Part of the long process of moving overseas has so far involved a lot of moving within the US!  We spent the first three weeks of October living at Keystone, our friends' building, while we waited for our temporary apartment at headquarters to open up.  We had our own private bedroom, living room, and bathroom but did meals together every night.  Four adults and three kids under four was definitely a recipe for chaos at times (plus four more adults and four more kids on the other floors), but we appreciated the extra and unique time this gave us with our friends.  I think we did manage to avoid all three kids melting down at once but they each had their own moments!  It was a sweet, temporary period to do life together in before life becomes more separate than we would ever want.  Eric and Em were extremely gracious in letting us interrupt their regular schedule for an extended time.

I liked having people to watch Parenthood with, being able to tag along on the many activities that Em plans such as pumpkin patches and apple picking, witnessing life with a 3 and a half year old first hand and spending dinner trying not to laugh out loud at Eleanor's renditions of what pre-school teachers are like, that Canaan has become better acclimated to lots of people, "strangers", and loud noises, participating in riveting, opinionated, funny, and intense conversations at house desserts, being invited to play Ticket to Ride with Charlie & Beth, trying Las Cemitas delicious cemitas, having extra people to cook for (and people who really like dessert unlike Nate), having an insider's perspective as to what some of the negotiations/conversations about having a shared ownership in a building and block look like, watching Katie and Emily's coupon savvy shopping trips, sharing a babysitter and completing the monumental task of getting enough kids asleep to leave the babysitter with 5 kids 4 and under, Friday play group being so easy because Canaan could nap in his own bed when he needed to, coming home from one night away in Indiana and having Eleanor tell us she missed us at dinner, and more.

We had a totally relaxing Sunday afternoon out in the backyard with some fun drinks and all of the kids peaceful and playing.  Edie and Canaan are starting to be aware of each other's existence now.  Can you believe Canaan is three weeks younger with his giant head and long body?

Dressed for Fall in the Keystone backyard with Em and Katie during a neighborhood pumpkin carving and painting party.

So far Ella is the only member of her family that likes to cook. She's quite a champ to have fun making dessert with me ... a dessert she knows she cannot eat herself because she has to start eating her vegetables first.

Sharing life, sharing kids. Em has been irreplaceable in my transition to being a parent.

Welcome to life on Keystone. It has its moments. We jumped in our car to go get visas one morning only to discover this lovely, spray painted message on our hood.

One benefit of community living comes from the fact that Em is always very motivated to do family activities and get out of the house.  It's much easier to tag along on these things when we all start from the same place and can check in all morning on what kid is napping when in order to figure out when we will actually leave.  For Columbus Day we went out to Goebbert's Pumpkin Patch, land of pumpkins-o-plenty, camels and ponies to ride, kettle corn, roasted corn, and apple cider donuts, hay bales, tractor rides and more.  Mostly it's a land full of photo-ops for parents of young kids and our crew was no different!  But it's always nice to get out in 80 degree weather in October and do something different for a day.

(Note: Time to put the 3-6 month clothes away because these are some SHORT shorts now.)

(Look Dad - Canaan doesn't always look so serious and worried!)

Edie & Canaan

A smile in between attempts to chew on the pumpkin stem

Ava, Eleanor, Canaan, Edie, Liam

In all of the major events that happened in August (the addition of my first nephew, flying to Oklahoma with Canaan to meet this nephew, moving! from our apartment to Keystone) I forgot to write about the first fun event of September.  Two of my best girlfriends from college came for a short visit.

Amanda (2nd from the right), known as Commander by us, was visiting her home in Canada during a summer break from classes in Cambridge and decided to "swing by" Chicago. Jeanine (2nd from leftO, who currently lives in Columbus, was urged to join us to make the reunion complete. She was especially motivated to make the trip up because she had a new "person" for us to meet along with her! Lydia (far left) lives in Chicago with her husband Adam. They live in a different community and go to a different church than us but we get to see them a little more frequently. Lydia is currently pregnant with their second child and has been a good resource for me since Canaan was born.

The time together was good as always. It was a little chaotic with Amanda leaving just less than 12 hours after Jeanine arrived but we made it work and had one big brunch altogether. Adam and Lydia are great hosts who are way more mellow and go with the flow than I could ever be. For that I greatly admire them because it makes us all feel really comfortable. I got to spend a day with Jeanine and thru that got to know her boyfriend, Matt. We went to Trader Joe's (I love anyone who comes to town and is excited to check out TJ's!), tried out cupcakes at The Cupcake Gallery (I don't recommend a visit as there are far better cupcakes elsewhere) and went to the Grape Stomp Festival on Wells Street. At night a lovely friend from church babysat so that Jeanine, Matt, Nate, and I could go out to an adult dinner and then over to chocolate fondue with Adam and Lydia once their daughter was asleep. I always appreciate time with Jeanine. One thing I loved about my day with her was just how open both Matt and her were to questions. I feel comfortable throwing any question at her without feeling like things are "off limits" and knowing she'll really think about her response. Both she and Matt seem to have this quality and endured questions about how the dynamics present with their siblings might play out in their relationship, how they've dealt with conflict and where they might foresee the "age gap issue" coming to play. You know, the normal sort of questions one asks over a slice of pizza at Lou Malnati's ...

Any day I spend with these friends is great and I have always appreciated how Amanda and Jeanine have made great efforts to visit Lydia and I regularly.

I've long been a cupcake fanatic.  I know it's uber-trendy, but I just don't care.  I've loved vanilla on vanilla since I was a little girl.  Something that comes in that flavor combination and is perfectly portioned and decadently decorated was made for me.  While nothing will ever beat a vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream, I'm game to try almost any combination (after all, you can always eat two, right?).  My friend Em shares my love of cupcakes (she goes for chocolate) but we have long debated the best cupcake in the city.  Turns out she was having this same never-ending conversation with a few other friends as well and thus an idea was born.

(Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes)

The mission? To decide once and for all where the best cupcake in this city can be found when the craving hits. The idea was to spend a night trolling the town for cupcakes. But let's get real. We each have kiddos at home, finding a date that worked for everyone was hard enough, and finding parking all over the city seemed anti-climatic. So this crawl turned into a cupcake war where each lady was assigned a cupcake shop and asked to pick-out some basics and some specialty cupcakes.

(MORE cupcakes)

6 Ladies. 6 cupcake lovers.  5 cupcake shops.  4 bottles of wine.  32 cupcakes. Let me say it again: 6 ladies, 32 cupcakes. The final conclusion? We fought a war on the cupcakes but the cupcakes won. What were we thinking?? We were thinking we were a lot more pro at heavy-sugar-ingestion than we were.

(Swirlz Cupcakes)

Despite stomach aches for several and the fact that 12 cupcakes went home without even being tasted I'd say any night is a success where that many cupcakes are consumed.

So here were the final conclusions:

the Salted Caramel Cupcake from Southport Grocery and Cafe (not even a cupcake specialty shop) took top honors. Many also felt it had the best vanilla on chocolate and vanilla on vanilla, though the appearance was slightly underwhelming in comparison.

the lemon cupcake with lemon cream cheese frosting from Sweet Mandy B's was the surprise of the night, convincing several who would never have picked a citrus cupcake.

Sweet Mandy B's will always be my top-rated shop for their buttercream frosting, but Molly's Cupcakes chocolate cake blew Sweet Mandy B's chalky comparison out of the water.

Swirlz is better known than most, but is definitely outrated and outranked in flavor by many others.

And More, a downtown hotspot that demonstrated far more friendliness than anticipated, pulls out some astonishingly artistic cakes.  Unfortunately the beauty of the cupcakes far outreach the flavor.

Labor Day weekend marked a change from the non-stop summer weather. Not that I'm complaining about the sunshine, but it was kind of nice to pull out a pair of jeans instead of the rotation of three shorts I wear as a full-time mom. Each weekend day Nate and I would remark that this was a "Quito" day because of the perfect temperatures with a slight breeze.

Labor Day 2010 was celebrated like many past, in the Keystone backyard with Eric & Em, Katie & Bill, and Beth & Charlie this year. Because we all have kids now, these events have moved earlier in the day so that we were all home long before 7pm bedtimes. Canaan loved getting his grinchy little fingers in the grass and spending time with his friend Edie. Both Canaan and I experienced Edie's ability to stare. Eric need not worry about boyfriends-to-come, she'll be able to intimidate them all on her own! Edie and Canaan also endured a photo shoot in which their parents tried to convince them they were friends. Meanwhile, they were more interested in eating or looking anywhere but the camera. We'll see if Em got any good shots out of it. Canaan successfully took a 45-minute nap in the basement, giving us hope that might be able to be trotted around a little more often in the future.

We sat around a table in the backyard, huddled under two sun umbrellas while Charlie checked his i-phone rain radar every time we felt a drop. I will note, his information did not fail and it was worth sticking out the few rain clouds that came through. We talked TV shows, tried to catch flying plates caught by the wind, and parents took turns monitoring the older kids. I was told I have ADHD for my lack of ability to stay in only one conversation and I realized I'm exactly like my mother when I tried to coach everyone in the proper way to say "Manchego" (as in cheese). Oh and we all sat out in the sun - finally! - at the end and ate some cupcakes ... a new, cinnamon-filled cupcake recipe I'll have to leave you hanging for until I get it photographed properly.

Part of the cooking frenzy from a few weeks ago was due to the fact that my very first sister-in-law, Laura, is getting married!  I was happy to help her celebrate bachelorette style by making some appetizers for everyone to enjoy.  Laura has been a great sister and I wouldn't miss being able to support her in this way.  And now in just about a week we'll have a new marriage and a new addition to the family in Garenne.

Some of the fun! Gorgonzola, pear, and apricot tarts, brie and raspberry cups with chives, salami and gorgonzola biscuits with raspberry preserves, thai chicken lettuce wraps, and a blue cheese and strawberry salad. Later Loretta brought out dozens of mini cupcakes from Sugar Bliss in flavors like fuzzy navel and red velvet.

10 years!  It's been 10 years since Nate & I left Ecuador, 10 years since we graduated from high school.  That meant that this summer was reunion time.  Our class reunion was in Costa Mesa, California where the reunion planner lives.  People flew from all over the US, including Maine, Texas, Colorado, etc.  We had people come down from Canada and up from Ecuador for the event.  Just over half of our class was able to make it.  And wish us we brought new spouses and a pile of kids.

The reunion was pretty low-key planning wise.  It was three days of time to hang out.  We all stayed in the same hotel and had a conference room for our group that we could come and go from whenever.  World Cup games were watched together in that room.  Our first night we had a picnic in the park.

The next day people did what they wanted.  Some people went to Disney Land, some to Cristal Cathedral, the pool, or the beach.  Nate, Canaan, and I spent time with our friends Jeff, Mackenzie, and Jayden Rollins at Downtown Disney where we ate some spicy Cajun food and looked at the shops.  Canaan needs a few more years on him til that place becomes fun.  At night we had a campfire on the beach with hotdogs and s'mores.  The plan was to have a sing-along once it got dark but since it doesn't get dark til after 9pm all of the kids were melting down long before that and we had to move the party back to the hotel! The next day was another chill day and I spent time with my friends Rachel, Darryl, and Ellie as well as Sara, Matt & Bella.  At night we had our main reunion event.  We had catered South American food.  They played the video from our Senior Trip and a slideshow of many, funny old pictures.  There was one child who exclaimed at seeing his mom with a boy other than "daddy."  Greg Collord was able to attend this night and he read our Senior Story that included everyone's first and last names.  The group moved up to the conference room afterward and stayed up way past our post-baby bedtime talking and watching old videos of vocal concerts.

On Sunday we had a little mini-service and then watched the World Cup final together.  After that people started departing.  Nate and I had made plans to stay an extra day so we could see some friends from the Redlands/Yucaipa area so we did that Sunday afternoon.  Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner and afterward I was able to spend on last out with Sara, Sara, Erin, Rachel, and Jess.  I'm really glad I had that extra night and had fun exploring our thoughts on parenting, how our own experiences have impacted us, and what we might do different with our kids.

It was fun to see everyone's spouses, kiddos and different parenting styles.  There were many kiddie meltdowns and lots of kids being passed from one person to the next.  Bonus for Nate & I was that the conference room was right across from our hotel room so we could let Canaan nap with the monitor on and be relatively free.  Other bonus was Jayne Lee, who loved holding Canaan and took him off of our hands often.  I enjoyed connecting with some people that I didn't spend a whole lot of time with in Ecuador too.  I also enjoyed watching how people's lives have turned out.  I'm amazed at some of my friends and where they were at along the way and where they are now.

Our friend Byron has the hook-up!  This guy started a blog about the Cubs ages ago.  You'll not meet a more diehard sports fanatic - this guy goes to as many Cubs games as possible, holds a season ticket to the Fire, has been captain of the beer bus, can be seen at The Globe watching Fire games if he's not at the game, and is about to travel to Toronto on the fan bus for a game.  Anyway, his blog is now considered the #1 fan blog for the Cubs.  Pretty impressive.  One of the perks of all Byron's hard work is advertising deals.  So this year one rooftop owner wanted ad space but cut a deal for a rooftop experience instead of cash.  So Byron was given a roped off deck on the rooftop for him and his friends.  Glad to be your friend, B ... (for more than just the perks :)

Oodles of free food and drink, including as many killer chocolate chip cookies as we could handle and my first hot dog since Canaan formed in my uterus - Yum!  Rooftop games are my kind of game because it can be as much about the mingling as about the game itself.  It's possible that I didn't watch one single play of the actual game, but I'm pretty sure the Cubs won based on the cheering.

Byron - the hook-up man - front and center with friends

How Edie spent the entire game

How Canaan looked for his first-ever Cubs game.  Actually he did one better by taking two naps in his car seat and only waking up for 20 minutes in between to eat.  His first sporting event happened on his one-month birthday.

Proving to ourselves that just because we have infants doesn't mean we can't still have fun!

This weekend we did a very mini-getaway to Lake Geneva with Eric and Em.  We really like going out of town with them, getting to do something different, and having quality time together, but it's hard to come by with 4 schedules to coordinate and one 3-year-old to find care for.  But we were determined to make it happen one last time before that number turns into one 3-year-old and 2 newborns between the four of us.

It wasn't a well-planned trip, as I've noticed my decision-making skills and motivation to do research have gone out the window sometime during the 8th month of pregnancy, but it was fun nonetheless.  We stopped at a burger joint for lunch and then did the requisite small town shopping including ice cream and fudge sampling.  I spent more time in toy stores than I never have before with Eric and Em and they spent more time in a kitchen gadget store than I imagine they ever have because of me.  We all came away with goodies.  We also stopped at a foodie store with lots of dips, spreads, and wines to sample.  Sometimes I love the little things in life!  We gave the wine guy quite the task in trying to find a wine that all 4 of us approved of and had sampled every selection by the end.  Emily also tried to convince him that a pregnant belly was proof enough that she was over 21 and didn't need to be carded.  He thought she was signaling that she wouldn't be trying the wine.  We ended up with a bottle that we'll save until we can celebrate non-pregnancy and two new babes with an official toast.  We also saw snow sculptures left over from a competition, but more importantly to note is the fact that Em managed to break a shelf in a store when she decided to try to make a seat out of it.  The lady promised that this happened quite regularly and had nothing to do with pregnancy weight.

Though we had all imagined a nice, sit down dinner at a trendy restaurant, this was not to be found.  Everything with any sort of atmosphere was booked until 9pm ... which wasn't going to work with our current appetites.  So we settled for a generic pizza joint and laughed and talked nonetheless.  Our consolation prize was a trip to the grocery store to pick up mini ice cream candy bars and frankly, they were a great consolation prize as we devoured through them.  To cap the night off Em was gracious enough to fulfill my one request of the weekend: to get into the pool and swim.  I imagine one pregnant woman in a bikini would get a number of stares, but two was almost too much for people to handle.  It's also strange when the 50-year-old woman in the hot tub next to you is giving you body envy at the moment.  There was definitely some giggling and embarrassment accompanying this portion of the evening.  (There will NOT be pictures of this.)  But let me tell you, the water felt great and when I came out my body felt better than it has in a month!

The next morning we woke up and had a yummy, satisfying breakfast at a little cafe, including fresh-squeezed strawberry orange juice, swedish pancakes with lingonberries, and Nate's favorite: biscuits and gravy.  Then we got into the car to head back to the city, during which I felt more nauseous than I have this entire pregnancy and we had a near emergency on the road when I started to lose my breakfast and almost made Em, who was sitting beside me, do the same.  The car ride ended with possibly my favorite quote I have ever heard out of Eric, though he has many great ones:"Sometimes you get the snake with poison."

From now until Christmas is all about tradition.  Even though it's always a packed season, I love that this time of year brings people together in ways that we don't always prioritize the rest of the year.

As always, we started out our Thanksgiving celebration early, with a Thanksgiving dinner with friends.  This has become a tradition over the past 3 or 4 years that I love.  Generally, holidays are reserved for family  and I love that this tradition allows us to celebrate with friends who are really meaningful to us as well.  Eric and Emily did a great job of hosting, with cute little Thanksgiving decorations all around and a laid-back atmosphere.

We then hosted Thanksgiving Day at our house.  It's always been a big blessing that all of Nate's siblings live in the area.  We don't get together as often as we might like, but it means that family is near when the big stuff comes.  And as my sister and her husband have done in the past, they were gracious enough to drive 11 hours from Oklahoma to spend the long weekend with us as well.

(Almost ready for people to arrive, before the chaos starts!)

(Kimber and Nate handled the turkey beautifully, while I stayed mostly on the raw poultry sidelines.  Nate has become quite the proficient carver, from our first Thanksgiving when I remember cleaning shredded turkey meat off the walls and cabinet for a week.)

(Dinner together)

Kim and FP were able to get here earlier this year than in the past.  Usually they roll in at about 3am on Thanksgiving morning.  It was really nice to have them show up at 7pm the night before and have a little time together before an exhausting day of cooking, hosting, and cleaning.  It was still an exhausting day for me and I appreciated Kim's help a lot.  It's nice that she's my sister and I can depend on her to just take charge of something when I need it.

We spent Friday doing what every crazy American does: shopping.  However, we decided to forgo the early bird rush.  Instead we woke up at our leisure and didn't actually get out to the mall til 12pm.  Still, we had some definite shopping success for Christmas gifts, house items for Kim, and maternity clothes for me.  Seven hours later, we headed back to the city and I rewarded all of my standing and walking with dinner in front of a movie.

Saturday we spent the morning at Trader Joe's and a gourmet grocery store.  (Yes, this is considered a fun event in the Jordan family.)  We then came home and made a big brunch before heading downtown for more sightseeing and walking.  We planned to do the Sears Tower Sky Ledge, but skipped it after finding out it was a two-hour line.  We headed to the Christkringle market, a German Christmas market packed with kitschy items no one should buy and way too many people.  After that it was, yes, more shopping on State Street followed by an early dinner in the West Loop at an Indian Restaurant.  FP loves naan so he was happy.  Nate and I both confirmed that we really don't like Indian food, but I was glad we gave it one more try! Dinner led to a walk up to north Michigan Avenue for beignets and cheesecake for dessert overlooking the Mag Mile.

In total, we walked about 5 miles on Saturday and I determined that is the last time I'll do that for the next 4.5 months.  Nobody told me that pregnancy makes you feel like you have the body of a 100-year-old.  If you push too hard, you can't just sleep it off.  The next day you just wake up 100 or like a brand new cowboy on his first cross-country ride.  I'm realizing that I'm going to have to slow down now, yet I'm not sure how I can do it without letting things drop.  Oh and let me note for now and any other time I decide to be pregnant that I should never, ever plan a trip to a foreign country during that time.  This weekend, I spent more time than I care to count waiting in bathroom lines.  I can't imagine how much worse it would be in a location that has far less commodities readily available.

Despite feeling like a Grandma, it was a great weekend and I so appreciate Kim and FP making the effort to come and see us semi-regularly.  Because we have lived so far apart since Kim's marriage, we have never had an extended period to get to know FP well.  Our trip to Panama was the most time we'd ever spent with him.  I liked realizing this Thanksgiving our time in Panama and their effort to come our way and spend time when we can is paying off and now he just feels like "one of us."