Happy Birthday, Amy!

Amy with her husband, Dean

The older I get the more thankful I am for my sisters and the time they sacrificed to take care of us younger kids. Whether it was coaching my basketball team or picking us up on snow days, while my mom was at work, so we wouldn't be all alone. My sister, Amy, and brother-in-law, Dean, would come every Thursday evening, while my mom worked,  to make sure we had dinner and did our homework. We would watch jeopardy and see who could get the most questions right, while yelling at the contestants to wage it all (or ourselves if we kept track of our points). They would even come to our games and be our biggest fans along the sidelines of whatever sport was in season. They didn't just do this a couple times but they did this for 5 years. I think it conditioned me to look forward to Thursday every week and even now,Thursdays hold a special place in my heart.

All the siblings: Katie, Amy, me, Chrissy, Johanna, Leighann, and John

I am so thankful to them for the time they invested in our lives and I know that I am a better person because of it. Thank you, Amy! I love and appreciate you. You are making a difference in people's lives with the time you sacrifice and the love that pours out of you daily. I wish that we lived closer together and could not just have the best summer ever! (our mantra for the summer I lived with their family in Florida) but could have the best life together side-by-side serving Jesus and loving others. I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Family Time

Still missing a few who couldn't make it but here is most of the crew

My family planned to get together last weekend for a while and I had to choose over seeing all of my family now for a short amount of time or seeing most of them plus seeing my sister's newborn baby for a longer amount of time. I didn't have any vacation time yet because of just starting a new job and so flights were expensive to just go for the weekend. A lot of money for not a lot of time. So I chose to wait for when I could go for a couple more days for less money and see my newborn nephew. But that decision ate at me and ate at me every day. My family kept sending group texts and it just made me miss them even more. I looked at flights frequently and debated about just going but the longer I waited the more expensive the flights got. Then I resorted to how doable it was to drive the 21 hours roundtrip in one weekend. It wasn't really the smart decision but the closer it got the more I just needed to see my family. The transition to Chicago has been really hard for me, partly because this is my third move in three years, but also because the environment at work has been really stressful. So when it came down to it, I decided at 9pm the night before that I was going to get up at 4:30 in the morning and drive to Pittsburgh to drive the rest of the way with Leighann and her family.

I got up the next morning as planned and could have left earlier but just kept thinking to myself, is this crazy that I'm about to jump in the car for 10.5 hrs to barely see my family to just jump in the car and do it all over again? I kept asking Adam the same question (this is before 5 in morning, people) but he nicely said he wasn't going to make the decision for me. He helped me carry out my stuff to the car, being the great husband that he is, and then said, "If I don't hear you come back inside in the next 5 minutes, I'll know you've made the decision to go." haha I sat in the car for a couple minutes and then decided, I'm already packed and ready to go, I might as well get on the road. Best decision ever.

Seeing my family was exactly what I needed. I needed the comfort of a familiar place and people who love and support me. People who love Jesus so much that it just pours out of them in conversation and actions. It was so refreshing not to have to small talk with people but to be able to catch up and have deep conversations as well. I also got to have some fun times with my nieces and nephews. It's hard not to be able to be with them more because I truly want to know each and every one of them ( all 14 of them going on 16 by the end of the year). And because I don't get to be with my family a ton, I wanted to document the whole weekend. So here are some of the good ones.

My baby brother is all grown up and sold his motorcycle while I was there. I was so proud of him because him and Jess didn't really want to sell it but with having a little boy already and a little girl on the way, it just made a lot of sense.

I'm glad I got to come home because I got to see Chrissy pregnant. The last time I saw her, she wasn't even showing. I'm really glad I got to see her in person before she has the baby.

Mom's yard is perfect for entertaining our big family.

We played lots of corn hole, courtesy of John who built these set of boards. Isn't Liam just the cutest thing, ever?

Lots of underpuppies (aka underdoggies for Ryan) on the tire swing, Jack plum tuckered out from playing with all the kids, and our biggest kid, Henry, letting John swing him around on the merry-go-round to see if he could hold on. He, in fact, did hold on but then felt sick for an hour after.  Things just don't get easier when you get older. haha

water slides, hoses, and water balloon fights filled the majority of the kids time and they loved it!

and we got to enjoy the weather and each other's company

are we really questioning why I had to see my family? So much fun when we get together
Left to right: Katie, Amy, me, John, Leighann, Johanna, Chrissy and mom being held by us all ;)

Seeing Johanna, aka the baby whisperer, in action

and even some toddler appreciation for his awesome parents

Neil's son even braved the chaos of all of us to spend some time with his kids at the house. His kids had a blast with all the other kids and Sean got some quality time with his dad.

I had the kids trained by the end of the weekend to let me take their pictures in between pushes on the swing, trampoline jumps, or waterside runs. Muriel said at one point that she would let me take a picture of her if I would push her on the swing haha I decided to push her on the swing without the picture haha

Me and Pipey-Pipe hanging out #sorryforherimmodesty

Even though the recovery time of traveling that much in a short amount of time was brutal, I was so glad I went. It was exactly what I needed.

He is Risen

Growing up, we never celebrated the Lenten season. This year, I tried to be more intentional and be more aware of the Easter season. I really enjoyed it more not letting the Easter season surprise me and am just so thankful for all that God has done for us.

Thankful for a family that is close and that we can spend time with them 

 Sarah's boyfriend, Bryant, and cousins, Nate and Matt, and Matt's girlfriend, Valerie joined us

A funny, supportive husband

 Laughing and playing lots of croquet in the beautiful weather.

a game of Heads Up (you guess or act out the words on the person's forward based on the category)

I don't even know what we are acting out here

This one was scuba diving.

I'm thankful for his grace. We are so unworthy yet he chose to rescue us to have a relationship with him. It's truly amazing.

Weekend of Rest

We had fun-filled, basketball watching, crossing things off our list, hanging out kind of weekend.  We invited Adam's family to come over on Saturday, which kicked our butts into gear to clean up our place a little. It looks so much better! We hung up more stuff on the wall (who knew that was even possible if you've already seen our collage) and cleaned up a bit so it's really starting to feel like our place. Our kitchen is done, put away, and looking good . (I went to take a picture for you guys and realized it was put away and looking good but then I made dinner and these delightful muffins and it's a mess again. Oops!)

We showed Adam's family around our neighborhood and went back to Eataly (the Italian marketplace full of small boutique restaurants) because Adam's family is Italian. I really think they liked it ;)

 Adam's mom trying on a bomber hat 

 I had a successful day, eh? 

Let me just tell you, those fish were heavy and the guys who really caught them had been there for 8 hours! They had a great view though!

When the fisherman pulled out the fish, grandpa came running to see them. It was cute.

After we showed them the neighborhood and went downtown, we came back and had a quiet dinner at a local place with really good gluten free (and regular) pizza. It was yummy and such a nice way to end the day. Thankful for family close by, my family far away and a nice, relaxing weekend.

You say Goodbye, We say Hello

On Thursday we said goodbye to Milwaukee. I'm not going to lie, as excited as we are to move to the city, I was sad to leave Milwaukee. It was our first city/apartment together and it was such fun place to have our first year of marriage. So easy to get around and so many fun things to do. We truly enjoyed the city and the new friends we made. At least it is close so we can say hey to our friends still there.

Our apartment before we packed anything away. Also that is a painting that Adam just did for me and he wanted it to make the picture.

I had to rip up all my fun shelf liner in the kitchen… I'm looking to get some more for our new place

So much packing the last couple weeks. By the end I was just throwing whatever I could in a box to get it to Chicago haha

I had never seen our apartment when it was empty so it was weird to see it without all our fun stuff in it.

Friday, we watched Pops ref one of his last games of the season, which happened to have Adam's old high school freshman team playing in the game. They looked like a bunch of babies, which had us scratching our heads as to when we were freshman. It's been TEN YEARS. What? I feel old and never want to talk about it again haha

After the game, we went to eat with Adam's parents and grandparents and taught them about selflies. 

On Saturday, we moved into our new apartment (new pics when we unpack everything. It's a obstacle course in there right now). It feels so surreal that we live IN Chicago. We went to visit some friends last night and were able to just take the L a couple stops south and be at their place very easily. It was so fun.

The rents walking around with us in the snow storm

us on our way to our friends apt

Adam thinks I look crazy when my coat is like this but I can't help it. It's so warm this way.

We also have been walking a lot to various places around us which has been really fun. We both like to walk and be out and about. I think we are going to like this new adventure.

Sista Weekend

This past weekend, I flew to PA to visit all my siblings plus our only girl cousin on our dad's side. It was so fun!

Ryan said he really wanted to see Adam (so cute!) who didn't come on this trip with me (cue the pouting lip from the sweet boy)

Thankfully for me, I decided to get to the airport 3 hours early to avoid rush hour. My flight had actually been cancelled because of wind but they would let me get on a flight that was supposed to leave in 15 minutes because it hadn't started boarding. I rushed through security and to my gate and made it on the plane being the third to the last person on the flight. I made it safely to Pittsburgh and spent the night with the Marquiss. (the next day there were crazy winds in Chicago so I don't even know if the morning flight they had automatically put me on after my flight was cancelled would have flown).

Friday, Leighann, sweet baby Piper, and I had a relaxing morning getting the kids off to school and packing up the car. We then went downtown to get some tacos and gluten free biscotti. Yum! Friday was all about getting there. We knew we had plenty of time so we didn't mind making little stops, in fact we encouraged it.

We got to stay in a cabin that my sister's, Chrissy, friends own. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to prove that to you. It was so fun to get there and see all my sisters. The weekend was very relaxing.

Bonni- our only girl cousin on my dad's side. She is hilarious!

We each took care of one meal and just talked, made crafts, played games, took naps, ate. a. lot., and just enjoyed everyone's company.

We didn't have a short supply of bananas or eggs. Some would say we had too many.

Just want to remind you that we were only there for the weekend.

 There was only one baby there the whole time and then when my brother, John, and his wife, Jess, came they brought their sweet almost one year old Liam. He is adorable and has started walking since I saw him at Thanksgiving. It was weird not having all the nieces and nephews there but it was nice too.

sweet little piper who is almost 3 months old

this little guy is almost a year old. Seriously look at him.

I can't get enough of him

I'm so glad that Jess and John came up for a little. I miss them!

Love Jess, she is awesome!

just one more...

One of Amy's projects of the weekend was to fix her coat… This is Amy working on her project haha

We decided to bring small gifts for everyone to make it fun. Part of Leighann's gift was these cute bags. They were really handy when everyone started giving out their gifts.

We also decided to swap recipes since most of us have allergies and have gotten sick of what we make. I decided to make my gift, my recipe cards. (But I wasn't sure if I would get them done so I also bought these yummy allergy-free candy that comes in 4 different flavors. So good!)

Did I mention that we didn't have cell service or internet access? Well who needs that when everyone acted out their favorite you tube videos.

 Leighann acting out Bon Qui Qui

 Everyone watching haha

finishing out the weekend by being silly. Sorry Jess and Bonni, that we didn't take this picture while you were here!