Hodge podge post

So, here's a bunch of random pictures and stories that for whatever reason, haven't yet made it to the blog...

For those of you who haven't been to Hungary, all of the cities there set up these really neat Christmas markets in the town square (and all over the place in the capitol). I got to see several of them because I moved into a new area during the season and I visited a third to exchange companions for a day. Well, here in Chicago they have this every year, which is very much the same. So one evening I brought Kendra into the city and we walked to it with Grant after he was done with work.

It was small, but cute. My only disappointment was that not a single merchant there was from Hungary. I didn't have my hopes up too high since it's a "German" market, but still. It seemed like there were people there from every other country in Eastern Europe.

I've mentioned to several people how excited I am about a new discovery in my neck of the woods. I found a shopping center right off the highway (which I live right off of, too) with a Wal-mart (that is currently being remodeled into a Super Center!), Sam's Club with a gas station, Target, Kohl's and PetCo all in the same parking lot! That's like every single store I go to! And there are several other useful stops just down the road from it, it's awesome because not only is it a great concentration of shopping, since it's off the highway I can get to it in 15 minutes! AND since it's out of the city limits, sales taxes are significantly lower, so it's cheaper too! AND I'm even using less gas to get there because it's virtually all highway miles instead of all stop-and-go! It's win, win, win!

Well, the first time I ran into PetCo, I took my time to give my baby some free entertainment.

She seemed equally interested in the birds and the fish...actually, going to the pet store for amusement was a trick I picked up from my employer when I was a nanny. I took the youngest there many, many times. I wish I could take her to Pet World in my hometown...they have so much cool stuff in there! It's literally like a free zoo.

Moving along, though...Grant borrowed a 2nd flash from a coworker and took a few shots and here are a couple we never posted...

I love when we digitally capture something we see all the time, like that face right there. So cute!

Speaking of stuff we see all the time...she's pretty funny when she wakes up from a nap. That is, if she's noisy when she wakes up and we go and get her (I'm convinced that she often doesn't start crying until she's already been up for a very long time).

Check out that little lock of hair in the back sticking straight up!

We happened to have a busted phone laying around...they make great chew toys.

She carried it around in her mouth that whole evening for some reason. Funny girl.

And finally, have I mentioned lately how much my husband cracks me up? I walked into the kitchen one evening earlier this week to find this:

Apparently, there really is always room for Jell-O...

So much fun happening in our family!