Love at First Sight

We have these wonderful friends that we met a few months after getting married...Justin and Suzanne. They lived right around the corner from us in our townhouse and we clicked with them as soon as we met. As it turns out, we were married on the same exact day (before we even knew each other). When we met, we were both newlyweds and it was great to go through all the ups and downs of newlywedness with another couple in the same boat. We have so many great memories together in the "pre-kid" era! Since those days, they've had two darling boys and we've had our two kids.

With life as busy as it is, we don't get to hang out nearly as much as we'd like. The times we do hang out though are so much fun and it's awesome to see our kids becoming great friends as well.

Friendship might be an understatement though for two of our youngsters. We might have a case of love at first sight with their oldest boy, Nolan, and our sweet pea, Leah. They've seen each other a few times since Leah was born, but the past time we hung out was the first time we noticed the little sparks flying. Nolan was SO attentive to Leah and she just loved all the attention she was getting from him.

But of course, Nolan will have to learn that Leah has a certain someone who will ALWAYS be watching out for her. It's highly unlikely that Leah will be able to bring too many boyfriends home without an interrogation by her big brother!

Happy New Year

It's 2011. Already. I started high school in 1996. That's 15 years ago. 15!!! If time keeps flying like this, we'll be sitting in our rocking chairs at the nursing home all too soon!


In the meantime, let me fill you in on what's been keeping us busy since this new year began. Some of the days have felt eternally long. Have you been stuck inside with two kids under the age of 3 for an entire day? Let's not forget that this is also Tyler's busiest month of the year, so we're not seeing much of him during the awake hours of the day. But some of our days have been so packed with activity that it's been hard to find time to sit down and blog!

This past weekend, we packed in plenty of fun. On Friday night, Grandpa Ron, Grandma Sue, and Auntie Kalyn drove up to spend the weekend here. We woke up on Saturday and celebrated Christmas. The kids got plenty of awesome toys that have quickly become some of their new favorites. After "Christmas" we hung out most of the day and relaxed.

When naptime came around we rushed to get ready for Leah's 1st birthday party. Thankfully, I have the best mother-in-law in the world....because with her help we managed to get the entire house ready for everyone to show up at 4. It was a wonderful party and we really enjoyed having our closest friends and family with us to celebrate our sweet, little girl!
Along with the busy weekend, we've been keeping busy during the week. MOPS started again this week (which has been such an awesome group for me to get involved in). Caleb also started a "Just Tots" class at the park district. I drop him off for an hour and he gets to have a mini-dose of preschool. Speaking of preschool, I've been keeping busy researching and contacting several preschools in the hopes that we can find one that is just right for our (tears, tears, and more tears) soon-to-be preschooler (okay, I have at least half a year to get ready for that heartbreak). The few times we've visited schools, Caleb just makes himself at home. He will CLEARY be that kid that has a much easier time than his Mommy does on the first day of preschool! Other than that, we've been managing to spend plenty of quality time at home and have even made mandatory pj days a regular event. Why would anyone bundle up two youngsters to head anywhere when it's freezing and snowing, if they don't have to?!? I'm taking advantage of the stay-at-home mom role and we are learning to make the best of these cold, winter days...inside the walls of our cozy home!
We hope everyone reading this has had a great start to 2011 and is looking forward to another awesome year :)