For the past 4 and a half weeks, Wyeth and Wilder have been my daytime companions while their older siblings are at summer camp.  Most days, after the 9am drop off, we walk back home and eat breakfast and I make my morning French Press or espresso.  Immediately afterwards, we head to the gym, which, lovely as it is, has wonky childcare hours. 8am-12pm and 4pm-8pm. It's one of my least favorite aspects of the gym. Super inconvenient.

But it does make me get there early in the day, so there's that!  

After the gym, many days we come home and I tackle my to-do list and the boys play.

They play together so well! 

Some days, we head to explore different things in our city.

One recent place of exploration was a local restaurant I'd heard good things about: Ann Sather.

There was an Ann Sather who ran this place, but died several years ago. She was Swedish and there is a distinctly Swedish vibe to the place.

The day the W's and I went there, we found that one seating area was full, so they opened up a whole section just for us! We were the only people in there and we had our own waiter and it was blissful! 

Our waiter said we were his VIP section.

It felt very VIP.

The thing Ann Sather is famous for is the cinnamon rolls. They were actually not an original menu item, but the man groomed by Ann to take over her restaurant added them to the menu and they have become a "thing." They are baked fresh, are huge and seriously delicious.  Plus, here's the thing: if you order any egg item you get two sides. One side option is 2 cinnamon rolls. And you can order 2 sides of those, giving you 4 yummy cinnamon rolls! A family of four we know regularly goes there and spends $10 for eggs and a cinnamon roll for everyone. 

I ordered 2 eggs over medium with a side of cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns, and shared my cinnamon roll with Wyeth. It was the perfect amount of food. Plus, they give you endless cups of coffee for super cheap and it was good coffee.  

It lived up to the hype for me and my W's. I'm gonna be sad when the explorations get more pricey with my the whole gaggle...

We were given a restaurant recommendation from a friend, so we tried it out one night. The place is called Gulliver's and it's been around over 40 years which is saying something! In addition to very interesting decor, they had possibly the largest menu I've ever seen and it was all amazing.  As you can see, Wilder loved my Dad, even falling asleep on him, which is pretty epic because Ran-dad is not known for being a baby guy. He prefers his grandchildren older and more interactive. However, Wilder didn't care. He liked him.

After eating pizza, we played the Spades Game...something my mom and dad have used over the years to get people interacting in ways they might not otherwise do. You play spades, basically, but there are multiple rounds and something interesting happens each round - the trumps change, you play to lose, you switch scores, etc. I find that people drop their guards, start showing their competitive sides and have way more fun than they expect. We had an odd number of people, so I just milled around taking pictures and checking on the kids who played their own games!

Above, my dad explains the rules to Linda, Alina, Kate, Corey and Susan.

Kate (with Grayson) sits beside Kyle who plays across from Andy (Kate's husband). Susan is seated beside Andy on the couch. Kate and Andy live on our street and have three kids who have a standing Sunday play date with my kids. Kate is a Chicago native and her husband is a Massachusetts native, and they have some pretty amazing accents between them. They probably say the same about me and Kyle. I love them. Kate seems to know everyone in this city. She's fantastic! 

Kate's daughter, Keira, played the Squirrel Game with Wyeth. 

Meanwhile, my mom made sure the dining room group was playing correctly.  My dear friend Alina reaches across to her daughter Chloe who is seated beside Alina's husband Jonathan. They are in the Navy and sadly, will be moving to San Diego in a month. I'm not happy about this. They have quickly become people we love dearly.

At the other end of the table, Corey (Susan's husband) faces off with Linda, another neighbor of ours. 

Corey and Susan are fellow believers as well as homeschoolers of their four children and they live around the corner from us. 

It's so bizarre to me to live so close to all your friends. Or rather, have all your neighbors be your friends! We see each other outside all the time as we walk our dogs or go to the park. It's a completely different way of living than I've every experienced. Very communal, in a way.

Moving clockwise, Kyle sits by Andy who is teamed up with Linda on the couch. Corey, my dad and Alina's son, Harper, observe their game. (Harper is Wyeth's best friend).

What I love about games like this and nights like this, is that people become friends who might not even meet otherwise! The common denominator among all the different people was me and Kyle.

We so desire for God to use us in this community as a light shining for His glory, sharing the love of Christ to everyone in our neighborhood. The harvest is ripe, and we pray that God will use us as His workers! 

Another view of the gaming...there were a few other people who came but were unable to stay for the game time. I was still glad my parents had the chance to meet them.

A roomful of kids playing Mexican Train Dominoes....a beautiful sight!

Harper entertains himself with Legos while the big kids play. 

One activity my kids had determined to do with my parents was to fly kites. As you know, Chicago has some epic windy days - perfect for kites. Plus, we happen to have a huge open space just steps away at Touhy Park. Mom and Dad brought some new kites, too, which thrilled the kids.

I went for a run while they got started on a sunny, chilly day.

In the middle of Touhy Park, we let the kites loose! Wyeth watched.

It was my first time to ever fly a kite, if you can believe it. 

I found it to be slightly addicting. 

It was also an activity that attracted other kids, which was pretty cool.

A sleeping Wilder even got to ride! And somehow, he didn't wake up!

Mom and I teamed up across from our men. 

It was so much fun being with them. 

In a way, our moving to Chicago has blessed us with the opportunity to spend time alone with them for the first time ever in our lives. It was truly precious time that I cherished.

My precious Dad. I was so happy to spend time with him, and see him enjoying time with his grandkids. I know it killed them when we moved away, taking 5 of their babies. It was definitely not a move we made lightly...it's been a move 20 years prayed over. It's never easy to do something that you know causes pain to people you love, even when you know it's the right thing for your family. 

For that reason, seeing my children soaking up their presence was like a balm to my heart.

Turns out, the Ferris Wheel ride ended up being something that just Kyle and I did with our kids. The cars were enclosed and meant for a group of 10 or so, but my mom is claustrophobic and there was no way she would have been able to be enclosed in the cars. She and Ran-dad charmed the Navy Pier manager while we made our rounds into the sky.

I'll do a separate post with more pictures from our ride. 

It was fantastic!

Hello from the top!

From Navy Pier, we walked south to Millennium Park and Maggie Daley park. It was one of the first warm days the city had seen this winter and the place was packed. It was actually kinda scary trying to keep an eye on my 4 active little ones amid all the other kids. I definitely wouldn't have attempted it without Kyle and my parents.

It was such a fun place, though! So many different play areas, and man, just the beautiful skyline all around you! It was pretty great.

There were several specific play areas dedicated to the younger set which was much appreciated by Wyeth (and will be by Wilder, one of these days).

The park weaves around and guides you back to Millennium Park and the Bean, etc.

I still can't believe I get to enjoy this architectural eye candy.

Across the road is where the symphony plays during the summer months.

Here we are looking into the Bean! 

From there, we walked about a mile north to where our car was parked. 

In typical Chicago fashion, as we were walking down Michigan Avenue, in a span of 5 minutes, the temperature dropped 40 degrees. I kid you not. We went from sweating in the sun to freezing our buns off.  It's something we have been told about, but you almost can't believe it's possible until you experience it. 

While at our house, my parents also participated in our 3rd floor reno - my mom brought her wallpaper stripper, and she and my dad removed all the wallpaper from the 3rd floor. I was incredibly grateful! And relieved to find that there were no unexpected cracks hiding beneath it. 

All in all, it was a truly wonderful week. I was sad to see them go, but so thankful for our time with them!

I get asked a lot, "How are you settling in?"

That's a difficult question to answer because settling in involves many things. It's a multi-faceted process. Moving as drastically as we have involves literally starting over in all areas. New everythings - streets, neighborhoods, parks, church, gym, doctors, dentists, haircutters, you name it, it's probably new. So as I begin to fill in the blanks to all these areas, it is a settling in. It just isn't something that happens quickly. I will attempt to share with you some of our settling in steps, so you can see where we are along that path.

One of the keys to feeling settled in a new place is stocking your pantry and filling your fridge. Which means you need a grocery store. 

Historically, I've been a Kroger girl. Guess what? They don't have Kroger here. They have Jewel-Osco, Mariano's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Food-4-Less (which apparently is owned by Kroger). Those are the big names. There are also small corner grocers that specialize in various ethnic foods.  And I've been told there is a Fresh Market place that sells every kind of thing under the sun at incredible prices. Have yet to venture there, but I'll let you know when I do. I hear good things.

There's another place that's been recommended to me specializing in international food products, which is great because I cook Indian food a lot - necessitating special spices and ingredients found at an Indian grocer.  I'm told this particular place will be just what I need.

There's a Jewel-Osco (or as the locals call it, "the Jewel") within walking distance of our house, but as I've learned, Jewel's are independently owned and the prices vary pretty substantially at each location. The Jewel by us is the most expensive around, so convenient though it may be, I shop elsewhere.

Our very first grocery experience upon moving to Chicago was at Mariano's. It looks like it'd be a very pricey place, but it's pretty reasonable. It's also the first place I've seen with a full blown wine bar inside it.  It cracked me up enough to take a picture of it. 

Do people actually go here to drink wine? Or do they get so frustrated by shopping that they just veer over for a glass of red. 

There have definitely been moments when shopping with my crew that I would have welcomed a glass of wine. Especially when they throw a fit to get the taxi buggy. Confession: I hate those things. I never use them unless Kyle's with me because they hold a fraction of the items I usually need and we end up pushing 2 baskets.  

I am impressed with the wine selection. You gotta be.

The other side of this store also has a sushi bar, coffee bar, more cheeses than I've ever seen...it's pretty fancy. 

Aside from finding new grocery sources, settling in involves opening a whole lot of boxes and finding new homes for their contents. As easy as boxes might be to fill up, unpacking them takes forever. They start out lining the halls and walls and slowly get whittled down to boxes that contain things you don't use that often and you almost begin to not see them as you go about your day. That's the danger - their seeming invisibility. Cause they're still there! 

In the picture above, Wyeth and Singer are sitting in our second floor hallway. Hallways are great holding places for boxes. This particular hallway had carpet on it when we moved in, and we have since pulled that up. Just for grins - see the electrical socket on the wall behind Wyeth? See the cord plugged into it? Ok, now note the little power strip at the edge of the hall by the stair railings (sort of directly behind Wyeth)...I went to unplug that cord and realized that the cord was actually underneath the carpet. The carpet had been laid down OVER the power strip cord. Why, I ask you? Why? Just chalk it up to one of the countless peculiarities left behind from the home's previous owners. Those just keep popping up.

This is the boys' room. When we first moved in. What a mess. Not settled in so much.

The key to not losing your mind as you settle is flexibility. (And grocery store wine bars). Just kidding. Not about the flexibility.  You gotta be a little bohemian and ok with it. Mattresses on the floor. Pulling clothes out of suitcases. No window coverings. Window a/c units just out there. As with pretty much everything in my life, it stretches me - forcing me to give up the illusion of control and order which I feel I need. 

Thankfully, the little ones adapt quite easily to all this. The chaos affects them, of course, but in different ways. And as soon as a semblance of order or structure is put in place, they really do begin to settle in. Even when our clothes are in suitcases because nothing else is set up.

To give you some perspective as we begin our story in this new house, the previous owners moved in here in 1965 and lived here until fall of 2015. They left their mark all over the place. They were owners of an antique store, jewelry designers, collectors of various things including vintage cars, WWII memorabilia, model airplanes, posters, glass objects and who knows what else. The walls of this house were covered in so many picture hooks, hangers and nails that I can only imagine what it looked like. It's pretty clear that the walls were so covered up, they couldn't even see the condition of the plaster walls. Hence their current state. 

The poster above is on the outside of the laundry bin in the basement. Pretty cool, actually.

In the early days of settling in, Kyle took off work and we all pitched in to re-assemble beds and create as much cozy as we could. Dorien helped Kyle put Brooklyn's bed frame together. Her room is on the second floor and is one of two rooms on that floor which had not been covered with carpet. Her floors are in good condition, and I think they may be a pine? Not positive. I'm learning about all this as I go, but I do know the downstairs main areas are oak, the kitchen floor and back staircase are maple and the 2nd floor is something different.

When old houses like this one were built, the main rooms were all about show - impressing guests. They used the fancy wood in those spaces, such as the beautiful oak flooring in our house. Then, the areas of the house which weren't open to the general public used a less fancy, but very durable wood - usually a maple. Which is what we have. The floors with bedrooms often had something completely different. If there was a servant's area, which is what our third floor was used for, then that could have a different wood as well.  In this case, whatever is there was covered with a linoleum that was then covered with carpet in the 70's. We are in the process of unearthing the original floor. More on that at a later date.

Back to the previous owners.

Due to their collections, there were handmade shelving units EVERYWHERE.

It was a true feat in storage/display creativity.  I will show you pictures of each room of the house in its "before" state in a different post, but trust me when I say that in order to even consider "settling in" it was necessary to strip the house of its thousands of nails, hooks and shelving units.

Kyle and the boys went around the house for the first several days with a drill and a box (for screws and nails) and dismantled, unscrewed and hauled out everything that was attached to the walls. It was hilarious to hear Kyle exclaim, "What in the world?" as he stood on a ladder to reach pulley systems mounted near the ceiling by our stairs, or as he pondered the electrical socket installed about 3 inches below the ceiling in another room. 

The boys' work resulted in an unbelievable pile of wood and metal that lasted about a day in the alley behind us. The scrap metal trucks thought we were a God-send.  

Here's some of what came off the walls. Just to give you an idea. Some of the wood pieces we kept thinking it might come in useful in the future when it warms up and August and Kyle build a clubhouse...

The boys were fascinated. 

So, in answer to that question - "How are you settling in?"

The answer is slowly. One day at a time. One thing at a time. Little by little.

A few weeks ago, a nearby church had a vacation Bible school that I thought might be fun for the kids. I didn't realize that Dorien was too young to go, which just about fit his summer experiences up to that point. Poor kid. His cousin, and also our neighbor, Tagg, was having the same kind of summer. So on the last day of VBS, Aunt Anna did something extremely nice and took Tagg and Dorien to the zoo. Just the boys. They had a blast.

Tagg is a few months younger than Dorien, and they have begun to really enjoy hanging out over the past few months. It's been a process, because for so long, Tagg attached himself to the "older kids", Brooklyn and August, and didn't see Dorien as a playmate. That seems to be changing.

The two of them are in the same class at church, too, and I have seen them becoming more like buddies this summer.

Good times and photo opps abound at the Little Rock Zoo!

When it came time to choose positions for this photo, Dorien informed Tagg that "he could be the woman." Tagg agreed, and they make a hilarious pair!

Meanwhile, as animals were being seen by Dorien and Tagg, I was overseeing the VBS wrap-up festivities that involved a whole auditorium of screaming kids and a chicken. It also involved one of the more chaotic "pick-ups" I've ever seen...I'm sure there will be no shortage of parents suggesting a different format next year. 

We managed to safely exit with all the right kids - including cousin Avery. And we pulled in a friend for a picture. Ah, VBS. The smell of church hallways, animal crackers, juice boxes and sweaty kids. Some memories never fade.