First Harvest

This spring I planted several heirloom tomato and pepper plants as well as some strawberry plants and herbs.  After a couple months we are already seeing some of the fruit of our labor!  All three were delicious!  I can't wait till the plants really get producing.  I am excited to eat lots of fresh tomatoes and maybe try my hand at canning if we get enough tomatoes.

The Shacks go to the Midwest!

First airplane ride!

A little inflight entertainment.

At the beginning of May the Shack family flew into the Windy City for a two week visit to the midwest.  Here is a little recap of our trip along with our Southern Californian impression of life in the midwest.

Our silly observations:

• There are cool old buildings EVERYWHERE you look.  I love the history and how the cities have embraced the past by restoring and repurposing old buildings.  The St. Louis Union Station was my favorite example of this.
• There are WAY more smokers in all of the midwestern cities we visited than in Southern California.  It was hard to get used to and made me appreciate the anti-smoking vibe in California.  
• People are incredibly friendly in the midwest.  It made be realize how unfriendly Californians generally are.  
• I was surprised by how clean the big midwestern cities were.  
• People in Chicago drink WAY too much!

First baseball game to see the Cardinals!

St. Louis
- Union Station
- Pi pizza and ice cream with Rachel (That salted caramel ice cream was great!)
- Campbell House
- Cardinals game
- Ted Drewes Frozen Custard
- Ate at Pappy's BBQ

Grater's Ice Cream! I got peanut butter chip.

Louisville
- Drove by Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby (witnessed chaos in the surrounding neighborhoods)
- Simply Thai with Adam and Anna
- Grater's Ice Cream (AWESOME!)
- Saw Downtown Louisville (Brown Hotel, Louisville Slugger Factory, etc.)

A tour of the Red's stadium in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati
- Grater's Ice Cream .. again.. yummy!
- Enjoyed a Cinco De Mayo festival
- Toured Great American Ballpark and Reds Hall of Fame (awesome!)

Lena and I met Dan's Aunt and Uncle Caldwell for the first time.

Indianapolis
- Quick stop at Lucas Oil Field and team shop
- Skyline Chili (5 way)
- Drive through downtown
- Tour Harrison House
- Had a carb-fest at Cracker Barrel
- Met Dan's Aunt and Uncle Caldwell and got a tour of Anderson University

A short dive to Wisconsin to see the Brewers.

Milwualkee
-  Saw the Brewers play the Reds at Miller Park

Sailing on the Tall Windy on Lake Michigan

It might be historic but it is not very comfortable or easy to get to.

Chicago
- Frank Lloyd Wright walking tour (included the Fine Arts Building)
- Riverboat tour
- Sailing on the Tall Windy to see the city skyline and visited Navy Pier
- Ate tons of great food! (Giordanos Pizza, Al's Italian Beef, Andy's Frozen Custard, Big and Little's)
- Saw a Cubs game at Wrigley
- Saw a White Sox game at US Cellular Field (That is five baseball stadiums if you are counting...)
- Visited the Lincoln Park Zoo
- Went to the Chicago History Museum
- Took a historical walking tour of the Loop and Pedway
- Had appetizers and drinks in the Hancock building's restaurant on the 100th floor
- Shopped for cheese and other goodies at the French Market

At the top of the Hancock Building

Giordanos was great!  We ate three meals out of one pizza!

Tiffany Dome - It is so breathtaking!

Even Lena had to take in the beauty of the Tiffany Dome.  So cute!

Miss Lena washing away the day in the kitchen sink.

Lena was a great tourist and spent many hours in the snugglie.

I had my first mother's day with Lena in Chicago and I got the prettiest flowers and a neat card from Lena and Dan.

It was a great trip but we will need to rest up before our next adventure in Hawaii in a few months!

Six Months Old!

Lena has enough hair to wear her clips now!!! (But only for pictures because she would LOVE to eat the clips if I ever gave her a chance.)

Lena actually turned six months on her first big trip!  At the beginning of May we took a trip to the midwest to visit friends, family, and see the great states of: Illinois, Missiouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin.  So a big first for Lena at six months was taking her very first plane ride!  It went very well and I am happy to report that little miss Lena is an excellent traveller and will fit in nicely with Dan and I's love of travel.  Lena changed more in month 5-6 than any other month.  She is becoming much more mobile, interactive and vocal everyday.  I keep waiting for stranger anxiety to set in but she still continues to love people.  One her gifts is that she makes everyone feel loved and special. I knew she was friendly but on this trip I realized that she is friend with EVERYONE.  (Remind me to give the "Stranger Danger" talk when she is older...)  I can't count how many times this senario went down:  "Oh what a cute little girl!.  Hi.. hi little girl!"  Lena then always breaks into a huge grin with sparkling eyes and the person melts and the gushes "Oh she likes me!  She smiled at me!"  What the stranger doesn't know is that she does this for everyone.  She likes everyone.  I don't tell them that.  I just let them relish in the moment thinking that Lena has special smile just for them.  But I am happy to report that she likes me (The MAMA)  the most.  Side comment:  I have longed for the moment when I have the face that that a little child longs to see most.  During her sixth month Lena has also discovered animals.  She really lights up when one of our cats or dog is around.  It will be fun to take her to the zoo when she gets older to see some bigger animals up close.  She is content to play for long periods of time by herself.  Sometimes I won't even know she is awake from her nap because she often doesn't cry when she wakes up but instead coos and plays.  In her sixth month she has made the transition to her big girl crib in the nursery and no longer sleeps in our bedroom.  She loves to grab everything but paper is her most favorite.  It is pretty amazing how quickly she can grab things and stick them in her mouth!  She is still pretty much indifferent to solid food.  She has tried bananas, carrots, peas, pears, prunes, peaches, squash, and oatmeal and rice cereal.  Her favorite so far is sweet potatoes and her least favorite is peas.  We are still working on sleeping through the night.  Sometimes she makes it and sometimes she wakes up once or twice to eat.  She has been battling a bit of a cold and we will work on it more when she is feeling better.  She had her six month shots and check up when we got back from our trip and learned that she is really growing!  She weighed in at 13 pounds 13 ounces which puts her in the 12% for weight.  She was in the 25% for both height and head circumference.  She more than tripled her birth weight in six months and has grown almost eight inches! Our little "peanut" is still small for her age but she is quickly catching up.  The coming months should bring more mobility as the doctor says she is strong and I can tell she is dying to move around.

AWOL

Things have been crazy in the Shack family lately.  All three of us got various forms of the flu at the end of April.  Once we recovered we packed up and headed to the Midwest for two weeks and when we returned I got the flu again and then bronchitis and Lena caught a nasty cold.  Fun stuff I tell ya!  All this has left little time to blog but I have a few updates brewing.  Hang with me folks!

UPDATE:  Dan came down with a 102 degree temp and the stomach flu in the middle of the night.  Needless to say the germs have the upper hand right now and I will spend part of the day disinfecting this house!!!

To Whom Much Time is Given...

...Much is Required!  So I've found many new ways to stay accomplished in my new life as a stay at home mom.
I garden:

I craft:

I shop for nutritious ingredients at the farms:

I cook nutritious meals:

 I take care of my sweet girl:

And I do a bunch of other less picture worthy stuff too! (Like couponing, exercising, cleaning, bill paying, blogging, bible reading, etc.)  Life is good!

Happy Easter Lena!

Lena's first Easter was so much fun with all of her cousins.  Her newest cousin was  born on Good Friday.  Meet cousin Owen Benjamin!  He is grandchild # 9!

Lena wasn't quite old enough to participate in the egg hunt this year but she did like touching them. 

Five Months Old!

Lena continues to develop her social and physical skills this month and has become much more interactive.

 At twelve pounds she now loves to sit facing forward in her big girl stroller!  She has really enjoyed watching everything and being an active observer and participant.

She also got to try rice cereal for the first time this month.  We are still working on the whole eating from the spoon thing,

Lena is drooling lots and lots and occasionally gets cranky from some teething activity.  We pretty much wear a bib all day.  =)

She loves putting blankies up to her face and gets into a zen zone when she takes her bottle.  She drinks about 4 oz at a time about every 3 hours during the day. 

This month she also had her very first family vacation to Palm Desert, CA where she had her very first swim in her red and white heart bathing suit. She enjoyed the water and we are excited that she is a flexible baby and seems to travel well. 

She loves her daddy time and he really knows how to get her talking and giggling.  (Don't you just love those father-daughter baby blues!)

 This last week we finally packed up all of the newborn clothing and unpacked the 3-6 month clothing.  She is wearing mostly 0-3 right now and moving into 3-6 soon!  She is in size one diapers and wears size 1 shoes.  We have so many fun wardrobe options now and Little Miss Lena knows how to rock the fashions. 

 We love you Lena Joyce!  You are the best part of my day!