What We've Been Up to Lately

The Landeks have been busy bees this summer! Here are a few highlights from the past couple months:

Ryan recently got a new job! He's still working at the University of Chicago, but has moved from the OB/GYN department to the Surgery department. His new job offered a bump in salary and position, and he is now a manager. He's getting some glowing reviews from coworkers, and I'm so proud!

I (Molly) have recently secured my own job (as if being a mom isn't enough work!). I'm now working for Gk2Gk.com, approving member photos and profiles. It's a job that I can do from home while the kids are watching TV or napping, which is great!

In June, I was elected Secretary of the Munster MOMS Club. For those not familiar with this organization, MOMS Club is an international non-profit organization with chapters all over the country. We do playdates, fun outings for the kids, and Moms' Night Out events. We also participate in various service projects throughout the year. I've been in MOMS Club for almost a year now, and really enjoy it. I've made friends, Ellie has made friends, and having the support network has been great. It's also been nice to get more involved in our community, as putting down roots in Munster is very important to us as a family. Plus, hosting playdates motivates me to clean the house! (Kidding! Okay, not really.)

But on to what you're REALLY interested in reading about... the kids!

Ellie has had a good summer, filled with playdates and pool visits. Our little fish just loves swimming! Grandma and Papa Landek have a pool, so Ellie has gotten to swim quite a bit this summer, and has a tan that would make Miss Hawaiian Tropic jealous! We're very lucky that Ellie has no shortage of relatives on the Boyle side of the family, because it means that Ellie always has a willing swimming buddy.

Ellie had a great birthday in July. She got loads of cool stuff, and is already talking about next year's birthday.

At the beginning of August, Grandma Mouginis came to visit. Grandma took Ellie on her first carousel ride (our local mall has a full-sized carousel in it!). Grandma and Ellie are good buddies, reading books together, taking naps together, and making a trip to the Munster pool that was so memorable Ellie is still talking about it!

Here's Ellie on a recent trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden:



Ain't she cute?

Finn is busy walking almost walking. Seriously, I've been saying, "He'll be walking any day now!" since he was 8 months old, and here we are at nearly 15 months, and we get a step or two here and there. Whoever said that second children learn faster than first children was a filthy liar, LOL. (For the record, Ellie walked at 14.5 months.) However, just like big sister, he has made huge verbal strides, if not actual strides. Words and phrases he says:
Dog
Cat
Mom
Dad
TV ("TD!")
Num-nums
Baba
"All gone" (usually in the form of "TD all gone!")
Today when we opened a book, he said, "Let's see." ("Wessee.")

There are others that I can't think of right now. Because that's always the way... sit down to write about all the cool stuff your kid can do, and you can't remember a darn thing. *sigh*

Finn is also finally getting the hang of solid food, and has realized that McDonald's cheeseburgers are FAR superior to baby food. His current favorite foods are strawberry newtons, cheese, bananas, animal crackers, and goldfish. He tried some of Sister's noodles at lunch today and loved them. We Landeks love our carbs.

Like Ellie, Finn has had a good summer. He's made some friends in the MOMS Club, we've gone swimming several times (he loves the water!), and he had his first birthday! Here's a pic of him enjoying tolerating a cupcake:


Ohhh! And we think he may be a southpaw, like his Daddy! How cool is that?!

Well, there's a "Real Housewives of DC" calling my name, so that's about it for now. Hope you've enjoyed the Landek summer recap. :)

My, how time flies!

It seemed like just yesterday I was posting about how I planned to post more often. But check out the date on that last post... October 2009! Holy cow! I am a blog slacker!

In my defense, I've been pretty busy, what with the newborn-turned-infant-turned-almost-toddler, and the toddler-turned-almost-preschooler.

I am determined to update this family blog more frequently, though. Both to keep our family apprised of our goings-on, and to record some of the touching, smart, and funny things our kids say and do.

You may notice that the blog has a new look. I've been playing around with the background, which hopefully is cute but doesn't make anyone's eyes bleed. As always, the link to our Shutterfly site is on the right. The site is password-protected. Let me know if you'd like to become a member. Members can upload their own pics (great for those camera-wielding aunts and grandmas!), comment on pictures, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember right now. But trust me, being a member is cool.

I've also linked to everyone's Amazon wish lists, because people always want to know what the kids are into these days. This year I've separated the kids into two separate wish lists, because their tastes are now diverging into "little girl" and "little boy." And I've been nagging Ryan to update his Amazon list, as well, because he's one of those hard-to-shop-for types.

And that's about it. Stay tuned for new pics and updates about the kids!