The Family *roll

We’ve had a fantastic final, full-week in Chicago:

3 parties (one in our honor)

1 baby-free meal at North Pond thanks to Meghan F.

2 3 trips to Nhu Lan

2 3 trips to Margie’s Candies

1 trip to Budackis Hot Dogs

2 lunches with dissertation advisers

1 pizza in our courtyard with friends

6 trips to Starbucks to use up the four year’s worth of Starbucks gift cards Em accrued at work

1 trip to Children’s Memorial to say goodbye to co-workers

On Wednesday night, Dena and Lisa put together a going away party for us in their backyard. Hot dogs, speeches (!), grumpy babies (three of them), and, as with any event that involves LBA, fantastic pictures.

Dena and Lisa made signs, which people combined to hilarious, touching, and sometimes crude effect (all the pictures are in our latest picasa album):

(She doesn't really mean it)

Emily put it best: everyone there was someone we would be so happy spending a day, or entire weekend with (so come visit Northfield people!). Sadly, she didn’t put it that way at the party when, after the speeches, we wanted to say something. I was, believe it or not, speechless and so said, “Em — do you want to say something?” This caused everyone to turn to look at Em at exactly the moment she had her boob in her hand en route to Ellie’s mouth. Better than any speech.

And, completely unrelated to anything in the post, here are some more pictures:

Belly laying claim to Ellie's tummy-time mat