YMCA Gala

February 23:   

                                           

I really stressed out... a lot about what to wear for this occasion.  Marc was very sweet and assured me it was okay to buy something but I just didn't want to spend money on something I might not wear again (or might not fit me again!)  I keep all my formal dresses in our guest closet--I had been through it and none would fit.  One night after stressing about it some more, I remembered this dress that was in our closet:

This dress (believe it or not) was one that I bought to wear on our honeymoon--gotta love spandex!  I was much more excited to go after solving the dress dilemma!

 

 

 

Snow Much Fun

We definitely did NOT get a white Christmas this year.  We did get to travel to the Dells and to Iowa in December--but that was the only snow we saw.  We were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get snow... and finally by the end of January we got our first snow (kind of!)  It wasn't much to play in but our kids were excited.  We finally got some more at the end of February and beginning of March.  Sadie had her only snow day on March 5th.  Although they didn't get a lot of snow time this year, they enjoyed all the times they did get to play in the snow!

 

 

January 25th:  They were so excited to wake up and see snow (although it didn't even cover all the grass)... These pics were before school--they were out shoveling as soon as they woke up...

 

Kinnick and Sadie went out again after school.  They rang the door bell and told me they would build me a snowman for 5 cents.  (They later said they would only charge me 2 cents because it was such a little snowman!)

 February 22nd:  Our first "Big" snow--Sadie still had school.  We had some friends over and they had fun playing in the bake yard while we made cookies.

 

 

 

February 23rd--Sledding:  Aunt NeeNee was here visiting for the weekend but she and Sadie opted not to sled (they went on a shopping/lunch date instead).  Marc and I had fun taking Kinnick and Macey.  We went to park in Shorewood called "4 Seasons" Park.  It has HUGE hills perfect for sledding.  I couldn't believe how many other people were there--over 50 I'm sure.  Luckily there are several hills so we still had space to sled.  This was Macey's first time sledding (we didn't get to go last year).   We started them the first time in the middle of the hill because I was nervous but they were quickly racing me to the top--they both loved it!

 February 26th:  We made snowmen inside...

 

March 2nd:  My parents always seemed to have more snow then we did (I don't think they ever had a shortage of it!)  When we went for the girl's party we took snow clothes and they had a blast playing with their cousins.  Grandpa hooked up sleds to the 4-wheeler and took them for rides.  Not sure who had more fun--the kids or Marc!

March 6th:  We got our biggest snow of the year on March 5th.  Sadie had a snow day (which she was SO excited for).  The kids didn't end up going out, but the next day after school we played outside for a couple hours...

Macey helped me Build our 1 and Only Snowman for this Winter

 

 

Kinnick had fun building a Snow Fort with our Neighbor Across the Street

Macey's Special Day

February 17:  So our plan was to take each kid to Build-a-Bear for their 4th birthday... plans change!  As Macey's birthday approached we struggled with what to do for her gift.  Kinnick and Sadie both got their first bike but Macey didn't need a bike because we already have a princess bike for her to use this summer.  We had also been having bedtime battles because she wanted to sleep with Sadie's Build-a-Bear, Emma every night.  Part of me wanted to wait but another part of me thought "What if she is over "build-a-bear" by next year?"  After much debate we decided to make a family day of it and take Macey to get her first Build-a-Bear!

We Wrapped a Build-a-Bear Giftcard and let Macey Open it in the Car

 We ended up going on a Sunday.  We left after church and stopped at Panda Express for lunch.  After lunch we headed to the mall...

It didn't take Macey long to choose this Dog with Pink Hearts

Waiting Her Turn

Filling Up her Bear with Fluff

Adding a Heart

Giving her New Friend a Bath

Getting "Lovey" Dressed

We spent awhile searching for the perfect outfit.  The first outfit she chose was a spandex shirt & shorts (maybe for gymnastics... not really sure!)  After trying it on, we convinced Macey that it was a little too tight and she opted for a pink sequin shirt with white shirts instead.  She also chose a make-up kit and cell phone for her dog.  (She had her heart set on the cell phone and Sadie talked her into the make-up kit.)

Macey wanted to name her "Doggy Dog" (just like Kinnick's) but Daddy helped her decide on "Lovey"

Enjoying a Cookie Before we Left

We all had such a fun day with Macey... I think Kinnick and Sadie had just as much fun as they did when it was their turn!  Not sure what's in store for her 4th birthday, but I do know that I am enjoying each moment in time before that day comes!

Date Day in the Windy City

Marc loves to tease me about my addiction to Groupon; however, I'm pretty sure we never would have planned this date if I wouldn't have bought a Groupon!  I had been wanting to go to ice skating and I just think it's so much more fun to do it OUTSIDE and in downtown CHICAGO!  I bought a Groupon for 2 skate rentals for $10 (normally $10 each) for the McCormick Tribune Skating Rink in Millennium Park. 

Our babysitter came at 10:30--we planned to head to Chicago and find somewhere downtown to eat lunch... but plans changed.  Marc wanted to drop our snow blower off at Sears before we left--it had been needing repairs.  What was meant to be a quick drop off adding 15 minutes to our trip ended up taking over an hour.  Part of our date was spent in the Dollar Store Parking lot using a baster to suction all the gas out of the snow blower!  Once we finally had this done, we decided to eat lunch at Chipotle before heading downtown.  It's one of our favorite places to eat and we usually never eat in the restaurant.  It was a good start to our date! 

We did make it downtown and had a lot of fun ice skating.  It was harder than I remembered...  We spent as much time watching people ice skate as we did skating.  I am pleased to say that we both made it without any falls!  When we were done skating, we spent some time walking around Millennium Park (and of course seeing the "Bean").  Afterwards we warmed up with some coffee before heading back home. 

On our way home, we stopped at Sears outlet to look at some fridges (on our "purchase" list).  I will admit this was much more fun to do with no kids!  I loved having our date during the day and still being home to enjoy a relaxed family movie night with our kiddos!

Happy Birthday to Macey!

February 15:  Macey is three years old!  I still hardly believe it...With Sadie and Kinnick I felt like 3 was a difficult age... so far Macey is still pretty "easy".  She is showing us a bit more independence at times (aka--temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way or wants to do something all by herself) and she can also be sassy but she's still very much our "sweetie pete"!  Her birthday this year fell on a Friday.  We started our day with birthday cinnamon rolls (shaped like hearts with red frosting and sprinkles!)  We sang to Macey and let her blow out a candle on her cinnamon roll...

 

 

For lunch Kinnick, Macey, and I met daddy at McDonald's.  We don't always get happy meals so that was a special treat.  They had fun in the play land as well!  (They were both good about not telling Sadie but it didn't take her long to spot the new Hello Kitty toy and ask where it came from... nothing gets by Sadie!)

 

Friday night was a busy one--we had small group and Family Reading Night at Sadie's school.  We split up--the boys went to group and us girls enjoyed Reading Night.  It was a camping theme--they got to wear their p.j.'s and have s'mores with a campfire sing along.  They also had the book fair so the girls each got a new book (we picked one out for Kinnick also!)



We had Valentine mini-cakes and birthday cake ice cream the next day to celebrate our sweet girl!  Love her so much...