we met Matt after work and walked around again for a while.  We managed to see all of the Top Ten between the two days, and had a lot of fun doing it. Here are some pictures of our favorites:)

ArtPrize 2013 winner (it's a quilt!)