Pool Party

Lila and Jill signed up for the Aqua Babies swimming class and today was their first class.... it was hilarious. It's safe to say that so far Lila is a little fish, absolutely loves the water. Enjoy the pictures and the movie clips.

It's amazing what goes into a glass of wine.

We decided to renew long standing italian DiClementi family tradition and make some homemade Sangiovese red wine. It's harder than it looks... first you de-stem the grapes and wait two weeks as the grapes ferment. Next, you press the juice out of the grape pulp and ferment second time in plastic containers. Finally, you transfer the wine to Oak Barrels and age one year... so some time around Thanksgiving of next year we will have plenty of red wine to drink and give away, hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. Enjoy the pictures and the movie of cousin Henry pressing the wine. The befuddling thing is - why is Tom drinking a Mexican beer on wine day?

Weekend afternoon fun

This fine Saturday afternoon we decided to take a drive out to the Michigan shore and get lunch in New Buffalo, which is about 75 miles outside of Chicago... it was a pretty drive as the colorful leaves are still hanging in there and the beach, although cold, was nice and sunny. Other weekend fun includes a picture of Tommy hanging with Lila on our front steps, Lila and I watching the Bears game, and Jill and Lila watching Baby Van Gogh....enjoy the pics.

Manifest destiny as the home fires burn in Chicago...

Jill's friend Kristin Baker invited us to her wedding to be held in lovely San Diego. That afforded us a fabulous reason to get out of Dodge for the weekend and head for the ocean. It was our first weekend without Lila so you could imagine our concern. The grandparents chipped in and Lila didn't miss a beat... one could argue that she was "okay" with our departure :). We stayed out by the beach and had a blast - enjoy the pictures! Thanks Grandpa & Grandma Monroe!

She's in!

Last Sunday the Catholic Church welcomed little Lila into the family. There was a nice ceremony at St. Hedwig's Church and then we had a great time hosting everyone at our place in Bucktown. Lila was great in church and absolutely loved having the water poured over her head. As you can tell by the photos, she likes to pull on things...Ties, Priest's Robes, Toys...pretty much whatever she can get her hands on. Enjoy the pictures.......