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Sunday, April 29, 2012

One for You. One for Me.


One for You.  One for Me.

We received a very nice surprise this weekend.  GMKeri, Uncle Dave and Mali Boo stopped by for a quick one night visit.  This would be the first time Mali has ever stayed over at our house and I was beyond excited to see how the boys would react to having her around.  See, I’m a dog person.  Always have been, always will be.  Dennis is not.  So, when it comes to whether or not we should raise a dog on top of two toddlers we are always butting heads.  
Michael was in love with Mali the second he saw her.  William?  Not so much.  He slowly warmed up to her and by the end of their visit he was infatuated.  They played.  They shared a meal together- pancakes, of course!  William would take a bite and then gently pass one to Mali.  We’ve really been working on this sharing stuff around these parts.  And, when they had to go both boys cried as Mali’s car pulled away.  Now, all Michael says when he wakes up is, “The puppy here today?”  No, Michael, but you should go ask Daddy if we can get one.  How can Daddy resist that?  I’m evil.  Pure evil.  What can I say, I've always been a dog person.







Happy Birthday, Boompa!!

Happy Birthday, Boompa!!






This birthday celebration included a few firsts for the boys.  William blew out candles all by himself for the first time and Michael sang “Happy Birthday” from start to finish!  It was a great treat for the boys to share part of Boompa’s 55th birthday with him (and even some of his cake).  He just so happens to be one of their favorite people.  According to the boys he’s the best rowing buddy and head rubber.  He makes great car noises and is one heck of a dance partner.  And, did we mention that he let’s the boys beat up on him whenever they please- which they absolutely love.  They squeal with delight when we simply mention his name.  They really lucked out in the Boompa department.

We love you, Boompa!  Happy Birthday. 
Den, Kim, MLB and WRB

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Night of Her Life!

the night of her life.
I don’t believe that I have to remind anyone that I am slightly obsessed with my baby sister, Abby.  She just may be the sweetest girl walking the planet and making her happy makes my heart leap.  So, when I saw in a local paper that Lauren Conrad was going to be in Naperville for a book signing my heart started to giggle.  See, I’m obsessed with Abby and Abby is obsessed with Lauren Conrad.  It just so happened to be Abby’s birthday month when I spotted this news so I called her up and said, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  YOU ARE GOING TO MEET LAUREN CONRAD!”  I really can’t put into words how she reacted, but I’m sure you can imagine the high-pitched “you’re kidding me?” followed by giddy screaming.  After hours shopping for a new outfit and sweating for an hour and a half in line for what was going to be a very memorable night for the both of us Abby was up.  We had rehearsed exactly what she would say to LC before she got up there, but my cute-as-hell sister was so excited she couldn’t spit it out.  She could only get out part of it, “you are such an inspiration” to which LC told my sister, “Awe, you are so sweet.  That’s so nice.”  Abby made it a point to tell me about all of the eye contact they made- but I already knew because I captured their 21 seconds on video.


As we walked out of Anderson’s with my sister clutching her newly signed book and dancing like she had to pee all I could think about was the leaping going on inside of my chest.  I love seeing her so happy. 

Monday, April 16, 2012

Thirty Candles (Part 2)


Thirty Candles
(Part2II


Thank you to Tracy’s for being a phenomenal establishment.
Thank you to Matt for keeping us on our feet all night.
Thank you to Nate for attempting to karaoke.
Thank you to Marie’s mom for inspiring us all to have fun.
Thank you to Nemo for ending the party on a WONDERFUL note.
Thank you to Miller Lite for being so tasty.
Thank you to Jane and Mike for helping sponsor this amazing event.
Thank you, Billy Joel, for writing the perfect song- a song that gets us to huddle up, sway back and forth and scream at the top of our lungs every single time we are all together.
A big thank you to my sister, Abby, who watched three toddlers while we enjoyed our adult time.
Thank you to Big E for helping Abby keep those three toddlers in line.
Thank you to Nate, the bouncer, for keeping all of the fun people outside in check.
Thanks to each and every single person who joined us on Saturday.  Thank you for traveling and taking time out of your busy lives to have a few beers with us.  It meant the world to Dennis (and me) to have you there.
Here’s to what I’m sure will be an amazing decade!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thirty Candles

Thirty Candles

This week is dragging.  I think because we have a blow out planned for Den’s 30th on Saturday- and to say that I’m looking forward to it is the understatement of the year.  Last night, however, was wonderful.  Uncle Nemo joined us for dinner- Halupki (stuffed peppers with cabbage) per Den’s request.  Then Gramma and Boompa popped in for singing, ice cream and cake (and maybe a few celebratory cocktails, too)!  Thirty candles topped a chocolate on chocolate cake.  It took three big puffs before my three men were able to blow out each and every single one of them.  Easily my favorite moment of the night.  The boys surprised their dad with a new Konerko jersey and Sox hat, then ate most of his cake and ice cream.  Fair trade-off wouldn't you say?  You might be able to see I did a little decorating.  It was a hodge podge job.  Left over decor from the boys’ summer birthday parties.  Dennis is not a fan of me spending money on him and it's not quite a birthday party without decorations- so this is how I get around that.  And, one of my favorite tricks... finger paint on mirrors.  I painted a giant 30 on the mirror in our dining room.  Super easy to do and to top it all off wipes right off with a little windex and a paper towel.  It’s amazing how a little finger paint can brighten a room! 
  It was a perfect night.  Come on Saturday!!
To be continued...

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

thirty.


daddy.  husband.  son.  brother.  
our everything.  thirty.
happy birthday, den.
we love you!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Hoppy Easter


(Thank you, Snapfish, for making this ridiculous picture possible!)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Planes, Trains and Automobiles


Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It’s a routine in our house.  Daddy gets home from work and immediately takes the boys upstairs with him while he changes out of his suit and so I can finish dinner.  I usually hear laughter and screaming coming from the three of them.  Most days Dennis has managed to start a WWE wrestling meet in the few short minutes they are up there before dinner.  I love the noises that come from these wrestling meets.  Shrieks of excitement and uncontrollable laughter.  Then of course dinner.  Followed by Dennis and I staring at the devastation of a kitchen table William has left behind for us to clean up.  And, every other night we take baths.  For that hour after baths and before bed we spend some quality family time together.  It’s usually Den’s only time to hang out with the boys during the week after a long day’s work.  These boys love their dad.  In fact, I would say they are a bit obsessed with him.  Tonight, however, they had me.  Just me.  Daddy had a late appointment so I did the best I could wrestling and running around with them.  They must really prefer their dad because tonight they simply stopped in the middle of wrestling with their boring mom and turned their attention to all things planes, trains and automobiles.  Michael is at that perfect stage where you can give him a bucket of cars and he will spend hours lining them up in strange configurations and paying incredible attention to every detail.  And, now William can’t help but mimic his brother.  Except, Michael hates it when William wants to play with his cars because, well, Michael is a little hostile after he’s worked so hard on a perfect line of cars only to have his brother devastate it with one quick swipe of his hand.  So, now William must be distracted with some other device as to not disrupt Michael.  Tonight it was a remote controlled train Michael received for Christmas.  William spent 45 minutes figuring out each button and running this train all over our living room.
I don’t mind that they don’t enjoy wrestling with me.  I'll admit, I'm not nearly as talented as Dennis is in that department.  I was perfectly happy sitting in the corner of the room watching their little brains hard at work.  Kids are incredible.  I’m particularly fond of mine.