Go Irish {it was a good year}

{In an effort to get caught up before the "Big FIVE" this week, I'm going to be publishing a bunch of catch up posts.  For real.  I have to apologize in advance, though -- our "good" camera is on its last leg, so most of the photos were taken with either my iPhone or my dinky camera.  Not that I was a stellar photographer to begin with, but I feel like it needs to be mentioned.  On to the posts . . .}

I'm sure everyone is wondering about how we celebrated Notre Dame's "magical year".  Tim and I were fortunate to make it over to ND for a game in October (the not so fortunate part was that it rained - no poured - for, like, 8 hours straight).  We were able to connect with several friends we hadn't seen in ages and a good time was had by all.  Maybe a little too good of time.  But I digress. . .

The season was pretty magical.  And while we weren't super optimistic about the National Championship game, we were a little hopeful that they would have actually shown up.  Oh well.  It was fun (if not very stressful at times) while it lasted!

Christmas is for sickies . . .

As per the norm in our household, we came down with a batch of sickness right around the holidays.  At Thanksgiving, Tim came down with a nasty bug on Thanksgiving day (of course) which turned into the Flu and a nasty ear infection that ruptured his eardrum.  Fun times.  We were hoping Christmas would be a bit less dramatic, but no such luck.  The kids had been fighting the runny nose/nasty cough thing for a few weeks and it turned for the worse on Christmas Eve.  Little Kendy just wasn’t herself, running a high fever and that lead to a very subdued holiday.  It was actually a bit of a bummer because for about 8 months Kendyll had been asking for and wishing for a “walking doggie”.  We were so excited to see her get the doggie from Santa, but her reaction was a bit underwhelming.  Oh well . . . there’s always the birthday.

We did manage to have some fun.  And as per the usual the kids were spoiled.rotten.to.the.core (as were we all). 

He was HERE {again!!}

{Catch up post - December 2012}

For the fourth year we were so lucky to have our good friend Santa Claus stop by for a little get together with our friends.    We were taking the kids to see the Nutcracker for the first time this holiday season and I had scored a SICK deal on PBK stockings on Black Friday, so we went with a Nutcracker theme this year (plus Kendyll is still obsessed with dancing). 

Our friend Boyd was with us again this year, too, from Thanksgiving until Christmas.  He had quite a rockin' good time.

Obama and Rominee

{Catch up post - November 2012}

Tim & I don’t really talk about politics much (mainly because we have opposing views), but somehow the topic of the presidential election came up at dinner on the date of the presidential election.  It was one of those moments that – after the fact – I wish I would have recorded it because it was so pure and innocent (and freaken hilarious!!).  We tried to get the kids to recreate it when we got home, but of course it isn’t the same (but still pretty funny!). 

Darth Ballerina

{Catch up post - Halloween 2012}

Long gone are the days where I have any “control” over what B&K wear, especially for Halloween. And even though there are occasions where I can persuade or influence their decision, that is a rarety these days (especially with Kendyll). So when it came time to select Halloween outfits this year, Bennett was the one who became fixated on an idea first. He is obsessed with all things Star Wars (and Angry Birds. Don’t get me started on the whole Angry Birds Star Wars now, too). And he LOVES Darth Vader. I mean, LOVES. So that is all he really wanted to do for Halloween. We tried to get him to be Luke (concerned that he wouldn’t like the mask), but no, he wanted to be Vader. So then we tried to convince Kendyll to be Princess Leia. She was on board with the Princess part, until she saw what Leia wore and it wasn’t all Disney-like so therefore she wasn’t really a princess (mind you, they’ve seen the first three – or is it technically the last 3? – Star Wars movies).

I tried at one point to get them to be characters from “Despicable Me” (aka “Spickle Spickle Me”), but Bennett wanted to be Vader. I had mentioned to Kendyll she could dress up like the girls at the end of “Despicable Me” and be a ballerina and she basically decided that’s what she wanted to be . . . a Ballerina.

So there you have it. We had a Darth Vader and a Ballerina for Halloween.

For the past several years we’ve had awesome weather on Halloween. And now this year – the first real year the kids were super excited to go Trick or Treating – it was cold and rainy. But Tim took them out ToTing with our next door neighbor (and his 3 kids) and they ended up staying out for TWO FRICKEN HOURS!! I was shocked! They loved the new neighborhood and had a blast going from house to house. They came home with so many FULL SIZED candy bars I was in shock!!

High-ya!!

{Catch up post - September 2012.  Scroll down for more past posts!}

Bennett’s chosen “extra-curricular activity” is karate.  We went back & forth on what to do – soccer (yuck), flag football (where he would probably be crushed), gymnastics (to help him continue to build up his gross motor skills) or an overall sports program.  But we kept coming back to karate.  And so far, so good.  It is teaching him discipline.  And to listen to his parents.  And the little dude can now count to 10 in Japanese (seriously!!!).  He gets to do his activity twice a week (two half hours).  Now if only mommy could learn how to tie his damn belt!!  {side note: Bennett has worked his way up through his 4th belt color now}

Dancing Queen

{Catch up post - another from Sept. 2012}

All.summer.long we had been promising Kendyll she could take dance lessons.  Her idea of what dance lessons meant was pretty priceless, too (she saw one episode of “Olivia” where Olivia did a dance recital and her dad had to lift her up during her ballet routine.  Kendyll kept insisting that Tim would have to go with her to every lesson so he could lift her up.  Ha!).  Turns out this is a pretty expensive little “hobby” – after lessons themselves, the required outfit of tights and leotards, tap shoes and ballet shoes (and the recital costumes to come later), this isn’t as cheap as we thought it would be.  But Kendyll LOVES it so far and it is pretty cute to watch her practice every Saturday (the first half hour is ballet and the second is tap).  She can't WAIT for her recital this May!

My Kinda Town {kid-style}

{Catch up post - September 2012.  WARNING - THIS ONE IS LONG!!}

We took B&K to Chicago for Labor Day weekend. After 4+ years of telling our friends in Chicago about B&K, we figured it was finally time to take them there and prove that we really did have children (as many of our pre-kid friends can attest, the look of shock & awe when we announced we were expecting the BK Special was quite priceless).

We made the 6 hour drive over on Friday. The ride was actually quite pain-free (aside from the fact that the DVD player on the driver side wasn’t working properly. But I had downloaded a new game onto B&K’s “iPads” – their Leapfrogs – that seemed to suffice as a pacifier). We stayed in the suburbs Friday night so we could visit our old ‘hood and hang out with some dear friends. The first stop was Quigley’s – one of my most favorite bars of all (and no worries – we sat out on the patio, there were other kids there and B&K drank “Shirley Temples”. Even though they called them something else). We then headed out to our friend’s house and spent the rest of the evening there sharing drinks, eating pizza, watching movies and catching up. I have to say, B&K were total troopers. They basically skipped nap and were up past 10pm (central time!!) and overall there were no meltdowns to be had.

The next morning we were up & out early to head to another suburb to watch the ND/Navy game (from Dublin Ireland!) with friends that Tim went to ND with and their family. Once again, a super fun time had by all. B&K are STILL talking about their friends (who they had previously played with when we went to the Spring Game) and we hope to get together with them again soon. From there we headed into the “Big City” where we would stay for the next 3 nights.

Once again, though, they skipped nap and by the evening everyone was starting to get a bit grumpy. The first night we stayed in a big hotel room all together (we tried to get B&K to sleep in their tents, but ultimately Tim and Bennett slept in a double bed and I had the pleasure of being kicked in the face by sleeping with Kendyll in the other double bed). When we checked into the hotel in the city we had a suite – so there was a pull out couch in the main room and a king sized bed in the bedroom. For WEEKS B&K had been asking to sleep together / sleep in the same room and we kept telling them they would in Chicago, so we were curious to see how it would actually work out. As expected, it took a while for the novelty of being in the same room (and bed) to wear off. Think lots of not so quiet whispers of “SHHHHH!! MAMA SAID BE QUIET AND GO TO SLEEP” followed by major giggles.

On Sunday we had big plans. First up was a L-O-N-G walk from our hotel to Shedd Aquarium. Now, for me & Tim the walk wasn’t that bad (maybe 2 miles), but I’m pretty sure B&K thought we were walking back home. Plus it was starting to get hot. And we didn’t really sleep that well the night before. But despite all of the possibilities for drama, overall it wasn’t that bad. We took in some sights along the way – like the Bean at Millennium Park.

And Buckingham Fountain.

B&K loved seeing the shows and all of the sea life at the Aquarium.

And on the way back to hotel (for naps – yay!!) they got to experience their first cab ride. Which was actually somewhat embarrassing because the cab driver was speaking to someone on his phone in another language, but Kendyll insisted it was Spanish and was trying to “talk” back to him. Thanks Dora.

After a little (much needed) nap, we headed out to a fancy pants dinner at one of my all-time favorite steakhouses. And it did not disappoint. Tim & I shared a bottle of wine (to which, Bennett has since requested that going forward we give him a sip of OJ to taste before pouring his full glass of juice each morning – just like we tasted wine before pouring a glass. Priceless!). Tim ate a 3 lb lobster and Kendyll ate most of my filet. It.was.yummy!

The next morning we headed out for some more sights. We took a ride to the top floor of the Hancock building and saw the whole city. We then did a little shopping at Water Tower Place, where Kendyll was introduced to the craziness that is American Girl dolls (we got there right as it was opening & had “pre-shopped” online, so Kendyll knew exactly what she wanted. We were in & out of there in less than 20 minutes). Kendyll adopted twins, of course, and has named them Ava & Brian.

While we were doll shopping, Tim took Bennett to the Lego store, where he scored a couple of new sets. Fun!

After naps (again- yay!!) we headed out to Navy Pier for one last night of fun. We rode the big Ferris Wheel and the kids rode on another fun ride.

And we had to get popcorn, of course (which, amazingly made it home with us, but I don’t think it lasted more than one day once we arrived home).

Overall the trip was a blast. We were able to catch up with some dear friends we hadn’t seen in 2 years and B&K made new little friends they haven’t stopped talking about. It was so fun to go to some of the places that Tim & I frequented long before B&K and have them experience it with us now. Plus we did some of the “tourist” type things that we never really had a chance to do when we lived there before. The ride back home was a bit painful, but we made it. And Bennett & Kendyll are still talking about what a fun trip it was . . . and much they love it there and want to move there! Ha!