Sister's Weekend!

( this was from Mom's wedding the day we met sweet Jess!- Girls, we need a more update picture!)

I'm headed to the East Coast to see my sister's for a girls weekend. I'm have no idea what we'll end up doing but we'll be doing it sans kids (except the 2 babies of the family). Looking forward to some good fellowship and laughter with these ladies ;)

Thanksgiving

We had my dad's side of the family Thanksgiving on Thursday and honestly, I was so busy cooking, eating, napping, talking, watching my fantasy football players dominate and playing cards that I didn't take one single picture. Geez. We had a really good time. It was so good to see my dad, uncle, and grandma ;)

From my grandma's, we headed to Leighann's to spend the night and get the party started. The next day was pretty chill because our meal wasn't till 2 and we had so many people to help cook. It was nice (probably because Chrissy and Leighann did a lot of the work). Normally, we just have thanksgiving  at my mom's and most of my siblings live close so they just go home. Since we all traveled to Leighann's, it meant that everyone stayed all day Friday and a half of Saturday. It was fun.

I got to see Jack (John wants to change his name) and Jess a lot. I loved it.

 So many kids and smiles! Everyone made it but Johanna's family (sad face).

 Liam is so cute. He slept among everyone in the living room. On another note, we had over 20 people staying at Leighann's that night (and that was just part of my immediate family). It was crazy and fun.

 Uncle Adam teaching the kiddos piano. They were all so engaged. It was really cute.

Our family has developed a lot allergies/intolerances within the last few years so we had a whole section of the meal devoted to those that were gluten, dairy, soy, oat, and coconut free. Some of the kids have to avoid some of those things as well so when all the kids are running around asking for food, you have to make sure they can have it. Muriel is 3 and was grabbing something in the kitchen when I asked, "Can you have that?" To which she replied, "I not gluten free." Haha maybe we talk about our food issues too much.

Katie and Bobby getting their first family photos taken. They've been married for almost 6 years so I think it was about time.

Katie turned 30 the day before Thanksgiving so we got to celebrate together. She will be graduating with her Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2 weeks. Yay her! So proud!

We were the only ones who stayed Saturday night, so we got to see Frozen and get dinner with Leighann's family. I loved the movie and it was fun to get some more quality time in.

After a long weekend, we started home. Poor Adam had to drive while Jack and I tried to keep our eyes open. We didn't do a very good job.

Whew, 2200 miles later. We saw a lot of my family and even stopped in to see his parents, sister, and her new boyfriend. Success!

Happy Friday!

Chill day

After sleeping in and getting our fix of Once Upon a Time fulfilled, we made some breakfast with my mom (she had taken off work-- yippee!)

Poor Jack didn't believe we weren't going to give him any of our food because we ate it all.

I then got to take the 3rd Annual photos of Johanna's family. (3rd, right?) These kiddos are growing up so much! I can't believe it. They are so funny and sweet. It was pretty chilly but they all had really good attitudes and ideas. Loved it.

This was my favorite picture.

 I started off writing on the chalkboard but then the kids each took a turn writing whatever they wanted. It was funny.

 I love everyone's expression in this one.

 Autumn

 Alysa

 Buddy and Abby

 She was cracking me up all day.

 Lexi was not afraid of the cold. I think I have the most pictures of her because she was willing to run around everywhere with me.

 "I like cookies to eat in the winter over the fire" - Buddy

Jack and I finished up the night trying to get a good picture to send Katie on her birthday. Then Chrissy and I headed to my Grandma's (about 1.5 hours away) so that we could cook in the morning. We were going to have Thanksgiving at Chrissy's house but my grandma isn't allowed to drive anymore so we brought the party to her. So glad we did.

NYC Day 2

Our second day was shortened because we were nervous about the snow storm and wanted to beat the traffic but we still got to see some more touristy things.

Time Square. It was fun to be upon the action

M&M World. Adam's favorite store that we stopped at. That boy loves M&Ms.

There was a whole wall of chocolate. Different flavors, colors, you name it. So fun!

 FAO Schwarz- We stopped at the huge toy store because I knew there was this huge piano in it. We tried to play "Heart and Soul" but it's hard to balance and hear the sound with all the little kids running up and down the keyboard. Adam did get to play "Mary had a little lamb" and got some cheers from the crowd. It was fun.

Central Park. We just walked a little bit into it because it's so huge! How awesome is it that there is something that big within the city?

We tried a lot of the street vendor's food. It was fun ;) 

That's about it folks. A very good trip. Glad we did it.

P.S. My sister, Leighann, is having a c-section today. I'm so excited to see my new niece (via pictures) and hear her name (we've all been guessing the name and giving funny suggestions). We tried so hard to get her to go into labor this weekend while we were all there. We massaged her a lot, offered to go on walks, and she jokingly did a couple stretches but alas the doctor's had the final say this time (her amniotic fluid is too low to let her go till her due date next week- or some kind of fluid is low- don't ask me, I haven't ever been pregnant before).

NYC Day 1

Adam being the Midwest boy that he is, hasn't seen all of the East Coast yet… He's seen a lot in America just not all of the things in my neck of the woods. So since he had a few vacation days left to burn and I have a more flexible schedule, we worked it out so we could leave the Saturday before Thanksgiving and sightsee for a little. (And people indicated that life after college was no fun… wahaha not true!) We made our way from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh and made a "pitt-stop" (pun intended) to see my sister, Leighann, and her family. We got to have dinner, hang out, and then spent the night. It was so fun ;) and we were happy not to make the full 11 hour journey in one leg.

Stayed in my little niece's room who is quite the host, everything was labeled including the trash can.

The next day, we stopped briefly in my hometown to drop off Jack, have lunch with my mom and Neil and see John and Jess on their 1 year anniversary! (Yay them!).  Then we headed up to my Aunt and Uncle's house, an hour outside of NYC, to stop for the night. (Adam had wanted to stop in Philly on the way up but the timing and the weather didn't cooperate with us.)

                                                              Riding the train into the city

Chicago--> Pittsburgh--> Baltimore--> NYC

We spent the entire day in the city on Monday, soaking up as much as we could. Since he had never been, he wanted to explore everything we could so we didn't take a tour (next time we will to learn all the history), go to a show (Monday is a big off night for shows because of the weekend and most shows end up coming to Chicago after NYC so we weren't worried), or go to a comedy club (we were a little bummed about this one because we would have but I lost my ID so we couldn't due to the 2 drink minimum at most places) but we did physically walk for over 8 hours and see a ton of Manhattan. It was tiring but very fun. 

So since we have so many pictures this blog has the possibility to be the longest blog eva… so let me try to be brief.

Empire State Building Selfie

Flatiron Building. Pretty cool.

The Italian in Little Italy.

We saw the Brooklyn Bridge. It had such fun views of the city. I loved it.

So hard to get couple shots when it's just the two of us.

 Seeing the city.

 We saw the One World Trade Center that they are building right next to Ground Zero. It was eerie being down there and seeing the gap in the skyline and remembering all that was lost that day. We didn't stay there for very long.

 We headed down to Wall street and saw the bull

 and where George Washington was inaugurated.

took more selflies because nobody got time to ask someone to take their photo every time.

Ate at a really cool cafe that had so many gluten free options we had to take a few more minutes to think before ordering. Loved it.

Saw this old railroad line turned into a park/running path above the city streets. It was pretty cool. I love when people revamp old things instead of letting them just sit there or tearing them down.

And finally saw them practicing for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was cool.

After walking for 8+ hours we went back to our hotel to just chill a little bit before going back out and both fell asleep. We are so old. Also my knee hurt and his foot hurt after walking so much. Again, why we are so old!

Our Weekend

With Adam and Katie being in their last semester of grad school and me being a freelancer, we had a working weekend over here in the Ward household. We got a lot done and still managed to have fun. I would call that a successful weekend.

 I did a little pre-gaming on the weekend and took Jack on a fancy dog walk. (I wore lipstick to meet Adam and his coworkers for lunch and that stuff really stays on.)

 We play this fun game with Jack where you play tug of war with him and when you get the toy away from him, you lay on it. It is hilarious because he wiggles his way under your body to get his toy back. You can't help but laugh when he does it.

Friday night, the three of us went to see Gravity in 3D. It was the most visually stunning, stressful movie I've ever seen. I still can't decide if I liked it.

via google

Saturday Morning, we went to Yoga at the art museum downtown and it was a beautiful view. Lord knows I need to stretch after being crunched behind a computer all week but sometimes I can't handle the mumbo jumbo of Yoga. It was still fun though.

 Oh don't mind my beach going towel, I didn't have a mat and now know why they are so valuable.

 We got there early but there ended being a lot more people.

The rest of day, we rested and worked on stuff.

(and this guy doesn't claim to "love" Jack, he says he's just okay)

 We ended the day with crab legs. It was so good! It seriously took me back to childhood vacations in Ocean city, Maryland where we would get bushel of crabs. We'd cover the table with newspapers/brown paper, have hot butter, Old Bay Seasoning, mallets and a couple crab/lobster crackers. It was really fun!

Sunday, we were all doing variable things but all got to come home to enjoy a crockpot dinner recipe from my mother-in-law. It was a success.

Happy Monday!