Restaurant Week

Kicking off the weekend & Chicago Restaurant Week with a downtown lunch date with my hubby :) #welovetobolabampo

Build A Snowman

Josie's class performing the song "Build A Snowman".   She's in the the 3rd row, 3rd in on the left side next to her buddy Conor :)

Catholics School Week

This week was Catholic Schools Week.  The week ended with Tacky/Mismatch Day!!!  The girls had lots of fun picking out their outfits & Mommy assisted them too by finding pink flamingo headbands (which she thought looked quite tacky :) for them to wear too.  Although we do love Pink Flamingos just not on our heads HA!!!  Even Daddy got to join in on the fun by going to the Open House.   Mommy was glad that he came since Gracie challenged him to a math game.  And he's better at math than Mommy :)  After some fun with the second graders, we went to Josie's room where she enjoyed showing us around & introducing us to more friends.  And we played BINGO. She sure is quite the social butterfly :)  

Toothless

Finally the other top tooth fell out...see you tonight Tooth Fairy :)

My Little Shopper

Enjoying some pre-Superbowl shopping with Mommy at Trader Joes.  And she's in charge of our cart too :)  We love to shop!!!

Polar Vortex Part 2 Continued

Another subzero day in Chicago & day 2 of no school too. So we hosted Conor & Grace Gibbs for a fun dance party to "Just Dance" :)

Introducing Elsa & Anna

Happy 3rd Birthday to our favorite little Sloane.  The Frozen birthday party favors were a BIG hit with Elsa & Anna hats for all the girls & Olaf cake pops :)  We just can't get enough of Frozen!!! "Do you want to build a snowman?"  With these cuties, yes!!! :)

Polar Vortex Part 2

2

No school again today as we have temperatures -40 below so since we can't make a snowman outside we'll make snowman cupcakes inside :)   They look very yummy!!!

4th Annual Step Up For Kids

We did it again :)  Our 4th Annual Step Up For Kids to raise money for Children's Memorial Hospital. A good time & a great cause & worth stepping up 80 flights of stairs too :)  Amazing view of Chicago from the 80th floor of the Aon Building after we finished too :)  I also love that I use to work on the 45th floor of this building.  

Cutest Fan

Gracie biggest & loudest fan :) Yay to little sisters :)

Go Gracie

St. Clement won both basketball games & Gracie loved cheering them on.  Check out her "star jump" :) Pretty impressive for a 7 year old :)  Go Gracie Go!!!  She's a natural :)

Go Blue, Go White

Let's Go St. Clement

Our little cheerleader is in the back row in the left corner on the end

St. Clement Cheerleaders

First cheerleading game for these girls...Let's Go Wolverines :)

It's All In The Bag :)

Heading out to cheer at her first game :)  Not only does she have a super cute uniform to wear but she also got a cool bag to carry her pom poms in. Lets Go St. Clement BLUE!!! :)

Minnie Mouse Play Day

It's snowing again in Chicago so what better way to stay warm then to have hot chocolate in your new Minnie Mouse mug :)  It turned into a Minnie Mouse play day with mommy since Gracie had a play day after school & Josie really wanted to do something fun too.  It looks like by the smile that her play day with mommy was a hit too :)

Book Report

Tonight's book report for school was to write about & draw you & your favorite character from the book. Gracie chose to read the book Frozen & then drew a picture of her & Elsa. I love that she put them both in Elsa's signature blue dress from the movie. And even better that she made herself TALLER than Elsa!!! This will definitely be one of my favorite book reports from Gracie :)

MLK Play Day

The perfect way to end our 3 day weekend & day off from school...a play day with our very first playgroup.  The oldest kiddos have know each other for 7 years!!! They are all in different schools now & 2 families now live in the suburbs so it's always fun to get them all back together. #bestfriendsforever

Let's Go Wolverines

Our little cheerleader brought home her uniform today & she is all set to cheer at her first game next weekend.  Let's Go Blue!!! :)

TGIF

Well I guess it won't be a lazy TGIF for Mommy as Josie decided this morning that Baby gets to play with Lanie & Maddie today & I need to make sure that they are having lots of fun!!! And I also have to watch her puppy & put him in & out of his cage after breakfast, lunch & naps. I hope I don't mess this up with these added duties :)

Josie's "Bottom Dance"

Gracie & I were busy working on her homework tonight so Josie decided to go up to her room to do one of her favorite things...dance!!!  A little while later she came down very excited to show us a new dance that she created called "Josie's Bottom Dance".  No explanation needed on the dance title once you see her bust'n a move :)  These must be daddy's moves HA HA!!! 

Gracie's Sales Pitch :)

Gracie's music teacher, Mr. Roe, liked her girl scout cookie sales pitch so much that he took a video of it & sent it to us :)  

Brownie Gracie

She's sporting her Brownie Vest as we are heading out to sell girl scout cookies.  Her goal is to sell 125 boxes which is more than she sold last year.  She's got a very good sales pitch too. Go get em Gracie!!! How can you resist that smile & her baby blues :)

Sarah's 40th

A fun-filled GNO on the town celebrating Sarah's fabulous 40th Birthday!!! Happy Birthday & cheers to my friend Sarah :)

Bob's Birthday Cheer

Uncle Bob's Birthday Performance, Part 2 :)

Watch Out Taylor Swift

Uncle Bob's Birthday Performance, PART 1 :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Bob

Today was Uncle Bob's Birthday so we had him over to celebrate his day :)  The girls practiced all week so they would be ready to surprise him with a very special performance including a birthday cheer.  It was definitely a memorable birthday for him!!!

Good-Bye PC

Today I came home to find my new computer waiting for me on the counter, a wonderful Christmas gift from Kris :)  And to my surprise, my old computer was on the counter too with  a good-bye message on the screen for me.  Thanks Kris for moving ALL my important files over to my new computer & for helping my old computer "PC" write me a touching & funny note :)   I can't wait to start using "PC Junior"

Mommy's New Year Promotion

Well the girls are finally back in school today, yay!!! And my responsibilities at home have increased for 2014. Gracie decided that her bunny "Starbucks" that she fondly named over the holiday break after hearing the story of how I bought her the bunny when she was 2 years old at Starbucks around Easter time & how she use to carry her all over town in the stroller when we would go for walks & to the park :)  So now Starbucks no longer sits in the bin with many of the other stuffed animals. She has become a new favorite & gets to "hang-out" with Baby & Ella while they are at school & I get to watch her too.  Today they were able to play games on Josie's Hello Kitty itouch. And as always, they are all set for me on the couch. Hmm...I surely hope the girls give me a pay increase too :)

Wind Chill/Snow Day Finale

Our two day hibernating at home ended with more fun by our fire place, per the girls request :)  They enjoyed chocolate chip mini waffle dippers for dinner with all the fixings while watching Lady & The Tramp.  And The Tramp enjoyed the movie with us too.  Ooohhh the memories we created together from homebound 2014!!! :)

Give Your Heart A Break

Who's ready to take them on in Just Dance?!?! :)

The Freeze Dance

Some dancing fun with their new game on The Wii :)

Let's Dance Kids 2014

Thank you "Let's Dance Kids 2014" for entertaining us with a fun-filled afternoon dance party in our basement on Day 2 of hibernating at home.  And thanks Nana Shirley for a great Christmas gift too :) These girls danced non-stop for 2 hours!!! And wow, do they have some good dance moves. #letsdancekids2014

Wind Chill/Snow Day #2

Another day with 40 below temperatures & another day without school & hibernating at home. But the picnic lunch by the fire that mommy created received a big "thumbs up"!!! :)

Wind Chill/Snow Day

It was too cold to go to school or even outside with the extreme wind chill so we enjoyed hot chocolate with marshmellows, homemade chocolate chip cookies & the movie The Wizard of Oz by the fire. 
 

Get Well Cards For Mommy

The stomach flu has been going around & guess who's turn it was to get it, mine :(   Ugh!!! I guess if there was a day to be home & cozy under a blanket, it would be today since with the wind chill it's -45 degrees below zero in Chicago & school was cancelled too.  To make me feel a little bit better, the girls made me adorable get well cards.  I love how they each drew a picture of us :) Too cute!!!

Let's Go Packers

Well the outcome of the football game wasn't a good one for us Packer fans, but we sure had fun watching & cheering them on.  The girls even performed a half-time show for us.  We plan to retire our "lucky socks" until next year :)  We'll get em next year, right girls!!! :)

Packer Assessorized

We are ready for today's Packer/49er's game.  "Lucky Socks" check, Packer Rainbow Loom Bracelets Check (thanks to Gracie :) Now Let's Go Get Em Packers :) Go Pack Go!!!

Our Little Snow Shoveler

Gracie has been hard at work helping daddy keep our sidewalks clear from snow.  This girl absolutely loves to shovel & I think daddy likes the help too :)  And she's really good at it too.  Anyone need a good snow shoveler as she's for hire? She's expensive but worth it :)

Snow Day

It snowed non-stop for 36+ hours so we enjoyed a fun-filled SNOW DAY!!! :) These girls are certainly loving the Midwests crazy winter weather. And more snow is on it's way too.