the long catch-up post...

OK...so I guess it is time for a catch-up post. And looking back, I guess we have to go back to the 4th of July. (not sure if I can remember back that far, but I'll try!).

The 4th of July weekend we headed to WI to the Goodness household. We spent the weekend hanging out with friends, playing bags, playing cards, eating too much, laughing until we cried, staying up waaay too late and drinking (just a little). At one point there were 18 people sleeping under their roof and it was so much fun. We always love hanging out with them and it was a great time as always! The kiddos spent the weekend with Grandma Nancy and Papa Bob. They spent their weekend going tot the library, cuddling, napping and getting lots of love. It was a great weekend for all! :)

The next weekend we headed to IA for a canoeing trip with some friends from high school. We basically had a barge going down the river (8 canoes tied together). The day was fantastic, my face hurt from smiling and laughing, it was so nice to be surrounded by such great friends...we definitely don't get to see each other enough!

We then spent a weekend at home with no real plans (shocking I know!). The kids and I met up with Bob's cousin, Amy, and two of her boys at Kiddieland on a Monday. Brianna had an absolute blast. She loved all the rides (I was afraid that she would be scared of the rides...but she LOVED them!).

The last weekend in July brought a visit from my sister and her family. We spent the weekend going to the pool, hanging out playing wii, and taking the two big kids to Build-a-Bear. They each picked out bears for themselves (well, Brianna picked a bunny) and for their little brothers. Then, on Sunday, Brianna had a playdate with 2 of her little friends for her birthday. We had a treasure hunt for the girls and they made princess wands and had cake and just ran around and played with each other. After the girls left we headed to the pool again.

The first weekend in August brought our 4th annual canoe-a-palooza with some of our Knox friends. It has been faar too long since we've been together, but as usual, we fell right back in with each other and it is like we have never been apart. Great friends, a lot of laughter, and good memories...who could ask for more? Sunday (Brianna's 4th birthday) before we headed back home we stopped off at our family reunion where everyone sang to Brianna.

And that, brings us to this past weekend which brought the Dyersville Area Relay for Life on Friday night. It was cut short because of the weather (rain, lightning, high winds). We left a little after 2am. Saturday brought a day of making Brianna's birthday cake, cleaning, and visits from our cousin, Matt, and his son Chase (who was born 3 days after Bryce) and Pat and Sandie. Sunday was Brianna's birthday party (yes, we have been celebrating her birthday for like 3 weeks) Bob, Nancy, Brian & Mary made the trip to IA to help us celebrate. Angie, Nick and the boys were also in attendance as well as both of my Grandmas and, of course, my parents. It was a great time.

In the midst of all of this craziness, Bryce has started to crawl and pull up on everything. He is into way more stuff tha Brianna ever was and I spend most of my day pulling him away from things and telling him "no".

Whew...there is the "short version of our last month. I'll try not to let things get this behind again! Hope you all are enjoying what is left of your summer, I know we are trying to! I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the kiddos. I'll try to get more posted soon!

Love to you all!

four...

Four years ago today, right this minute, you anxiously entered the world. A little early, but eagerly and full of life. You, little girl, have been a surprise to us from the moment you entered this world almost a full 4 weeks before your due date until this very moment. Every day with you over these last four years has been an adventure, and I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it (at least in hindsight). You are the most amazingly beautiful, talented, kind girl I know, I love so many things about you. You love with such a passion, I see it every day in the way you love your brother. I adore that you would do anything to make your brother smile and laugh and that you hug him and look at him and ask if he had a nice nap every single time he wakes up. I hope you never lose this passion and your willingness to love so openly. I know that no matter how I want to try to protect you from heartache, you will experience it, but I hope you know that no matter what, giving your whole heart to someone is worth the risk. I love that you dance and sing every chance you get and laugh wholeheartedly always. I want you to always find the time to sing, dance, and laugh because it is those moments that make life so special. I so hope that you and your brother grow to have the kind of friends your daddy and I have. Those that will laugh and cry with you and will do silly things with you even when all of you feel too old to do them. I know that you will cherish friendships like these because I have seen already how much you care about your friends. I, like most all parents, have hopes and dreams for you baby, but know that the most important thing to me is for you to be happy. Your hopes and dreams are my hopes and dreams and as your dreams change as you grow older I will always be right there with you being your biggest fan, your #1 cheerleader. You my darling at this moment four years ago gave me the greatest gift I have ever received....you made me a mommy. No matter how I may doubt my place in this world, I will never, ever, doubt that I was meant to be your mommy.
My little chicken....I love you... way, way, way, way, way more than you will ever know.
Happy 4th Birthday Baby.
ps. Thank you for saying that you can still be my baby if I want you to, because to me...no matter how old you get whether you are 4 or 40 you will always be my baby and if you ever need to curl up on my lap...I will be right here waiting for you.

we neeed your help...

I've been writing and re-writing this post in my head for weeks and I just couldn't find the words so I kept putting it off. But something happened yesterday and I knew that I needed to get this post up.
As you all know, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life is something that is near and dear to my heart. I lost my grandpa to lung cancer in 2005, several members of my family have dealt with cancer in their own lives in one way or another.
Last night, I found out that my friend from high school's little girl has relapsed for the second time. I will let you go to their site to read in their own words what they are going through and I urge you to go read it, because I think you will then understand why I've made my goal so high this year and why I am going to try with all of my might to reach that goal.
In addition to that, last night while at Bob's softball game Brianna was playing with her little friend who is currently undergoing chemo to battle the leukemia she was diagnosed with early this year. She is only 1/2 way done with treatment...she just turned 3.
We all want to know what we can do to help, and I'm asking you to give money to fund research, these kids and hundreds, thousands like them need your help. I know it is tough out there and money is tight...believe me I know, but if in any way my money can help save these kids and prevent other kids from having to go through this, I will give as much as I can. All it takes is one look at my kids to know that I'm doing the right thing. Please, if you can, I am begging you to go here and donate. I will put a link up in my sidebar that will take you to my donation page. Thank you for all that you can do.
And if I could ask one more thing of you blogland...please pray, for these 2 little girls, their families and all of those kids and families who are battling this.

more pictures...

All of our family photos taken by Lily Bella Photography are now up on Shutterfly. Click the latest photos link on the left to check them out.

few random thoughts from the past week...

Whew...I feel like there hasn't even been a moment to catch my breath this last week.
The services for Grandma Caruso were beautiful and such a wonderful tribute to her life. I was asked to read what I wrote here about Grandma at the wake. I was very honored that I was asked, but those of you who know me well know that I'm a slightly emotional person. I didn't even get 1 word out before breaking down. But I did it for Grandma, she was another grandma to me and she welcomed me into her family and I am forever grateful for that. At the end of the day we went back to the place she had called home for so long, soaked in the beautiful sunlight while the kids swam and played in the lake. Smiles and laughter everywhere, I think it is just how grandma would have wanted it. On our way home we stopped back by the cemetary because Bob was telling me about the picture of Grandma & Grandpa Caruso that is in the center of their headstone. While we were there, Brianna was asking questions and I don't remember the entire conversation but at one point she asked "so Great-Grandma is next to Great-Grandpa?" and Bob told her "yes". The she looked at him and asked "so they can play together in heaven?" Bob and I looked at each other and smiled and nodded. I thought to myself "yes baby, I doubt they have stopped dancing since she arrived."

head on over...

Go on over to Lily Bella Photography and check out a few of the pictures Holly took of our family last weekend. Leave her some comment love...she deserves it! Thanks again Holly, we can't wait to see the rest! (no pressure though!) :)

sadness...

Photo was taken as she attended the Senior Prom just 7 days before she passed.

Thanks DeeDee for sharing this beautiful picture of a most beautiful lady.

Heaven gained an amazing angel this week. Grandma Caruso passed away at the young age of 96. She is one of the sweetest and kind women that I know and will be dearly missed by our entire family. I will always remember her smile and laughter and the little spark she had in her eyes when someone (usually one of her kids) told her she shouldn't do something. I always saw this flash in her eyes that said "I'm a grown woman I'll do what I want!" There are so many things that I will remember about her and things that will remind me of her, tennis balls on a walker, Fannie May candy (she did love her candy), the story she loved to tell about how Bob and Brian got their golfing abilities not only from their dad but from her husband, and mostly how she always called Brianna and Bryce "precious" (I'm sure she called all of her great-grandchildren that, but I remember her saying it about our kids). I think everytime I hear that word I will hear it in her voice as she looked down at Brianna and hugged and kissed her.
You will be missed Grandma, but we know you are happy where you are and finally reunited with the love of your life. Thank you for being one of the most precious parts of our lives.

6 month and weekend update...

Before we headed to Iowa for the weekend, Bryce had his 6 month checkup on Friday. He is weighing in at 16lbs 4.5oz and is 26 inches long. He is doing well eating solids and we'll be moving on to stage 2 food as soon as the stage 1 we already have is gone. The boy loves his solid food, he pretty much doesn't even care about his bottle anymore. He is rolling over all the time and is pretty much sitting up unassisted at this point. He still falls over, so even as I type this he is sitting on the floor surrounded by pillows. He is babbling constantly and we are starting to see his little personality come out more and more each day. I still cannot believe he is 6 months old already, it has gone by so fast.

My favorite part of being home with the kids is watching them interact with each other. Brianna loves Bryce so much and he just lights up when she is around. She sings to him and reads to him all the time. I know as they get older they will fight and not like each other, but I sincerely hope that they will always remain friends. My sister and I fought (a lot) when we were kids, we were less than 1 year apart and we definitely got on each other's nerves, but now I can't imagine my life without her. We email each other throughout the day and we look forward to spending time together, although too many days together and we still know how to push each other's buttons. Guess some things never change! :)

As I said we spent the weekend in Iowa and attended the wedding of my cousin, Craig. It was a great time, the wedding and reception were absolutely beautiful and it was great to spend time with the family. Braden & Brianna were so excited to dance together and it was pretty darn cute to watch them. Congrats again to Craig & Rachel we wish you a lifetime of happiness!

I have one more post to get up and then I probably won't post for another week or so, I'm off this weekend to Angie & Nick's to help paint and when I get back from there we'll be heading to Iowa to drop the kids off and then take off for Galesburg for the Knosher Outing and then back to Iowa for Father's day. It is going to be a busy couple of weeks! I've uploaded new pictures to the shutterfly site so check them out. Mostly from Memorial Day and Brianna playing at the parks and a couple from the wedding, before my camera battery died. Here are a couple that I love :)

Happy Monday everyone!

houston we have a problem...

Meet our friend the swaddling blanket. Well, it used to be our friend. When Bryce first came home from the hospital he didn't sleep well. Not counting the fact that he had to be fed every 3 hours because of his weight and his jaundice, the only way he would sleep is if he was laying on someone (me specifically) or in his swing, occasionally he would sleep in his bouncy seat, but he never wanted to just lay down and sleep. When he was 8 weeks old we bought 2 of these, one of them is this exact one in fact. The first time we wrapped him in this and put him down he slept through the night...at 8 weeks. I was sure that it was a fluke, but we continued to put him in it and he continued to sleep through the night. Everything was going along just fine until a few nights ago. See this blanket has become too small for him. The "weight limit" is 14-15lbs, which by now Bryce is probably over, and his legs are starting to get scrunched in the bottom. And the biggest thing is that he can get himself out of it in about 5 seconds now. They have larger ones, but I am hesitant to buy them, because realistically we can't keep him in one forever. Last night he woke up 5+ times. Not the kind of wake up but he just needs his pacifier and he's back to sleep....oh no, he is wide awake at 3am! What the heck is going on here? Bob ended up feeding him a bottle at 3 because I couldn't function anymore. The kid hasn't had a bottle in the middle of the night for 4 months! I do realize we are extremely lucky to have as many sleep filled nights as we have, but that doesn't really take away from the fact that I am really tired this morning.
Goodbye swaddling blanket, we have loved you, but now if you could just leave quietly and not wake the baby no one will get hurt! (told you I was tired :)

outside...

So, we've been spending a lot of time outside these days, either in the yard, at the park or just taking walks around the neighborhood. (Hence, the lack of posts lately) The kids love being outside and it fills our day so much more productively than sitting in the house watching TV. I'm uploading a bunch of pictures to the shutterfly account, but here are a few of my favorites from the last few days.

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather we are having as much as we are!

graduation and birthday parties...

Last Saturday we headed downtown to attend Mary's law school graduation from Loyola. It was a beautiful mass and a wonderful ceremony. The kids did really well during the whole thing, mostly because they were so excited to see Brian and Mary I think! :) (side note...Lovie Smith was also at the graduation, apparently his son's girlfriend was graduating. He sat a couple of rows behind us!) Congrats Mary, we are so very, very proud of you!

Sunday we had two birthday parties to attend. The first was Brianna's little friend from daycare. Brianna was sooo excited to see her friends and as icing on the cake the party was at the Painted Penguin so she got to paint as well. Pretty sure that was one of the best days ever for her. After that party we headed off to our friend Josh's surprise 30th birthday party. It was a good time and it is always fun to see Bob's golfing buddies. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and all piled into our bed to watch a movie. I think everyone was sleeping by 8:30 (except me of course). All-in-all it was a fun filled weekend.

See, even when we're home on the weekends we're not really ever home! :)

mother's day...

We had a pretty low key Mother's Day. We spent the weekend in Wisconsin at Ben & Amanda's house. The boys golfed and the girls shopped and got pedicures and we played some Guitar Hero World Tour. It was fun to spend the weekend with them it has been a while since we've seen them. On Mother's Day we went to Bob and Nancy's and had breakfast with the family. Bob and Brian had to take off for Indiana for a qualifier Brian had the next day, so we stuck around to chat with Nancy for a while and Brianna ran around outside. We headed home and spent the afternoon napping, playing and just relaxing. It was a great Mother's Day all-in-all. My kiddos and hubby are the best...what more could a girl ask for!

6 years in the books...

Yes I am quite aware that this post is significantly late, however...better late than never! So on Sunday May 3 Bob and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It is shocking to me that it has been six years. So much has happened in that time, loss of grandparents, births of children, weddings of friends and family, the buying of our first home and more laughter and memories than I have the time or space to share. I don't know that on our wedding day, these two kids (and yes, we are kids...holy cow we look young!) could possibly realize what their life would be this six short years later.

(I do realize this is a hideous picture, but it was actually taken on 5/3/09 so I wanted to use it :)Bob and I had a great anniversary we slept late (for us) and went to brunch and then played 9 holes of golf, it was nice to walk around the course talk and just be us for a little while. Life is crazy and hectic, but there is no one I'd rather be in this crazy, hectic life with. I love you, Bob! Here is to 100 more years of (mostly) wedded bliss :).

my favorite things...

As I've said before I'm not an optimistic person. I would call myself a realist, I prepare for the bad, so I'm not disappointed when something doesn't go the way I want and am pleasantly surprised when things do. In an effort to appreciate all the small things in my life, here is a list of the things I love about the ages my kids are.

Brianna age 3 (almost 4)
The crazy outfits she puts together.
The way she complains the whole time I brush/braid/whatever her hair, but then looks in the mirror admiring her hair after I'm done.
The way she says "don't be upset Bryce, big sister is here"
The way she runs to the door screaming "daddy!" when she hears the garage door open.
The way she wakes up in the morning and smiles at me and asks "did you have a good sleep, mommy?"
The other million little things that make her my sweet, funny, aggrivating little girl.

Bryce age (almost) 6 months
The way he smiles when I get him out of his crib in the morning.
The way he stretches after I undo his swaddling blanket and the look on his face that says "I'm free"
When he is really tired I can pick him up and hold him close to me and he immediately falls asleep.
The way he laughs when I change his dirty diapers.
The way he smiles and gets everyone to fall in love with him within moments of meeting him.
The other million little things that make him my adorable, flirty little man.

monday musing...

So, question for you. Today the kids and I walked to Wal-Mart (it is a few blocks from our house...long enough that it sort of tires Brianna out, but short enough that she can walk the whole thing) anyway, there is a redbox there where we rent movies almost every Monday (they have free movie Monday's with a code that is texted to your phone or you can go here and get the code). After we got our movies we walked around Wal-Mart for a bit looked at toys and got Brianna a new thermos because her lid was broken. As we were standing in the checkout line she started whining and wanted to be held. I picked her up for a moment to talk to her and then set her back down. She started whining again and the guy (or maybe he was a boy...he looked very young) in front of us eyed me and then Brianna and then me again and then he looked at her and said "are you OK?" I was a bit taken aback by his question to her. she wasn't screaming bloody murder, I didn't hit her or anything of the sort, I picked her up and talked to her and then put her back down. She is (almost) 4 and she sometimes doesn't behave perfectly. He kept looking at me the entire time until he was checked out and gone. Now, maybe I'm overly sensitive, but I don't believe there was anything going on that warranted him asking HER if she was OK. I know that people's actions can be misinterpreted, but the whole thing is very odd to me. I'm pretty sensitive about the judgement (as I perceive it) other people pass on me as a parent. After the guy asked Brianna that I said "she is fine". What would you have done? Do you think that is super strange or that I'm overreacting? (I realize that is hard to answer since you weren't there...but I swear to you it happened just like that) :)

I will be back soon with an update of our weekend, because I'm sure you are all wondering how we spent our 6th anniversary! :)

29...

Yes, I know I already turned 29, but today this guy joins the club. I could not ask for a better person in my life. He is a wonderful dad and a fantastic husband.
Happy Birthday, Bob!!
We Love you!

b book...

Brianna reading to Bryce. :)

friends and fun and crafts...oh my...

I think the titles of my posts get more lame every time. Anyway, I have a bunch of stuff to share since I last posted, so lets get to it.

Last weekend we headed to WI to visit with some friends. Abbie and Chris graciously invited us to their house along with the Isaacsons. We headed to their house late Friday morning and arrived to beautiful weather. The kids ran around outside and played and the adults caught up on what was going on in each of our lives. The boys got to play some golf on Saturday, while the girls did some crafts and ran around outside some more, the weather was PERFECT, and when they got back from golfing we took the kids to the park. Saturday night after the kids were in bed (and all were sleeping except Brianna...big surprise on that one) we started playing Guitar Hero World Tour. My wonderful husband got this for me for my birthday, and it is seriously hours of entertainment, especially when there is alcohol involved. There was tons of laughter and I don't think I will ever forget the singing, dancing around, banging on the drums, and some choice quotes that were said that night, which will not be posted here because well...this is a family blog. Abbie and Chris were such wonderful hosts and it was so good to finally meet little Samantha. Brianna had so much fun playing with Andrew and Holly's two little girls Ella and Lily and Bryce ate up all the attention that was given to him. I know I enjoyed chatting and catching up with Abbie, Holly, Andrew and Chris and Bob most definitely had fun playing golf with Andrew and Chris. I was having so much fun I didn't even take out my camera the whole weekend. Abbie has some over on her blog and Holly said she'd be posting some soon (no pressure...I know you're busy :). We are so very blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thank you again Abbie and Chris for letting us invade your house.

This week has been pretty low-key...but today we did a craft that Holly told me about. Brianna had so much fun making these (anything that lets her use glue and stickers will make her happy). I made Bryce's (obviously) because even though he's not big enough to do this stuff himself, I love having both of their crafts hanging on the wall or whereever they may end up (Brianna is pushing for daddy to take them to work...so we'll see). I absolutely love crafts that incorporate hand and/or foot prints. They are my favorites because beyond the decorating and the little touches Brianna puts on her projects, there is something so personal about them being made from their hand/footprints. It is a part of them, the part that reminds me to cherish these moments because they won't be this small for very long.

Enough with the rambling...here is a picture of the butterflies.

Have a great weekend everyone...hopefully I'll be back before long.

going purple...

All the small things is going purple. This is the first chance I've had to make the change. We are going purple to honor Ian and Maddie and all the premies who have lost their battle, and in honor of McKenna and all the ones who fought and are still fighting to stay healthy. The March of Dimes is a wonderful organization, one that I whole-heartedly support and am happy to send my money to each year. The March of Dimes deserves your support because they help these babies have a fighting chance at a healthy life, and I think we all agree that every baby deserves that. So, go here or here and give what you can...do what you can to give these babies the best start in life.

easter...

I hope you all had a great Easter. We had a very good, but busy weekend. We were in Iowa from Friday night until Monday morning. We had a great time with family, although there was a definite lack of sleep on the part of the kids and myself :) I think that I don't want to spend my time with my family sleeping because it seems like we don't get to see everyone much so I tend to not sleep much at all while at my parents. But we had a great time and it went too fast as always. We had Jackson's birthday party Saturday and Sunday consisted of candy, Easter egg hunts, naps and spending time with family. A perfect day in my opinion. Yesterday we left mom and dad's about 10 (and only forgot a few things) and headed to Galesburg to stop by the business office. We stopped and had lunch with Steve and Alli (and then Alli & Gavin accompanied us to Galesburg as well). We got home about 7:30 last night and are trying to recover today. We take off again Friday for WI to visit some friends so in the 2 remaining days this week I need to get laundry done and the house cleaned up. We'll see how that goes. :) We are looking forward to seeing some friends we haven't seen in far too long, so we are all excited about the coming weekend. Hope you all had a very Happy Easter filled with family and friends.

I'm uploading a bunch of pictures from the weekend to shutterfly, so feel free to take a look.

I'll leave you with a couple here. Have a great week everyone!