WHERE did this week go? I blinked, and it’s Friday. I’m extra excited for this weekend because we’re dropping Hudson off at Grandma and Papa’s so that J and I can enjoy a date night and a Cubs game on Saturday.

It’s also one of my husband’s favorite weekends of the year: the Air and Water Show! (This is slightly crass but a coworker once referred to the AWS as “war porn” which always pops into my mind this time of year!) I also like watching the planes, but the crowds I can do without 😃 So typically our solution is just watching the show from our own balcony, which we’ll do a bit of but also plan to head down to the beach today while they’re practicing to get a little bit closer to the water action. If we’ve got the childcare, we’re getting out of the condo.

Without further ado, here are five of my favorite things from this week.

The Field Museum

Easily my favorite memory this week! My BFF had the day off work so we planned to take the little ones to the zoo, or the aquarium in case of rain. Apparently we’re amateurs because the entire world goes to the aquarium in the summer if it rains, and the line was ridiculous. So we bailed and headed to… The Field Museum! Otherwise known as the least baby-friendly museum in Chicago.

While the African exhibit and the bugs did little to hold the attention of two one-year olds (or um, their moms, ha) we still had so much fun.

The highlight of the day was watching Hudson and Katrina just chillin’ in the cafe together. They are getting SO BIG (both in size and personalities, ha!) and I love watching them interact. God help Roshni and I when these two start running because they are both pure energy.

Condo take back

Since Hudson’s birthday, I have been on a mission: TAKE BACK THE CONDO! I’m being a little dramatic, of course, but the toy sprawl has been a slow creep. Our condo is relatively big as far as downtown condos go, but keeping organized and purging what is not needed is critical because storage space is pretty tight around here. As a reward for all of our hard work getting things together and selling some furniture we weren’t using right now, we bought a new rug with a thick rug pad to replace the foam baby playmat that’s been adorning our living room (otherwise known as Hudson’s main play area) forever. Definitely a case of: why didn’t we do this sooner?

Spiralizing

Try not to be jealous of my incredible food photography skills. After months of paying a ridiculous premium at Whole Foods for their pre-spiralized zucchini noodles, I finally bought my own. And as my sister and her hubby have been telling me forever now… it’s actually SO EASY. And now I can’t stop won’t stop spiralizing! This spiralized Greek salad has been our favorite so far but Jason and I are both in agreement that noodles are only the vehicle for the good stuff, so we are huge fans. Only about 10 years late to the game, but we made it.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Playdate

My friend Amber continues to organize the world’s cutest playdates for the neighborhood moms and put together a Very Hungry Caterpillar playdate this week. We love his books, so of course had so much fun hearing Amber read the stories to the group and doing a few little baby crafts. Hudson’s favorite thing from the playdate was the oranges that she put out: after he finished his own, he literally speed-crawled out of my lap during story time to scavenge a small slice that another little boy had dropped off the floor before I could catch him. Keepin’ it classy since August ’16!

Hudson making a mess

These are just my favorite photos as of late that I had to share. He’s a smiley guy and of course I love all of the photos of him smiling, but these photos of him making a huge mess are just so HUDSON to me. He’s got such a huge range of expression and I spend so much time just cracking up at my dramatic boy these days.

In these photos, I gave him some guacamole to play with after he finished lunch. My friend Amber told me how much her son loves hummus because it tastes good AND feels cool: a baby’s dream. Guac seemed in the same category to me and he. went. bananas. I knew heading into it that I’d have a big mess on my hands but I filed it under A Sensory Experience, and it was totally worth it for these pics.

And that’s my five. I took this pic this week because my wine glass was literally fogged up it was hot and humid here, but I cannot get over how awesome this summer’s weather has been… and this weekend looks like no exception. Chicago summers, I love you. Cheers with a big glass of rose the weekend friends, hope you’ve got some fun plans on deck!