maggie looked for flowers on our entire walk this weekend.

think it had something to do with the dress?

maggie was keeping it very real today by asking for her picture to be taken and then refusing to smile for me.

one thing is for sure, if you take lots of shots one of them will turn out.

elliot and maggie had a blast playing in the street and making these bubbles.

the people that were sitting down wind, not so much.

maggie keeps it real, real fun over the weekend.

from lunch yesterday, maggie was in no mood to smile. elliot, however, was a bit of a prankster.

maggie was starting the magic wind down hour before bed and asked for a snack. i thought i couldn't go wrong with whole wheat toast and butter.

as the pic shows you can go wrong.

after butter maggie asked for jam politely and promptly received it. betsy came home and i helped her at front door. i cam back this this plate with ketchup added.

there is no doubt . . . she is betsy's daughter.

right now this betta is try to kill my fingers.

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Took the kids to breakfast and then the riverwalk this morning.

Maggie wanted to see the ducks and Elliot wanted the park. Got them to agree that both were good.

I do have to say that it is quite a disappointment that the busiest portion of the riverwalk with be under construction for the entire summer.

I'm not really sure what the city parks people were thinking with this. It is going to hurt the businesses that are in that area as well as the amount of people that come to festivals that are held in that exact spot.

And since I have my gripe on, it also appears that for the remainder of the riverwalk they have removed about a third of the trees and nearly all of the other foliage that lines the banks of the river. Elliot pointed out that this year it looks "gross" and "dirty". Just blows my mind that a city would muck up their prime summer attraction.

This shot is for Maggie. Baby if you ever question how you asked to be pushed on a swing . . . it was backwards.

But who could pass up such a cute face!

Maggie just turned 3 but we are heading into year 4 of this room with its horizontal stripes.

The design has maintained its contemporary style and aged with Maggie as she has gotten older, acquired more furniture and added more of her personality to the room.

Some of you might remember when we originally painted the room (photo www.croncast.com/images/lg_baby_room.jpg ) and how I claimed I would never paint horizontal stripes like this again. Well, after looking at the results I have changed my mind.

The look works and it makes it easy for the eye to understand where to look for framed objects. There are a few others around her room on in the white stripe.

Asked to post this while I lay on the couch. Betsy snapped this shot of Maggie and Zeus a few minutes ago.

I am thinking that Betsy will be trying to pass Zues off as a dogalope soon so that she can get that goat from GRoAN (Goat Rescue of America North).

A dogalope would cement her as crazy and they would give her 50 goats.

Maggie, aka Gigi, hanging with her favorite of the dogs, Zeus.

Camera is missing anti-green eye flash.

Elliot got cracked on his head by falling snow and ice from a pavillion that he was walking under.

More embarrassed than any other emotion he laughed it off. If only we could have predicted Maggie's face plant a bit later from this falling snow omen ;-).

Today was daddy day and it all worked out perfectly thanks to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago - free admission.

It's been about a year since I took the kids and thought that Maggie might really enjoy it now that she is older.

When I told them where we were going the first thing she said was, "baby chickens". It's amazing what they remember. The last time she was there she was a year and a half old.

Why can't I remember stuff like that?

Maggie destroyed this cup of noodles for lunch. I think that she might have actually eaten six noodles.

Betsy and I are preparing the kids for college and the day when a cup of noodles is a culinary standard.