Happy Bridal Shower Kelly!

Yesterday, I went to my good friend Kelly's bridal shower! She's marrying her fiance, Peter, this upcoming June and I'll be a bridesmaid in their wedding. The bridal shower was so fun, very cute and girly. It was on the nicest day so far this year, 70 degrees and gorgeous out! Kelly and Peter received a lot of great gifts, including a ring holder that Kelly thought might be a serving tray, haha, a great picnic basket/backpack for concerts at Ravinia, and lots of other stuff. We had a great time and took some cute pictures:

Meg, Kel and I

Cute dresses! Typical girl cheerleading picture pose
Opening gifts - Nancy made a list of the gifts while Kelly opened and Margie and I made some pretty fancy bouquets :)

Easter/Stacey's Surprise Birthday Party

This Easter, we spent the morning visiting my family at my uncle John's wife Jane's sister Nancy and her husband, Dan's house.. that might be hard to follow. They have about the same size (huge!) extended family as my mom does - 9 siblings, with children - so with the two large families combined, the house was pretty packed!

In the late afternoon, we went to Bonnie and Bob's to have an Easter celebration/surprise birthday party for Stacey, whose birthday was the day before. Jackson and Cooper had a rough day with injuries - they fell and scraped their knees while running down the sidewalk to greet us, smacked heads while running to the front door to yell "surprise!" as their mom arrived, and got some mysterious scratches on their faces. Jackson found a spool of thread and set up booby traps by winding it around one chair leg and pulling it across the room to wind around the table leg, which I'm sure he learned from his favorite show, Family Guy... We got to see Bill's Aunt Becky, Uncle Kevin, and cousin Ryan, all of whom we haven't seen in a while. It was a very fun Easter!

Jackson just loves Uncle Billy

Bob's hand-made gift to Stacey, a fused glass Mickey. She loves Mickey Mouse - she even happens to be wearing a shirt that has an almost identical Mickey in the picture. Bob is a perfectionist and did an amazing job on this project!

The boys got some new bath toys in their Easter baskets and immediately stripped down to take a bath!

Thank goodness for those bubbles! What an adorable child

I love their matching pajamas!

Friends

Last weekend, I got to spend a night with some great friends! Kate, Kristin, Megan, and Kelly all came over, and it was so great to see them!! Bill cooked us a 4-course dinner (sea bass ceviche salad, chorizo blackbean en-fri-lada, chicken w. tomatillo mole sauce and white hominy/tomato rice, and coconut ice cream balls with Kate's ginger chocolate cookies, MMM!), Megan brought the wine (thank you!), and Kelly luckily made cd's because my music collection now consists of only 356 so-so songs (rrr, itunes).

Everyone has exciting things going on in their lives, and it was great to catch up for a night. Kate's moving to California later this year, Megan's moving into an awesome condo in the city with her good friend Elizabeth, Kelly's getting married in June and movin to the burbs (yay!), and Kristin is engaged and expecting a baby this September! Her due date's actually two days after her birthday, and just a week or so before her fiance's birthday, aww!

Marathon Training Update

It is now the end of February, and Bill and I are running 7 miles in an hour. It's hard to stay motivated to run in the winter since we're running inside on the tredmill, but we're trying. Bill, especially, is doing a great job. We can't wait for Spring!

Snowball, Valentine's Day, Sarah, and The Choo Choo

February has been a busy month! For the 2nd year, I went with my friends to Snowball, a Children's Memorial Hospital fundraiser ball at the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom. It was a lot of fun - the fundraising team raised the same amount of money for the hospital as they did last year, which is great considering the economy. Megan added significantly to that by having the winning bid for an auction item -- accidentally under the name "Erin Broderick." Hopefully Erin wasn't there during the announcement of the winners!

Also, before Snowball, I went to my friend Jennie's baby shower for her daughter-to-be Adelyn Joy. The shower was beautiful, Jennie and her family are so happy for the arrival of her daughter, and it was really great to be a part of it. We can't wait to meet her, Jennie!

Bill and I had a low-key, romantic Valentine's Day, celebrating with dinner at Francesca's for the second year in a row. Bill brought home some of my favorite flowers, pink calla lilies and blue hydrengeas. I love celebrating holidays that celebrate love. Even if it's a Hallmark holiday, why not celebrate love?

The day after Vday, I had a wonderful 3 hour lunch with some of my great high school friends, Sarah, Kelly, and Kate. It was so great to see Sarah again! She's living in Washington DC, and it had been forever since the last time we'd seen her, and a ton of things are happening in her life right now. It was great to hear about everything, and to have a long, leisurely lunch with some really great friends.

On President's Day (which I get off! I love the teaching schedule!) Bill took a half day, and his sister Stacey, her husband Ross, and our nephews came out to visit us in Des Plaines. We went to The Choo Choo for lunch, which is a great place for kids (and Bill)! The Choo Choo has to be 40 or 50 years old, and the main attraction is a train that carries your lunch to your table. There's a line out the door, a half hour time limit for lunch, and a million kids all trying to order as many things as they can so the train keeps coming to their table.

After lunch, Jackson, Cooper and I sat in the window seat in our apartment and watched all of the planes flying around waiting to land at O'Hare and the trains that kept coming and going through the station. The boys were so excited everytime they saw a plane (every 5 to 10 seconds), and the three of us had such a great time together while Bill, Stacey and Ross hung out in the other room. They're a couple of really cute tartar sauces.

Bill is 27!

Bill turned 27 this February 9th. Bill's birthday is usually the time of year that we get sick, and this year was no exception, but luckily we had been on the mend long enough to have a good time. Bill's parents had a family party to celebrate. I make Bill a carrot cake (his favorite) and even though he got lots of awesome presents, he says the cake was his favorite gift. I love him and I hope he has a great year being 27!

With Cooper blowing out the candles, there must have been spit allll over the cake

Is there anything up there, Bill?

The boys always get so excited to open Bill's presents, then get so disappointed

It is SO hard to decorate cakes! The frosting is never smooth. I need to take a class. But it's kind of pretty!?

Lake Geneva Trip

For Christmas, Jami gave all of us a long weekend getaway to the Grand Geneva's Timberridge waterpark. It was a BLAST! Jami, Stacey and I were treated to a spa day, the waterslides were huge and so fun (!!!), and Jackson was even brave enough to go down the biggest one (though he and Ross fell off the tube in the middle, so he refused to go anywhere near the slide again). On our second day, we noticed Bob had been missing for a while, only to find that he had been riding the waterslides solo non-stop for 3 hours. Jackson and Cooper love Spongebob Square Pants, and they spent the whole weekend calling each other a "tartar sauce" as if it were a bad word. It was so funny. You're such a tartar sauce!

*I finally got some pictures!*

Jackson's 5th Birthday

Jackson's 5th birthday, on January 28th, was an exciting celebration for our family. I can't believe the tiny baby I used to babysit in the summer is already FIVE! Jackson, who loves construction tractors, trucks, and all of those huge machines, got an enormous ride-on escavator (a word I never knew) from Bon-Bons, Bob-Bob, and Aunt Jami. It was assembled and waiting for Jackson in the garage, and Jami had the great idea to wrap the huge (empty) box it came in so that he could have a huge present to open. Happy Birthday our sweet nephew!

Us with Maddie - she's obsessed with Bill and wouldn't leave his side all night

This picture only shows half of this huge, favorite toy of Jackson's


Uncle Billy and our favorite JJ

Jackson's 5th Birthday!

Bill's New/Old Job!

At LaTasca, celebrating Bill's New Job!!

This weekend we celebrated Bill's decision to return to his previous job at Siemens. He worked there for close to 4 years before making a move to Grainger in Lake Forest last January. After spending a year at Grainger, he realized that his interests and career goals are better served at Siemens. We're thankful that he was given the opportunity to return, particularly during this tight job market. Hopefully great things will come!

January 5th, I began my third quarter of grad school. I'm in the middle of a 2 year program to earn my early childhood teaching certification and masters at DePaul. I'm fortunate to already be working in the field at Lincoln Park Preschool in a 2 and 3 year old classroom, which I can't believe I actually get paid for. I'd do it for free. I love the little ones!

Bill loves taking a picture of me with my backpack on my first day of school :)

Hello 2009!

Bill's and my major goal of 2009 is to run the Chicago Marathon in October. A year ago, I didn't think I could run more than a mile, let alone run 26. I'm still in disbelief! When people say they couldn't do it because they're not "a runner" ... well neither am I, and that's exactly what I would have said last year. Anyone can do it if they really want to!

Our last minute 2008 goal was to run the 5 mile Shamrock Shuffle in March, and we had a great experience doing so. You don't even notice that you're running for the first 2 miles because you're just looking around at the city and thinking, "wow, I'm running down the middle of the street between all these huge beautiful buildings!" It's a powerful feeling.

After the Shamrock Shuffle, we decided to run the half marathon this past September. We trained all summer, and though it was hard work, and more so, a big time committment, the triumph and pride we felt finishing the 13th mile was euphoric.

As we move on to the marathon, we're hoping to join the Children's Memorial Hospital marathon team and raise money for the hospital. We'll have many more details to share soon!