It's birthday time!

March.....what a wonderful month.....awaiting spring and celebrating the girls birthdays. Would you believe we never even planned it this way? March 5th and six years later, March 12th? It was literally a month full of celebrations. Starting with Julia's friend outing to the Iowa Energy basketball game. I highly recommend the IA Energy birthday package. For $14 we got seat under the basket, popcorn, pop, hotdog, and goodie bag FILLED with Iowa Energy stuff. The girls all got to stand on the court to slap hands with the players as they came on to the court, and Julia got an autographed ball, and to walk down the fan tunnel with Jefferies! He ended up with over 20 pts that game!!!

Julia with former Iowa State player Curtis Stintson

All the buddies enjoying the game

Sophia eating cupcakes at Julia's after the game party

The girls eating their cupcakes. Such good catholic girls! Some didn't have any because they gave up chocolate

On Julia's actual birthday, March 5th, we took the girls to Baratta's for dinner. We were going to give Julia her new guitar there, but Sophia had a meltdown, so went to my parents so Nana and papa could watch her open it. We went ahead and gave Sophia her toy guitar as well, to distract from Julia's real one. We went up to MN to visit dan's parents that weekend. They had a cake for the girls, and I forgot to take my camera, but imagine it was a good time!
Next came Miss Sophia's actual 2nd birthday. After the previous meltdown, we decided to get take out and eat in. She loved her cupcakes, and her new bike!!!And finally......the joint party for the family for both girls

I'm not sure how all of my family fit in that kitchen....lol. But it was a great day out and lots of fun.

The Sock Hop

Julia's school, St. Anthony's, had a sock hop on January 16th. I went down after work and helped get the gym ready to rock and roll. Dan wanted to leave Sophia with Nana, but I agreed to chase after her, so both girls got the poodle skirts rockin and we had a great time. Julia made me enter the hoola hoop contest....I had a record time for quickest elimination.... We had pizza, did the macarena, and the chicken dance. Sophia LOVED it and Julia had a great time with her friends.

Christmas 2008

Christmas eve at our house
Julia and Sophia at christmas mass at st. anthony's

Dustin, Ethan, Samantha and Julia at Richards

Dustin, Danielle, Megan, Sarah and Julia

The Nativity scene that Julia made for school.

We had a great christmas. Dan's parents came down from MN. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my brothers, my sister and the kids. Dan's parents stayed with us, so we did presents as a family that night. Christmas morning we opened presents from Santa, and went to mass. Sophia was a little nutty, so Dan ran her to my mom's during the service and we didn't even know it until he came back alone for communion...lol. After a brief visit at my parents, we all went out to my brother Richards for a wonderful Lasagna dinner. It was so nice to have brothers, sisters, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, inlaws all in one place to celebrate a great day.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving in Minnesota this year visiting Dan's family. The car ride up was great, and both girls were so good in the car. We drove up thanksgiving morning. It was such a nice day out. Dan's brother Dirk, his wife Jenny and her mom Nancy joined our family and Dan's parents for a great dinner. Afterwards, Jenny, Nancy and I took Potter for a walk.

Friday the whole family hit the Minnesota Zoo. (thanks to the Blank Zoo pass it only cost us to park!) They had awesome exhibits, and we walked around for 2 + hours. We didn't take a stroller, so Sophia gave mom quite the workout for the 1st hour running thru the indoor trails, and not actually stopping to look at much. Her favorite phrase lately seems to be "c'mon".....very cute....

After a pit stop at the house for some grub, we hit the bowling alley, where Jenny and I proceeded to beat Dan - twice! Saturday we drove home and hit the Redwing reunion show and had a great time, while the girls caught up on some time with their cousins at Nana's. It was a magnificant holiday visit and weekend, and we are very thankful for all our family and friends during this holiday season.

Happy Holidays

Happy Halloween!

What a week.....Monday night we carved our pumpkins! I went with the traditional cut, while Dan got creative and did a skull and crossbones pattern. The girls had a great time, and they both actually helped clean out all the "guts".....

Hope everyone has a safe and happy halloween! I found out today that telling jokes on Beggar's night is a central Iowa tradition only. Isn't it funny how you assume that everyone has the same traditions you do? Now I am researching this tradition and will let you know what I find out.....

In the meantime......last night was great. Julia was a vampire bride! Very cool. Sophia started out as Snow White, alas, the costume was too long and she was tripping up the sidewalk before passing the house....SO, she came back in for a wardrobe change, and tadaa! Tinkerbell to the rescue. Dan took the kid's around the neighborhood, while I handed out candy. Julia was very helpful, taking Sophia's hand as they set out to the neighbor's. Sophia had no problem walking right up to people's doors, and tried to steal all of the candy in each bowl. Apparently, Julia thought since it was nice out she didn't have to wear socks. That didn't work out very well considering she was wearing boots! So, I picked them up around 7:00 and we hit our annual visits to friends and family. We finished off the night at Baratta's, so we could all have a dinner treat. Julia insisted on wearing her costume to bed, and to Nana's house today...lol.

OH - and Julia's joke......Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 8 9!!! Happy Halloween!

Picking Pumpkins

Saturday we went to Jill and Steve's house to pick some pumpkins! Apparently BOTH girls are complete hams, as you can tell by the photo....Sophia made herself right at home pulling out Macy's shopping cart, and scooping up all of Aidan's hotwheels....good thing he wasn't there.....

She definitely loved the little kittens running around and mastered the stairs to chase them immediately. I was so proud of Julia for playing with Macy right away. There are 3+ years between them, but not much difference in height/weight....lol.

Sophia loved the farm, but loved the big yellow kitty even more. She started following the cat into the harvested field, and dad had to chase her down......She absolutely loved running free, and by the end of their walk, she was kickin back on dad's shoulders enjoying a ride, while the cat followed THEM back to the house....The funny thing is, Dan is allergic and doesn't really care for cats, so it was quite ironic that one followed him around.....