I'm taking a "Knitting" leap....

that's right, i'm venturing out of my comfort level and am going to attempt to knit this mini poncho. i stole this picture that my friend sara took from her blog. i LOVE it.....she says it's simple-simple, but her simple and my simple aren't even in the same dictionary. she called the other day and said she finished a sweater for one of her boys, her daughter and was currently working on one for her- and knowing her, she probably whipped it all out in a week.....well, with that said i'm hoping to have my poncho done by next winter, and beings how long this one is lasting, that'll give me something to look forward to, right? 

MOPS moment....

so we had mops on friday and once again i waited till the last possible moment to design the newsletter. here are a few excerpts if your interested, most of the information is from family fun, martha stewart kids and other magazines and websites. 

For our craft we made the "Salvation Easter Eggs" which was a huge hit with my kids. I had to leave early to pick up jaden from school, so i just grabbed the supplies to do it later. For the rest of the morning the kids had a ball with Grandma assembling it, she cut out and read the verses and then they would try to find what trinket went with what. Afterwards, Josie thought we needed to store the egg carton in the refrigerator with the other eggs, so that's where it's currently at- hopefully i'm fully awake next time i make an omelet and don't end up frying up some thorns and torn cloth.....ouch.

My Cousin's Wedding...

so here's a few pics from the wedding i'm editing... it was beautiful down to the finest detail. And i must say- for it being just above freezing out at the time, they made the most of it and got some really fun pictures- quite the troopers. Congrats to the bride and groom.....

wishing you much love, 

joy and 

laughter! :)

I'm losing some wisdom...

so i had a doctors appointment last thursday that i had forgotten about until they did the reminder call. well, i went and knew they were going to ask if i had scheduled an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out- i've been told for the last 4 years that i need them out but for some odd reason i was irrationally scared about it so i just conveniently forgot- well this time they said they could make the appointment so i said that would be better otherwise it wouldn't get done, well they got me in five days later- .....Thank God mom is here cause though the surgery went well i felt sick, tired, swollen and was in pain for the next few days.....but so far no dry sockets- yayyy!

Let's Getaway...

jeff and i were able to getaway to Chicago for a few nights this weekend while my parents are here watching the kids. We stayed at the Inter-Continental on Michigan Avenue, which i would highly recommend. We had stayed there once before (both times using priceline) so we new it was super classy and the breakfast is amazing. In the 3 days that we were there i think we experienced every season, but despite the wind, rain and snow we had so much fun.

Friday night we ate at a Tapas Bar (when i told this to my sister over the phone she thought i said top-less bar, you can imagine her shock....hahahah) anyways- it's a Spanish Restaurant where they serve Tapas and Sangria, so that night we celebrated Andres and Nuria (our foreign-exchange student brother and sister from Spain)

Saturday Highlights:

• Running on Lake Shore drive 

• Shopping, shopping and more shopping (of course)

• Museum of Science and Industry (such a cool place, definitely will take the kids there someday)

• Hailed a bus: yes, jeff and i got quite a comical self-tutorial on the chicago transit system, not to mention hailing a cab was one of my other goals in life (i know i really strive high) i figured a bus would be sufficient.

• Giordano's (despite the hour plus wait on any given night, this is a MUST-HAVE authentic chicago-style pizza

• The Dueling Piano's at Howl at the Moon

Sunday Highlights:

• Breakfast at the Hotel (we had the same waiter both days, talk about life experiences- he was originally from Bosnia, a business-owner until the war then fought in the war and eventually came to the U.S. - he had a bullet hole scar through his hand... makes you realize how incredibly blessed we are.

• Strolling in the snow for coffee at Borders to redeem a coupon i left back at the hotel...

more Shopping :)

• Broadway Play - The Jersey Boys.... featuring the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Season's, the seats were great and the show was incredible, i would definitely recommend it.

• Coming Home - that is until we got home and the kids had all evidently conspired to throw temper-tantrums about going to bed.... arghh.... :)

(Note: i did not take these pictures)

Mom to the Rescue....

My mom and pops are out for a week and a half....i love it when they come. Pops is helping out on my brother's house while mom is helping me with babysitting so i can edit my cousin's wedding. Very sweet. I feel very blessed. The kids love it when they come too....i believe we found the Play-dough recipe that my friend had used and had soft play dough a year later (you don't have to refrigerate)....fun stuff. 

(sadly i didn't take any pictures while they were here)....here's a shot of my dad from the wedding i am editting.

Marathon Mama's

....i'm not sure really where the idea came from, besides having a goal of someday running a marathon. well, evidently this is to be the year and i am so excited. There's a little group of us running now who all have kids so appropriately we call ourselves the "Marathon Mama's". Now we just need shirts :) I guess i should clarify that we aren't running a full marathon- just a half, but at 13.1 miles that sounds marathon enough for me. We have a 10 week training program that we've tentatively scheduled out which we start Sunday- July 5th and that will take us all the way up to the race on September 13th at the Glen Oak Park in Peoria. So up until then we are trying to get in some base mileage of at least 5 miles per week. We're all newbies so if you have any tips please let us know. - Let's Go Run!!!!

(Note: i didn't take this picture- it's from Running Central, but i do want to get some shoes from there. :)