Happy 2nd Birthday, Cutie!

One of my favorite babies just turned 2!

My stud muffin A was kind enough to invite us to celebrate his 2nd birthday with him at Chuck E. Cheese.  I must say it is a entirely different experience as an adult, but all of our children were very well behaved.  Between pizza, lemonade flavored water, and more tokens than toddlers can carry we had a pretty great afternoon. 

W had a few favorite rides, one of which was the Bob the Builder construction truck, and he did spend more than a few tokens on the fire truck with the birthday boy!  In case you could not tell from the picture, the boys did not want to be bothered with paparazzi since it was increasing the wait time before the ride would start again.  Pesky parents trying to document the fun!

We had a great afternoon shoveling red velvet cupcakes into our mouths and collecting tickets, and are ready to party with our friends again soon!  Happy birthday, A!

P.S. How cute is Baby Bear in his suspenders and bow tie onsie?!

Date Night

There is just something so romantic about the glistening white lights on the trees lining the streets of the city around the holidays.  Due to my overzealous holiday spirit, I love any and all things related to Christmas (or any other holiday year round for that matter), so I thought it would be neat to get all dressed up and head downtown to see the decorations and watch the city sparkle in all it's glory.

It was about -12 degrees outside, okay it was probably 30 degrees, but Tyler and I managed to avoid freezing to death long enough to stroll through the Christmas market in Daly plaza with hot chocolate and spiced cider in hand.  We then headed over to Macy's to look at the magnificent tree in the Walnut room. 

Tyler humored my incessant desire to photograph pretty much any visually pleasing backdrop I came across.  Hence the numerous oh so cute couple shots above.  We headed back to the burbs, where we rightfully belong, to met up with a few fav friends for cocktails, before making it home to have visions of sugarplum fairies and living downtown dreams dance in my head.

  All and all a pretty nice kick off to the holiday season.

1.) Christmas tree at Daly Plaza  2.) One person elevator at Macy's perfect for the do it yourself photo  3.) Christmas tree at the Walnut Room  4.) Attempting to get the tree in a photo with us  5.) Marble staircase between first and second floor at Macy's  6.) Waterfall at Macy's near guest services

No Turkey... No Problem

We had a very nontraditional turkey day this year.  After traveling back from Milwaukee, we were supposed to celebrate with my family per usual; however, we made a unanimous decision to cozy up in our own living room and spend some time just the 3 of us.  This does not happen very often, so when it does we cherish every moment.  Although we did not gorge ourselves with turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie, we managed to survive on a simple homemade meal by Tyler and some cheesecake. 

We are utterly and extremely thankful every day that my parents have opened their home to us and have gone above and beyond being welcoming and accommodating!  We are truly blessed to be surrounded by love and have two sets of parents who offer encouragement and support.  We only hope someday we will be able to repay their generosity!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends and family!  Our lives are increasingly better because we share them with you!



A 1 little, 2 little, 10 little Indian party

One of the many things that I am grateful for in life is that I am able to stay home with W.  It is a remarkable blessing and not having to trudge to work every day also means that I am able to bring W, and in this case his cousin L as well, to a Parent and tot class.  Last week, the boys had a Thanksgiving feast during class.  We supplied the turkey sandwiches, but along with those, their table was filled with more than they could possibly ever consume in a 15 minute snack period including cookies, pudding, chips, jello and who could forget the juice. 

In addition to stuffing our their faces, we made hand turkey placemats,  Indian feather head pieces and read a lovely story about being thankful.  There is just something truly special about experiencing the holidays through the eyes of a child.  I am sure I will only get sappier as the Christmas season approaches, but for now enjoy a few photos featuring two boys that I am especially thankful to be able to spend a majority, and then some, of my time with. 

Wisconsin Awaits

It is that time of year again, no not the holidays... Traveling time!  W and I headed to La Crosse to meet Tyler and spend a few days with his parents.  We made it just in time for Grandpa's 1st day at his new job and a visit from St. Nicholas.  My family never participated in the St. Nicholas tradition, but it is a pretty sweet gig.  St. Nick comes at the beginning of the month and Santa at the end.  Double the presents, double the fun!.. Double the people watching for good behavior.

As it turns out the spirit of Thanksgiving moved us enough to detour to Milwaukee on our way home and visit Tyler's aunt and uncle.  We were greeted by a giant, and I do mean GIANT, Santa Claus.  (In case having the people in the picture does not help you realize the scale, Santa is 14 feet tall!)  The magic only continued inside the house, with a 5 foot Santa that sings and shakes his booty!  I really hope Tyler's aunt was not kidding when she said she would try to find one for W.  It would really suit my over abundance W's holiday cheer!  Our time in Milwaukee was short, we managed to squeeze in dinner and after W went to bed, we tried to watch Gone with the Wind.  I think in the future movies that last 4 hours need to begin before 10 pm if there is any hope of us being awake by the end.



1.) Hop on Pop, W style  2.) "We bake 'em a cake"  3-4.) Visiting W's other GG  5.)W checking his email  6.) "Ho Ho Hoooo" as W would say

A little behind on my holidays... Happy Halloween, none the less

Due to techinical difficulties, I was unable to upload pictures from the camera to the computer after much techician work on my part, ie buying a new cord, we are up and running again.  Here is just a little window into our 1st Halloween as a family.  We were going to go all out with the family costumes but lack of a zoo keeper outfit for people larger than 50 pounds posed as a problem.

A Patch of Pumpkins

When I was a little girl, my grandma would pick a nice fall day that we got up early, jumped in the car and went out for a day of fun just us girls.  I was always bundled far to tight, but that did not matter once we stepped through the barn door.  Pumpkins as far as the eye could see, some that were even bigger than me.  We munched on kettle corn, before a lunch of funnel cake and hot chocolate and by the end of the tractor ride I thought I just may puke.  We watched the pig races, picked out the best pumpkins and if I was really lucky got a stellar costume for Halloween. 

Now that I am all grown up and have a family of my own, I thought it was probably time to head back to a land filled with truly wonderful childhood memories.  This is the second year that W has hiked through the pumpkin fields, and with nothing short of an entourage I might add.  Daddy, Papa, Grandma, myself and my grandma -who has now been promoted to GG- were all there to watch as W's face lit up when animals were stirring and the train was chugging. 

Some staples, such as the funnel cake, still remained part of the repertoire along with a tractor ride down to pick out pumpkins.  With so much to see however, W did not want to be bothered stopping to "cheese" for the camera.  I had to find some interesting angles to shoot from and create more than a few artsy photos.  At the end of the day, we ended up with a nice family shot, pictures with the grandparents, a bag full of gourds and baby pumpkins, full bellies, and some serious nap action after making it home. 

What more can a mom ask for really?