The Mouse Family Blog

Lauren had a full day for her birthday -- albeit not that exciting, perhaps.

The day before, she had a party with a collection of her playmates, where everyone had a delicious cake made by Liz and enjoyed balloon animals made by our awesome multi-talented neighbor , Marianne.

Lauren's actual birthday on Saturday was a bit more nondescript. It started with a trip to the zoo while I showed our house to a couple sets of prospective buyers. Lauren had a good time seeing the otters, lions and monkeys, which gave her inspiration to work on her "Raaar!" and "Oooh, oooh, eeh, eeh" throughout the rest of the day.

After an impromptu picnic lunch at our house, we took Lauren over to Oberweis for her (first) very own ice cream cone, complete with sprinkles. It was a real hit. She enjoyed much of it on the spot, but saved some for an after-nap snack.






After a nap and more ice cream, we turned our attention some planting outside. The spring flower bulbs are spent and it's also time to plant vegetables, so we loaded up on tomatoes, peppers and a new set of flowers. Buying our plants prompted the quote of the day, "I get plants for my birthday, sometimes."









Sunday, we took a tour of the Sauganash neighborhood, one we're considering for our next place. We had a picnic, toured the adjacent nature preserve, hit the local park, and even stopped-in on a couple open houses. We also discovered that this is the neighborhood where Lauren's Chicago Park District Gymnastics class will be held in June.

I'm still amazed how every neighborhood in Chicago takes-on it's own distinctive feel. Sauganash is definitely a nice place. The neighborhood was brimming with friendly families playing on the sidewalks and at the local park. When the area was developed in the 1950's, the developers brought in a collection of leading architects in a variety of styles. This lead to a refreshing variety of homes, from traditional Chicago bungalos to English tudors, sprawling georgians, and even a few modern homes. I liked that most of the homes seem to have been pain-stakingly designed by architects who really understood their favorite style. We got a kick out of how three competing agents described their properties. "This is a classic Georgian." "This is a super-jumbo-Georgian." "This is a super-wide-jumbo-Georgian."