Resolutions :)

Some of my goals for the new year:

1- Potty Train Kate (January)

2- Get rid of Kate's binky (February)

3- Stop complaining about Keith's work schedule and getting upset when he comes home late and has to work Saturdays - so far I am failing miserably at this one, might take all year for me to improve!

4- Get Cameron to eat something besides chicken nuggets and Life cereal.

5- ORGANIZE the house before we move. This includes going through ALL our closets, boxes, drawers, etc and throwing out what we don't need. - I can be kind of a pack rat so this is going to be tough. It's like I just need someone to go through my stuff and say "D0 you really need 27 pairs of jeans in your closet?! And that shirt that is 12 years old that you haven't worn in 10?! And by the way, you will NEVER be that size again so give it up already!"

6- Try not to lose my mind as we deal with all the uncertainties of this year: moving to who-knows-where, selling the house, etc. It keeps me up at night.

Well I just thought I'd put that out there and then I can follow up in a month or so and see how things are going. Wish me luck!

Jingle all the way

I am still kind of in shock that Christmas is over and it's January already. A new year and a new decade........when did this happen?? But anyway, we had a great Christmas. So nice to stay at home this year, because travelling around the holidays is torture. The bummer of that of course being that we didn't get to see all the family we wanted to. My dad and Camille did come for a bit right before Christmas, and then my brother Dave was here for our not-so-white Christmas (it rained. ironically.....) The kids got more than their fair share of loot and I am already losing my mind over all the toys all over the house. I am about ready to throw it all out!


Making a gingerbread village, complete with skyacraper (which might have been taller had we not run out of graham crackers.....)


I love Christmas trees :)


Kids hanging out with Uncle Dave. I was pretty sure he enjoyed his time here, but the look on his face might be telling a different story.....

Ugh there is too much going on in this picture, I can't even look at it!

Kate with two of her favorite things - Daddy and Elmo!

Putting together one of MANY MANY lego sets.

Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Cameron lost his first tooth! When did he get so old? He has been waiting and waiting for this day for quite some time, because apparently EVERYONE in the 1st grade has already lost at least one tooth. Slacker parent I am, I almost forgot the tooth fairy, but Keith came to the rescue. He woke up randomly at 3:30 the next morning and miraculously remembered to take care of it - way to save the day!!

Gobble Gobble

We had some visitors over Thanksgiving - Keith's brother Ryan and his wife Molly, daughter Jada, and also Keith's youngest brother Scott. It was so fun having them around. Some of the highlights were a Bucks game, the Harley-Davidson museum, and of course Thanksgiving dinner!! Yum. Keith deep-fried a turkey and it was SOOO good. So then I took care of the rest (with help from our visitors.) I tried to simplify where I could: Stove Top stuffing (honestly I like it more than any homemade stuffing I've ever had), Rhodes rolls (frozen and then all you have to do is let them rise and pop them in the oven, practically as good as homemade.) Two store-bought Marie Calendars pies, and then I made two pies, but I chickened out on the crust and just used premade dough. Anyway, I'm saying all this because I thought the meal turned out really nice with very little stress - I love that!!

Sadly enough I have no pictures of Thanksgiving day (too busy thinking about the meal I guess), but I do have a few shots of the museum and also an excursion to the zoo....

Uncle Scott with the kiddos....

Daddy-daughter bike ride (kind of)

Sorry Connor, maybe when you're a little bigger.....

Cameron with cousin Jada. Isn't she a cutie?

At the Milwaukee zoo. Kinda freaky to have the lion so close and looking in our direction like that.....

Waiting for the animals to come say hi....

Kate and Jada running around and enjoying the nice (but chilly) day at the zoo. Thanks for coming guys, please visit again!!!! We LOVE visitors for anyone who wants to come see us sometime (hint hint.)

Enough already....

It has been the looooonnnnnnggggeeeeeessssstttttt week eeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr. Maybe that's a little dramatic but it's really been crazy. I am pretty sure I had the swine flu, and then Cameron has had some crazy stomach virus that has had him throwing up for 3 days. So far the amazing thing is that no one else has caught either the flu or the stomach virus. I am praying for a miracle here!!!! Anyway, I have decided that the hardest thing about being a mom, besides seeing your kids sick and suffering, is when you get sick. Who takes care of me????? And then I have these darling kids who need me 24-7 and don't seem to understand that I just need to take things easy for a little bit. Anyway, enough of that.......


As I am trying to focus on the positive, here are a few cute things the kids have been saying/doing lately:

Kate can't say her own name, she calls herself "cake." Which I probably would too, who wouldn't want to be called "cake"?!

Another cute Kate thing: Her favorite, most stated phrase is "I help you!" Phonetically it's more like "I hep you-oooo!" I think it speaks volumes about her personality, she is a very helpful child.

We saw some flags at half-mast for Veterans Day so I asked Cameron if he knew what a Veteran was. His respsonse: "Someone who used to work in the army or at Old Navy." I love that kid!

Lego my lego!

Last Friday we ventured to Legoland in Chicago. Calling it "legoland" might be a little misleading for anyone who's been to the one in CA......bascially it's more like a museum with some fun activities for the kids. For anyone who lives around here, I'd recommend it with one caveat....DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE. It's a total rip-off, luckily they had an afternoon special going on where we got in for $8 a person. MUCH more reasonable.

A lego replica of downtown Chicago.....

Kate, look out behind you!!

Man she really has a knack for putting herself in harm's way.....

Connor's hero, Indiana Jones. Appropriate because I don't think he cares about the Indiana Jones from the movies, just the one from the Lego Wii game :)

Little boy heaven

Our first time meeting President Obama (Keith is taking the picture....) Good day!

Happy Halloween

Lucky us, we had 3 opportunities to dress up and beg for candy this year. In our neighborhood last weekend, then at church during the week, then at a party on Halloween. We had a good time, but I'm glad it's over. Now we've just got to eat all the candy.....

Last year after Halloween I thought I was being so practical in buying a few costumes on clearance for the kids to use this year. I got Batman, Transformers, Incredible Hulk, basically all the cool superheroes. But a year changes a lot of things and this year the boys are all about Star Wars and wouldn't be caught dead in a lame Superman costume. Why can't I ever get it right?




This clone trooper is pretty serious about his job....


(Connor's costume from last year......) Isn't she cute :)

After Kate wore the dragon costume, Keith mentioned that she would be a great princess Leia so I was on it. I went to 5 Halloween stores looking for a costume and everything was either too big and/or way too expensive. So I managed to pull together an outfit but needed a wig. In the end Youtube saved the day - I watched a video demostrating how to make a Leia wig out of a towel. And it worked fabulously. And Kate was so ADORABLE wearing it. And her entire costume was less than $10. I love that!

Love the buns!