An Update....Quick-like

So much to say, so little time. It's 11pm which means I have to be up in 5 hours. Kevin and I are going on a quick getaway. We were able to score tickets to be in the Ellen DeGeneres Show audience. I still can't believe it. My parents were kind enough to drive into town to hold down the fort so off we go to sunny (hopefully!) California in the morning. We will spend Tuesday and Wednesday sightseeing and celeb spotting (again...hopefully!). The show tapes on Thursday afternoon so that entire day will be dedicated to everything Ellen. It's a very long process. We fly out at 11pm on Thursday night and arrive in Chicago at 5am on Friday. Saturday is our annual Mardi Gras party and Sunday is Kevin's birthday so needless to say, it'll be a whirlwind week.

Talan Update
"No" is his new favorite word. He even uses it when he means "yes". Awesome. Totally. This past weekend we made pizzas. It was so much fun but very hard to make him understand that at least a few of the toppings needed to end up on the pizza as opposed to inside of his mouth.














Mmmmm....Olives:










And who can resist a little cheese?:










He is all about food....especially when said food is a chocolate donut:














Reese Update
Thank you all so much for supporting her in raising money for her religious education class. She was able to collect almost $50. The songs turned out really cute. I hope you all liked them.










In other Reese news, we received a very exciting letter in the mail this week. Reese's choreographed dance received an honorable mention award at the state level. We'll be attending an awards ceremony in a couple of weeks where she will once again be recognized. What an awesome accomplishment for such a young girl. Proud = understatement.

We've also been busy prepping for her birthday party. We were buried in invitations this weekend. I had to get it all finished before we left.















Hopefully I'll have several fun updates when we get back!

A Piece of Reese

Reese is in religious education classes. The teacher gave them an assignment. Each child has to come up with an idea on their own to help raise money that they will be sending to help build a school in Africa. She decided that she'll raise the money two ways. She's selling artwork (drawings) that she made for $1. She's also decided that for $5 she'll write you a song and the song can be about anything. I jumped on that one right away.

Here is the song she wrote for me:


She only has until Sunday to raise money. If anyone is interested, I'll give her the cash and you can send a check later. We will mail out the artwork and I'll email links & lyrics to any song(s) she writes.

Daddy Loves DSi

Video games stress me out. Kevin? Not so much. He and Reese have been in a Super Mario Cart war. I think Reese still has the high score.


Exciting stuff people.

She's An American Girl

On Saturday a friend of mine invited us to take a trip into downtown Chicago to visit the American Girl doll store. Her daughter asked to go for her birthday and wanted Reese to come, too. She loves her American Girl doll so I knew she'd be excited. I kept it a secret until the night before. She woke up very excited to get going. She dressed herself and the doll.

Yes, that is a headband in Talan's hair. When he saw both Reese and the doll (named Angel) in headbands he insisted on having one as well. I couldn't help but get photo evidence of the full outfit.

I remember having several very special toys as a child. One of them...Cabbage Patch Kids. I guess if they had an entire store dedicated to them when I was younger, I'd be just as excited as the 100's of girls who were going nuts running around the store when we got there.

I can't even describe how crazy the store is. They have a hair salon for your doll, a photograph studio where you can go and have a picture taken with your doll (or a faux magazine cover if you opt for it), a cafe where you can sit and have lunch with your doll, and the list goes on. And the clothes and accessories? Nearly every doll outfit has a matching outfit for the girl who owns her. And they practically charge and arm and leg for all of it.

The girls had a blast. Annika was thrilled to have Reese there with her. She really looks up to her.

See that teeny tiny bag Reese has? Hard to believe but it's got nearly $100 in goods inside of it.

To be fair, she did pay for some of it with her own money. And one of the items cost me half of the total and she didn't know it was in there. I came home and hid it and will save it for a big occasion. Prices aside, we had a really great time. We rarely get to go and do really girly stuff together so I was so happy to have that time with her.

On Thin Ice

That arm? It belongs to me.  The photo was taken on Monday evening after a trip to the Emergency Room.  Somewhere around noon on Monday Talan and I left the gym.  I had to make a quick stop at a store that's just around the corner from our house.  I parked and got out of the truck.  As I was getting Talan out of his car seat I did something I never, ever do.  For some reason I pulled his hood up over his head.  I took him out and put him on my hip and walked around the back of the truck.  As I stepped forward I started to slip on a sheet of ice.  I thought for a second that I was going to be able to catch myself but as I stepped to try to get a grip on dry road I realized I was surrounded by ice.  About that time my feet both slipped out from underneath me and I slammed down onto the ground.  With Talan in my arms. 

It happened so fast but somehow that protective instinct we have as parents came over me.  I was able to wrap my left arm around Talan's back and put my hand around his neck.  When I fell, because of the way I was holding him to keep him safe my elbow was the first to hit the ice, followed by my left hip.  Talan's head did hit the ground but it hit last and I was able to take on the impact.  I quickly took off his hood (which is also something that helped in protecting him from any harm) and checked him out.  When I realized he was okay I got a huge adrenalin rush.  I was soaking wet on my left side and had just crashed onto the road/ice but I still got up and walked into the store.  As soon as I got through the door I think I realized what had just happened and the pain began to kick in.  That's when I started to shake and felt like I could collapse.  I lifted my sleeve to look at my arm and all I saw was white so I thought it could be bone....and that really sent me into a panic.  I turned around and went back to the truck.  It was tricky trying to get back in because the ice that caused the accident was surrounding it but somehow I got us both in.  I called Kevin from the car and asked him to meet me outside. 

Once home the pain really intensified.  The white I saw wasn't bone, thank God.  We called the ER because I was still moving my arm and didn't want to go in if moving it meant it wasn't broken.  They suggested ice and elevation for a couple of hours and said to come in if it was still bad at that point.  The pain didn't let up and I was getting nervous but by the time I knew I had to go in it was time for the kids to come home from school.  We made arrangements for them for later in the afternoon and finally went in at 5.  No broken bones but a lot of bruising and a big, nasty open wound on my elbow.  I have a bruise on my thigh the size of a cantaloupe and I've been very, very sore since then.  I'll take all of it and then some....I'm just so grateful that Talan made it through without as much as a scratch.  I kept replaying the moment in my head over and over.  I didn't sleep at all on Monday night because of it.  I don't know how I was able to think fast enough to cover his back and head or how I was able to fall onto my side as opposed to on top of him.  It could have been so much worse. 

In other Talan news....he is giving me a run for my money.  This is him stuck behind the couch.  No idea how he got there but he couldn't get out.












He's also taken to climbing behind the blinds and standing in the window sill. Awesome. Speaking of awesome, check out his 80's hair poof!

Valentine's Day Recap

The night before Valentine's Day I set up the table for the kids so that they'd have something fun to wake up to.


When they got up we started the day with heart shaped pink pancakes.


Reese and Talan were very excited to dig into their stuff. I got myself Reese a Justin Bieber magazine. We'd just seen the movie the night before so I knew I would she would be excited to go through it and to rip out all of the posters.


And Talan loves to color so he asked for crayons right away so that he could get started on it.

Any day that celebrates love is a great day!

I Caught The Fever

Seriously. Reese and I along with two of her friends and their moms went to see Justin Bieber's new movie, Never Say Never. I loved it. Love love loved. We were all singing along, tearing up, getting chills throughout the entire movie. It was so beautifully done and so inspirational. I will be in line to buy it the day it comes out on DVD. I'm now not sure who is the bigger fan in this household! I might have to go out and find a shirt tomorrow so I can rock the Biebs with Reese. I highly recommend the movie. Even if you don't think you like him.....I promise you will after seeing the movie. There is absolutely nothing not to love. What a kid!

Angel Faces

Dinner Club

This month was our month to host dinner club. We spent all day long prepping and cleaning and getting everything ready. When I say "all day" I really do mean all...day...long. It was worth the work because everything turned out great. We decided to set up the tables in the basement. That way we were able to put Talan to bed (Reese spent the night with a friend) and we could be as loud as we wanted and go as late as we wanted without disturbing him. I am so upset that I didn't get pictures of our plated food. The theme was Asian cuisine and Kevin and I decided that we wanted to do the main course dim sum style. Small helpings of a few different things. We made Phad Thai, bulgogi (Korean BBQ), shrimp rice balls, and fresh spring rolls. We decorated the plates with different sauces. It was beautiful! We also picked up the dessert this month because one couple wasn't able to take a course. I made banana egg rolls (they were filled with mashed bananas and cream cheese) with powdered sugar, caramel and chocolate drizzles, and a scoop of coconut ice cream. Holy moly was it good!!! We had a great time hosting but I have to say, I'm glad it only happens once every eight months. I'm exhausted!

Valentine's Day Party

Remember the outfit Reese picked out all on her own? Here it is: She has a crazy love affair with those boots. They are her new favorite thing. Here is a cute picture she drew of herself in the outfit she wore: Friday was her classroom Valentine's Day party. They only give the kids about 45 minutes so it always flies by. I made a Bingo game and entertained them with that. All of the Valentine's in the decorated paper bags brought back fun memories. Cute stuff.

YO!

I took Talan in for his 2 year check-up on Monday. He now weighs 24.4 pounds and is 33.25 inches. His 1 year stats were 17.11 pounds and 28.5 inches. He went from -1 on the charts to the 10th percentile so he has definitely done some growing. The shirt he is wearing in the photo above is his latest obsession, "Yo Gabba Gabba". His Uncle Josh sent it to him for his birthday. I don't know that I've ever seen him more excited than he was when he saw it. Maybe I should have gone with that theme for his cake rather than Super Why! This week has been a really exciting week for Reese. She's been the Star of the Week at school. Each day she has been able to present or share something about herself. Tomorrow her classmates will each submit a page to share their favorite thing about her. Her teacher is going to make a book out of the pages that she'll be able to bring home with her. I'm probably just as excited as she is about that. Tomorrow is also her class Valentine's Day party. I took her shopping last night for an outfit. I let her pick it out all on her own (she had a gift certificate to use). She is very proud of it. I'll post pictures of what she chose tomorrow along with photos from the class party.

Talan Turns Two

I still can't believe our little man has been with us for two years now. Time has really flown right by. It's tradition in our house to wake up to decorations on your birthday. The night before I put everything out. Talan was so excited when he came down the stairs and saw it all. I think he really "got it" this year and knew the day was all about him. He had a blast opening all of his cards and presents. We didn't have long before we rushed out of the house to hit Chuck E. Cheese. We got there at 9:30 in the morning to avoid the crowds. The Heller family was nice enough to join us. Julia & Talan like to pretend like they've never met when we get together but eventually warm up. Talan was so excited when Chuck E. Cheese came out to greet the kids. (I know he looks scared here but that's how he gives hugs....one shoulder) The gang getting ready to sing Happy Birthday: I think it's safe to say that he had a blast. We packed up and got in the car to head home. Talan made it about a half a mile down the road before he passed out. A nap in the car meant no nap at home. We went out for an early dinner to Red Robin to end the big day. Happy 2nd birthday Talan! We love you so very much.