Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Ears, Ears, Ears

We have been busy, but my camera has not been coming with me!  So no pictures.

Last week was the week of ear infections.  Caitlin woke up Tuesday morning with a burst eardrum, so we headed to the dr to get her on meds.

Friday we took Abigail in for her follow-up (she has been on 3 rounds of antibiotics for an ear infection)...not only has her ear infection still not cleared up, it's actually spread to the other ear.  She has had this ear infection for almost 2 months.  So, looks like tubes are in Abigail's near future.  We are on our final round of anti-biotics, but the dr said if it didn't clear up on the first 3 rounds, this 4th round probably won't make a big difference.  Since Abigail doesn't have a fever or seem to be in much pain, they aren't rushing to get the tubes in, but at the end of the month when Caitlin goes to her ENT to get her tubes checked, Abigail will also go and we will schedule tubes surgery then if the ENT thinks it's the best plan.

So that's been our "ears" fun!!!

Last Friday I took the girls to open gym at a local gymnastics place.  Abigail loved it, so I think instead of signing her up for her next round of ballet/tap, we are going to switch over to gymnastics and see how she does!  Caitlin is still in gymnastics and likes it too, but we have missed 2 weeks because of illness and then snow.

This weekend daddy had to work on Saturday, so the "girls" met grandma at the mall for shopping and lunch.  Then, we ended up staying for dinner with daddy and grandpa joining us!  We had sushi and it was GREAT!

On Sunday, we headed over to Rob's Aunt Tina's house for a superbowl party.  It was a lot of fun!  The food was great!  Abigail played the whole time and we barely even saw her...she was very independent!  We also got to see Nana for the 1st time since her week in FL and I'm very jealous of her tan!

We'll see what this week brings...and I'll make sure to take some pictures!

Snow-mageddon

Snow-pocalypse. Snow-mageddon.  Snow-M-G.

Call it what you want, but the Chicago Blizzard of 2011 was one for the record books.  22 inches of snow in about 12 hours!  Cars stranded on Lake Shore Drive and 53 overnight (with people in them)!

We had a great time enjoying our snow day inside our warm home.  It's really the first time I remember where EVERYTHING shut down.  Schools, libraries, stores, businesses.  Rob even got the day off, so we knew it was going to be a fun day!  And the Wennerstrom Family Fun Day didn't disappoint!

Here is a view of our balcony this morning.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the snow drifts against our garage..they were easily 4 feet!

Snow as tall as a princess!

We decided to make snow ice cream this morning!

Take 1 gallon of fresh snow.  Add 1 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp of vanilla extract, and 2 cups of milk.  Mix and serve!  It was delicious!

Big smiles for snow ice cream!

Mmmmm...

The final product!

During nap time, Daddy headed out to plow.  The bonus of living in a townhome (and paying townhome assessments) is they plow...but daddy decided to get a start on it! He worked.  And worked.  And worked. 

And just when he was about done, the snow plow came!  :)  They actually came cause they saw him and wanted to help...very nice! 

After naps, the wind chill finally reached above 0 (it was a warm 7), so we headed out for the promised sledding/snowman making (although the snow was too soft to make snowmen).

Ralphie's brother from Xmas Story

"Sledding" with our fun neighbors, the Staniaks!  Nothing says "family fun" like using the drift against the new construction homes!  But hey, it worked!!!!! 

So cute!

Daddy is a master hill builder!

And of course, every sledding day must end with hot chocolate! 

We had a great day enjoying our snow day!  School as already been called off for tomorrow...and it's supposed to be COLD here (30 below tonight).  Another day of fun activities in the house!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears!!

For the Bears Packer playoff game, we went to a really fun restaurant/bar!  They advertised "kids eat free" so we knew it would be okay to bring the kids!  While the outcome of the game may not have been what we hoped for, the experience was great!  They had free wings and a free pig roast at halftime.  And when the Bears were losing, they gave free jello shots to get the crowd going!  Daddy won some betting game and a tshirt too!  It was so much fun...it was like being back in the city before we had kids.  We had a great time...and the girls behaved wonderful!  Nana and Papa were with us...so that helped!  :) 

Check out my new big girl car seat!  (Backwards of course)

Cheering on the Bears!  The next best thing to being at the game (like lucky Grandma and Grandpa)!

A picture of the crowd...the restaurant did a GREAT job! 

How Miss Abigail enjoyed the game!  I think she colored for 4 hours!

Although the Bears lost, it was a really fun 4th quarter and we are so happy we went out to experience the excitement!

(Sorry about picture quality, I only had my phone camera)

It's a Date

Last night was Daddy's Night at school.  Just another (of many, many) reason why I love Abigail's preschool.

Daddy and Abigail were both excited.  Of course, I couldn't let her leave without her new "Daddy's Princess" shirt we picked out for the day.  While getting dressed, Abigail said "Mommy, Do you know I'm going on a date?"  I said, "You are?"  "Yep," she said, "It's a date with Daddy!"  It was so cute!  Don't know where she got the idea of a date, but it was so priceless!

And of course, they couldn't leave without some pictures!

They made a cardboard tie for daddy to wear to work (which he took with him today proudly), a picture frame, and had an ice cream social!  All in all, a great night!

Mommy and Caitlin got to stay home and have some quality time together.  We sang A LOT of "Monkeys jumping on the bed" which is a favorite...I'll have to videotape Caitlin's motions to the song.  She continues to love music more than any  kid I know!

Happy Friday to You!

Beach Day

Lots of little posts to come...

Last week as we started to get a little stir crazy, we thought of creative things to entertain ourselves.  One morning, we had a beach party in the bathtub!  The kids thought it was a lot of fun...only thing missing was the "tan" at the end! 

Caitlin had been in her bathtub "seat" until this day, so this was her first time in the bathtub without restrictions.  She loved it.  She also got her big girl car seat this weekend...what happened to my baby????

This is FUN!

Hazel eyes

Painting in the tub.  Best clean-up ever!!!

Abigail's adorable bathing suit she got as a bday gift from Luca!  (Caitlin has a matching bikini like it...I can't WAIT for the summer and our days at the park district pool).

Moms out there....what other creative things have you done to help with the winter blues?????

Lots more to come...Bears game, Professional Pictures, and Big Girl Car Seat!

A beautiful story of love and faith

I wanted to take this chance to share a really great story!

I used to teach kindergarten with Noah.  I  learned SO MUCH from him about how to respect my students and how to teach in fun and creative ways!  His kindergarten class made CDs about the things we were learning.  Their art projects were amazing!  I respected him so much as a teacher!

Around the same time we were both trying to start families.  With help of modern medicine, we were able to have Abigail, and then Caitlin.  However, his path to his family took a little longer, and with more bumps in the road.

A few months ago him and his wife received the beautiful gift of parenthood through adoption, only to have the birth mother change her mind.  They had an hour to say goodbye to their child.  He writes about it beautifully....

Most would be bitter and mad, but they were inspiring and optimistic.

And yesterday he shared that 2 weeks ago he received "the call" again and today, him and his wife have a beautiful daughter!

I am so inspired by adoption!  I think it is the most selfless gift a birth mother and adoptive parents can give each other, and the child.  And I am even more inspired by his story of hope and love!

With his permission, I share his blog with you!  http://noahphipps.blogspot.com/

I should mention...as I said earlier...Noah is very creative!  So his story of his 1st adoption is told in the stories in October...you may say "I only see stories of a wolf"....read deeper!!!