Beautiful Weather and Wagon Rides

We had SUCH a gorgeous weekend - it was in the mid to upper 70's on Saturday, and mid 80's on Sunday... with lots of SUN! Now, spending the majority of my life in Southern California, I would have never thought this would be so exciting to me, since that's pretty much the norm year round there. But Chicago winters will make you giddy about nice weather I guess.
Andrew was able to get some golf in, we BBQ'd at home Saturday, and then went to my parents on Sunday to do some more grillin' and playing in the sun. Too bad they haven't opened the pool yet, because yesterday was really the perfect pool day. But the kids were able to play outside, and they were able to actually use their wagon outside for the first time since they got it at Christmas time.

"Watcha doin' there Drew??"

(There is a little compartment that he hides his little cars in under the seat in the wagon.)

Emma was having fun pulling Drew around in the wagon. She was a little reckless though. They wound up crashing into deck furniture, the side of the house, the grill.....

And then Pop took them for a wagon ride down the street

Longgggg driveway, don't you think? But it makes for a really big front yard that the kids like to run around like crazy in.

Emma, Drew and Mimi

Sunny weather and Strawberries

It was such a beautiful day today! Sunny, 72 degrees... It was really what I've been needing for a long time. Andrew golfed for most of the day, and when he got home we grilled out on the deck. It was our first of the year, with many many more to come. I really like to take advantage of nice weather and cook on the grill as much as possible, to not have to use the oven and stove, because during the winter it's really not an option. I even had my windows down and sun roof open when I went to the store. Now, we just need it to stay this way for a while. We'll see how that works out.
I got a watermelon, strawberries, and some other fresh fruits... and Emma basically wound up eating strawberries as her dinner. By the time we were actually done grilling, she had pretty much polished off half of a carton of strawberries and wasn't too interested in dinner.
Emma and Drew both thought the watermelon was a pumpkin when I brought it into the house. That was pretty funny...

Earlier this week we took Drew to get his hair cut. He gets hair cuts pretty frequently, because his hair grows like crazy and just gets out of control. Up until now, she has always just trimmed it and cleaned it up... but we decided to actually do a  major cut this time. He looks like such a big boy with his new hair!!

While he was getting his hair cut, he was having such a blast! Our hair stylist lets him hold her squirt bottle of water and play with it while she is cutting his hair (To keep him distracted) It was set on a mist spray and he was squirting it at his face. So each time he would mist his face with water, he would laugh so hard.

Emma feels a little left out when Drew gets his hair cut, so occasionally she will put Emma up into the chair and do a quick 'fake' hair cut to make her feel like she got her hair cut also. This time we were there after work one night and we were her last appointment of the night, so she had some extra time and she offered to wash Emma's hair for us. So that made Em happy, and it was one less thing I had to do that night when we got home!

Doesn't her head look so little sticking out of the adult size smock and chair?!

That was during her pseudo- hair cut.



Kalivas family is out to FIGHT Cancer!

We participate in the American Cancer Society 'Walk and Roll' event, to raise money and awareness for cancer research, treatments, and support of cancer survivors. And... it's that time of year again!!! Our company is very involved in this great cause and with our fundraising efforts, we have been able to raise $140,000 for this event over the last two years.
As a family, we will be participating in the walk in May. We have reached 65% of our 'family' fundraising goal!! I want to really give a HUGE Thank you to everyone that has supported us, this year and last in our effort to kick Cancer in the Butt!
It's a great cause, and every single dollar makes a difference, and is a step in the right direction.
We really have come a long way with cancer research, treatment options, and improved survival rate, but there is still a lot of work to do. My hope is that our kids will be able to live in a world in which Cancer doesn't have such a large impact on so many families. Many millions of Americans hear the words 'You have Cancer' every year and it is a very scary thing. Cancer doesn't discriminate against who it's going to invade next, and no one deserves to have to go through it.
If you would like to make a donation to support the Kalivas Family's fight against cancer - you may do so by clicking this link - (Remember, no donation is too small, and all donations are tax deductible!)

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/WalkampRoll/CFPFY11ILWalknRoll?px=14535537&pg=personal&fr_id=34385

Here are some pictures from the Walk last year

 The park they have it at is beautiful...

 Just Arriving....

 Look at all of us! (Actually looks like a bunch of ants!)

Mom, Drew and I

 My parents were volunteers the last few years... Somehow they trust giving my dad this golf cart thing to drive around the place. He came to pick up Emma and Drew and give them a ride for part of it. They were getting a little tired. I think they will hold up better this year.

My dad, grilling burgers and dogs. We had a bbq once everyone crossed the finish line.

 

 Emma & Jim

 Drew man, pretending to drive the golf cart.

  Shauna & Matt were also volunteers - at one of the water stops along the path.

So here's to hoping that this year is JUST as successful!! Thanks again to all of you that have supported us!!

Birthdays and Sugar Balls

On Saturday we did some birthday shopping with daddy, (He got gift cards for his birthday that he wanted to use... and also wanted to get a new golf club, or putter, or something.) So, we shopped and went to lunch with YiaYia and Papou at Fridays.

Emma... always busy coloring. Such a little artist she is.

Drew & Papou

Saturday night Andrew and I took a night off and went out by ourselves, which was really nice. The kids stayed home with Andrews parents and we went out for a few drinks and watched basketball games. We found a few new spots that we liked, that we had not been to before.

Sunday we went to a birthday party. Good friends of ours (Serena and Lee) have a daughter that is just a few months younger than Emma and Drew, so... more birthday fun! Except this time it was her turn.... and I think little kids find that hard to accept. I think Emma and Drew once again thought the cake and presents were for them. But Fi did a very good job at sharing.

Little Buddies

They were dancing to the Dora 'boom box.' It was pretty comical.

Emma, helping Fi with her presents.

The Birthday Girl!

So, this was the very cute Dora cake

And... these, were the (basically) straight up sugar balls that came off the cake. I'm going to make a pretty certain bet that half of these wound up in my daughters stomach before I realized she was grabbing them by the handful.

All in all.... Good weekend.

Andrew's parents headed back to Wyoming yesterday.

These are a few other random pictures from this week -

I found Drew watching tv in this box. I guess it was as good of a place as any?