a boy. his sister.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Birthdays!

Sweet little Parker's first birthday was last week, as was Erin's, so we celebrated big with all of the family! I apparently only took pictures outside, and then took pics with dad's camera inside, so maybe I'll see those pictures eventually :)

Parker with his new lawn mower from Aunt Dithy

The cousins playing

By far his favorite part of this toy

Mastering his new slide from Jeff's parents

Climbing where he shouldn't is his specialty

Bubbles!

"Why do these bubbles fly away from me?!"

"Mom, fix the bubbles!"

"Nana, where are my bubbles?!"

"Dad, help me with these bubbles!"

We went on a short walk - Kate loved seeing the creek and exploring the trails

A flash back from last weekend's adult birthday celebration - dinner at Chuck's and drinks at Landmark! Yum!

Morning Prayer with the firsties

Every year each class gets to lead Morning Prayer at school for a week. The idea is that every child in the school will help lead morning prayer at some point every year. A couple weeks ago, Kate's class had their turn. The morning that Kate was reading it was SUPER cold out, so they had morning prayer inside, instead of outside in the courtyard. Kate woke up that morning and we had our usual conversation, something like this:

Me: "Good morning, sweet cheeks!"

Kate: "Good morning" (sad face)

Me: "How'd you sleep?"

Kate: "Bad... I'm nervous."

Me: "About reading for school? You did it in Kindergarten and were great!"

She was not convinced. Fast forward 30 minutes and some how or another, we convinced her it would be ok, and off to school she went. Whew!

Kate and her buddy, Ben, pointing out Gubio on the receptionist's desk (for those that remember, this is the same kid she kissed on the lips during circle time when they were 2)

All smiles, ready to read her part!

It just so happened to be my sweet friend's birthday that day! Kristen is a 5th grade ITA at the kids' school - my kids LOVE to see her during the day!

Kate reading while the principal holds the phone for the speaker (the kids are in their classrooms on really cold or rainy days).

Valentine's Basketball Weekend

In the midst of our snow storm (see below), Todd and I left the kids with his mom (aka "Grandma") and took off for Valentine's weekend. I know you're thinking, aw, how sweet. Did I mention it was for National Marquette Day... to go to a basketball game. This gives me "best wife ever" status! Lucky for Todd, I enjoy college basketball, especially since my team is better than his (GO HEELS)! Anyway, the snow came Wednesday, followed by ice Wednesday night, followed by 95% of flights being cancelled at RDU. By some miracle, our flight went on as planned! We flew in to Chicago Thursday night, hung out with Todd's dad in Rockford that night, and headed up to Milwaukee Friday morning. After some shopping and sight seeing around Milwaukee, we checked into the hotel and went out to dinner at a delicious hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant with quite possibly the best and biggest margarita I've ever had! Saturday was spent at an alumni function, where Todd won a signed framed D. Wade MU jersey (pic below). After the silent auction and brunch ended, we went to the game where we had awesome lower level seats right next to the student section. We were able to meet up with some friends and stopped in for some frozen custard on our way out of the city. Saturday night we met up with more friends for a late dinner and drinks in Rockford, then did breakfast with the same group plus parents (grandparents) and kids before we headed for the airport. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but absolutely awesome, and MUCH needed!

Joan of Arc chapel - where we got engaged

View out of our awesome hotel

We had a great view of the (frozen) river from our room, as well as Water Street (where the bars are), and this cute ice skating rink (no, we didn't go ice skating)

Game time! National Marquette Day 2014

Student Section

Tip off

The boys, minus Ebb

The house where Todd grew up, covered in snow

Happy Father's Day, Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Snow days

This year's weather has been a little bit crazy, even for us. We've had snow and/or other frozen mess four times now - yes 4. It is March 8 as I'm writing this (even though these pictures are 3 weeks old), and the kids still missed a day of school THIS week for ice. This particular snow storm from three weeks ago was by far the "best" as far as the ability to actually play in it. It was about 4-5 inches of snow with a thin layer of ice on top. You can see Brett jumping up and down trying to break through the layer... the kids barely weigh enough to break through. Once you got through the ice, there was some good snow underneath - you can see Brett loved to make snow balls! We set up the "Lopez Luge" through the backyard - we had just enough of a slope to go all the way across and end up at the end of our property. Todd's mom even went sledding - I caught it on Instagram - it's awesome.

This particular snow storm was particularly crazy though... the snow hit Wednesday while I was at work. Target actually closed early, which almost NEVER happens! We were supposed to get more ice that night, so Todd went to get his mom to bring her to our house because we were supposed to fly out the next day for Chicago/Milwaukee, but we needed Todd's mom at our house to watch the kids ;) Thursday we hung out at home and played in the snow (pictured below), and Thursday night, by some miracle, Todd and I actually flew out of RDU even though 95% of flights were cancelled that day... good karma or something! I'll tell about our trip in a different post, but we left this snow for LOTS more snow.

The kids thought all of this was great - they were supposed to have early release on Wednesday because of the timing of the snow, but then the school chickened out and cancelled all together. THEN they cancelled Thursday and Friday (via a telephone message with the principal rapping to "Ice Ice Baby" and THEN they had "winter break" the following Monday and Tuesday. A week off. For real. Thank God for grandparents because we would be struggling with all the snow days this year and two full-time working parents.

Trying to jump up and down to break through the ice on top of the snow

I decked him with a snowball right before he got this one launched :)

Obligatory snowy house picture

Kate just wanted to swing - her feet kept getting stuck in the snow/ice

She is a light weight,, so it was easy for her to sled anywhere in the yard

I even managed to go sledding!

Brett was the photographer catching all the fun!

Latergram

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa (Todd's parents) came into town a few days after Christmas, so we celebrated with them on the 31st, and then celebrated Todd's birthday later on that day.

This kid loves a candy cane!

I can't believe he doesn't already have every single Transformer ever made... we have to be getting close.

The kids made ornaments with my mom over the course of a few early release days and teacher work days this fall.

Happy 39th, Todd! Can't wait to celebrate BIG next year!

That night we decided to lay low. Todd only wanted to watch the Marquette game at 10pm that night. I was more than ok with being a bum on the couch after the business of the Christmas holiday. Plus, yours truly had to work bright and early New Year's Day. People need their drugs!

Christmas continued...

I told you I would be back!

I'll go back to Christmas mid-day where we left off... after we opened presents and played with new toys and finally got cleaned up, we headed down to my parents' house, about 30 minutes away. My youngest sister, Meredith, was also there with her dog, PeeDee. Later in the week, we celebrated Christmas there again with my other sister Erin, Jeff, and baby Parker.

Cousins! Parker was pretty much over it at this point, but was a good sport as long as he had his puppy car. He had just figured out how to get on and off by himself.

All of the fam!

Brett got these Bumblebee gloves and immediately started making Transformer noises.

My family thinks this shirt is hilarious - mostly because there is some truth behind it!

A dog and his bone

Mom gave us each a giant sweatshirt with our initials embroidered on it... this thing is insanely comfortable and is my new go-to bum outfit with some fleece lined leggings in the winter. Love.

Meredith made both kids their very own afghan. The kids LOVE their afghans and sleep with them on their beds every night.

Kate with her afghan - safe to say she absolutely loves it!

Our own Santa - ho ho ho!

Just the fam all decked out in Marquette colors.

Sisters <3 I'm so lucky!

Brett finally lost the 6th loose tooth over Christmas break... we really thought that Santa and the Tooth Fairy would be coming the same night, but they just missed each other by a couple days.