Harveys

I got a nice surprise for my birthday from Brian...a solid black Harvey's seat belt laptop bag (www.seatbeltbags.com). I've been wanting one of these for a while, but just not willing to spend the money on myself.  Now I have it, and I'm excited!  If you've never heard about Harveys before click ABOUT US on their website and check it out.  The bags are made almost entirely from seat belts.  It was a perfect gift for someone as anal about seat belt and car seat safety as I am!!

Brian and the kids took me out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory last night.  We had a wonderful dinner, Erin and I shared a gigantic strawberry shortcake, and then we did some shopping at the Apple store.  It was a fun evening with my family.  Just the way I like it.

Happy birthday to ME!

Look at how lucky I was today!!  I got these beautiful flowers from Kathy (Brian's mom), Pam, and my mom and step-dad today (from left to right in the picture).  Aren't they gorgeous?  They certainly brightened up my day.  The flowers from my mom and Larry came with chocolate, too, which Erin and I promptly devoured.  No sense in wasting time.

Thank you all so much.  You made my day a very special one.

Green Bay day

Just a couple pictures that I took of Brian and Erin before we left to go watch the Packer/Giants game this evening. Unfortunately the Packer's lost, but they had a great season, and we had a great time cheering them on throughout the year. Erin and her daddy were fully decked out in their Packer attire for the event tonight, just like they are every weekend. Football is no joke in this house!!!!

One of those things...

While we were at dinner tonight Brian wrote Erin's name, and when he wrote the "i" he dotted it with a heart.  Erin looked at it and said, "You make my heart feel super happy daddy".  

One of those times when I just can't say anything in response.  

For Aunt Sherry

This is for you Aunt Sherry. You asked me to be sure to post a picture of Erin wearing this outfit that you got Erin for her birthday, and she wore it tonight when we went out to dinner. It is so cute on her! Thank you again. You know how this little girl loves her clothes and shoes!!!!

Erin's party

Erin had a blast. She said that having her party at Build A Bear was the best, and she wants to have her party there every year. I have to admit, they do great parties, and they make it so fun for the kids. It wasn't just making a bear. They were dancing, singing, and doing all kinds of fun stuff that had them laughing. I highly recommend it if you have one around.

She also got a special gift from her daddy for her birthday. He bought her a gold necklace with a charm that says DADDYS LITTLE GIRL. To say that she was excited is an understatement. She has seen that charm in the store before, and has wanted it ever since. It is very fitting, because she definitely is a daddy's girl (more like his shadow!!).

Here are a few pictures from the day.

My very favorite picture...that smile just makes my heart melt

Birthday party tomorrow

Erin's birthday party is tomorrow, and she is so excited.  We are having her party at Build A Bear, and then having cake and ice cream afterwards.  We had the cake made by the same cake decorator that did her cake last year (it's beautiful!), and when we went to pick it up today Erin was just ecstatic.  She was actually just standing there giggling as they brought the cake out and showed it to her.  It looks like a perfect, beautifully wrapped gift that is fit for a princess.

It's still hard to believe that she is five.  She's so independent, and yet at times she is just my little girl who needs her mommy, wants to cuddle on the couch, or snuggle with me in my bed. She's an active little girl, always running around trying to do whatever her brothers are doing one minute, and then putting on make-up and painting her fingernails the next.

She'll start kindergarten in the fall, and while she's apprehensive about it she's more than ready.  She has been reading for about eight months (completely reading level 1 readers, and starting to read level 2 readers), she can easily do simple math (adding single digits and even some simple subtraction), and her writing is wonderful.  The interesting thing about all of this is that we do not drill her.  We don't spend countless hours making her practice at home, or even encouraging her to do much outside of school (aside from the reading that we do together).  She just has a natural ability that has amazed both of us, and many of her teachers as well.  (I will be honest and say that I credit some of it to having taught her ASL from infancy, and continuing to encourage her to learn and use it on a daily basis).  She is bilingual, and this is going to benefit her for the rest of her life.  I'm glad that we have given her that.

Her favorite things to do are listen to her iPod shuffle (she has about 15 songs downloaded so far), ride her bike (she learned how to ride with two wheels the day after her 4th birthday, and we ride every day), and play outside on her swing set.  We finally found someone that will teach piano to a child her age so she will be starting lessons in two weeks, and I'm anxious to put our piano to use.  She spends a lot of time sitting there "pretending" to play songs, and she is excited to learn, too. 

 

She has a heart of gold, a spirit that warms my heart, and a laugh that brings a smile to my face every day.  I'm reminded every day how lucky I am to be her mother.  The first five years have been such a blessing, and I look forward to every day that I wake up to her sweet smiling face.

Sean

Just because I love you.  And even though you are 6' 1" you are still my baby.  Always my sweet pea.  You know that.

Ice Skating

About two weeks ago Erin and I were at the mall, and she wanted to just sit and watch the kids ice skating:

So I let her just watch them, and she just loved it.  She wanted to go so badly, but we were meeting her Godmother for dinner so we had to leave.  But this past weekend she got her chance!

It was Brian and Erin's first time skating, and it was hilarious.  Both of them were holding on tight to the side of the rink, and to one another, but they were so cute out there.  Within about 30 minutes they both had the hang of it, and they were out in the middle of the rink without holding on to anything.  She's ready to hit the ice again already! (these were taken with my phone so they are not good quality)

Erin is FIVE!

My baby girl is five today! We all went out to dinner at Olive Garden (Erin's choice). After a bit of shopping at the mall afterwards we came back home and played games. Her birthday party isn't for another two weeks, but she did get a couple of gifts already.

Here are a few pictures of her on her swing set. I can't believe that my baby girl is already five years old. It has just flown by, and I feel so blessed every day to have this little peanut in my life. She makes me laugh every day.

Happy birthday silly girl!

Brian and his brothers

My Christmas gift to Brian was three tickets (5th row from the field behind the Packers) to the Green Bay Packers game on 12/30 so that he could take his two brothers, three atrium tailgate tickets, and a pre-paid hotel for the night in Green Bay so that they could stay there after the game and spend time together (Milwaukee is about two hours south of Green Bay).

They had a great time (in the 20 degree freezing weather!), the Packers won, and I got a few pictures to share. Here they are before the game (at the atrium tailgate party) and outside in the stadium.

Brian and Matt

Brian, Steve and Matt

Brian, outside of the atrium before the game.  20 degrees in short sleeves!

A view from their seats.  That is Brett Favre, #4.

Matt, Steve and Brian after the game.

Outback Bowl

Outback Bowl today!  We had a lot of fun despite the fact that the Wisconsin Badgers lost the game.  We took Brendan's friend, Carson with us, too.  

Christmas with Sean and Bren

The boys came home yesterday, 12/31, and we had our Christmas together.  We didn't put up a big tree this year since none of us were home for Christmas, so we just bought this little four foot pre-lit tree (I love it), and I put the gifts for Sean and Bren underneath it for their arrival.  They were so surprised to get their new MacBooks and iPod Nano's.  They both had a Nano, but have been begging for the new model, so now they have them.  They each have a friend that doesn't have an iPod, and they are going to give their older models to them.  

It's nice with us each having our own laptop now, so there's no waiting around for anyone to finish what they are doing.  I have my desktop for work, my MacBook Pro for school and personal use, Brian has his laptop, and the boys each have their own MacBook for school and personal uses, too.  Erin just shares them all for now.  

Anyway, here is a picture of our little tree with the presents for Sean and Bren before they arrived, and one of Bren with his new Mac.