New Arrival

Bet you all thought we were talking about the baby!!!! Well, for us it's almost just as exciting.

We finally have a dishwasher! It's a small portable one but is fabulous nonetheless. No dishwasher for the last 3 1/2 years has not been ideal to say the least. Especially with one kid and with number two on the way we were both dreading it. We'd been looking for one for a while and last December our landlord offered to buy us one since she had to raise our rent slightly. Deal. So, here is our new baby. Will be followed by another new baby in a few weeks (or any time really.)

Egg massacre with the Easter Eggs we dyed last week...

36 weeks and counting. I'm so big...

Owen showing off his baby

Last weekend my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephews were in town. Friday night we had dinner out and Saturday we went to the Brookfield Zoo with the boys. It was lots of fun.

Owen and his cousins (getting 3 kids to look at the camera at once is impossible I've decided)

Owen's favorite, the goatsFeeding the goats



Moo cows at the children's zooScary Vulture

Owen loved the insects. Even more than the reptiles cages they were often in. His favorite was the crickets. Gross.

Boat ExplorationHolding hands with cousin Bennett

Last week at Owen's school was the week of the young child. They had a special open house Wednesday evening with crafts in all of the classrooms. Unfortunately Owen is NOT into crafts but he still had fun going around to visit all of his friends.
Shockingly, he actually got his face painted.
He was a fan of the bubbles of course.
They grew bean plants in school too. Owen is very proud of his:)

As mentioned above, Owen loves bugs. He was particularly interested in looking for ants out in the front of the house.

This next video made us laugh. Owen's Godfather, Uncle Ryan has a yellow (or orange) hat. When we put it on Owen he said "Look, I'm Uncle Ryan." It was really cute. Can't believe he remembered and made the connection of this small detail.

Happy Easter!

This past weekend my mom came in to visit for Easter.

On Friday we just did some shopping as I needed some warm weather clothes that actually covered my belly!

Saturday Owen enjoyed opening some presents from Gigi. It took him a while to get into the swing of things, but over the last month or so he has come to realize that pretty much every package coming to our house is for him and he's really into it now. Not sure what's going to happen when the packages start coming for the baby!

One of the presents was a monkey that rolls around on the floor and laughs. It's cute (for a few minutes!)

On Sunday we colored Easter Eggs in the morning. Owen thought it was lots of fun, although it's a bit hard to keep a toddler out of the dye!

We also opened presents from the Easter Bunny.

Presents for Mommy and Daddy from the Bunny. Yum!!!

Happy Easter!!!!

After the morning festivities, we went to Mass. It was really nice and we got some great photos at the church of the family.
We finished up our Easter Eggs by adding Sesame Street stickers. Very fun!
In the afternoon, my mom and I went to see Billy Elliot. It was fabulous!!!!!!!!!! It far exceeded my expectations.

The day finished off with a wonderful Easter dinner of Ham and Pierogis. We have a lot to be thankful for right now and it was a great weekend to celebrate the life that Jesus gave us by dying on the cross.

Last week I mentioned that feeding the kitties is a new chore for Owen. Here he is enjoying his task.

Early Easter Fun

This past weekend our neighborhood park had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Overall it was lots of fun, and Owen was really excited.

There are a few things that the organization freak in me would have done differently, so maybe if we are still here next year I'll volunteer to help...

Owen looking for eggs

I found one mommy

I'm pretty sure Owen was more excited about the pinwheels on the side then the egg hunt.

Afterward there was an opportunity to take pictures with the Easter Bunny. Owen did really well waiting in line and was super excited to see the bunny. Until it came time to take the photo. I think this picture really says it all.

Owen running away from the Easter Bunny

I think being able to play in the park again may have been the highlight of the whole morning. Owen is now able to climb up the steps and go down the slide all by himself without any help. Different than before winter set in. I'm excited and sad all at the same time.

Running around on the playset. He looks SO old to me here.

Last weekend was a blur as we are hurriedly trying to get ready for Baby G #2. But, we still managed to squeeze in some fun building blocks amongst other things.

Owen taking an afternoon snooze in front of the TV while basketball was on. Typical guy.

Owen likes to "instruct" us as to how to do things these days. Here he is giving Daddy a lesson on where leaves come from and where to stand.

Getting closer to my due date, only 6 weeks away. Yikes!!!!

Little bit of this, little bit of that

We had a busy time last weekend beginning to get things organized for baby #2 to come. So, not much fun to report but at least we got some things done.

Owen got a haircut and actually did decently well. I wouldn't expect a repeat performance but I'll take it.

Some recent artwork...

Owen's classroom newsletter.
Blowing bubbles for Penny.

One of the things we did was bring up some of the 3T clothes from the basement. Owen still fits in 2T clothes just fine, but I over estimated what size he'd be in this winter and rather than buying a bunch of 2T clothes, I bought 3T. Oh well, at least he'll have some for next winter (hopefully.)

This morning Owen went to get his breakfast and his pants weren't tight enough so they fell right to the floor. Brett and I were both upstairs getting dressed and just heard him saying "Mommy, my pants fell down." When I came down to see what was going on, this is what the scene looked like. It was so funny and cute I just had to get a picture.
This weekend we'll be running more baby errands so I wouldn't expect anything to great in the way of updates but we'll try to come up with something.

Sunny Days...

This past weekend we went to Ohio and Michigan for our last road trip before the baby comes.

Friday night we made a grueling trek across a snowy Indiana turnpike to Brett's parent's house. By the time we got there, there was a little time to hang out with the family and then go to bed.

Saturday was the big day and real reason for going out (besides seeing family, of course). We took Owen to see Elmo Live. It was his first live show and he absolutely LOVED it. Surprisingly, he did really well and sat through the whole thing.

Cousins Bennett and Caden came for the fun along with their cousin Dalton (on right).

The whole family before the show

It was cute to see all of the characters. Not sure if they had this type of thing when we were little but I think I would have loved it.

Owen and cousin Ben watching togetherHanging out with Nonni Pat

Total Amazement

This video is dark and hard to see, but it captures Owen's excitement perfectly.

A great time was had by all. But thank God it was only an hour of actual show. I don't think I could have taken any more...

Saturday afternoon we just hung out and played cards while Owen napped and then we headed up to spend the evening with my Mom in Michigan. It was nice and relaxing.

On Sunday morning we went back to Toledo to have breakfast with Amy, Todd, Cooper, Gus and Baby Bieber #3 before heading back to Chicago.

You may remember from my last post that I was part of a paper doll swap. I received the one from my partner and she is absolutely fabulous!!!! She is just beautifully done and they even made her a hat and cape. So lovely.
I think that Owen is definitely ready for a playmate. Right now his favorite friends are the cats. And only Penelope will actually put up with him...

For a short time anyway...

We are getting really excited that spring is around the corner!!! The 5 day forecast has us steadily in the mid to upper 40s, which I'm sad to say, is making everyone around here very excited. Spring fever is in the air for sure.

Special Craft Post

I recently joined a paper doll swap on swap bot. I really wanted something that would challenge my creativity and skills as a crafter. Since I had never made a paper doll before, it was perfect. It's not just drawing out some paper clothes and folding over the tabs like the kind we had when we were little. You have to make the doll jointed and make her clothes.

I debated for awhile as to what I was going to do, but after reading my partner's profile, I learned she was really into the comic book character Harley Quinn so I used that for my inspiration. Thanks to my Aunt Lulu for her suggestion of using felt. It worked perfectly!!!

First came the doll itself. I used the pattern from the swap to create the doll. To make her jointed, I found adorable star-shaped brads in the craft section of JoAnn's. They added such a cute touch.

Then came the hard part which was crafting the outfit. Since Harley's clothes are reverse on each side, I cut out the same exact pattern on red and black felt then cut it down the middle and flipped it over to make the different colors line up. To give it some staying power, I used heavy card-stock in the middle which gave it some weight and stiffness. I used small pom poms around the collar.

Then I had to make the hat and the mask which were the hardest, but it all turned out really great in the end!!!!
I used clear velcro to attach the clothes (thanks again to my Aunt Lu for the suggestion) and overall I am REALLY happy with how it turned out. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. I can't say it's a passion so I probably won't do it again, but it was great to try something new.

Happy President's Day!!!