Happy Holidays 2023!

 Here we are at Christmas 2023!  As usual, please enjoy our annual list of quotes!

March 2023 - We took a spring break trip to Arizona and had the usual travel stress, finding our rental car and navigating out of the airport.  I was driving and Mike was navigating.  He told me "ok you will turn left up here in a little bit."  We approached and then he said "right here" which I took to mean right turn.  He actually meant, "turn left right here." And I repeated "right here?" and he said "right here!" so I turned right.  The kids in the back had a good laugh as we turned around.  Now whenever we are driving we all repeat " right, right here!"

March 2023 - While on the same vacation, Isaac was singing along to "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate with the lyrics "I believe in miracles."  Isaac put a spin on it, "I believe in meatballs."

May 2023 - We had on the live coverage of the coronation of King Charles, Sam walks through the room not really paying attention but stops and looks at the screen and asks, "Ok so now who are they sacrificing?"

August 2023 - Isaac recently began seeing a new therapist named Keeva that we really liked.  During his first session she asked him his favorite hobby and his response was, "Great question Keeva, I guess I'd say climbing trees."

September 2023 - Labor Day up at the lake and Sam had opted to bring only his crocs as footwear.  They also serve has his lake shoes to protect his feet from zebra mussels and rocks.  We were swimming on a particularly windy day and he kept taking off his crocs and leaving them on the pier.  I warned him to keep an eye on them since it was so windy.  We looked up and they were gone.  I started scanning the shoreline angrily and he was frantically looking under the pier, etc.  Suddenly he stopped, "oh here they are... on my feet."

September 2023 - Another interesting session for Keeva, as Isaac (who reads entirely too many medical books) shares that he has experienced auditory hallucinations.  He is very specific that it is a french man.  She was fairly concerned after that session and asked Mike if he was concerned (which he was not).  Keeva calls me in to chat after getting to know him more and understanding his penchant for finding fun diagnoses and says to me, "I don't want to make fun of your son, but that's hilarious."  Yep, yep.

November 2023 - As we prepare to host Thanksgiving, Isaac joins me on a trip to Costco to get the turkey.  We find a 20 lb bird and Isaac informs me "this turkey weighs more than a Napoleonic era cannon, those only weighed 12 pounds mom."

Happy Holiday to you and yours!

Happy Thanksgiving 2023

We are off to a great start to the holidays!  We hosted Thanksgiving and had a great time getting ready.  The boys acquiesced yet again and wore matching pajamas for their sappy mom!

Isaac was a big help in the kitchen!  He worked on the mac and cheese, the mashed potatoes and the turkey!

Without even talking, these 3 ended up wearing just about the same outfit.

We celebrated Anya's 9th birthday!

Bamma and her crew, hard to get a picture at this stage!

All the Rodriguez cousins!

October happenings 2023!

Well here we are again more than a month has flown by!  In early September we went to the annual Tristate Rodeo in Fort Madison Iowa.

ALL THE MINIVANS!

The kids just keep getting bigger!  Sadly Ayla wasn't there this year since she had a volleyball tournament.

Back at home the excitement of new instruments was here!  Isaac started trumpet and Sam switch over to tenor sax.

Minnie cat enjoyed her 4th birthday!

Mike and I got all snazzed up to go to one of his coworkers wedding!

More instrument fun, they tried to swap just for fun.

Noah was able to go to homecoming, looking sharp.

He went with his BFF Maya!

Isaac tried a new pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, he devoured half of it!

Pumpkin carving!

Isaac wanted to do a Portillo's themed trunk or treat car this year!

He and I went to Culver's and tried the curderburger, it was awesome!

On Halloween, my school had cereal themed costumes for all the teaching staff.

Sam rocked a crusader costume!

Molly cat turned 5!

Sam hit the streets with his crew!

And Isaac was a hot dog for the second year in a row!

Lots of candy to organize and trade this year!

Sam and Isaac were able to go see a musical in the city with Bampa.

So now we settle into November and get ready for all the holiday excitement!

The school year begins...

The end of summer was so lovely.  We had a few more Lauren days.  We enjoyed taking her to the forest preserve to see the elk.

And a quick stop just outside of Legoland to see the big giraffe!

And a quick smoothie before nap!

Isaac and Molly have reached some kind of agreement where he gets to pet her and she doesn't whack him in the head, so that's great.

More Lauren time!

We had a girl date to Bison's Bluff - she loved the stream!

One of Isaac's summer bucket list items was Urban Air.  Sam and Isaac really enjoyed their time there!

One more bday celebration for Sam!  He got his own mortar and pestle so he can make some mean guacamole!

Noah decided to get his ears pierced.  He didn't even flinch!

They look awesome!

Isaac dual wielding the cats!

I finally had my much delayed due to lack of lasers ear surgery.  Fake stapes bone is working great now!

Another end of summer bucket list item, trying out the local Menchies Frozen Yogurt!

First day photos!  Noah the sophomore...

Isaac the 5th grader...

And Sam, the newly minted junior high kid in 7th grade!

So now we are all settling into the business of the school year.  Mike took on a couple projects around the house, including this accent wall which turned out great!

Sam, Isaac and I did a quick lake trip over Labor Day weekend and got to meet Po the elderly chihuahua who was so sweet!

And now here we go for rodeo!  September is wild!