Oh December

Since I didn't blog in December… like at all… I thought I would give you a recap.

I got a new niece, Piper Rose ;)

Adam and I celebrated our 1st Wedding Anniversary

There was a snow storm on our anniversary. Just imagine if this had been last year when we were getting married. We would have had a lot less witnesses at our ceremony.

Adam graduated from grad school. Yay!

(the hat was too little for his head haha)

I know it's a bad picture but it was hard to get any good ones when he was so far away!

I painted an accent wall in my Pastor's office to help him out.

* Disclaimer: I did not pick that color. It's what they had at the church. We're going to add some pictures on the wall this month to spruce it up….

 I saw Hello Dolly with Adam's family. It was a really fun play.

We gave some really good gifts: some funny and some serious 

These are all gobstoppers for Sarah. It was really fun to have her open them up in stages.

 Spent a lot of time with family.

Played a lot of games including bowling.

and just had a good time of reflection. I like this part of the year because it's all about starting anew. God sent his Son so that we could have a fresh start: a real relationship with him and freedom from sin. And with the new year, comes new goals to grow closer to Him and try to live a life reflecting that.

Happy Tuesday!

Baby, it's cold outside

This is a first for me. I have never lived in a place where it snows almost all weekend and then work gets cancelled not from all the snow (10 + inches) but because of the cold. Today's high temperature is supposed to be -14! I have yet to venture outside because I am enjoying being so warm inside but I will eventually have to head outdoors to start my car so the battery doesn't die in the cold. What? Yes.  Once I get warm, waterproof boots, I really have nothing to complain about because I'll have enough warm winter clothing but it's just a crazy place to live in sometimes. I can't imagine living in Minnesota today where they are breaking the record of it being -64 without taking into account the wind chill factor.

Anyways this weekend we spent a lot of time: shoveling (and by we, I mean everyone else but me)

Looking at all the snow accumulate

Pushing our car out of the snow (or maybe we just did this once…)

 … and working. I still haven't quite figured out how to say no but I'm hoping I can do just that in 2014.  I keep saying yes to projects that are frustrating and take up a lot of time forgetting that I am now back to full-time and don't need to be looking for extra projects… haha I'll learn one of these days.

Stay warm, people and enjoy the day ;)

Hello 2014

Whew. The holiday season has been a fun but very busy time for us. Lots of family time, games, and traveling. I'll have to blog about it in the days to come but thought I would at least mention what we did today.

Our friend, Joe got a job in a Chicago suburb back in October and has been living with his Aunt and Uncle during the week down in Illinois and coming back to his apartment in Milwaukee on the weekends. So he asked us last week if we could help him move on New Years Day since it was the only day it worked out to move him until February. (We agreed in exchange for his help moving us when we decide to move). Well, who knew we were going to get a huge snow storm come through the area New Year's Eve, New Years, and even into today.

 Lucky for us, this bachelor didn't have a ton of stuff so we decided to be troopers and pack him up and move him down to Evanston, Illinois.

Two guys drove the U-Haul that took a detour to pick up a Craig's list couch while the Adam drove us two girls down in a car to meet the guys there. Since we knew we would beat them there, we decided to stop at the outlets and get some sweet running shoes on sale/clearance. I was excited for my purchase but by the time we had started to make our 1st trip up to his apartment, I was wishing I had bought some winter boots to keep my feet warm. (Each winter, I feel like I figure out what I need to keep me warm. I've gotten the gloves, scarfs, sweaters, really warm coats, fashion boots that keep my pants from getting wet, but I don't have any winter boots that keep my feet from getting wet and cold… That will be next on the list with a winter like this.)

The kicker with Joe's new apartment was that not only was it a 3rd floor apartment but there is a rule that you have to use the outer staircase that is super narrow and made out of wood that was really slick with all the snow or pay a $400 fine.

Hence why the boys had to finagle this couch up the flights of slippery stairs. I wish I would have taken the picture sooner so you could grasp how hard this task was. It probably took us a good 15-20 minutes to get it up the staircase because they had to angle it up and around each flight of stairs and it kept getting stuck.

 Us girls just stood behind holding the cushions and worrying that they would fall down the stairs but they made it up and we finished unloading all his stuff.

 Evanston got about 10 inches of snow today…  This picture doesn't quite indicate that.

Evanston got enough snow that this guy thought it was a good idea to cross country ski down the city streets. We thought it was hilarious!

The day was an adventure. It took way longer than we thought because of the snow but we had fun together and now have a good story to remember. (also now I know why no one moves during the winter. My feet and hands were frozen because I didn't have good gloves or shoes ;/

This week.

our apartment is out of control.

We've been up to our ears in projects this week, whether it's work, personal or gift related. I was in charge of making the family calendar for both families this year, which means I made 8 different versions of the calendar between the two families. It was really fun to look at pictures and see the final product but lots and lots of work. All of that to say, I have thought about blogging numerous times but just haven't gotten around to it. (I don't even want to show you the other things I haven't gotten to this week, a.k.a our apartment and laundry…. It's bad.) The laundry isn't totally my fault though because our dryer has been out of commission for the last week and the repair man is late ever time he is suppose to come by like 2 hours. He was supposed to be here an hour ago so maybe he'll be here in a hour haha

I start a new part-time gig next week and then go back to full-time come the new year. This fall has been an incredible learning time and I have been very grateful for this time to heal (so many pinched nerves and pain in my neck/back but it's getting better!) and for a very supportive husband! God also provided so many odd jobs and work for me to be able to keep up skills and incoming money for us. It's been incredible. I'm thankful to go back to full-time though because I'm a schedule girl. The fall has had it's challenges because I don't always work well without a schedule. There have been so many things (devotions, neck/back exercises, relaxing, working out, etc) that have suffered because I just kept forgetting to do them. But this week has been great and I think things will continue to get better as I get back in the groove of things.

Katie's last night with us is tonight. (boo!) We've had a lot of fun times and she has been a constant friend while Adam has been so busy. Speaking of Adam, he took his last exam last night and graduates on Sunday. Whoot! Whoot! We are so excited over here ;)

Anyways, I gotta get back to designing some wedding invitations but wanted to a least blog one time this week.

Happy Weekend!

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).