New Years Eve!

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone!! I love New Years because it usually involves planning and dreaming of new things to come. I’m not much of a resolution maker, but, as always, I want to focus on being a better person - that includes being a better wife, mom to my 2 girls, daughter, sister, cousin, friend, etc. Life is nothing without the people around you to share it with. I’m very blessed to be surrounded by some amazing people that have made 2014 the best year of my life! :) 

In honor of the new year approaching, I thought it would be fun to do a quick recap of 2014, highlighting some of the best moments of the year! 

JANUARY: Celebrating Evie’s 18 months, Snow Days, and Finding out we are expecting Baby #2! 

FEBRUARY: Enjoying Valentine’s Day and Evie paints for the first time! 

MARCH: Evie’s first pedicure, courtesy of mommy :)

APRIL: Easter, celebrating cousin Declan’s 1st birthday, and we announce to family and friends that Evie will be a big sister! 

MAY: Evie takes her first plane ride to Florida for a family vacation and we learn that baby #2 is a GIRL! :) 

JUNE: Enjoying summer outings, including trips to the park, zoo, and Evie’s first time swimming in a big pool! 

JULY: We traveled to Wisconsin for the 4th of July and celebrate Evie’s 2nd birthday! 

AUGUST: I turn 30 and Evie starts preschool/daycare! 

SEPTEMBER: Evie is transitioned into a big girl bed while we finalize the nursery for baby #2! 

OCTOBER: Emilia “Emi” is Born! We have 2 beautiful girls in our lives! :)

NOVEMBER: We adjust to life with two kids, celebrate Emi’s 1 month birthday, and have our first Thanksgiving with both girls! 

DECEMBER: Evie has her first dentist appointment, we visit Santa, and celebrate Emi’s first Christmas and ours as a family of 4. :) 

And that is a wrap on 2014! What an amazing year we have had. I can’t wait to see what 2015 holds for us! I’d like to wish all of you reading my blog a very happy 2015 filled with wonderful surprises, blessings, and happiness! See you next year! ;)

 

Christmas in Review

Wait, what? Christmas is over?!? Did this holiday seem to fly by faster than ever or what? Maybe being a momma to 2 kiddos just makes time fly by so much faster, but I really feel like Christmas this year passed in the blink of an eye. Regardless, we really did have a wonderful time, surrounded by our dear family. 

On Christmas Eve I unfortunately had to work for a few hours in the morning.  Cue the sad trombone.  But after a few short hours I was released from prison work and headed over to spend the afternoon with my folks.  We watched Evie open some gifts and shared oplatek (read about this tradition here.)  

 Later that evening we headed to my in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner. Evie and Emi loved being with all their cousins and opened up some pretty amazing gifts! Evie’s favorite was probably the Elsa doll she got. She can never have enough dolls it seems. :)  

On Christmas Day, Evie woke up to find that Santa left her a mountain of presents and a new bike!!!   She can't wait to take this baby for a spin outside when the weather gets nicer!

After presents it was Christmas Day mass and then over to my sister-in-law’s house for some yummy food and more family time. 

I hope everyone had a magical and beautiful holiday surrounded by all their loved ones. I can’t believe we are drawing to a close on 2014. It really has been an amazing year for us!

 

Christmas Week!

Happy Christmas week! It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Today in Chicago we have been flirting with Spring-like weather, yet tomorrow’s forecast has snow in it! We have been preparing for Christmas for a few weeks now…since Thanksgiving ended in fact! As of today, I am officially done with all my Christmas shopping as well! What a relief! We had 15 kids to buy presents for this year…yep! 15. Tom and I picked one night last week to wrap all the gifts. In addition to severe hand cramps, I learned that I’m officially the world’s worst present wrapper! Sorry in advance to anyone getting a gift from us!! ;) 

I have loved watching the magic of Christmas unfold in Evie’s eyes this holiday season. Now that she is almost 2 ½ it’s so much more fun to partake in all the festive activities this season brings. We went to see an amazing light display in a neighboring town and she was over the moon excited. It was really quite heartwarming to see!!

I hope everyone is enjoying this time with family and friends nearby!  Have a blessed Christmas!!

 

Tis the Season....

Oh boy...another month has passed since I've updated my blog!  Eek!  This being a mommy to 2 kids thing is no joke!  Unfortunately the blog has taken a back seat, but I'm hopeful this time I'll get back to posting more regularly! 

I looked at the calendar today and couldn't believe that we are already 2 weeks away from Christmas Eve!!  I swear, it should still be October in my mind!

I have loved reading posts from so many bloggers about their Santa experiences with thier kids.  This year we have been prepping Evie for Santa for several weeks.  After last year's tears, we wanted to do what we could to get a smile from her in this year's visit with Santa...our efforts worked!  Check out the picture we were able to get!  SCORE! :)

We made the dreaded trip to the mall to get this shot, although I must say...I had a great experience!  We went on a weekday at around 4pm and there was no line!  Also, the mall we went to had an "Ice Palace" set up which was very Frozen-like!  Here are some shots of my little Elsa ice princess. :)

After taking our picture with Santa, we attempted some pictures of the kids in front of our Christmas tree for our Christmas card.  Getting a 2 year old to gently hold her little sister was no easy feat, but this was one of our faves from the 50+ shots I snapped.  I wish I had some of the outtakes to share with you...rest assured, they are hilarious. :) 

Finally, this past weekend Evie's daycare held a St. Nicholas Day event.  It was absolutely adorable to see a bunch of 2 year olds dressed up in their costumes attempt to put on a show for the parents.  Needless to say, most kids ended up running to their parents in tears.  My little Evie was a champ though! :)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and soaking in some great memories with their little ones!!