IA Weekend

We had planned to make a trip to IA the weekend of Jan. 12... instead we got a whole lot of snow! After that our weekends were booked with Disney on Ice, and misc. other events so the weekend of Feb. 17th we were finally able to make a trip. We needed to visit great-grandmas and pick up a bed for Kinnick's new room. Because we needed to pick up the bed we had to drive 2 vehicles.... so the kids and I decided to get an early start (leaving just after lunch time). They enjoyed some ipad time as I finished packing and loading the car. They were so cute I couldn't resist a picture!

The kids were beyond excited to see Liam--he was pretty excited to see them also! He had just started crawling this week. The kids had so much fun playing together.

Our weekend was pretty low-key. Lindsey and I managed to sneak away to a move and do some crafting. The kids had LOTS of play time. We had planned to visit both great-grandmas on Sunday but had to change plans last minute b/c Sadie was throwing up during the night Saturday. The boys went to church and lunch with Great-Grandma DePauw and to pick up the bed. Us girls (with Liam) enjoyed a lazy pj day.

Sadie ended up being fine by Sunday night... just a quick stomach bug (thankfully no-one else got it!)

Due to his recently aquired skill of crawling, Liam took a few falls. Due to the crazy Gorsch kids being in his house all weekend, he took a few thumps. He was all shades of black and blue by the end of the weekend but it didn't keep him from being his smiley self:

Our trip coordinated with President's Day weekend. Marc had the Monday off so we made a day of it and stopped at the Iowa Children's Museum on the way home. The kids loved playing:

A fun february weekend... and a great break from working on the house!

Happy Birthday Macey!

To celebrate Macey's 2nd birthday we had a fun family day. Starting with... a trip to the Children's Museum in Naperville:

Marc made this birthday cake for Macey on the giant light brite. The kids liked helping find all the colors.

My favorite exhibit had lots of bubbles. The kids liked making a giant bubble around themselves.

Kinnick loved having lots of "daddy time" to build and explore.

We packed a lunch and ate at the Children's Museum. After lots of playing we went to the mall for Macey to get her pictures taken. Pictures went well. We finished our night at Macey's favorite place to eat...

And finally headed home to enjoy cupcakes...

But we didn't make it to cupcakes because we had three kiddos asleep in the car! We saved them for the following day...

I think the only thing sweeter than the cupcakes loaded with frosting is my favorite little two-year-old!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key for us this year. We started Sunday night by mixing up Valentine snack mix to take to our friends Monday at our play group. We made a big batch of puppy chow (with valentine sprinkles) and mixed it with cranberries, cherrios, valentine m&m's, and gummy hearts...

My kids spent the night at Ms. Pearl's the night before Valentine's Day... so Marc and I got to enjoy a date night early. We had Panda Express (at home) and painted our bathroom. I went to pick the kids up the next afternoon (after more painting).

We got to spend Valentine evening with our small group. We had tacos and a surprise baby shower for one of the couples in our group--it was the perfect night of fun and friends. I made this cake for the shower:

The top layer was chocolate with raspberry filling and the bottom was white with lemon cream filling. My first try at adding fillings... turned out very tasty!

So Bridget and Jared were told by their Dr. that they were having a girl... they finished their nursery (SO cute and girly) and found out at 32 weeks that it was actually a boy! (They are so on top of things--their nursery was converted in about two weeks and is now adorable for their little guy!) We are waiting to meet him any day now!

Because we barely got to see out kids on Valentine's Day, we had a special breakfast the next morning to celebrate V-Day and Macey's birthday. I made these heart shaped cinnamon rolls (thanks Pinterest!)...

with pink frosting and pink smoothies. I set the table with some fun surprises for all my Valentines!

Marc took the day off for Macey so we enjoyed a laid-back breakfast before beginning our day of fun.

Carpet Disaster!

So after the previously mentioned pedicures, Sadie and I cleaned up the nailpolish and put it in the soaking tub to be taken upstairs to our bathroom. Our stairs have a little ledge--very conveinent for setting things on, but also in reach of the kids. The nailpolish happened to be sitting on this ledge Sunday night....

Sadie, Kinnick, and I were on facetime with the CO cousins and Marc was in the kitchen making dinner. This left Macey unsupervised and she decided to have a little creative fun... On the wall...

And the stairs--4 stairs to be exact. All this on our brand new (not even 2 months old) carpet! Surprisingly I didn't overreact too much. A little paint fixed the wall and trim. As for the carpet, we got to find out just how good the warrenty company is to work with (pretty good actually!) Our carpet has a 10 year warrenty that includes having a tech come to our home to treat the carpet. If the stain does not come out the carpet will be replaced. The tech was here the following week; however, to summarize a long story--he didn't treat the carpet. (He was going to charge me for it.) We now have a different tech scheduled to come Monday. As for the stains... we shall see!

Thus is life with young kids!

Nee Nee Weekend

The weekendbefore Valentine's Day Aunt NeeNee came for a visit. The kids were way excited to see her! We kicked off Friday night with pedicures by Sadie. This is one of Sadie's new favorite activities! The kids also had fun watching "A Dophine Tale" (their Valentine present from Aunt NeeNee.)

Saturday we decided to brave the weather and take another trip to the zoo. We had so much fun on our prior trip we wanted to go back with Marc. It was much colder this time (more like what winter weather should be in Chicago!) The zoo was practically empty which was kind of nice. We spent lots of time at different indoor exhibits.

Macey kept telling us she was scared of the "stinky rhinos" and she would hide her head in the stroller--so funny! We read about how Rhinos will shoot pee out behind them as a way to keep other animals away (we even got to witness it!)

We of course had to spend some time in the play zoo (not enough time) and all of the kids came out with some sweet face paint. All three of them slept the 45 minute car ride home. Saturday night we had homemade pizza and watched Cars 2.

After church on Sunday, Stephanie was nice enough to paint Macey's toenails for her before she left. Macey was thrilled! Love you, Aunt NeeNee!

Zoo Trip

January 31st: This was another first for me--a trip to the zoo in January. In Jan & Feb Brookfield Zoo offers lots of free days each week. When my friend Erika asked if we wanted to take a trip to the zoo to celebrate Audrey's birthday we were more than happy to go! This is our whole crew: Sadie, Audrey, Macey, Man (Scott), Colee, & Kinnick
Audrey & Sadie are about 8 weeks apart, Colee & Kinnick are 4 months apart, and Macey & Man just 6 weeks apart. We usually get together about once a week and the kids have a blast playing together!

We enjoyed great weather. We spent a lot of our time at indoor exhibits but it was nice to enjoy the fresh air also. It's great to be at the zoo when it isn't super crowded and everyone is not hot and crabby.

We packed a lunch and were able to enjoy an inside picnic during our visit.

Audrey gave these pants to Sadie b/c she had two pairs. The girls were way excited to see that they both wore them!

We ended our day in the "Children's Zoo" and really could have spent the entire day here. The kids always love painting faces and playing in the vet area.

My little "Tiger"

But you've never seen a vet with make-up like this!

Macey is well familiar with this "tool".

What a great way to celebrate Audrey's 6th birthday...