april ~ soccer, coasters, and more

in addition to easter and our champaign weekend, we managed to squeeze in some more fun! we didn't get to go on vacation to arizona and watch the cubs and climb mountains like nick did, but we still had a good time! 

the girls decided that they wanted to make nick some welcome home cookies!! so they did most of the work, i just gave them a hand when needed! they sure turned out yummy!!

charlie decided that she wanted to play soccer this spring! haylie had played in the fall, but she wasn't all to interested, so she decided to take the spring off! charlie had a blast! and she loved the fact that her bestie julia was on the team!!  

here's one of the many shots i have of charlie and juls goofing off....i mean, playing soccer! lol! 

and yet another! 

here's charlie being goalie! it's a good thing she's so darn cute!! :) 

well, it was finally time for us to make our big announcement to our family and friends!! we wanted to do something cute and creative for our families to share the news with them. i saw an ad for some coasters on sale, so i had to check them out.....i love me a good sale!! turns out they had these family ones that you could customize! i'm not all that creative, but this gave me a great idea!! within a few minutes of messing around on the website, i knew this would probably be the way to go! nick was still on vacation and i knew i had to get them ordered if we wanted to tell everyone when i was hoping to.....and i absolutely had to get them in on time because i couldn't possibly wait another week or two! so i sent him a picture and we decided this was the way to go. so i ordered enough for our parents and grandparents! yay! now i just had to wait and hope that they came in on time! luckily they did and we were able to present our family with these "gifts"..... 

of course the girls were super excited about our news!! altho it took about a week for haylie to believe us! she was excited, but just wasn't sure we were "serious"! lol! we wanted to make sure and include them in the fun too, so i got them both "big sister" shirts to wear that day, thinking it would kind of be a hint to everyone. turns out most people didn't think much of it, or even notice it for that matter! lol! once they opened the coasters though, it clicked! needless to say, nick had to try haylie's shirt on for size! 

just a little too small! 

perfect size!! 

here is charlie singing luke bryan's "i don't want this night to end"!

she's quite the little performer! 

haylie managed to climb up here all by herself!

i can remember doing this when i was a kid! what a monkey!! 

charlie needed a little help getting that last leg up, but once she grows just a little, she'll have no problem i'm sure!!

here's a shot of all the kiddos at mikaela's 6th birthday party!

~haylie, charlie, mikaela, grace, tyler, logan, ethan and hailey~

these kids sure do know how to have a good time!! 

C-U Marathon Weekend

ever since matt and i ran the half marathon in madison wisconsin in august 2011, we talked about doing the half in champaign in 2012. it was the last weekend of april, so it worked out perfectly! it was my weekend with the girls, and it was shortly after tax season, so we made it into a little weekend getaway for the family! even though we hit a few bumps along the way and it didn't turn out quite as i had planned, we still managed to have a pretty darn good time!

friday night i had planned on getting there around 6, grabbing some dinner and spending some time at the expo and checking out the rec center....where i used to work when i went to school there! it had been completely renovated since i graduated 8 years ago, so i was super excited to see how it looked! i had seen some of the preliminary drawings while i worked there, as it was in the planning stages at that time, but nothing compares to seeing it for real! it sure was a sight! waaaaay better facility than when i was there! anywho.....we got a late start since nick spent the entire day fixing a water line break at his nonie's. no biggie! we still made it in time to get our packets and grab a few freebies!!

and take this pic of the coolest runners ever!! :)

so by the time we got to our hotel room, it was after 9! and we still hadn't eaten dinner! matt's friend rick was also staying with us, so he brought pizza for us all! then it was time for bed! especially since us adult runners had to be ready by 5:45! since i was only running the 10k and not the half marathon, i didn't have to start until 7:45, but i went with matt and rick anyway, cuz it's not like i could have slept! 

why didn't i run the half?? well, for various reasons (tax season, lack of discipline, etc) i don't have the best training regimen. when i found out i was prego, i was only at like the 4-5 mile week of my "training" with 6 weeks to go, which was when i was gonna kick it into high gear! (hey, it worked for the madison half, and it woulda worked this time too! lol!) well, needless to say, between the nausea and constant tiredness, i wasn't able to train like i had planned. plus, since it was still so early in the pregnancy (i wouldn't be 12 weeks until after the run), i decided it would be best if i didn't push myself too hard. so i kept running my 3-5 miles to keep up, throwing a 6 miler in there, just so i knew i could make it, and it all worked out well! my goal was to finish in an hour.....my official time was 1:00:25!! yahoo!! matt still finished his half before me, but i expected that! i was just happy to finish, and to run the whole race, which i did! and it was so amazing having nick and the girls there at the end!! haylie even held up a sign that she made for me at school!! i love my little support group!!

   it was much colder than i had anticipated, so we didn't stick around memorial stadium and enjoy the after race festivities like i had planned! instead we went back to the hotel room to shower and let the girls take a quick swim before their big race!

here are the girls, all readyto RUN!!!

since there was a storm rolling in, they decided to start the kids race a half an hour early. this wouldn't have been a big deal, except that we were almost late! lol! luckily they started with the oldest group of kids and worked their way down so we were there in plenty of time.

grandma & papa made the trip down just to see the girls run their very first race!! what wonderful grandparents!! 

one of my favorite pics!!

after the race!

if you look closely you can tell charlie didn't have the wonderful time she anticipated! haylie was super excited, but i think charlie just got a little overwhelmed with all the runners! and there were a lot! we stayed with them the entire time, but once she got upset, there was no turning back! she cried most of the race! but she finished and got her medal!! and she did say after that she had fun! so who knows!? lol! so proud of my girls for their first race!

haylie and papa looking over the loft in our hotel room! 

and grama and charlie! 

the girls proudly showing off their medals!! and their u of i tshirts!! go illini!!

to continue w/unexpected plans.....after the race, when grama and papa headed home, we decided we'd go swimming for a while and then grab some dinner. well......the pool was closed until noon the next day! :(  so no pool for us!! we decided to do a little shopping instead! not exactly what the girls were hoping for, but it was our only option! and it turned out to be a lot of fun! the girls rode the carousel a few times, got to pick out some new clothes, and we had a good dinner and some delicious ice cream! 

so the next day we had planned to walk around campus a bit, so i could show the girls where i went to college.  so of course it started raining the minute we left our hotel room! we drove around campus a little bit and i showed the girls what i could, and admired all of the wonderful changes that have taken place over the past 8 years! the girls even agreed to take a quick walk and a couple pics! they chose to see the undergrad library!  

here are the girls by the undergrad 

and the morrow plots!

like i said before, not much turned out the way i had originally hoped for, but i wouldn't change a thing! we still got to run, hang out with matt and my parents, do some shopping, check out campus, and had a really really good little getaway!!

hippity hoppity easter's on its way

sometimes i feel like we just don't have enough time to do many easter-y things. probably becuase it almost always falls in tax season....and even if it doesn't, it's shortly after. so between or normal crazy daily lives, i'm working 6 days/week and sunday is my only full day off. i don't mind it, but usually by easter, i'm just ready for it to be april 15th! plus i don't decorate the house, so it's hard to get in the mood sometimes. anywho, back to easter....i generally don't get to take the girls to any "outside" egg hunts because they are usually held on saturdays leading up to easter sunday, and i work until 3. (except for last year when we got to go to the megga hunt in lasalle....totally could have done without that experience, but that's another story! lol!) so we always color eggs that the easter bunny hides on easter morning. i personally love this part! so here are some pics of the girls coloring eggs at our house!

this year we didn't do the traditional "dipping" of eggs....we painted them with brushes and used a cool egg spinner mechanism! it was pretty fun i think! something different anyway!

here are the girls and some of their eggs that they spun! it gave the eggs a cool tye-died look!

our second attempt....too much fun!!

 

of course then we went to tina's to help color eggs for their house! the girls got a chance there to dip the eggs! and of course tina and maria always have fun extras to do....crayons, wraps, paint pens.....so the girls love that too!! i think every year they enjoy it more and more!

this year i got the cool idea (from my boss) to have the girls plant jelly beans and see what happened!

so what happens you ask....

 

.....why the bloom into suckers of course!!!

so finally "easter eve" was upon us.....so of course before bed we had to leave out carrots for the easter bunny......well naturally i look in the fridge and what do i find.....no carrots!! oops!! (of course i blame this on working too much and baby brain! what else could it be?! haha!) luckily we did have some food that the girls thought the easter bunny would like.....spinach, tomatoes and a cheesestick!

and he must have liked it cuz there wasn't a morsel left in the morning! there was however, a nice note to the girls, thanking them for the delicious snack!

time to hunt for eggs!!

the easter bunny left the girls baskets full of goodies of course! these goodies included some cool rainbow sunglasses!!





clearly they were loved by ALL the kids in the house!! lol!

sometimes i have to beg the girls to let me take some nice pics of them…..not today!!

they started posing without me even asking! maybe they’ve finally figured out that it’s easier to just do it, cuz they know i’m gonna ask em anyway! here are some of my favorites from our easter mini-photo shoot! obviously the lighting could have been better, but hey, i'll take what i can get!

someone (grama?? papa??) thought the cooler would be good to use as a seat at the kids table....and it probably would have been.....if the lid was closed! lol!

charlie clearly didn't mind falling in! haha!

even payton had to try the "seat" out!! 

finally it was time for the big easter egg hunt with the cousins!! yay!!!

but first.....a group picture of course!! 

our first attempt....too much sun!

our second attempt....too much fun!!

i would say easter was a success yet again! all the kids had fun hunting for eggs! and the adults had fun watching them! of course there was an abundance of delicious food too! and the most important thing....family!!!

.....and just to think.....next year there will be 2 more little rugrats to enjoy!!  

march ~ a few highlights

even though we didn't really have any big adventures or anything like that in march, it still turned out to be a pretty fantastic month!! march is usually pretty laid back....i'm busy at work, the kids are in school, and its not the best weather.....normally! this year was an exception....it got really nice in the middle of the month! gave the kids a chance to play outside, which was awesome! it was also kind of a tease, since it of course got cool again, but it was still worth it! lol! plus....this was the month that we found out there would be an addition to our family before the end of the year! we actully found out a day before my birthday! what a fantastic birthday present!! to nick too, since his bday is only 9 days after mine! however, since we found out so early (at like 5 weeks) we decided it would be best to wait to tell anyone! let me tell you.....this was almost impossible for me!!! i was beyond excited and i wanted to share the news with all my family and friends!!! but, i knew it was best to keep it in! i did spill the beans to my brother before anyone else, and man did it feel good to get it out!! but i still had to wait a couple more weeks before we told everyone else! it ended up "only" being a month, 32 days to be exact that i had to keep this exciting news a secret from the majority of our family and friends! if it were up to nick, we would have waited another month! lol! anywho, more on that in april's issue. for now, back to march....

here is haylie on "wacky wednesday" for school! when she was in preschool, they all dressed wacky for the wednesday during dr. suess week. this year there was no such request, but haylie, being the wacky girl she is, decided she would dress wacky anyway! can ya blame her?! lol! 

here is charlie showing her school spirit!! what a ham!

the quality on this one isn't quite as good, because i took it on my phone, but i had to include it, because it shows her little attitude!

march was also the month that i turned the big 3-0!! it really didn't bother me much to be turning 30...it's like, what are ya gonna do about it!? sure beats the heck out of the alternative! so i took it upon myself to organize a dinner and a night out to celebrate!! here's a shot of us and some of our closest friends at Uptown, one of my favorite restaurants! i had so much fun that night (good thing, since it turned out to be my last night out for who knows how long!) i'm thankful to everyone who came out with me to help me celebrate!! especially after what happened the following weekend......i went to my parents house for what i excpected to be a quiet dinner w/them,nick, matt and the girls, only to find a house full of people....SURPRISE!!! huge thanks to nick, maria and my parents for all of their hard work organizing it!! it was so much fun!! and thanks to everyone who was able to come!! you are all awesome!! i never expected such a wonderful birthday surprise....friends, family, tons of good food, and lots of laughs!! i don't have any pics from my surprise party, but here are a few more pics from our night out!

~the girls and the guys~

at waterstreet before dinner

my love :)

my cousins!

 our best friends, the dergances, have 3 kids (2 of whom are my godchildren!) who were all born in march, so we always get to celebrate at a big bash for all 3!! this year, the party was held at the Y pool which was a blast for the kids!! i didn't get any good pics of the birthday trio, but here's haylie and charlie having fun in the water!! what a great party!! 

haylie had decided in the fall that she wanted to be a daisy! i was of course excited for her because i knew she would love it! they do all the things she likes....crafts, projects, trips, games, etc! plus....i was a girl scout for several years when i was young, so it made me happy to know she wanted to experience that! her troop leaders, miss lucy and miss mindy are wonderful! they are so kind and caring and patient with the girls! and the other troop members are super sweet as well and all the girls have fun together! there are only 8 of them, so they got to know each other pretty well during the year!

these pics are from the troop's cookie booth at hy-vee! after selling cookies, we got to have lunch with the troop and then went bowling after for a fun family event!

and the girls are always welcoming of their future daisy, miss charlie! 

while awaiting our turn on the lanes at the dickenson house, the girls got to enjoy the gorgeous march weather and play tag outside! haylie took a break on "base" to pose for a quick photo!

charlie was excited to finally try out the rollerskates she got for her birthday!!

both the girls helped me dig out the old landscaping to make room for our garden! haylie sure isn't afraid to get right in there and get dirty! that's my girl!  

sometimes i wonder why we bother buying "regular" clothes for charlie! she'd much rather wear a dance costume, superhero costume or some other dress up outfit!

haylie sure does love the guitar that uncle matt got her for christmas! she can't wait to take lessons from him and for him to teach her how to play "psycho"! LOL!

wonderwoman really can fly! 

such pretty faces!! i love my babies!!

to end the month of march, the girls had their last day of school before spring break, which meant.....spring parties and easter egg hunts!! i'm lucky enough to have a wonderful job, that, even during the busy tax season, allows me to take time off to spend it with my girls at school functions! i don't know what i would do if my boss wasn't kind enough to let me leave or take off whenever i needed to! i so enjoy being able to take part in and help out with school activities!

here is charlie, hunting away!

and here's haylie, excitedly trying to find all her eggs!

here's haylie with natalie, who quickly became one of her best friends in her kindergarten class!

i don't know many 5 year olds that actually use one of these for the intended purpose....but i've peeked in at haylie countless times during the nights to find this sight! i couldn't help but laugh.....and take a picture of course! lol!