Catching up in 2022!

We enjoyed our holiday season for sure.  We did the Brookfield Zoo holiday magic which was awesome!

Noah embraced ugly sweater day!

Lots of time for kitty snuggles!

Christmas Eve with the Rodriguez Family never disappoints.  Isaac got a plush poop that even makes noise!

Christmas Day began bright and early, someone was less than ready.

Some favorite gifts included a skateboard for Isaac.

Pizza hoodie blanket for Noah.

Hufflepuff hoodie for me!

Kjersten is lending us her piano for awhile, very exciting stuff!

Giant candy bars from Bamma!

And of course, a giant box!

It was nice to have lots of time to just hang out.

We also got to spend time with our friends the Townsends.  Noah and Monica compared massage guns.

NYE skillet cookie!

Crazy cat antics!

Huge highlight was Noah getting his 2nd degree black belt and new uniform.  Way to go kiddo!

Big kid needs big plate of chicken!

Cat patrol, keeping cats from the counter is his job!

Olympic ring theme night!

More cat snuggles!

Weird times in education.

He is his own Valentine!

Much love to all!

Happy Holidays 2021!

As is our tradition - may I present our quotable moments from 2021!

January - Isaac threw a snowball at Mike and yelled, “this is for countless reasons!”

February - Mike attempted to paint the dining room, but discovered the color wasn’t right and decided it had to be repainted. As he was taping off the walls for the 2nd time, Isaac helpfully offered “it would be much more efficient to just paint the color you actually want this time.”

February - I was singing to kids during card games “you’ve guy high hopes...” Isaac riffed on it, “I’ve got medium hopes!”

February - Isaac about recess at school “we played mostly on the laptop (blacktop)”

April - I was talking to Isaac about future career when he said, “I want to be a marshmallow in space.” I jokingly wondered aloud about what kind of degree one might need to do that. He said, “probably 100 degrees or 200.”

April - Sam was riding in the car with Mike to his office, and they saw a giant bird. Sam excitedly yelled “look it’s an ostrich, I mean a flamingo!” It was a large heron.

June - While on vacation with Townsends in Mexico, we all crowded together in elevator. After a moment of silence, Isaac giggled “so much awkward touching!”

June - Again, while on vacation I went snorkeling Isaac. He did well for a few minutes, but then wigged out and I had to drag him to shore. He, between sobs, told me, "I'm just not a very good mouth breather!"

July - Sam our resident crafter, was making a cardboard shield. He told us, “I’m Captain America on a budget!”

August - While on vacation with the Desai - Gruenhagens in Oregon, we told Isaac that this was an appropriate audience for "yo momma" jokes. Later, we had another discussion about what swear words were allowed and which ones were not. We discussed the word "a**hole" and how that was NOT allowed. Later that night, Isaac attempted a yo mamma joke with combined use of the phrase “dirty A word” which resulted in "your momma is so fat her family trees goes in one dirty A word." Top notch parenting!

August - Mike texted me randomly during the work day “where do you want to retire to?” I sent back long text "maybe Arizona, but not all the time, perhaps Tennessee" and then I ask why. After a slight pause "uh, it's your target security question."

September - Isaac asked Mike if his food contained “fartic” acid

October - Mike (fun dad) got donuts on a Sunday morning. The kids all asked for long johns. He went to local shop where they are not quite like massed produced ones and some are slightly different shaped. Isaac asked “what are these, short johns?!”

October - Sam and Isaac were carving pumpkins for Halloween. Isaac was not a fan of handling the innards and stated, "oh my gourd!"

November - Sam was helping me in doubling a cookie recipe, “mom can I write this down and show my work?” Absolutely kiddo!

December - Isaac was baking cookies with Uncle Josh and Josh asked if he needed a stool to reach the counter. Isaac confidently says, “no, I’m 4 foot 2 now!”

December - We all went to see the Brookfield Zoo lights with my mom. We walked around in the cold enjoying it all. We came upon a large, central display and I said, "look at the giant giraffe!" It was a reindeer. Mike helpfully added "yep, I've seen a lot of red nosed giraffes!"

Thanksgiving 2021

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with a lunch at my mom's with Pops and JoJo followed by dinner with the Rodriguez crew (during which I took NO pictures, facepalm!)

The day after Thanksgiving is usually reserved for the Ladies Lunch, this year was special since we did a baby shower for Kjersten!

Can't wait to meet this little lady in February!

Noah had the honor of putting the star on top of the tree this year, he no longer needs a boost or a stool!

Isaac gave us quite the scare with a little ER trip.  He had a concerning heart rate (158) at the nurse which meant an EKG.  Fortunately, everything turned out just fine.

The next day he endured a mishandled blood draw like a champ.  Everything seems normal, so we are very thankful!

The cats got their own little tree this year, decorated with cat toys by Sam and Isaac.

They love it!

Just quality control on some hand me downs from a neighbor to Baby Girl Hewes.

Additional quality control of treats from my coworkers!

Ugly sweater day - found a good one!

Do I get to come to the party?

So now I'm on break, the boys have a few more days and then it'll be CHRISTMAS!  Cannot wait!

Halloween 2021

It was great to have a more traditional Halloween this year!  Isaac was french fries for the 3rd year in a row and was able to celebrate at school.

It was a preschool day for me, so I too joined in the celebration.  All the teachers were beanie babies, I found a great squirrel costume.

There are some parts of Halloween that are still somewhat impacted by safety standards.  My preschool parade took place in an empty hallway with no parents, but we still had fun!

After firmly stating he was NOT going to wear a costume, Noah's friends convinced him to celebrate.  I had a coworker that saved the day with a last minute pikachu costume.

Molly was highly interested in our pumpkin carving!

Isaac was not a fan of the pumpkin guts and eventually opted for some gloves.

Noah had a karate class while costume, it was a little sweaty to say the least.

Squirrel pumpkin and tiny dragon pumpkin!

Molly celebrated her 3rd birthday with some celebratory salad!

So we ended up with Pikachu, french fries, and a "mafia guy."

Isaac went trick or treating with some friends down the block.

Sam headed out with his buddy Alex.

Cats being cats.

Isaac has been reading about the Hindenburg disaster lately.

Noah had some spirit days at school, during one he wore his full karate uniform along with hakama (traditional pants).

Colder weather gets me free cat snuggles!

Matching holiday pj pants!

And probably the biggest news, Sam and Isaac got their first COVID shots, woohoo!

This week, Isaac had a 3rd grade musical performance at school.

It was pretty amazing, at the end he was on a hand drum!

So, now we prepare for Thanksgiving and some much anticipated time with family!