Happy Valentine's Day...

Happy Valentine's Day! I have a few pictures to share before we talk V-Day...

We attempt to have game night at our house once a week (aka Candy Land or Chutes & Ladders). When I say attempt it's because we have Laney Bug (Swiper, no swiping!) that doesn't grasp the rules of taking turns, sitting still and basically rules in general. Many times Laney loses interest, then eventually Izzy will too, and Mike and I find ourselves playing the game just the two of us. We laugh at it...but this past week Izzy made it all the way through a game and even won (fair and square). Just love the little girl she's becoming. So sweet.

Had to take a picture of the two littles in their matching jammers

And I know I've posted a similar picture in the past...but Izzy just cracks me up in the way she settles in for bed each night. She has about 327 stuffed animals (of all sizes) and she arranges them along the perimeter of her bed. She tucks some of them in. Groups them with their buddies (monkeys go with other monkeys, Abby Cadabby goes with Elmo, etc). The shear amount of buddies she has on her bed drives Mike crazy and he's constantly trying to reduce the number on her bed. However, I find it so endearing that she loves every one of them and seeks out the guys that daddy has removed. Sometimes she'll even ask for me to help in lining them up and tucking them in. We say goodnight to most of them. Don't want to forget this time, as eventually she won't even want me in her room one day.

Saturday morning instead of my typical outdoor run, we Perfect Strangers opted to run indoors. The temps were in the teens and the winds were 20mph. Don't get me wrong, I love running outdoors and bearing the elements with the next crazy distance runner, but as soon as the idea was thrown out of running on the track? You bet I jumped at the opportunity to forgo the 17 layers and hand warmers! Running in shorts and a tank felt so freeing. But the laps around the track did not. We ran for time, as we knew counting laps would not last long (as 8 laps=1 mile). The run felt great and we were all able to catch up without the muzzle of a neck gaiter in our way. Ha! Below is a pic of Meggie, Karen & Christie lapping it up.

Something exciting has happened at my office: Reebok CrossFit has shipped us a "box" that contains all the supplies to run a full CF gym right in our warehouse. Last week we were able to try out a very elementary workout, and now they are offering 4 classes a week to us. There are talks of building out an entire CF gym in our warehouse...but until then, we're all just enjoying a total body workout. It's fun to work out along side VPs that I wouldn't typically get the opportunity to talk to, let alone do lunges next to. Think that's one of the biggest reasons (next to health) that our management is bringing this here...to promote community among our 700 employees. Should be fun!

Nanny Natalie and Mr. Dave surprised the girls at school last week. Love that she always finds a way to visit them whenever she's back in town. Had to dress the girls in the t-shirts she made them (front says "Go IU" and back says "PU Purdue").

Just 6.5 more weeks until we go to Florida. The girls got some new suits for Valentine's Day...can you tell how excited they are?!?!

And this year for Valentine's Day I decided to save some money and make my own cards. Definitely didn't save me time, though. I spent Sunday nap time cutting and pasting. But they did turn out cute. Buggie's cards:

And Izzy's valentines are a little different this year:

Girls are getting lips on the end of a sucker while the boys are getting mustaches

Jaime and I spent another Sunday afternoon together, this time making sugar cookies and frosting (both homemade!) for the littles to decorate. Check out Jacob in the pic below, he's taking an important phone call while everyone else is smiling for the camera.

Besties. Jaime taught me how to use a stand mixer. So fancy.

Jaim and her boys

Gigi and her girls

One of the best sights in the world is watching your best friend love on your children like they are her own. Never gets old.

Happy Valentine's Day!

ps-sorry for the phone pictures...but my phone is so much easier to carry around then my big camera. I've been reading on several peoples' blogs that Instagram is killing the DSLR. True dat.

Weekend shenanigans...

These pictures are in no particular order...just a mish mosh of pics from the last few weeks that haven't made it onto the blog yet.

Laney has been joining us at gymnastics the last few weeks and she puts on a show of her own...

 Oh that face...

 Izzy is becoming stronger and stronger each week (and more brave)

 Silly face montage

 Playing at Chick-fil-a

 Buggy!

 Baking muffins

 Izzy back bending

Izzy loves wearing her IU dress because her nanny Natalie goes to school there. Yesterday, in preparation for IU playing pee-you Purdue, Izzy was doing her best "Kay You" cheer. She's so stinkin' cute!

And finally, we've been spending the entire weekend in big girl undies. My goal is to have Bug fully trained by the time our nanny returns in May. Wish us luck!

Super Bowl XLVI in Indy...

The much anticipated Super Bowl XLVI is finally here. Today. In Indy. Our city has been preparing for this huge event for the better part of 2 years and the hype the last month has been huge. There have been celebrity sightings all over the city, people renting their homes out for the week for $20,000, exclusive invite only parties, concerts, zip-lining and hundreds of thousands of visitors from out of town coming to our city to see it all come together.

I have to admit, I'm not one for crowds. Or traffic. I avoid both at all costs. Pretty sure I've never stayed to the end of any concert for this reason. And pretty sure I vowed never to live in a big city for the same reason (growing up in Chicago put the nail in that coffin). My anxiety and lack of patience gets the best of me and it's just not pretty. This being said, I knew I wouldn't go downtown to witness any of the Super Bowl events during the week or weekend. My company offered free tickets to many a party, zip line, experience, et al...I still wasn't going to do it.

However, I did find a way around this. I run downtown every Wednesday morning with the guys from Back On My Feet. We run through the city, past every major landmark within a 2.5 mile radius. I drove down a few minutes early this past Wednesday to snap a picture of the large XLVI roman numerals on the circle (right in front of the Colum.bia Club, where Mikey and I were married!). Since it was 5:30am, there were no cars on the circle so I was able to stop my car, get out and snap pics. The only other people there were all the news stations setting up camp. I got back into my car and drove to meet all the runners. I asked our pace-leader/coach if our group could run past all the big Super Bowl sites. He obliged.

 These roman numerals were made at the company right next to the Finish Line. We have been watching them create these numerals for the last year or so. I recall last summer looking out the window and seeing the large "X" and I'm pretty sure my entire division got their phones out and took pictures in excitement. We also saw them cart these numerals off via large semi-tractors in smaller pieces 2 weeks ago, heading for the circle. Was amazing to see them all put together, lit up in the heart of our city.

 Mile 2 of fartleks we ran right into the circle and past the roman numerals

We ran through Super Bowl Village and above is the taping of ESPNs morning show. Friday morning the Today Show was downtown and a few of my BoMF friends got some air time.

 This may be a little hard to see, but it's me and James in the heart of Super Bowl Village

 These next two pictures above and below are obviously professional pics but I just had to post them so you could see how our city was transformed into an amazing playground celebrating the big game. The far left (above) is Lucas Oil Stadium and the far right is the JW Mariott where the Lombardi trophy is displayed on the outside of the building. I tried taking pictures of both of these on my run but the lighting was awful.

I'm proud to call Indy my home. Now only if the Colts were playing today...that would be the perfect storm!

Birthday surprises...

So I turned 35 last week. Blah. Not super excited about that but I suppose it's just a number. February 1st...and boy am I happy that January is over. That was a tough month and I'm ready to start fresh. Re-do the New Year. The last year was filled with so much change that I can only imagine what this next year will bring me. I'm ready...bring it on. (But my new wrinkles? I could do without.)

Mike surprised me by bringing the girls (and Paradise cookies) into my office. Most people wouldn't think that's a big deal. However, most people don't work in the ghetto. For reals. There are shootings, overhead helicopter searches, school shut-downs and man hunts on the regular. Needless to say, the girls don't get to venture to my office all that often. Was so special to show the girls off to all my friends/co-workers...and to be able to snuggle on them mid-day. Loved that.

 I couldn't wait to get home after work, as I told Mikey the only thing I wanted to do was go out for Mexican for dinner. I'm not the biggest celebratory person in the world, so this was perfect in my book. As I walked into the house I saw streamers and balloons, wasn't really sure what was going on. The house was spotless. And quiet. I walked into the kitchen and I saw my neighbor Jill, Jaime and 3 of my runner girls. I instantly choked up and started crying. What in the world were they doing in my kitchen? I was in shock. And truly believed they were over to join us for Mexican. Not so much.

The doorbell rang and in walked the Moosbruggers (whom I haven't seen in almost a year!). The tears, I just couldn't stop them. Then the Bowdens. Then Bri all the way from Muncie. Then the Morses. Then the Falciones. With each ring of the doorbell my heart became fuller and fuller. My husband coordinated this entire surprise. And all these friends came over to celebrate my birthday. On a school night. I just couldn't believe any of it. I must have had perma-smile all night, I was so happy.

 Thanks to everyone who came over to surprise me...it meant so much to have you all here. And a special thanks to Mikey who organized the entire kit and kaboodle. He cleaned the house. Decorated. Got pizzas and a cake. Made salads. And invited all the special people in my life. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

And I thought we were going out for Mexican.

Princess Playdate...

We've had a few play dates with Izzy's buddy from school, Maggie, in the last week. I think Izzy loves that someone will play princess dress-up and tea parties with her besides her sister. She has a ton of little boy friends (Luke & Sam being her favorites) and she talks about them all the time. But sometimes super heroes and princesses need to play with their own kind :)

 For example, we did princess manicures, had a princess tea party, then watched a princess movie after dinner. We introduced Maggie to our favorite dinner game: funny faces! (Do you love Elvis in the background?!)

 The girls even let little Laney Bug hang out with them when she got home from school

 And last weekend we met Maggie and her family at the pool for some swimming

 The girls went around this whirl pool probably over 25 times...the water pushes them around and they just giggle the entire time (notice them holding princess mermaids).

 Daddy and Laney watched the girls go round and round

Just happy to know there are other little girls out there that are just as obsessed with princesses as Izzy is. Disne.y is going to rock her world!