happy birthday amy!

You get totally ripped off having your birthday on Christmas, but I remembered you! Happy Birthday to my friend that I love to laugh with, that tells the best (albeit longest) stories and is always the last one to call it a night. Hope you have a great birthday and a good Holiday too!

belly pics

I want to be a really good photographer. Of course, I want this to happen on its own. I want to be naturally good at it...yeah, pretty sure that is not going to happen. Now that my kids are older, I've let myself spend more time with my camera. I'm on a mission to find new subjects that will let me take up their time in hopes that they'll get one or two decent pictures out of it, and I'll get some good practice. I hope Jamie and Kevin find something they are happy with after today's shoot. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be. It was fun! I learned a lot, and I'm so appreciative of their time. (And thanks Joe for building the backdrop for me!)

How cute are they?!?

Less than a month to go!

Some peoples say it's cheesy, but we just had to do the heart...I like it :)

By the way if you need pictures taken of yourself or your kids, give me a call...I still need A LOT of practice!

let's find a Christmas tree!

About 12 or so years ago I had the brilliant idea that we should cut our own Christmas tree. Not go pay to cut a nice tree, but a good ole fashion Charlie Brown tree. We live on 13 acres, how hard can it be to find a decent tree? Let me tell you, it's hard. It's really hard. After the fiasco last year (the thing was so spindly it actually fell over), I said enough. Of course this meant breaking the "tradition" that I somehow created. The kids were sad. And I was a little sad too. I grew to like those hikes and snowmobile rides through the woods. Even if they resulted in a not even close to perfect tree.

After I convinced the kids that getting all the ornaments on the tree without it toppling over was a good thing, we decided we would go buy one from our church this year. Then we had an idea, tree farm? Gabe shouts, "Yes! Everybody wins!"

And everyone did win! A nice hike on a gorgeous day through stands of way closer to perfect Christmas trees. We have a tree with more than 5 branches! Life is good.

look who got her ears pierced

Her dad finally said "I think you're ready to take care of your ears if you want to get them pierced..." and that's all it took. I promptly took Ava to the mall on Saturday. Without a second thought she hopped in the chair and the rest is history. She never cried or freaked out in the slightest. That is saying a lot for Ava! She's taking great care of them, and she is really, really proud :)

15 minutes of fame

Our niece Holly works in marketing and decided Ava was cuter than the stock photos she had at her disposal. She did a photo shoot with her over the weekend and has already created this banner to put in one of their stores. So what if nobody in that town knows us and we'll never be at that store. It was still fun!

happy birthday tara!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear TTTTTTTARA!!!!! Happy Birthday to you! Hope you catch a big one on your special day!

ava's in kindergarten!

I know for a lot of parents it's bittersweet when their baby goes to kindergarten. That's how I felt when Gabe started at least. With Ava, I did not have this feeling. Not one bit. She is ready. She has been ready for almost a year now in my opinion. She is so anxious to learn. She is mad she doesn't know how to read or tie a shoe yet. She gets frustrated when she can't make her little 'g' just right. She brings her "homework" to the before/after school program and works on it before she plays. She wears her "glasses" to school when she's feeling extra studious. (she doesn't really wear glasses by the way) She's a teachers pet, social butterfly, class clown all wrapped into one. I love it! Ava starting school has been so much fun. She raises her hand at dinner now when she wants to say something, and she shows off a new skill or tells at least one story about what she did each day. When I asked her the first week of school who she sat by at lunch, here's what she told me.

Ava: "I sat by Pavo"
Me: "Pablo?"
Ava: "NO....PAVO"
Me: "Pavo?"
Ava: "Yes, but he told me to call him avocado because his name is hard to say. And he calls me banana. Well, I call him Mr. Avocado and he calls me Mrs. Banana."

Now that is something I need to remember!

back to school

I am so far behind with blogging, that I don't even know where to begin. I'm imagining the next several posts to be extremely random and haphazard. A whole last half of the summer, including Gabe's birthday, summer camping, soccer games and so much more has gone on. I guess we were having too much fun for me to stop and blog. For now, I'll start in the middle. Gabe's first day of school. Not such a big deal under normal circumstances. He's in 3rd grade now, he knows the ropes...right? Except this year, less than one week before school started, we found out Gabe was accepted to a local charter school. Great! Except we had to switch gears, return school clothes, try to find uniforms (who knew tan pants without cargo pockets were that tough to find), and, oh yeah, sell Gabe on leaving his friends and starting over at a new school.

We did it! I still am not sure how we got Gabe from "No. No thank you. Absolutely not." to "Yes, mom please, I want to go..." in less than a one hour conversation. But we did, and we are so thankful for it. Gabe has been a real trooper. He misses his friends while he slowly makes new ones. The longer school days and more specialized time have already made a difference. He's been proud of his progress and improvements. We are so proud of him! And really, he looks so good in the uniform.

happy birthday carrie!

Carrie is my very best friend. You don't see a lot about her here because she lives so stinking far away (and I miss her all the time!).

Carrie and I met our freshman year in high school in English class. I'd like to say we never had an argument in all that time, but, along with a lot of fun, we had pleanty of falling outs. We made our way through high school, mended our friendship just in time to get our request in to be roommates at UW-EauClaire.

In my entire life, I have shared more laughs and tears with Carrie than anyone else. She has been the closest thing I've ever had to sister. She has an amazing sense of humor, is fun loving and outgoing yet incredibly grounded and is an all around good person. She is the God Mother to my first born, and after a great weekend visit, has been pronounced an honorary aunt to my kids. Carrie has always been there for me, even when she's been far away.

I promise to post better pictures soon, Car (she's going to kill me for this one...5 years ago, girls weekend cruise, after several cocktails). I had to get a birthday wish out quick during a break at work, I'm sure she'll understand, this is all I could come up with. Have a great birthday! Love you!!!
Is that a napkin on your head Carrie...or perhaps your birthday party hat?!?!

me and t

If you don't already know Tara personally, you've certainly read about her here. She is one of my best friends. She comes to my house and cooks, cleans, plays with my kids, puts them to bed and reads them stories. She snowboards, loves to fish, makes jewelry, and has become a self-taught photographer, learning more with her camera in a matter of months than I have in years. She's the type of person who can do anything she sets her mind to, and at times I'm completely jealous of that. She's ambitious, fun loving, energetic and outgoing. She kicks butt and cribbage but sucks at scrabble. She'll finish off a bottle of wine with me any day of the week, no questions asked.

So why am I posting all of this? It's not Tara's birthday, we haven't done anything significant together lately. In fact, we've seen very little of each other, and most of the time I miss her like crazy. But Tara has been on my mind. She is going through some tough times these days. She's experiencing a lot of difficult change. I have a hard time showing how much I really support her, because frankly I don't do well with change at all. At times I feel like the big sister, shaking my head a little while she jumps in with both feet to find out if she will sink or swim (which I truly admire that she can do by the way). And most of the time, she does swim.

XOXO my good friend, keep swimming!

happy birthday carla!!!

A bit belated, but I know she'll forgive me. Our friend Julie and Carla's mom put together quite the fiesta in Carla's honor this past Saturday night. The food was outstanding, and, no worries, Carla didn't let any of the tequila slush go to waste (thank goodness for straws or this could have gotten ugly). Carla is a truly beautiful person inside and out, and I feel so lucky to have her in my life. I had an awesome time and felt right at home in her circle of crazy (and I mean that in the nicest way) friends and family. Cheers C, see ya soon (like Friday, when I drop off my kids!)

Julie...salsa dancing???

grandma's weekend

A couple weekends ago Joe's cousin Jennifer and her friend Stefanie stayed with us for Grandma's Marathon. The silly girls ran the whole thing on the one day of the summer that temps reached 90! Stef's blisters were ridiculous, but she never complained. And get this, they offered to just take our kids for a drive to the beach and out for ice cream after they ran 26 miles! Needless to say, the kids adored the girls (even before the ice cream). That night (yes, after the 90 degree day that they ran 26 miles, took our kids to the beach and out for ice cream) we took out the hot air balloon. I was doubtful that with such little manpower (it was just Joe and us girls) we'd be able to manage the balloon, but it went up without a problem. It turned out to be a gorgeous night for ballooning. Apparently I was having too much fun to take any pictures. Thankfully Jen pulled through and sent me some of hers. Can't wait to see you guys again!!!


Ava & Jen with their medals (Ava's is her ski medal...)

karate kid

In May Gabe started Karate. It has been really great for him. He's learned some core skills with a big influence on self-discipline and respect. We love the instructors. They have high expectations of the kids, but a the same time are fun and encouraging. Gabe got his yellow belt about a month ago. Way to go, Gabe!

flower children

Tell me you don't want to be 5 years old in the summer time again...

on 2 wheels

Ava learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, two summers ago. She promptly threw a fit and refused to ride without training wheels the entire last summer. We've finally got her back on two wheels again. Every time she gets ready to go she repeats her "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it" mantra. I think she's on to something.

Gabe has been extremely encouraging throughout the bike riding lessons. He tries to give her tips and helps her get started. Most of the time she's too stubborn to appreciate it and ends up yelling at him "I don't need your help, Gabe!"

Oh well, his heart is in the right place. And that's just one of the things we love about Gabe.

catching up

I've been really bad about keeping current on posts. This cold, gloomy evening seems like a good time to get a start on catching up.

My niece Mariella was born. Tara and I went for the day to meet her. What a sweet baby. I got to catch up with Sophia too...looks like her dad is teaching her about beer at an early age.

I spent an awesome weekend with my girls! We all went to Carrie's. My first Kentucky Derby party! As always, we picked up right where we left off the last time. We had so much fun. Thanks, Car!

Ava hosted her first sleepover. Kasey and Ava slept in a tent (in Ava's room), played dress up, stayed up late giggling and were total goofballs the entire time. It is really frightening how much these two are like sisters. They are hugging one minute and not speaking the next. Many memories being made here.

Joe and Gabe went to Detroit for the Red Bull Air Races. They had an awesome time! It was a long trip, but Gabe was a trooper. I'm told that the races were fabulous.

Meanwhile, Ava and I headed to my parent's. It's always so relaxing, at least for me, at home. I enjoyed the downtime.

We moved a lot of dirt to plant new grass. Not really that exciting, but Ava's attire is quite hilarious. She has an outfit for all occasions. She's a free spirit, what can I say. Maybe it's good we don't have close neighbors...

happy campers

Carla sent me an email today with the subject line 'happy campers' and included the pictures below. Ava and Kasey are having a fun summer so far, thanks in large part to Carla. Someday we'll be pulling these out for the girl's grad party. Great memories! Thanks for sharing, C!

Pre-school graduation

Girls dressed up for the garage sale...they are fancy!

Post performance, Ava's first play, Abiyoyo

Ava's first day camp experience

postless month

I went an entire month without posting a thing to my blog, and it wasn't even that difficult. I found watching Grey's Anatomy, baking cookies and attempting to get through the backlog of magazines to be more enjoyable ways to spend my evenings. I'm sure it will take me a month to catch up, if not longer. Or maybe I never really will...it is getting nicer outside. Who really has time for blogging??? Here's a brief start to catching up.

The tooth fairy made one visit...


and another



We went on vacation to Orlando. My camera spent more time in the condo than I did this vacation. Being able to actually finish a book in a week was much more satisfying at the time.

Gabe enjoyed kicking back and site seeing with Joe


Ava liked swimming and watching the dolphins


Gabe made his First Communion (doesn't Father Tom kind of remind you of Burl Ives? You should hear him sing!)



Grandma Lillian was extra proud.



A preview to May, I joined my college girls in Southern WI for a fabulous weekend. My newest niece was born on the 2nd. Welcome Mariella Catherine! Happy Birthday to my husband on the 3rd. Hopefully pictures to follow, but right now I need to call it a night.

growing up

Every milestone Gabe hits is something new and exciting, yeah, he's growing up! Second child, not so much. I know I'm not having any more babies, so I seem to be hanging on to every baby thing about her for as long as I can. I know this is probably not a good thing, but I can't help it.

My kids lose their teeth early. Ava lost her two bottom front teeth last year. Not terribly traumatic, you hardly notice and those come back in quickly with two new kind of little teeth. Her top front tooth has been loose for a while. I keep telling her "don't wiggle it" I'm not ready for you to get rid of your baby teeth yet. It finally came out with an apple over the weekend. Now she has the gaping hole soon to be replaced by the big, awkward, too big for her mouth tooth. Uggh! But, she's pretty darn proud of that big hole in the front of her mouth right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy she's growing up, but it's kind of bittersweet.

Over the weekend we went to our friend's for dinner. We've known Laura and Kevin since our pre-kid days. We met while running our dogs in hunt tests. Laura was kind enough to snap a picture and send it my way. Looking at how these 4 have grown makes my heart sink a little. What happened to our babies?

Ava, Gabby, Gabe & Bianca