december 2011 highlights

-- karin, mom and i went to mannheim steamroller at the coronado theatre in rockford as an early birthday present for mom. the show was really good. we sat in the second row on the right.

--  too bad grandma didn't have her aaron rodgers jersey along. oh, well. she took this shot of the three of us.

 -- cassidy loved being a reindeer for fun for the holidays.

 -- syd and cass had a playdate with morgan and genna in the snow, even though we barely had enough to play in. they didn't seem to care.

 -- syd had her fourth-grade concert (which i missed because i had to teach a social media class at work; boo). she barely put up with wearing this skirt-leggings combo. she's a t-shirt and jeans girl, what can i say?

-- on christmas break during a visit to grandma and grandpa, the girls were sooo excited to catch just an inch or so of sloppy snow, so they made a snowman.

-- sydney and cassidy were shepherds in the annual st. mark  lutheran church christmas pageant. they each had a line to read and did well.

-- this was our christmas card for 2011: anna's wedding photographer, bobbi, did such a great job on the shoot and design. loved it.

merry christmas 2011

it was a busy few days.

on christmas eve morning, a sample of my tweets.

-- #Santa comes here on #Christmas Eve morning. Pretty sure both kids have snuck out to check the tree.
-- Hoping I can sneak in a shower...
-- Talked kids into eating breakfast in my bed so I could shower...
-- Me: "I better hear only angel wings out there." Cass: "What about chicken wings?"
-- Cass: "I hear a tinkle in the living room." Syd: "Maybe #Santa forgot the stocking stuffers." ...
-- They are getting squirrelly and jumping on my bed...
-- It's time to open presents.

 

they got towels, video games, books, videos, outfits and more from santa. then we headed up to wisconsin. cassidy got sick in the back seat. was hoping it was a onetime thing: upset stomach from cookies and excitement, but nope. she was ill until around suppertime and recovered enough for presents time. she woke up thirsty in the middle of the night and had water, which made her sick again, but after that, she was clear. no one else got sick (miracle), so we were off to mike's parents' house for their family's christmas.

 

despite the illness, it was a great family time as always.

 

i took a nap and saw "girl with the dragon tattoo" in the theater before watching the packers beat the bears at lambeau (karin was there ... awesome!).

november 2011 highlights

 

-- cassidy got to see "the nutcracker" for the first time: she wasn't as excited about ballerinas as i had thought she would. i guess it's a pretty dense story line to absorb, what, without words and all.
-- i went home for thanksgiving while the kids were with dad: had fun at the salcherts and watched the packer victory over the lions.
-- i got an iphone because my android incredible kept having problems (power cord, fake memory alert that forced me to factory-reset the darn thing). love it. the square photos of the girls are the first i took of them on instagram.
-- the kids loved the muppet movie: mahna mahna!
-- syd is learning how to play the recorder in fourth grade. i bought an extra for cass.
-- got to visit my longtime friend, karen, who is doing great months after suffering a stroke that wiped out part of her vision.

halloween 2011

this year, sydney wanted to be the red power ranger (not pink... no biggie) and cassidy wanted to be a cat.
they made it through the whole neighborhood for the first time, even if it was a smidge chilly. the hot dogs at tauna's house always help.
of course, first we hit the register star for its annual trick-or-treat (that's anna behind syd's mask).

what a beautiful fall day

forget what i said a few weeks ago: it's been in the 70s and 80s for the last few days. absolutely gorgeous weather.

the girls and i took advantage of it, for sure: after morning swim lessons today, we went out to eat and then headed to the pumpkin patch and rock cut state park.

at the patch, syd freaked (she hates the few animals that are there for some reason), so she stayed far away while cass rode a pony. after we took some fun pics and ate a cider donut, she calmed down.

at the park, we checked out the dam and walked a little on the paths. the girls liked the trees that were yellow and green because they were "packer colors."

after that, we hit the school playground for a little while before throwing nuts back into the woods in the back yard and playing a good hour on/around the swingset.

we rounded out an active day by watching "beethoven" ... again. they really think it's hilarious. 

decorations from the wedding

10-1-11: anna and ed's wedding day!

anna and ed's wedding day was perfect: the weather was great, the people were great, the party was great.

the rehearsal dinner friday night was at capri's, downtown just a few blocks away from the church (st. james catholic, rockford). i took anna back to the clock tower resort for some girl chill time before the wedding.

neither of us slept well (surprising for me, not for anna), and we were up before 5. on a brisk morning outing, we got passion tea from starbucks and panera bagels for all the girls at the salon. while anna started to get ready, i took care of the room and made sure anna and ed's room was ready for that night.

by closer to lunchtime, when we drove to the church, it was warming up (the high was close to 60). and the girls' dressing room was pretty warm. we grabbed a bite from the kitchen and took the girls' pics before the ceremony.

the wedding mass went well and the shoes did not last much beyond that (ow!), so the flip flops came in handy.

after the ceremony, we took more pics and headed to rockford country club for more pics and the reception. it was quite chilly in the shade on the golf course, but it was fun to take out the carts for a few shots.

the kids had a blast with my parents, morgan and genna, sam, grace ... and of course, luke and abe. lots of dancing.

as the maid of honor, i got to toast the couple. and meet ed's best friend todd and his wife, tina: they were a blast, just like anna's family was, natch.