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Jordan and Natalie made homemade pizzas, using an easy kid-friendly recipe that my mom, sisters and I loved growing up. For the crust, you simply use a rolling pin to flatten the bread. As this picture suggests, it was a success!

Mom, you are seriously stopping dinner to take a picture.  Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you… if I finish my pizza before you finish yours, I’ll ask you to share!  

I especially like this pic because Jordan is in it and he hasn’t been pictured in a blog post for quite awhile. Sorry Dado! You are cute but Natalie and Elliott have you beat!

That’s a my Brudha… Because I like it

That is a real Natalie quote. Brudha is brother. Elliott clearly adores her too!

Although we didn’t see the rhinos (it is too cold, Natalie informed me), we saw a big lion! I didn’t get a pic close to the lion bc Natalie was clutching my side. She enjoyed hearing the roar from far away!

That lion is loud!!

Sing the camel song, Mama!

And Elliott enjoyed the skyline….

The best part was that we arrived home at the same time as Dado so I had help getting the kids and gear up the stairs and food on the table!

We still need pics of Aunt Leah and Aunt Jira with Elliott, but here’s the start!!

I had a fabulous Mother’s Day! Jordan and Natalie made a special breakfast – protein shakes (she chose that over waffles or pancakes)! It was really fun that Natalie was excited this year to celebrate, thanks to coaching from Dado.

Natalie, I love you big sis! (I love how Elliott is looking at his big sis!)

We had a yummy dinner at Nana’s and Pop’s too!

Did you know Nana is a mom too?!!
We said goodbye to Grandma yesterday and are so thankful for her too!

Happy Mom’s Day to everyone who is a mom, wants to be a mom or loves like a mom! We are so lucky to have so many fabulous moms in our life!

Before I left for NOLA, I needed to load up on cute Natalie pics. She’s my silly little Goof-a-Loof….

For the past two years, I have been in an education fellowship program – the Broad Residency – with 40 other folks from across the country. We graduated in NOLA this week and my mom and Elliott joined me.

Representing for my Daddy who has been at Mama’s last two graduations (since they were his graduations too!)

Five other women in the program also has babies over the past two years, so we received a special Mamas award.

Although the youngest baby, Elliott was heavier than at least half of them. Another mommy referred to Elliott as a tank! :). Thank goodness Elliott isn’t old enough to roll yet or he may have squished the other kids!

The Broad folks have already started recruiting Elliott for the Class of 2041-43.

It’s never too early to advocate for great schools for all kids!!!

The three of us were able to explore the French Quarter a little too.

Elliott and I were so lucky to have Grandma with us for four days! The three of us were really glad to come
Back to Chicago to see this cutie/goofball!

where’s Natalie?

We visited our friends, Taylor (almost 2) and Hailey (5.5 weeks old, 8 days younger than Elliott) for a Friday afternoon play date. (A little different Friday afternoon than their mom Kate, one of my college roommates senior year, and I used to have!) we wouldn’t trade if for the world though! So much cuteness!!!

PS I write this 10 min before our grad school reunion starts. Such is the life of a mom!

Elliott and I studied up on letters, Eric Carle style, this morning. He was inspired by his big sister’s love for letters. (See end of post for a video of some her favs.).

no, E stands for Elliott – not elephant!

glad you agree Mama

After a busy morning, Elliott was happy to take a break and cuddle with Nana, who kindly comes over a couple times a week to give me a break and spend some QT with Elliott.

This is my kind of tummy time

Now if I could only find the letter D for Dado….

I have 25 more variations for anyone who is interested!