Family trip, Chicago and great friends!!!

This past weekend we went on a great trip to Chicago with the kids. I have been so blessed to have maintained the greatest friendships and many of them have stayed in Chicago. Not only did I get to see my Chicago friends, but Kris and her family drove into Chicago as well and we got to see them. Between me and my 5 amazing friends...we have 10 kids between us. It was so much fun to get all the kids together and get some much needed time with my friends. Some of us have been friends since grade school and we have been through a lot together and it is so great to now be apart of each others families. Thank you Ryan and Pam for letting us stay at your house...I know it is not easy to have a family of 4 and all the toys take over. Thank you for hosting the party and thanks Becky for hosting on Friday night.

Below are many pictures (many of which are out of order).

We went to Lincoln Park zoo on Saturday and the weather was amazing. We had a group of 16 of us and had a great time.

Marina and Hendrix

Lucas and Tyler (Tyler is just 2.5 months younger than Lucas...Tyler is Kris and Mike's son).

Addison with Julie and Charlie's boys (Carter and Logan).


Lucas...I love this picture.

Kris and Tyler

Addison and Lucas enjoying the children's zoo.

Me and Pam

On Sunday we had the chance to visit with my brother and Nicole and the kids got to play with their cousin Avery! They just love him.

Aaron (Venessa and Jimmy's son...he is 5 months old).

Addison enjoying one of the parties.

Hendrix (Marina and Corey's son...he is 10 months old).

Some of the kids hanging out and sharing toys.

Cole (Becky and Cort's son...he is 8 months old).

The kids having fun playing in the diapers and underwear...that was fun to watch.

Venessa and Aaron.

Kris and Pam.

Pam, me, Marina and Kris...enjoying some time after the kids went to bed.

St. Patrick's day parade.

We took the kids to their first parade this past weekend. We battled the crowds and went to the St. Louis St. Patrick's day parade on Saturday. We had to get there about an hour before the parade started in order to get a good curb spot. We had to give the kids lots of snacks and dealt with a few temper tantrums since they were not all that patient at times just sitting in the strollers not knowing what this parade stuff was all about.

It was worth the wait though because they loved every minute of it. They loved all the balloons, music/bands, dancers, getting candy thrown to them...they just loved it all.

Here are a few pictures of the big event.

Enjoying the weather

We are loving that spring is just about here. We get out of the house as much as possible and have already gone to lots of parks and playgrounds and are enjoying our nice deck and great neighborhood. Here are a few pictures from the last couple weeks.

The kids and their friends Mackenzie and Tommy.

The next 2 were my attempt to get the kids to pose in a picture together and this is the best I could come up with.

(They were looking at the tv instead of the camera.)

A sweet hug.

Nothing new.

It has been awhile since I have updated our blog, but really...nothing is new. The kids are great other than some crabby times. Work is going really well for both me and Bob. Bob stays really busy with various networking groups and he is involved with some other charity organizations (I told him that he needs to create a post himself about that because what he is doing is great)! We are anxious for spring and to get out and play more often. We were able to play outside a lot today and found a great playground/park that I am sure we will visit often.

Not much is new, but here are a few pictures of the kids from the last few weeks just playing around the house.

As you can tell from the pictures below, Addison still loves to dress as a princess and Lucas loves to wear hats!!!

Warm February day at the zoo.

Everything has been great with us here. The kids are finally nice and healthy after a bad case of the flu with Addison last week. She is enjoying school, gymnastics class and just having fun playing dress up as a princess and running around as much as she can. She is doing really well with counting objects (she can point in a book and count up to about 10 objects) and she is finally interested in learning to write some letters but we have a long way to go with that of course. Lucas is doing so well with talking. He is getting much better at saying 2-3 word phrases and probably knows at least 150 words. He amazes us everyday with what he is remembering and what he can say. We can’t believe that he is going to be 2 in just 2 short months!

I had to share this picture of Lucas in the hat we got him from Las Vegas at Cesears Palace.

It was a really nice warm day here on Tuesday. I took advantage of the weather and took the kids to the zoo. They LOVE going to zoo and we always have a great time (and it is free). Now that Lucas is a little older (and crazier) it made the trip a little more challenging. By the end of our trip I had to strap him in the stroller because the boy wanted to see how far he could run away from me. We got through it and managed to still have a good time. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Las Vegas!!!

We did it.....Bob and I went on a vacation together. We have not been on a real vacation since our honeymoon over 5 1/2 years ago. We went to Vegas this past Sunday along with Bill and Linda and Bob's parents for Bill's 30th birthday (no kids). We stayed at Cesears Palace for free too. Linda's-friend's-Dad goes to Vegas a lot and had vouchers for 2 free night stays for Bill and Linda and me and Bob to use. He also hooked us up with an amazing Super Bowl party at one of the ballrooms at Cesears (free food and drinks). We walked a ton in vegas and went to many of the hotels/casinos, we ate a lot, drank some and didn't sleep enough. We gambled too much too since at one point we were up $340 but left only up $50. Addison got the flu while we were gone, but my Mom took great care of her. The weather was amazing (upper 60s) and it was just nice to get away!

Downtown Vegas

Bob and his dad with their tall boys.

Bob's mom and Linda...us girls did a little shopping.

A picture of the Super Bowl party we were at.

Bob and Bill really enjoyed the amazing food and drinks that we did not have to pay for.

Everyone (minus me).

Me and Bob and our 3 drinks.

Family outing to the ice skating rink.

Bob took Addison ice skating about a month ago just the two of them and she loved it and she was excited to go back today. This time Lucas and I joined them. Addison had a great time and was skating on her own just a little but had a lot of fun when we held both her hands and went fast. Lucas did ok considering he is not even 2 years old yet. He got on the ice a little but felt better when Bob or I was holding him. He also seemed more interested walking around on the carpet with his skates on and playing with the doors. I bet he will be a lot more interested next year. We might even put Addison in ice skating lessons next year if she is still interested.

Walking around and checking out his skates.

Addison was trying to be brave and not hold on to me.

A proud moment for Bob....his first trip ice skating with his boy (and hopefully future hockey player).

Our big girl.


Me and Lucas (he has a small addiction to his mommy).