Family Ties

Family has been the theme of our lives for the last few weeks.    First Mark's Mom and Dad came up from Kansas City.  They stayed from Saturday, March 13 to Wednesday March, 17th.  It was a great visit.  They helped us paint the guest room, which desperately needed done!  I can't remember if I mentioned before, but the room had been mauve with a burgundy ceiling.  It was pretty horrifying. I mean really, who paints a room those colors and thinks their house is going to sell?   It was funny, because everyone was like, "Oh, it's not that bad," until Mom Murrill came.  She took one look at it, and said "that's got to go"!  My thoughts exactly:).   The dark ceiling made the room feel so small. Well, anyway, with the new lighter paint, the room seems twice the size!  I am so glad we did it and we are so thankful we had such amazing help.

Mark and I both had to work, so they were gracious enough to watch Monroe so we didn't have to send her to daycare.  Not only did this save us a lot of money, it was great for them to get to spend some quality time.  They watched Max and Mason, as well, on Tuesday.  They even watched them on Tuesday night, so that Mike, Melissa, Mark and I could go out to dinner.  What a treat!  We were sad to see them leave on Wednesday, but we didn't have a lot of time to be sad, because the next day, my parents came!

When my parent's are around, food is always on the agenda.  They LOVE to eat out and we had so much fun "tasting" Chicago!  We found my "hands down" favorite Mexican place EVER!  It was amazing.  Usually, I hate that oily feeling I get after eating Mexican food, but this little restaurant had the freshest and yummiest ingredients.  From the guacamole, to the vegetable rice...delish!!! I can't wait to go back.  We also had Portillo's (famous Chicago hotspot), Giordano's (Chicago Style Pizza), Indian food, and we discovered the cutest little ice cream place in downtown Wheaton.  As much as I enjoyed it all, the scale let me know that I should probably take it easy:)      
  
We visited Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago.  It really is a wonderful aquarium.  It was so cute to see how interested Monroe was in all of the fish.  I had wondered if she would even realize they were there, but she really was mesmerized by it all.

My parents also love a good outlet mall.  My mom was devastated when we left Orlando, because she was sad to not have an outlet mall close.  Well, you can imagine her excitement when we learned there is not one, but TWO outlet malls around.  We headed to the closest one on Sunday.  There were some great sales and Monroe went a little nuts at Carter's and Oshgosh. Man, that girl can shop:)

Dad had to leave to go back to work on Tuesday, but Mom stayed until Thursday.  She watched Monroe and I can say without a doubt, those two girls are the best of friends.  I know they both were really sad to have to say goodbye.  I was, too:(

I feel like I got so spoiled while our parents were here!  From the free childcare to cooking and cleaning, our family showered us with sweet acts of love.  I miss them all so much!  I totally forgot to take pictures when Mark's parent's were here, and I am so mad at myself.  I did capture a few memories, during my parent's visit.  Enjoy:)