Joe's first week of school and Weekend fun

Joe finished his first week of school. He seemed to like it. The only way for me to really gauge that is by his willingness to go back. It was weird to only have him home in the afternoons but I know he's learning a bunch and hopefully growing in the skill of sharing. :) it is nice to have some one on one time with Lydia too.

Pics from first day (it was Hat Day for Lydia)



Saturday we had a great family day. We rarely have a free Saturday so it was really a great gift to have a free day combined with glorious weather. We got breakfast out at Grammy D's (last time I was there was 2 days before Joe was born!), played at a fun new playground, got some flowers from Home Depot, and went on a bike ride, which was fun for all. We did the Palatine bike trail. Thanks to some friends of ours for the bigger bike trailer. Our kids outgrew our old one last year. Hopefully by the end of this summer Lydia can bike along on her own. We're working on it!


Halfway through bike ride we stopped at "The Hill"(one of Marc's memorable childhood spots) for a break/snack.

And later on in the day we tried out a new to us bike attachment for Lydia.  We weren't sure how she'd do or feel about it, but I feel pretty safe saying it's her new favorite thing!  

Joe is 3!

What a great year this past year has been for Joe!  He has changed so much and it has been fun to watch!  His personality is coming out more and more, and we're seeing his sense of humor (and mischievousness!) all the time.  He just LOVES to be with his sister, and has even learned the "art" of teasing her.  Payback can be brutal.  This week, despite the rain, snow, and more rain, we had much reason to celebrate, as we celebrated Joe's life, specifically him turning 3!

His actual birthday was Wednesday and he woke up to a medley of Thomas balloons in the kitchen, and a special birthday breakfast (cinnamon rolls, bacon and OJ).  For those of you who know what we eat most mornings, this was indeed a special breakfast! Then we went to the Choo Choo restaurant in Des Plaines.  This was a cute little restaurant that has a train that brings the food to you.  So fun!  Then on the day after his birthday, we had family over for pizza, cake and ice cream.  Joe was super excited about all the fun!  He got some trains, CD's, a t-ball set, and even a fake mustache from Lydia(she picked it out at the party store, lol).  All in all we had a great time celebrating Joe.  We are so thankful for him and the way he makes us all smile and laugh!  Happy birthday Joe, we love you!

Joe, Marc, and I at Choo Choo

Lydia(being camera shy) and Nikki at Choo Choo

Thomas Cake: Pre-Frosting

                                                       

                                                  

Thomas Cake: Outlined!

Thomas Cake: Finished product!

Singing Happy Birthday to Joe!

                                                                 Yum yum yum...........

Catching up- Winter/Spring 2013

I had made the lofty goal of blogging more in 2013, and I have failed.  I'm okay with that, though.  I think my new goal is to blog more in 2013 than I did in 2012.

This winter has been really hard for me.  Unexpectedly so.  There are a few reasons for that.  The move to a new house, though so exciting (and believe me, we are still enjoying the "newness" of it), was a bit more stressful than I anticipated.  I know that moving is on the list for things that cause stress, but I guess I was thinking more about the packing and the stress of closing, etc.  Moving with 2 small children, one of whom is tied to, and finds great comfort in his routine, made life after the move a little bit more difficult.  Also, Lydia had separation anxiety for the first few weeks when she was back at school after the move, while Joe had tears/tantrums almost every time we left the house the first few months(due to being in a new environment).  One of these alone was enough to cause anxiety, but combined, oh boy!   Thankfully, we've made it through and there were many times when I would pause, breathe slowly,  and ask God to get me through.  He did, of course!  I'm sure as a parent, I will have countless more moments like that, due to various reasons!

My Grandma Wise passed away in early March.  This came rather unexpectedly, and we miss her.  I'm just thankful I got to say goodbye.

Grandma Lohela has also been in the hospital a couple times, and we've been up to visit her and Grandpa a few times, which has been nice.

But though it's been a hard few months, we've had a lot of great moments.  And spring will be here soon. :)

Visiting Grandma L. while she was in the nursing home.

Playing in the snow!

All dressed up for Palm Sunday

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa over Spring Break. Joe was giving Grandpa "squishes".

Easter Egg Hunt in our back yard on Easter!

All the kids holding their eggs (aka candy!)

Disney 2013

I love Disney World.  I think it’s that it seemed so magical when I was there as a kid.  I’ve looked forward to returning for a long time, and that “wish” came true this past January, when Marc and I took the kids there.  In some ways we were probably a little crazy for taking a 2 and 4 year old, and in other ways, it made it oh so fun.  I think it was that look of excitement on the kids’ faces and in their voices at the sight of any dressed up character or the “thrill” of riding Dumbo or Winnie the Pooh that made it worth it.  My 3 pieces of advice for anyone traveling with younger kids (we don’t do a lot of traveling so unfortunately I’m further down on the learning curve for this) are:

1)    Bring an infinite amount of snacks for the plane.  Well not infinite, but you know what I mean!

2)   If you choose a flight that has a connection, make sure that connection is longer than 45 minutes! I’ve never been so out of breath in my life and caused such a spectacle as our family did running sprinting through the airport – me carrying all of the carry-ons and Marc pushing the stroller.  It’s one of those things we can laugh about now, but it was not funny then!

3)    Allow for an unwind day/transition day if you’re going to someplace like Disney.  We arrived late Tuesday and went to Magic Kingdom on Wednesday.  We still had a great time, it just would have been nice to relax a little bit first. 

And an extra piece of advice that could be for anyone – don’t rely on your smart phone to get you where you need to go.  Our iPhones took us in the back way to Disney and were driving around for an hour trying to find the entrance.  Ha!  Just drive on the main roads and follow the road signs, friends!

Here’s a recap of our trip:

Day 1: Travel Day - O’Hare to Orlando

Airport fun!

More airport fun!

Listening to Music on the plane

Day 2: Magic Kingdom – Lydia had a bout of food poisoning/stomach bug and threw up right after we got to the parking lot.  What?!   Poor girl.  We offered to go back to the hotel, but she was determined to go to Disney(and with all the money spent on airfare, lodging, etc, we were too!).  So we went(please don’t judge!).  We enjoyed many of the kiddie rides first (Dumbo, Teapots, Little Mermaid, Carousel,),  ate lunch, went to Gaston's Tavern, and then went to the parade, where Lydia threw up again.  Time to go back to the condo.  Lydia took a nap, and we rested a little.  Lydia felt much better after waking up so we returned for the fireworks.   Thankfully the sick stomach was just a one day thing, and none of the rest of us got it!

Enjoying a ymmy apple cider/marshmallow drink in Gaston's Tavern!

Posing outside the Dumbo ride

It's a Small World

Waiting in line for Peter Pan

On our way to the fireworks......This is the first in a sequence of pictures we have that show Lydia's  very goofy side.  We could not get her to flash a normal smile.  The good news was she was feeling better.  :)

Day 3: Epcot – This was by far MY favorite day of our trip(Marc actually preferred Magic Kingdom, the kids liked it all!)  I don’t know if it was because we now knew where we were going, that Lydia wasn’t throwing up, or that Epcot was just little less crazy than Magic Kingdom.  I also appreciated Epcot much more as an adult.  The way they are so detailed with each country is sooo cool.  Also, the kids loved the rides at Epcot.  It helped that there were really no lines to wait in.   And we got to meet Daisy, Donald, Belle and Snow White!  With the exception of Snow White, the lines to meet the characters were not bad at all.

Living with the Land

Living with the Land - Lydia said this was her favorite ride!  LOL

Getting ready to go inside to ride the Nemo ride

At lunch

Snow White - We waited at LEAST 45 minutes to see her.  In hindsight we could skipped this, though they were excited when it was our turn to meet her.

We met Donald Duck in Mexico. :)

 Day 4: Magic Kingdom part 2 – This was a long fun day.  We rode Dumbo some more, did Enchanged Tales with Belle (Had to wait over an hour for that, but it was pretty cool), Tom Sawyer Island, Jungle Cruise, and bunch more.  Lydia also wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain.  We did and it was fun, though it was a bit too exciting for Lydia. 

Riding Dumbo some more our 2nd day at MK

Riding the train.

Classic Marc, on Jungle Cruise.  This ride was fun, and our guide was hilarious!  

So fun to meet Tigger and Pooh.

Exploring on Tom Sawyer Island

More exploring.

Still more exploring, we loved Tom Sawyer Island!

Meeting Rapunzel...

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

And Cinderella of course (sorry so blurry!)

Vegging out before bed, watching Curious George.

Day 5: Travel Day – We had a layover (I believe it was in Charlotte, NC).  Our first leg of the flight was delayed, so we expected to possibly miss the 2^nd flight.  But like I mentioned earlier, we HAULED it across the airport.  I think Marc liked the thrill, but it did me in.

We had to leave the Mickey Balloons behind, so had to get some final pictures!

C-ya real soon!

All in all it was a great trip.  I only wish it were longer! J