Thanksgiving....

This year has passed so fast...and there is so much to be thankful for. Wonderful friends, great vacations, healthy children (ours and our loved ones). I am looking forward to seeing my family (at least a good number of them!) tomorrow. I miss the day to day interaction with them - so I have to get what I can, on holidays like this.

Normally, my family is too wrapped up in the event of a holiday...the cooking, eating, cleaning, chatting, etc - to take photos...but the year Isaac was born, we did manage a few.

It's hard to believe that my busy, inquisitive, boisterous toddler was once this:


And that my nephew was something like this:


And now - they are more like this:


I am thankful that they are healthy, happy, loving little guys, who will hopefully grow up to be the best of friends. We will miss Will and his parents, this Thanksgiving, as they celebrate with his other Grandparents. I am thankful for wonderful parents, loving in-laws, the best siblings in the world, and mostly a really great husband who tolerates my sappiness about holidays.

'nuff said.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Funny - had to share.

This is why we love toddlers.

Busy few weeks.

I love November. Of course, it's my birth month...but not just that...it is brisk, cool, and the snow starts flying. Not just that - but it has Thanksgiving - my favorite holiday.

The last few weeks have been busy. Of course, there was my adventure with the Larks, which I am sure some of you have read about. The premier of our "film" details are here: Missive's Blog If you are anywhere in the area, it would be great to see you!

Then, last weekend, I went on retreat with my mother. A tradition she started with her mother, which I helped her continue after Grandma passed. We were at St.Francis Retreat Center. It is the only weekend every year that I get to just BE with my mom. Despite the fact being "quiet and contemplative" is SOO not our thing - we have a good time whenever we go. This year, we met two lovely ladies named Loretta and Lylah - which we gladly shared our wine with in return for some sweet stories and companionship!

This weekend - we stay home. The calm before the holiday storm.

Back from an adventure.

There is so much to tell about my adventure this past weekend - however, I will wait, since it is much more Missive's story to - I will leave much of that to her. However, that being said, the things I return home with are this.

- A grand appreciation for my husband. Who stayed home, watched our son - meanwhile, becoming ill - and not ONCE complaining about it. For being the person I want to come home and tell all my adventures to. For being the person that I come home and say "man, I want to go on a trip with HIM". Needless to say, I was excited to come home.

- A weekend to spend gabbing with my "oldest" friend. We drank coffee, roamed about Chicago streets under flakes of snow, talked about our husbands, children, laundry. She risked sharing a bed with me, knowing she may get snuggled. She even showed me one of the most touching moments of the weekend to me while reflecting on her daughter.

- Excitement to see my son. Not that I wasn't - but I was amazed at how I could feel it through my whole being when I saw him. It's as if he grew up even more over the few days I was gone. He is not longer that little, babbling baby spitting out the occasional word. He has humor. Sentences. Speed.

[I just had to take a break. It seems Blue stole Isaac's "mena" (banana). This tends to happen when Isaac lets it sit for too long. Blue considers it "forgotten" and moves in for the steal. Tears were shed...and fixed with a new, fresh mena.]

So - that's it for now. I will post more as Missive tells the tales of our adventure - but, suffice it to say - it was great!

Off on a Lark

Soon I will be off on an adventure. (Shh...can't say when!) This week, the organizer of the adventure is highlighting all of us that will be on the trip - for more, visit Missive's Chicago Adventure

Finally...Halloween...

The week of Halloween was a busy one!!!

Wednesday night, I hosted Book Club (a subgroup of my Mothers & More chapter). We discussed the book "Devil in the White City" which was awesome. I supplied period appropriate snacks of cracker jack, popcorn, peanuts and lemonade. ;)

Thursday night, our friends, Leslie and Joe, came over for dinner and some pumpkin carving. Isaac got to stick his hands in pumpkin goo for the first time! I will say - they are pro's at the carving situations - we could take some lessons! Isaac got nice and dirty, took a bath and got to stay up super late playing with them!


Then, Halloween, we went to Childtime's Halloween party (forgot my camera!), to the Cascade Fire Dept - where Isaac got to walk on "waaa-bul kuks" (fire trucks), and then off trick or treating around the neighborhood. Isaac was a green dinosaur. He was a little hesitant at first, but he finally figured it out and had a great time!


Click here for more Halloween Photos!

Blue-Green Weekend!

We spent Blue-Green weekend in Ann Arbor with our great friends, Mike, Renee and their kiddos. Unfortunately, we did not go to the game, but we went to a very fun farm stand in Dexter - where Isaac got to ride a pony and climb on a huge haystack! We had a little party with Isaac being the token boy vs. 7 girls (loved it!) and had a nice fire on the deck Saturday evening after the kids went to bed.

Click here for more pictures!

Visiting cousin Will and his John Deere.

Ok...so where to begin. It's been busy, what can I say?


Let's go back to a few weeks ago - we headed up to visit Tim, Missy and Will in Wolverine. We didn't do much, except run around the "acres" and have fun. Brian and Tim worked on building "the man cave" in the barn - which turned out pretty awesome, with it's satellite radio and dart board. Saturday night, we had a bonfire, then closed out the night watching SNL. Sunday - Tim took us, the boys and the doggies for a walk around the property - and we were able to see fall in full effect. It was beautiful - and it's safe to say - Isaac and Blue ran until they dropped.

Here are more pictures from our visit!

A video of the boys!

Antonio's Baptism

Somehow the photos from Antonio's Baptism didn't get loaded, so I reloaded them.

Click here to see more photos from Antonio's Baptism!