Fortune Cookie

Once a month I take the girls out for a lunch date. Then Brent separately takes them out on a daddy-daughter date on the weekends. Not only do the girls look forward to a little one-on-one time with us, we have a lot of fun with them. I was craving Chinese so I took the girls to Big Bowl. They have special chop sticks for kids and watching the girls try to eat any significant sum of rice with them is hilarious. All the suits having a power lunch ooh and ahhh over their pigtails and bows. It's a lot of fun.

It says, "You will inherit a large sum of money."

When the fortune cookies came, Liesel snatched hers up right away. I think she got a good one. I'd like to think we'll be able to amass a large sum of money in our lifetime to pass it on to her! Here's hoping :)

Girls' Weekend, Part II

Brent told me to enjoy myself so I ordered room service. I
love the mini smoothie, fresh fruit, pot of hot chocolate and
orchid. The pancakes were the best I'd ever had!

One of the best parts of the girls' weekend was SLEEPING IN!!! Sometimes I feel like that luxury will never again be an option in my life. To block out the rising sun and just let my body rest, rest, rest until I was completely refreshed was heaven. I think I regained about 10 years of life that morning.

We don't look THAT scary, do we?

We had appointments at the Aveda Institute and lazily got ready for the day, hanging out in the thick robes provided by the hotel. I recently had my hair done so I opted for a makeup application. Julie and Vanessa got a great deal on cuts and styles.

Julie really loved The Bean. Or is it her reflection she loved?

We checked out of the hotel and then headed to Gold Coast Dogs for some quintessential Chicago-style hot dogs and cheese fries. We decided to picnic at Millennium Park. After paying a limb for parking, we warmed ourselves on the cold benches with our comfort food. I was so hungry and I ate so fast I think I scared children. We headed over to the crowd surrounding The Bean and joined in the photo op. I'd heard about it, read about it and seen pictures but really, that is one of the coolest sculptures! Narcissus herself would have spent a lifetime checking out her reflection from all different vantage points. Memo to me, memo to me, I need to take the girls there when the weather warms up.

Does this sculpture make my butt look big?
A great place to check out your rear-view

I drove Vanessa and Julie down the Mag Mile and then we headed for our last stop: The T-Shirt Deli. The place looks like a real deli but rather than cold cuts and cheese, you select a t-shirt and logo. Turns out you can even bring in your own t-shirt which helps keep the cost down. There is also an option to create your own logo which was my grand plan. Once we got there, my mind went completely blank and all I could think of was "got scottish egg?" I decided to get the one that looked like a Coca Cola logo but said "Chi-town" instead. They wrapped it up like a sandwich and threw in a bag of chips, clever eh?

Check out the reflection of the city! Seriously so cool.

How cute is that? I'm thinking it would make a great present.

The drive home took longer than expected. We'd walked around a lot in the cold and it was really dark. I was happy to see all was well on the home front and the cousins were having a ball with each other. While we were gone, Isaac reportedly spanked Brent on Wii tennis. From what I understand, both are eager for a rematch.

Modeling our one-of-a-kind t-shirts. I really love Vanessa's!

Before we said our goodbyes, Vanessa suggested we do this kind of thing a couple of times a year. I heartily agreed with her, I had no idea how much I needed this! I'm SO glad she set it up and I got to tag along with my sweet so sweet sisters-in-law.

Girls' Weekend, Part I

When my sister-in-law Vanessa proposed a girls' weekend in the city I have to admit I was skeptical. I feel like I'm at a stage of life where my kids need me and with them growing every second of the day, I don't want to miss a thing. While I keep in touch with my girlfriends, we don't do lunch or go shopping or plan outings together. I'm sure someday I will, but I don't feel now is the time. However, Brent's sister Julie was making a last visit before she heads off to serve her mission in Anchorage, Alaska. So we said goodbye to the husbands and tinies and headed downtown.

The tower is 262 Michael Jordans tall...

...or about 310 Julies tall

Our first stop was (of course) the Sears Tower. Yes it's officially now the Willis Tower but locals look at you funny if you call it that. I don't know that Chicagoans will ever embrace "Willis". Since we went at night, the line was a little more reasonable and we didn't have too long of a wait. We started talking about phobias and I mentioned Brent has a phobia of heights although it doesn't bother me much. Oh how I came to eat those words!

I did it, but that's Vanessa holding my hand and I'm holding onto the side of the building with my other hand.

Julie with the world below her.

On the way down Vanessa commented that she wish she'd gotten
 a "jumping" shot when we had the chance. Can you imagine?

They have glass outlooks which upon approach, feel a little unstable. Let me rephrase that. They feel A LOT unstable! The glass doesn't look all that thick and suddenly I was very aware of my own mortality. Vanessa walked out there without thinking anything of it. Julie was a little apprehensive, but she too got into it. I was happy when we were done with photos and it took me a while to completely relax.  Brent later told me he and his coworkers will sometimes watch the windows move in and out with the wind (after all, tall buildings are built to sway). I was happy to find my fears weren't totally unfounded!
I flipped for the audio tour hoping it would be similar to the one at the Empire State Building in NYC. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as entertaining and the device was a little hard to hear. It gave more facts than interesting tid bits. Maybe I need to try it during the day?

We stayed at the JW Marriott which was a GORGEOUS hotel! The staff was incredibly nice and the room was fantastic. After settling in, we went to a restaurant recommended by the front desk called The Gage. They serve "upscale comfort food" which was amazing! We all shared a cheese platter and I'm drooling remembering the fresh honey that came with it. I tried the Scotch egg which is hard-boiled, wrapped in sausage, breaded and then fried. It came with some spicy mustard to round out the flavor.

We lucked out with the weather and were able to walk off our dinner in the (relatively) mild night. After taking a luxurious bath, checking in on my little family, and watching some mindless TV, I crashed.

I Love Being a Girl!

When I realized almost all of the Nielsen girl cousins (sans Abigail) would be together, I immediately plotted a mani-pedi excursion. Ireland actually didn't go either because she was napping and hey, too young, right? Liesel, on the other hand, acted like she was a regular. Once upon a time when I asked Liesel if she was a boy or a girl, she would vehemently respond she's a "girly girl" and she certainly lived up to that! She quickly opted for a pretty pink color, chatted easily with her nail technician, and relaxed into her giant massage chair. She decided to get a snowflake design on her big toes. I have to say I was amazed the lady could fit it in considering the size of her canvas! Everyone was so nice and patient with our large group.

Grandpa couldn't help sneaking in to take some video. While the cousins were under the dryers they talked excitedly... sometimes to each other and sometimes to themselves. They were so cute. At one point, he asked them to show off their manicures and all the cousins delicately held out their hands. If I can get a copy of the video I will certainly add it because it's just precious! It was so nice to get in some girly time. I love my nieces.


What girl doesn't mind a little pampering?

Lest you're concerned Brent was drowned in all the estrogen, allow me to mention he managed to go to the shooting range with my brother. He came back with some bullet casings and a little more swagger in his step. We made sure he got some testosterone time too!

Polar Swim

With the excitement of Christmas over, we grabbed siblings, cousins and Grandma for a little fun out of the house. The U of I has an amazing new rec center with a little something for everyone:


Brent and Whitney trying the climbing wall

Whitney and Liesel playing with the fountains while Brent and Ireland float around the lazy river.


Liesel enjoying some light showers

Grandma helping Ireland get in some swim time. I love to see her chubby little legs kick so hard! She's definitely a water baby.

My personal favorite is the huge hot tub and ginormous flat-screen TV. You can play with your kids and keep an eye on the game! It's best to cheer for the Hawkeyes of course. I loved relaxing a bit with family and letting the warm, bubbly water carry away the residual holiday stress. Ahhhhhhh!

Merry Christmas!

The Wuehlers in all our morning glory

Somewhere I read that even tiny kids should sit at the "big" table
when possible. I decided to set a place for Ireland rather than put
her in the high chair and she was thrilled with the arrangement!

Believe it or not, this was our very first family only Christmas! I have to say it was a success too, with just enough (ok, perhaps a teensy bit of excess). After talking to friends and family about how they put it all together, Brent and I settled on the philosophy of  "something to wear, something to read, something they want and something they need." We did our fancy dinner on Christmas Eve which was nice for two reasons: it filled up the girls so they slept hard and it gave Brent and I good fuel to do our elving. In the future I think we'll stick to the fancy Christmas Eve dinner and then do something simple like a crock pot or frozen meal on the big day. Since we spend all morning eating chips and candy, it's kind of nice to finish the day with something simple.

The girls and their stockings

Brent's mother always rang a bell to let everyone know when it was time to come out. After a bit of searching, I procured our own Christmas bell that Brent rang after I queued some holiday music and ran the train around the tree for ambiance. We started the festivities off with a photo and then launched into the stockings. It took Ireland a bit to catch on but catch on she did! Liesel was getting eager to "help" unwrap her presents so Dad gave her a little lesson in folding arms and being patient for our turn. My favorite part of the morning was seeing Irelands little fingers covered in Pringle cheese. Pringles are a tradition from my family. One year my Mom got them because they quickly filled the stockings. Christmas isn't Christmas without Pringles ever since.

Liesel showing patience and restraint before opening her big gift.

There's always a gift that surprises and this year it was definitely the train people. We have an LGB train with a "Duck Tour" car. Technically it's themed from the cartoon but we adopted it as our Boston car. During our time there, we went on more than one Duck Tour to show off our city to visitors. Well, the plastic ducks that came with the car didn't really make sense, so this year I ordered some people. Heretofore, Ireland has been somewhat terrified of the train. Early in the month I think she accidentally knocked over a car and the resulting mess traumatized her. In fact, the reason she's scowling in our family photo (above) is because the train was running behind us and she didn't like it. Well, once those little people were on the Duck Tour car, her demeaner completely changed (see video below).

After about 3 times she started bidding the people, "Buh BYYYYYE, BYYYYYE, BUUUH BYE!" when they came around. I hope you all had a wonderfully Merry Christmas!

The Sweetest Thing

Makes me melt.

Got Lasik?

Anyone out there interested in getting lasik from TLC Laser Eye Center? We received two coupons for $250 off but can't think of anyone who might use it. It feels wrong to just throw them away since that's a chunk of savings. If you're looking to sharpen your vision (pun intended), please send along your address and I'll send one to you!

MOSI- Dr. Seuss Exhibit

We finally invested in a family membership to The Museum of Science and Industry! I was so excited to get into the "Members Only" line this most recent visit and I know we're going to make good use of our membership. I took the girls to see the Dr. Seuss exhibit which coincided with the Christmas Around the World festival. It was amazing. The main tree was a Grinch Who Stole Christmas-themed one (see the Whos holding hands and singing around the base?). I really loved the presents wrapped in plain but brightly colored paper. I may have to do that next year! It almost looks more festive than traditional Christmas wrapping.

Did you know Dr. Seuss never actually got his PhD from Oxford as intended? And Seuss is supposed to be pronounced like "voice." I definitely sympathize with having a German name no one can pronounce! Apparently Green Eggs and Ham was born out of a bet with his editor. The bet was that he couldn't create an entertaining book from 50 words or less. There are 49 one-syllable words in Green Eggs and Ham and 1 two-syllable word (anywhere). Dr. Seuss joked he was never compensated for that bet. He never had any children stating, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em." I loved seeing some of his original artwork! I once heard that genius is the ability to return to childhood at will. In that case, Dr. Seuss was the most brilliant of geniuses.

Yes I flipped for the photo, but I got a discount with our new membership!

Aside from the Dr. Seuss exhibit, the museum was decked out with dozens of Christmas trees representing different countries. It was the perfect place to take the girls and get them excited for the holidays. Oh how I love this museum!

The Chicago Do-It-Yourself Messiah

Growing up, the first Sunday of December heralded in the holidays for my family. My parents packed me and my siblings in our rusty van and trekked up to northern Iowa. What was the attraction? A Messiah sing-along. Eventually I grew old enough to sing (rather than just watch) and it became my favorite holiday tradition. I remember how thrilled I was when Mom bought me my very own score. After leaving home, I made use of that score by finding a sing-along here and there (Abravanel Hall in SLC, Harvard campus in Boston), but it's been years since I've been to one. Attending the one in Chicago was my #1 priority this year. Turns out it almost didn't happen due to funding difficulties. The organizers managed to pull it off though, and Mom and Dad came to town to join in the fun.
I didn't know The Messiah debuted in Dublin, Ireland! Even more reason to love it. Our conductor said it is the most performed piece of music in the world. He also told a story about how Handel was known for having a short temper. Handel confronted a man who was having difficulty with one of the solos saying, "You said you could read at sight!" to which the man replied, "I can, just not at first sight."

The conductor Stanley Sperber was fantastic! Apparently he flies from Israel just for this event every year. He was wonderfully humorous, ribbing the tenor section as is only fitting. With just 10 minutes of rehearsal time, he was incredibly patient with the amateur audience. Out here they call it the "do-it-yourself" rather than "sing-along" and rather than end with the Hallelujah chorus, they also do all of Part III minus one song. Initially I was disappointed because the Hallelujah chorus is such a fantastic finish. That feeling was short-lived because after the conductor, soloists and orchestra took their bows, everyone returned and we all sang it as an encore. The soloists joined in this time and even from my balcony seat, I could see the conductor smiling as wide as the Grinch after his heart grew 3 times.

(Credit: Lisa Fielding/WBBM Newsradio/CBS)

The woman seated next to my mom closed her score and sang Hallelujah from memory, which I found incredibly touching. Even in the the heart of a city as diverse as Chicago, it was magnificent to proclaim my faith in the "King of Kings, Forever and ever!" and "Lord of Lords, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" alongside others. My heart wrapped itself around the music of my Savior and I very nearly started bawling I was so moved. As every one's voice swelled fortissimo with utter rejoicing, it felt like the roof would blow off the theater. Rarely do we get the chance to feel so at one with complete strangers but this was one such occasion. This is a holiday tradition I need to cement!

(the janitor with the yellow caution sign is my favorite!)