Our Second Week: A Photo Essay

The week started off with a delicious housewarming gift made by Edible Arrangements,
sent with love from Nannie, Grey, Nana Nancy and Pa.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!!  IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!

We had juice running down our wrists the fruit was so ripe!

Half the reason I took pictures was to show the gift givers how much we loved it
The other half was so I could figure out how they made it so I can take a stab at it the next time I hit the fruit jackpot
(you know I saved all the skewers, don't you?)

Some of us spent time getting reaquainted with new (to us) chairs and old (hidden away months ago for house showings) toys

Test driving new school shoes

Skyping with some of our favorite people

Some of us found new ways to get into trouble

And some of us used the yellow pages to head the troublemakers off at the pass

We cooked our first supper in the new oven

Ben is a pizza traditionalist

Molly is a pizza adventurist

Jack is a bit too inventive for his own good
(there are four layers of sauce and cheese here - resulting in a bit of a soggy mess)

Mom is a pizza environmentalist (or cheapskate, depending on how you look at it)

She used yesterday's leftovers to make a fajita pizza.  Delish!

The new oven got to put all three of its racks to good use.

We made Sunday "Family Day" and trekked off to neighboring Woodridge
(I must say, I'm loving how the folks here in Illinois remind you where you are with every water tower you pass.  It's quite useful for us newbies!)

Marc and I saw this place when we first found Frank and luckily, he has that savant-like ability
to remember directions to places he's only seen briefly. 
(Except for in Salem, MA, the Bermuda Triangle for his special sixth sense.)

Does this place have "Mallett Kids" written all over it or what?

The kids were fascinated by the triple-tier water bubbla.
Ben wanted to drink out of the doggy bowl (of course!)

Luckily, we had something to distract him.

Molly was terrified at first, but joined in quickly once she saw all the fun the boys were having.

Jack came up with the great idea to make a rocket out of a plastic cup by placing it on the fountain just before it went off.

It worked!  He was thrilled and tweaked the experiment until he settled upon the PERFECT fountain, the PERFECT cup placement and the PERFECT timing to get the maximum height on his rocket.

TAH-DAH!!

It was really pretty amazing, because within ten minutes of this moment, every single chilld on that splash pad had gone through their belongings to find a plastic cup and every single one of them was making cup rockets all over the sprayground.  For one glorious moment, the kid who always has to do things his OWN way, instead of the way "everyone else does it", had everyone clamoring to follow his lead.

Marc and I sat perched on the seating ledge, holding hands, smiling and just being PROUD of him.  :)

Then Ben started screaming because someone told him 'no' (heaven forbid), and Molly had to poop, and Jack was starving and whining with the low blood sugar of a mad scientist who never stops to eat, and we hit traffic on the way home and everyone was cold and crying and hungry and it all went back to...well, normal!