Holiday Wrap Up 2017

The holidays were a blast, as usual around here.  I finally have a minute now to post it all!  Sam opted to get a "real" haircut just before the holidays and he looked very model-esque!

We got a new chair for our living room!  You know you are peak adult when you are excited about furniture!

Isaac enjoyed his last day of gymnastics, he will be trying out indoor soccer for the new year!

 We took a Sunday afternoon trip down to Naperville to go to their christkindlmarket with Josh and Dan.  It was cold, but very fun!

 The Friday just before Christmas was a special Baking Day with Bamma!  The older two had no school while Isaac still had preschool.  So we did a lot of melted chocolate dipping project while he was at his school party.

 Bamma taught Noah the art of peanut butter ball making!

 We were all able to go watch Isaac perform with his preschool friends for their little winter holiday program, so cute!

 In the afternoon we watched Beauty and the Beast (Bamma's favorite)!

 We ended up with a pretty good assortment of cookies to take around to the neighbors!

 Noah and I went to see "The Last Jedi" and really enjoyed it while Mike took the other boys to see "Ferdinand."

 On Christmas Eve, Sam pulled out another tooth!  We laughed about the Tooth Fairy meeting up with Santa at our house and how probably Santa shared cookies with her!

 Christmas Eve with the Rodriguez crew!

 Cousin matchy matchy!

 Christmas morning in our home was pretty special.  Sam got the Hatchimal he'd been waiting for over a year to receive!

 Our littlest scientist got a skeleton puzzle and microscope!

 The electric blanket Santa brought has been a huge hit during the brutal cold!

 The highlight for Noah was probably the Nintendo Switch that Bamma and Uncle Josh gave all the boys!

 The rest of the day was spent playing a lot of mariokart!

 A brief pause in the gaming for the younger two to go out and sled a bit in the backyard.  My favorite part is that I can watch from the warm indoors!

 More Mariokart in the evening with Bampa and Uncle Josh!  It was a highly successful Christmas day!

 A couple days after Christmas, we hosted some of my beloved High School friends.  The not so happy part about this picture is that just about everyone pictured ended up with a terrible 24 hour stomach bug in the following days!  But it was great to see everyone before the sickness hit!

 The LTHS crew!

 Maggie plays, "which aunt do you love more, sponsored by cookies" game!

 After more than 20 years, we still have a lot of fun!

 We also took a trip with Bamma, Uncle Josh, Maggie, Brian, and Dan to Uncle Julio's to try out the chocolate pinata.  Pretty fun!

 We babysat Xavier one evening too, Sammy is his buddy!

 New Year's Eve was a night with Bamma and the Worsts.  It was fun, but I can say we won't be going to a restaurant filled with horn blowing children again any time soon!

 Happy 2018!  (we celebrated with Paris at 5pm, best plan ever!)

 The week following New Year's was COLD!  So we spent one day beating the chill by going to an indoor pool!

 And another day by curling up with blankets, pillows, and books fireside!

 We ended our break by going to watch Nick play volleyball in a local tournament (he's #24 in white).  The boys were pretty impressed!

 So this week it was back to school and back to projects with Bamma!

 Poor Noah was hit with influenza and was out of school for 2 days!  Mike was able to take Isaac and Sam to do some art projects while Noah and I did a movie afternoon at home.  Happy New Year all!  Hope your year is filled with good healthy and great memories!

Happy Holidays 2017!

Well, 2017 has been another busy year!  We enjoyed a great summer with a big trip to California.  We moved into our wonderful new home, the older 2 boys had a good transition into their new school.  Mike started a new job and we experienced karate, gymnastics, and other fun things.  We hope you all have a happy and healthy 2018.

As is tradition, please enjoy our favorite Rodriguez brothers quotes from the last year!

December 2016 - On Christmas Eve, I showed Sam my "santa tracker" app on my phone.  He was incredulous, saying "technology these days is just amazing!"

December 2016 - Sam hid a toy from Bamma (my mom) so she could "seek" it.  After much searching, she said she just couldn't find it.  Sam, matter of factly replied, "well of course, you had your eyes closed when I hid it!"

December 2016 - After spending time with several girl cousins during our extended family holiday extravaganza, Isaac still struggled recalling the correct names.  As he sat on Adeline's lap, I asked him if he remembered her name.  In a very non-convincing voice, he tried, "Mag-neen?"  (We have two other cousins named Maggie and Jeaneen).

December 2016 - Sam hurt himself by being generally reckless several times throughout the day.  Finally, I said to him "stop running around like a maniac, you're getting hurt left and right!"  He replied back to me in an exasperated tone, "mostly right mom!" 

New Year's Day 2017 - In order to prevent cabin fever, I posited the concept of the "First Annual New Years Day Rodriguez Pajama Race" outside.  The younger two were all over it and rushed to get out the door.  Sam rudely pushed ahead of Isaac so he could be the first out the door.  I chastised him saying, "it's not a race!"  Logically, he responded, "Yes it is mom!"

January 2017 - Making our NFL playoff brackets, Isaac selects the "Green Bean Packers."

January 2017 - Josh asks Isaac what he does at preschool.  He tells him, "cutting and science, ya know..."

January 2017 - Sam proudly gets to bring his classroom mascot home for the weekend.  He explains to us what he supposed to do with the stuffed wildcat, Wally.  I ask about prayers, and Sam replies "don't worry about it mom, I don't think he really has a soul."

February 2017 - On a recent trip to Panera, Isaac "assisted" Bampa (my dad) in maneuvering the car into a parking spot by waving and gesturing.  Bampa thanked him afterward, and Isaac told him, "No problem, I'm your guy!"

March 2017 - Isaac delights in the "pocket" his new car seat has (cupholders).

March 2017 - We play a new game called "Exploding kittens" that has an element of surprise and waiting for a certain card.  Sam declares, "I keep farting because I'm so nervous!"

March 2017 - During a longer car ride, Sam and Noah are trying to twist their fingers to demonstrate how double jointed they are.  Sam says the typical canned phrase, "Don't try this at home!"  He then mentions how painful it is.  Noah says, "well why are you doing it?!" and then quickly mutters to himself, "Well I guess technically we aren't home..."

April 2017 - We listen to the song, "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid, Sam asks why someone would ever write a song about kissing girls.  I responded, "you kiss me all the time!"  He answers with, "You're my mom, it's necessary."

May 2017 - My mom and I were discussing cell phones and what models we had etc.  She says to me, "you're a 6 right?"  Without missing a beat, Mike interjects, "come on mom, she's a 10!"

May 2017 - It's been a tough month adjusting to life after the death of our beloved dog, Ellie.  Sam seems to have had the hardest time and was pretty upset one evening.  I realized how lacking our religious education has been with Isaac when he tries to comfort Sam with, "I think Ellie is going to see Godzilla in heaven."

May 2017 - Looking forward to his school's annual Field Day, Noah asks me the forecast for the day.  I told him it was going to be partly sunny.  He pauses and looks at me, "well, what's the other part?"

June 2017 - Over the summer, the boys each get to pick a special spot to have their own dinner with the grandparents.  Sam picks sushi for his night.  Isaac's exotic choice? Panera.

July 2017 - Excited to have some friends over at the new house, the kids all rush outside to jump on the trampoline.  Isaac stops everyone to warn, "do not go on the trampoline if you have high blood pressure!"

September 2017 - On a walk recently, Noah makes the exclamation, "What in carnation!"  After I explain to him it's "What in tarnation" he realizes he's been saying it wrong his whole life!

September 2017 - We hosted 3 cousins on an overnight visit from Indiana.  Sam states loudly, "Mom is the best mom ever!"  Then, out of earshot, "actually she's not that nice.  Only when guests are around, she's nice."  Noah adds "yeah, you guys are our tickets to getting treats!"

October 2017 - At the new elementary school they have student lead parent teacher conferences.  So, that meant for Noah's conference I had Isaac and Sam along with us.  After chatting a while about Noah, his wonderful teacher turned her attention to the siblings.  Isaac proudly told her all about the 4 forces "lift, thrust, weight, and drag."  She was very impressed and we talked about their scientist dad who was at work.  Sam added, "Good thing my dad isn't here.  His farts smell really eggy!"  This conference took place at 7:00am, what a way for her to start the day!

October 2017 - While I was playing with Isaac he threatened me with a toy car yelling, "I'm going to crash into you.... (immediately changing to a sweet tone of voice) ... with love!"

October 2017 - While at Panera with Bamma, Isaac said he didn't like his lunch.  When she reminded him he ate every bite of his grilled cheese, he said, "Well my body was just attracted to it!"

October 2017 - Isaac warns Bamma while they are in the basement with the workout equipment, "Remember those are my mom and dad's weights, cause when you get really really old you can't handle it."

October 2017 - Another classic conversation between Isaac and Bamma.  On a return trip from the library, they chat about flight, airplanes and the Wright brothers.  After a bit, Isaac gets agitated that she doesn't know anything about the Left brothers.  "You told me about the Wrights, but what about the Lefts!"  To be fair, he is left-handed.

December 2017 - Over lunch, Isaac tells me, "When I drink milk, my brain kind of expands."

December 2017 - Isaac and I are discussing the religious parts of the Christmas holiday.  He quickly changes to telling me about Easter.  In a very serious tone, lecturing me, "You know mom, Easter is not about the West or the North, it's only about the East!"

December excitement!

 Here we are, in December already, and feeling the holiday excitement!  Isaac has been working hard at gymnastics to overcome his fear of the beam, doing pretty well (it helps that it's 6 inches off the ground).

 Isaac also had a very cute Thanksgiving program at school, he was one funny turkey!

 Noah has been moving along nicely in karate.  He just earned his red with brown stripe belt!

 Visit to the mall to see Santa!  He was so impressed how well the boys waited while the computer was slow that he gave us free tickets for the carousel!

 Thanksgiving eve was a perfect night for gaming with family.  Sam and Isaac did some dominos with Daddy.

 Noah was almost bested by Bamma in war!

 And, Sam and I took on the scrabble challenge with a very serious approach!

 Thanksgiving was wonderful, we were able to host for the first time in our new home!  All the Rodriguez grandkids were together!

 Nick, Cesca, and Kim spent the night which was very exciting for the boys!

 The weekend after Thanksgiving, we headed over to the Worsts to do some Gingerbreading with Kelly and Ginger!  The 1:1 kid to adult ratio was perfect!

 Hattie and I are truly BFF, if you're wondering.

 Kids and their creations!

 Sam gave a good effort in his attempt to eat it!

 After the Thanksgiving fun, we were ready to decorate for Christmas!

 Got some new stuff for out front too!

 Mike had his last week at Kraft, he's changed to a new job in Lake Zurich.  But before he left, he was able to score two GIANT jars of marshmallows!

 Isaac's 4 year old preschool picture, pretty awesome!

 The first weekend of December, we headed out to downtown LaGrange to see Santa arrive in town on a fire truck, listen to my high school LTHS madrigals sing carols, and see some cool ice sculptures.  It was a really fun evening with Bampa!

 Sundays are a good day for bread baking!

 Recent Bamma project - Santa letters!

 Last Friday, we were able to host Miss Hattie for the morning.  We started out our day at Dunkin Donuts!

 We stopped by Busse Woods to see the Elk, this guy was right by the fence, so cool!  We also had more fun at home making some ornaments and baking cookies!

 Then last weekend, we headed out in the cold to see the zoo light for the first time!

 We took Bamma and got there early, and boy were we glad when we saw how busy that parking lot got!

 It was really neat, they had a lot of lights and large animal displays.  I think the synchronized tree lights with music by tropic world was our favorite part!

 Josh's dog Emily suffered through a Christmas sweater humiliation for her Aunt Abby!

 And yet another Bamma project that required baking at 7:00am before school!

Some pretty cute Santa cupcakes!

 Isaac was up to his own projects at school this week too!  Here's his Christmas tree made from an ice cream cone, frosting, and candy!

So, bring on the holidays!  We are more than ready!