Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...

I remember when my best friends (Erin, Mary, Jenny, Ange) and I were growing up (junior high school days) we would take endless pictures of our crazy faces. I know every one of my girlfriends' crazy faces by heart. And I love that we can all be so silly and laugh at each other still, to this day.

We get together at least once a year for a weekend of gossiping, crafting, going out, and making silly faces while taking pictures. I vividly remember visiting Ange in California in 2005. We visited her older sister Paula (who is the queen of silly faces and taught us most of what we know) and met her husband and kids. We sat down for dinner with her and I'll never forget how fun it was. Dinner ended with everyone showing their silly faces like they were sharing what they did at school that day. I laughed so hard that I made a mental note to teach my future children this very dinner routine (I had just gone through a pretty horrendous miscarriage, so the laughter was much needed, maybe that's why it stood out so much). Think all of this is on my brain because we are in the middle of planning our next visit/girls' weekend and I have them all on my mind.

 This is a classic - was taken under the (closed) bed of Dino's truck sometime in 2005? But it clearly shows you how silly we get. Pretty sure we did the splits outside of the bar we were at this night, just before we hopped into the truck. 

 Same weekend, showing support for our favorite singer, Jen

 2006 with Jen

 Erin's Bachelorette party 2006

 Erin's wedding weekend in Vegas 2006

 Drag show in Chicago 2007

 The girls surprised me for my 30th birthday party in 2007 (I was 5 weeks prego with Iz here)

 Celebrating my baby shower at the lake in 2007

 Visiting Indy 2008

 The girls supporting me at a half marathon in 2010

 Go Cubs Go 2010

 Erin ran the last few miles of the Ch.icago Marathon 2010 with me

 Another Indy visit 2011

 Epic

 Given the amount of silliness I grew up with in these girls, I wanted to make sure to pass that quality on to my own girls. So I was tickled to see all the pictures the nanny took with the girls over the summer:

 Making faces with Nanny Natalie is second nature to them, and I freaking love it.

 And I've carried on the tradition of making funny faces at all times at home. Sure, we also talk about our favorite part of our day and what we did at school. However, we also share our favorite funny faces. "Oooh, that's a good one!" is said a lot in our house. Laney will bust out a silly face at any given moment and one of us is sure to comment on how awesome it is. We nurture silly in our house. Here's a few:

I'm so thankful for my girlfriends that I grew up with...for MANY reasons. But one of my favorite things my girlfriends taught me was how to have fun.

Gobble Gobble 2011

Goodness last week was a whirlwind for us and I loved every moment of it. Three day work week. Family and friends. Lots of visiting and eating and laughing. Yes, please.

The week started with Nanny Natalie spending the afternoon and evening with the girls on Monday. She took them to her house and Granny Panties (Miss Kay) and Mr. Dave spoiled them with a dinner and lots of play time. My girls adore Natty and her family and it simply makes my heart warm to know they love the girls just as much. Natalie also attended Izzy's Thanksgiving Feast at school, as Mike and I weren't able to attend. Izzy came home with an awesomely cool painted macaroni necklace while Laney came home with a card saying what she was thankful for: Mommy, Daddy, Sissy, Ben & Dave. Not sure who Ben & Dave are...but Lane claims they are chipmunks. Mmmkay then.

 My dad & step mom arrive Wednesday afternoon to spend a few days with us. Mike took dad to his first Butler basketball game against Gardener Webb (who? doesn't matter...turns out it was quite an amazing game). Dad came home telling us how much fun they had. Anna and I were sharing a bottle of vino. That's my idea of a relaxing evening.

 Thursday morning we trekked down to Br.oadripple for the Dru.mstick Dash 4.5 miler. There were about 15,000 runners in attendance (a record) and needless to say the course was jam-packed. Not going to lie, I did enjoy a nice (slow) run with my husband and best friend; however, I will not be running this race anytime in the near future. Too crowded. Poorly managed. I'll stick with the smaller, less swamped races on turkey morning. Dad & Anna walked with the girls along the shorter course and we finished about the same time. Felt good to get my legs moving in preparation for a day of eating and drinking!

 Jaime and I ran with our BoMF buddy Eric

When I turned my watch on I noticed I hadn't worn it since my marathon. As we all know that I'm not proud of my time, I'm pretty proud of my mileage. It was bittersweet to delete. No matter my finish time, I'm thankful for my health and for the two kiddos in the background of this picture. I run for them. Not for time.

 

We came back to warm showers, naps and Mike cooking up a delicious meal. The day turned out to be beautiful so I had to take advantage with a few pics outside.

 Jaime and I have a habit of dressing alike. For a run or for a dinner out you can bet we're matchy-matchy. Love the stripes and polka dots. Love her! (And if any of our Perfect Stranger buddies are reading this, we are sporting the "skarm" in this picture versus the dreaded "farm." We talk about deep stuff on our runs. Or rather, when we take pictures during our runs!)

 Dad!!!

 Kiddos eating turkey

 Feller fam

 We headed up to the Fort after a late breakfast to spend the weekend with Mike's dad & step mom. As soon as we arrived we found out that Laura's dad passed away. Grandpa Cliff was 93 years old and led a full life: he was a WWII pilot and Captain, SVP at Linc.oln Life, father of 7, grandfather of 18 and great grandfather to another 18. We loved seeing Grandpa Cliff at the holidays and he simply adored the girls, always telling us how beautiful they were and how blessed we were. He will forever live as a legacy in our house, as Laney has some wickedly crazy hair that we dub "Grandpa Cliff" hair. Too funny. He will be missed!

We were able to spend a few hours with Bob, and the girls helped him decorate his mini tree upstairs in the loft. They both got a kick out of it...

 And the silly faces never end

 We cut the weekend up north short, for obvious reasons, and were able to get a quick visit in with Mike's mom before we left. Upon our return home I was excited for a little surprise I had in store for Miss Iz. I bought tickets for a local theater's rendition of Annie several months ago and told Izzy we were going to see the M.uppet movie. We got all dressed up (Izzy's favorite part of the day), met up with our neighbors Jill & Sam, and headed out to the theater.

 This adorable dress was a hand-me-down from the Tynan family and ever since Izzy saw it over a year ago she's been asking constantly when she could wear it. Was holding out for Christmas service this year, but she begged and pleaded and I just couldn't tell her no one more time. I did talk her out of her dress up beads and into her "wedding" pearls...ha!

Izzy still thought we were at the movies when we got into our seats. She didn't really realize what we were doing until the curtain went up. And oh boy did she giggle and wiggle and dance and sing. She kept on looking at me and telling me it was the best day ever! The first half of the show was an hour and 20 minutes and by that time the kids had already taken 1-2 potty breaks. Jill and I attempted to go back in for the second part..until we heard Izzy say, "I don't want to watch the movie anymore." Done. We booked it out of there and chalked it up to a great attempt.

lf on our Shelf. Coca. Tonight after the girls found Coca I overheard Izzy say, "Please tell Santa I'd like a castle. And that I took a nap today." Followed by a blown kiss. Laney asked me to bring her to Coca to tell him, "We don't hit our friends. I'm sorry." I couldn't help from laughing out loud. I'm one lucky mama to be these girls' parents!

And in the spirit of thanking, I'm thankful for: my devoted and ever-present husband, my silly and loving daughters, my patient and forgiving family, my awesomely amazing girlfriends (old ones, new ones, running ones, best ones), my job that I love and my health. And my foam roller :)

Doctor, Doctor!

The last week of our lives has been a touch crazy. Started with a bloody nose from me last Sunday evening. Lasted almost 2 hours. After trying everything G.oogle & my favorite Nurse suggested we ended up in the emergency room. At 11pm. Not fun. A little nitric oxide to my nose and we were home by midnight. Great way to start the week.

Then Mike woke Monday with a hunched back (to the left, not forward) and could barely walk without pain. Turns out he should have asked for help moving that mammoth-sized tv in the basement a few weeks ago (what initially tweaked his back). And 3 hours in the yard exacerbated the tweak. Let's just say he saw our coveted chiropractor every day last week. He's no longer walking like an old man, thankfully, and on the mend.

We finished out the week with a little procedure I had been putting off for 10 years; I had all four of my (fully-grown-in-and-plenty-of-room-in-my-mouth) wisdom teeth removed. I was extremely apprehensive, as I've heard horror stories from many friends. But I had zero pain post op. Zero swelling. And lots of milkshakes (eaten from a spoon, not a straw). It's been almost 4 days and my sockets are healing well so far. I'm ready to not eat like a 90 year old again. Mashed potatoes, apple sauce, yogurt, pudding. Gag. Mama wants a burger and fries!!!

As I entered the kitchen Friday night to get fresh ice packs I walked into this scene:

Laney has never been awake when Mike has brewed beer with his buddies. That didn't stop her from jumping in to help filter a very pale ale. She was so proud (think Mike was, too).

Little snug time with daddy before he left for the ND game Saturday morning

I hadn't made any plans for the weekend, as I thought I'd be laid out. Wasn't the case. After spending the entirety of Friday on the couch I was ready to get out and go. And go we did...right to the Chil.dren's Museum. Of course our first stop was the B.arbie exhibit.

Then a little digging for dinosaur fossils

After naps Izzy got out all of her sweets and made a cupcake shop (she loves herself some cupcakes, just ask Nanny Natalie!)

The girls playing a little dress up

Don't let Laney fool you, she is not the one into princesses (she just dresses up because that's what her big sis is doing). Ask her what she wants for xmas and it's "A BABY DOLL!" Of course we have 10 already. So there's that.

And this little princess of course wants all things princess for xmas. As if Disn.ey hasn't already thrown up in our play room.

Here's to a week not at an ER or doctor's office! Gobble gobble!

Lazy weekend & Craft night...

 This weekend we did a lot of jammie time around here. We left the house approximately 3 times: to meet Jaim for a run with the littles, to meet the same fam for dinner, and to grab donuts this morning. Don't be jealous of our exciting life. Sometimes, however, this is just the kind of weekend we need. Lots of snuggling.

 Playing around with hair curlers

 Jaim and I attempted a long run Saturday morning with our double joggers. We were excited to get our legs moving back on our favorite trail. Even more excited to attempt to involve our kiddos with our passion for running. Let's just say our attempted 10 miles was only 3 miles. However, it was gusting winds over 20 mph so I'm counting it as double. Yeah, I said it. Pushing 50+ pounds into the wind is not easy. I dare you to try it. Double dog dare you. Jaime and I were laughing so hard at times, as I'm not sure we ran even a 1/2 mile without stopping to feed fishy crackers, sippy cups, sunnies, blankets...it just never stopped. We laughed about it almost the whole time. Luke kept on asking if they were "winning." Jaime and I made sure to cheer the kids on at the finish. We won, dude.

 Friday it was my turn to host craft night again. We made jute covered door wreaths. Love how they turned out:

 Already hung mine and am very happy with it!

Short work week for me as I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed. Been putting this off for 10 years. Think I should have mine out before my kids do. Ugh...