2019, Here we go!

We had a fantastic holiday season!  The week before Christmas was fun around here, the kids still had school but we were able to squeeze in some fun before Christmas day.  Isaac wrote us all a holiday song...

One of the big highlights was the arrival of our niece/cousin!  Addison Sara was born on December 17th, and we were all able to go visit her just a couple days later!

She's just perfect!

Back at school, Isaac's class had a polar express day, complete with the story read aloud by the principal!

The weekend just before Christmas was our big baking weekend!  Sam was master of the food processor, crushing all the oreos for oreo balls!

Uncle Josh and Bamma came to help too!

Between cookie batches, there was some rubix cube action with FaceTime with Calvin!

It was a lot of work and a big mess, but tons of fun!

The end result was lots of goodies to take around the neighborhood!

That evening, the boys and Bamma and I went to see the Brookfield Zoo lights.  A purple tree, must be for me!

They look so old with their hot chocolates!

It was beautiful and not too chilly!

Great night, great memories!

The last couple days before Christmas were filled with play time and wrapping around the house!

I was able to go get a quick coffee with my dear Michelle!

And, we caught Spiderman into the Spider-verse.  It was really good!

Christmas Eve was celebrated in Chicago Ridge with the Rodriguez bunch.  Isaac got this cool shirt with an app that projects all the organs via virtual reality, pretty cool stuff!

Anya got some good cousin time in!

Christmas morning started promptly at 6am!

Santa brought a pretty nice haul for these boys!

 Noah got his highly anticipated switch game: Pokemon Let's Go Eevee, he was ecstatic!  He also has been enjoy Mario Super Smash Brothers.

Sam was pretty pleased with his dino and beyblades!

Isaac spent a lot of time playing skeeball.

And he sleeps every night with his plush lungs!

I was the proud recipient of this awesome shirt from Mike and the kids!

Bamma and Uncle Josh came over to add more presents and to have lunch!

Family Super Smash time!

Josh gifted me all these amazing Harry Potter socks!

And Old Man Rodriguez enjoyed his foot warmer!

Isaac came down in the morning with some amazing pattern matching!

The day after Christmas, new big brother Xavier came over to spend him with his cousins and open his gift, since they didn't come Christmas Eve.

Cousin lunch at McDonalds!

Winter break gave us lots of time to read, play on iPads, and stay in jammies!

We also completed a small closet make over in the entry area by the garage!  Here's before (we had taken off the sliding doors already).

And here's the after!  Very pleased to have a "landing spot" for everyone to take all their gear off and put their shoes.

We did get a little snow, which was perfect for Sam and Isaac to try out the new sleds from Bamma!

There was also time for science!  Making slime with Dad!

Sam got a little bits inventor kit with iron man gauntlet, he built it all by himself!

More science!  Making bath bombs!

An illness prevented our high school group from gathering in person, so we did a group Facetime!

New Year's Eve party!  Fortunately, the Worst family was healthy and could come over to party!

We celebrated with Paris first at 5pm, streaming live via projector and YouTube!

Isaac was very interested about Uncle Stan's upcoming leg surgery!

And here goes London!

Happy 2019!

New Year's Day, Addison came over for some more snuggles!

And the end of break was spent on mundane things like the laundromat!

We did go to see the new Mary Poppins, it was wonderful!  Big boys up front!

 Little ones in the middle with the Grandmas!

  And cool 8 year olds with the moms!

 The boys did a lot in the kitchen over break, here Noah helped make an ice cream cake!

Sadly, the Bears lost their playoff game, but it was a great season!

 And, lastly, should you need tips on how not to get sucked up by a tornado, Isaac has this guide for you.  Go down to the basement and stay away from windows.  If your basement has windows, go to the dress up area (doesn't everyone have a windowless room used for dress up clothes?!)  Stay safe!

Happy Holidays 2018!

As is our tradition, please enjoy a list of our favorite Rodriguez boys quotes from the past year.  We wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and 2019!

December 2017 - While listening to “Feliz Navidad” on the radio Sam asks, “is this a spinach accent?”

December 2017 - Noah says, “Well, it’s Christmas time again.” Sam replies, “yeah it only happens every

couple years.”

December 2017 - Noah reads the Benhart Christmas letter from Jeaneen, Sam (clearly remembering a

lesson from school) asks “but what’s the main idea?”

December 2017 - Isaac gets skeleton floor puzzle for Christmas, and I quiz him on various parts.

“What’s that?” I ask.  He tells me, “That’s the rib cage, it’s the prison for the lungs!”

February - Groundhog Day - Noah wishes we had a blind groundhog

February - Isaac tells me, “Back in the 1960s people used to hula hoop for exercise, that was back

before the pyramids, Bamma (grandma) told me.”

February - We regularly joke about Mike and his PhD and when he should be addressed as “doctor.”

Recently, Mike had bad cold and Noah called him “Doc McStuffins.”

February - On a recent trip home from work, my car accidentally switched to kilometers.  I looked down

and panicked thinking I was going to get pulled over for doing 85 in a 50.

March - While waiting for Noah’s recorder concert, I ask Sam about his music teacher and how she is,

he said “well she really likes music.” Thanks, Captain Obvious!

March - Isaac “see you soon you big back room” to Bamma.

March - took Noah to comic book store to buy Pokémon cards, as we were leaving the clerk said

“good luck buddy, hope you get some good cards!” Over his shoulder in a very 'made for TV movie

way' Noah said “they’re all good cards.” The comic book guy chuckled and replied “that’s the right

answer!”

April - Isaac says “some people don’t have kids because they would rather make puppets”

June - during our family vacation to Washington DC, the boys really enjoyed the Embassy Suites

breakfast each morning. Isaac says he particularly enjoys the “patriot roll” (pastry roll).  Seems fitting

for the location!

At a family party at the lake on June 30 we had 2 good stories:

Sam: (while riding on Dan’s shoulders) “Just so you know, my butt crack is sweaty!”

Noah: “be careful what you do, it’ll probably end up on social media!”

July - I took the boys on a six flags trip and we all went on a 4d justice league ride where you shoot

lasers at bad guys to score points. I reminded the kids if they get scared, to just close their eyes

(mostly thinking for Isaac). Sam lost his mind and cries when the joker shot at us and closes

his eyes for the remainder of the ride. At the end he recovers and points to his score. “Hey Mom,

I got that with my eyes closed!”

July - Noah asks Isaac where he lives, he says “in your heart” which we all say “awww” to, then he

adds “I’m a red blood cell!”

August - Isaac quote about future job options “I could just be a grave man and live outside and not

have a family.” Oooookayyy creepy!

August - Isaac’s grim quote of the day: Mike was swatting at a fly and Sam exclaims "the fly still has

feelings!" And Isaac replies in deadpan, "not when it's dead, it doesn't."

September - On the way home from rodeo we pass some sort of air show with a lot of parachutes

landing nearby. Isaac sings “it’s raining people, out of the sky!”

September  - while playing Isaac says “hands up it’s the CPR!”

October - Isaac likes to help Mike as he gets ready in the morning before work. Mike tells him he

puts on cologne. They head downstairs and Isaac asks “did you put some of that provolone on me?”

And a bit later “did you put some of that Italian shower stuff on me?”

October - Student lead conferences…

Noah: “well do that 99% of the time but I didn’t mark it ‘always’ because that’s not ALL

the time!”

Sam: “so, ya know I’m a social guy. I need to work on the chatting and all.”

Isaac “I have some struggles but not all the struggles. Like sometimes I don’t keep my shoes on.”

October - During election season, Sam asks if I’m in the Republican or the Demonic party.

November - During the Thanksgiving prep of potatoes, Noah helps with recipe conversions to make

triple batches, etc.  He gets mad about certain units of like a package of cream cheese. "Mom these

are nonstandard measurements!"

November - Everyone’s sick, it’s a snow day, there’s a major power outage, and Sam declares

“I feel worse than a cow who just found out what burgers are made out of!”

November - After the blizzard and lengthy power outage, the power came back on and Sam

ran up to shout to Noah “the router’s working again!” Never mind the heat or anything else!

That's all for this year, can't wait to see what ridiculous ones we will have next year!

Thanksgiving 2018 followed by winter drama!

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, I had some excellent helpers for about 2 minutes worth of peeling and then they petered out.

We spent the first part of the day at my mom's house, where we had a nice quiet meal.  Then we were off to the Rodriguez crew, which was a tad more loud and rambunctious.

We ended up Thanksgiving night with one sick child with a fever, this was only the beginning of our troubles of the long weekend.

The day after Thanksgiving was spent with our traditional ladies lunch, celebrating JoJo's birthday.

And, the boys had their BWW lunch too!

Noah was able to try out the new Pokemon game when his friend Maya brought it over to play.

Then the sickness really hit on Sunday after Thanksgiving, we had already decided that Noah and Isaac would be staying home from school on Monday due to fevers.  Sam was still doing ok, but it was clear there was a sickness brewing...

Then the blizzard hit Sunday night, this offered up 8 inches of snow after some rain and ice along with some brutal northernly winds. We got the call that school was cancelled around 8:30pm and at 9pm, the power went out.

Fortunately, our whole home generator saved us for 2 long days as ComEd worked to restore power.  On the last day of no power (Tuesday) it finally blew out, thankfully the traditional power came back on within a few hours.  Unfortunately, the sump pump also was blown out and this is what we discovered on Wednesday...

Over an inch of water throughout the basement!

The damage in the community was incredible.  There were lots of downed trees all around and broken branches everywhere.

 We called in a professional clean up crew and had all the flooring pulled up and dehumidifiers in our basement from Thursday night until the following Sunday.

We were able to rise above all the illness and damage to get into the Christmas spirit nonetheless!  We went to Nerge School's annual Santa Breakfast.  As part of the school ambassadors, Noah worked the event.  He announced when it was each group's turn to have a photo with Santa over the PA system!

All of the boys were also excited to see their teachers outside of school hours.  Isaac found Miss Jerzyk with reindeer antlers on!

Sam was able to eat breakfast at the same table as his teacher Mrs. Villegas!

And Noah's teacher, Miss Zacharia, was in charge of some of the student volunteers.

 Candy canes were a big highlight!

 The boys got a moment with the big man himself!

 Fun family time!

We were also able to decorate our tree!  This year it was Isaac's turn to put the star on the tree!

 Happy Holidays!  We can't wait for Christmas!

Halloween recap and Thanksgiving prep!

I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving time! We are so happy to have some family time this week, allowing us to reflect on all the good things that have been going on.  Both Sam and Isaac received awards at school in October.  Their school focuses on a social emotional learning program that has several "keys" to being successful.  October featured the key of ownership and both Sam and Isaac were recognized, nice job boys!

 The actual day of Halloween arrived and I was able to go watch the parade. Somehow Isaac's mummy get up didn't quite make it fully on his body for the parade, but he was happy!

 Sam was Sully!

 Bamma came to help with trick or treating, armed with a giant twix!

 We were watching Emily, Josh's dog, so she joined in on the fun too!

This petal costume used to be Ellie's, so it was fun to have another sweet girl wear it this year!

 Trick or treating time, it was a pretty nice night!

Noah headed over to go with his friends Ari and Maya!

 Isaac has really taken to writing and often spends his free time holed up in a spot with paper and pen.  He's really coming along with his reading, writing, and spelling!

 Noah participated in a another karate tournament.

 He has now switched to a closer dojo which is less than a mile from our house.  Master Rosas was very proud of Noah's performance, which netted him two 3rd place trophies!

Meanwhile these two were delighted by an old fashioned printer calculator at Marcia's house!

 Nothing says holidays like matching Christmas jammies!  This year's variety: Harry Potter themed

 The passing of Stan Lee recently required Noah to build a shrine to the man.

 Isaac finished his session of swim lessons very strong with him actually paddling around and feeling more comfortable in the water!

Isaac is thankful for "food, toys, and my life!"

Uncle Josh spoiled the boys with a trip to see The Grinch, complete with soda, popcorn, and candy!

Recent snowfall allowed us to get out and build a true snowman, even after a bit of a thaw he's still standing in the field across the street!

Isaac's suggestions: don't eat a turkey, eat marshmallows, corn, bread, or a burger!

Gobble gobble and Happy Thanksgiving!