Easter 2014

Easter 2014 was a success.  We had 2 weekend of Easter celebrations.  The weekend before Easter, we hosted my family for an Easter brunch.  The kids are always happy when they get to be with their cousins.  We sent the kids on a scavenger hunt to find their Easter baskets.  And the brunch was complete with our favorite Easter traditions:  polish sausage, pierogies (homemade), and horseradish. 

 

We spent Easter weekend at the cabin. After going to see the Living Stations of the Cross at our church, we headed up to meet everyone at the cabin. We spent Easter weekend putting in the pier while drinking pop n wines...so it was pretty much perfect!  Much to the girls' relief, the Easter bunny found them in Indiana.  They also got to do a special Easter egg hunt outside this year thanks to Papa.

 

After rushing back to make Easter mass (which we made, but it was standing room only and hot and we almost had another "Katie church incident" with Abigail), we then headed to Great Nani and Papa's house for the traditional Italian easter dinner.  It's always wonderful to spend the day with family!

 

It was a wonderful Easter celebration.  And as keeping with my tradition from EVERY SINGLE holiday, there are no pics of adults...including Rob and myself....except for my parents this year!  Jules wanted a picture of the kids with mom and dad so we got some great ones!  Next year I'll work on the parents, nana and papa, and aunt and uncles (and next year with be Uncle Vern's 1st official year as a Muskovich)!

 

Cousins

On their scavenger hunt

No Words!!!!  The cutest Leigh bunny!

Libby was NOT ok with Leigh taking off her ears.  They were in it together!

Libby with Grandma and Boompa (I really wish that name would stick)

My crew

The whole crew

Did the Easter bunny come to the cabin??? 

"Ba"

More loot

And more loot

Easter egg hunt

She is gonna rock this bikini like nobody's business this summer!!!

My 3 loves

Happy Easter

I had to throw this one in...I mean, how old does Caitlin look???

Libs

Bug (sorry, that nickname won't leave)

 

Abby (she has officially changed her name at school....tear, tear....I'm still not doing it)

 

Happy Easter 2014!!!!

  Thank you to Nana and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Julie and Uncle Joe, Aunt Katie and Uncle Vern, Great-Nani and Papa, and Aunt Pam for all of the girls Easter presents!!!  They were spoiled rotten!  And the candy is not going to waste!  I'm home today with a sick Libby and I found Caitlin eating a BOWL of M & M's and Jelly beans!  With a spoon!!!!!

Spring Break

A few weeks ago, we had a chilly cold spring break!  The weather may have changed some of our plans, but it was a wonderful "staycation" spring break.

We were planning to head to Milwaukee for a few days of hotel pools and zoos, but because of the weather, we stayed at home.  Instead, we hit LEGOLAND and Rainforest Café one day.  We had a great day!

 

 

We did a lot of catching up on things over spring break. New shoes needed to be bought.  Our house needed a good old-fashioned cleaning.  Easter outfits needed to be finished.  We needed to catch up on a lot of things.  But we still found time to do fun things like eat lunch at McDonalds.  I love that the kids appreciate the little things in life.

 

The highlight of Abigail's spring break was her movie date.  Abigail's teacher took her and her friend to a movie.  It was a silent auction item we purchased for Abigail and she was a happy little girl.  What an amazing memory of kindergarten her teacher created for her!

 

 

The final 3 days of spring break, we headed up to the cabin for the weekend (unfortunately Papa couldn't join us because he had to work).  In keeping with the theme this year, it was COLD.  But we managed to get outside for a couple hours around the campfire.  Also, the girls and Nana stopped at the Garfield Park Conservatory on the way to pick up Daddy at work and enjoyed the warm indoor weather, the beautiful flowers, and a fun visit with their cousins!

 

All in all, it was a pretty great spring break. Only 10, 9, 8 more Mondays and then I'm home with them for the WHOLE summer.  I can not wait!!!! 

 



Libs

Our little Libby continues to be a lil ray of sunshine!  She has the ability to make you smile and happy...she has no idea how happy she makes everyone.  She will be 16 months in 3 months!  She has really started to make the transition from baby to toddler.  She is a very curious, very very busy toddler who is into everything!!!  She is starting to talk...and is our lil bilingual baby!  She understands polish from her sitter who mostly speaks polish to her and uses some polish words (tak for yes is a main one) but also understands English perfectly and uses lots of words.  Some words are:  bravo, hat, shoes, baba (bottle), baba (sounds different in a weird way is book), cheese, dada, mama, Bella (her sitter), tatin (Caitlin), love you, thank you...and I'm sure there is more!!!

The 3rd child is so fun because I don't "chart" everything like I did with the other 2 because I know how different every kid develops!  She is her own lil person!

We think she has some allergies so we are hoping to get her in to an allergist soon, but have started some allergy medicine which is helping with her never-ending runny nose!

Libby has the craziest mullet ever!  I really want to cut it but Rob really doesn't...so I'm trying to appreciate it because it's the only time in her life that a mullet is acceptable!  She also had the biggest, cutest baby belly ever!  I'm pretty sure I never thought a belly was cute until I saw hers!  I can't wait for her to rock a bikini all summer!!!

Libby is the biggest Daddy's girl that ever existed!!!  When she hears the garage, she goes crazy getting to the gate as fast as she can and screaming for Dada!  If he's in his chair, she makes me get her a bottle (parent fail...we still let her drink out of a bottle...might be bad parenting but I can't let that darn bottle go cause she's my baby) and brings it to daddy's chair for him to hold her.  I do not even exist if Daddy's around...and I'm totally ok with it because it's heart warming!

She is still using the potty and I'm sure I could potty train her, but I'm not in a huge hurry...maybe this summer!!   Speaking if summer, I can't wait to do some classes with her this summer.  Libs and I do a library class and it's funny to see how shy she is in big groups when her sisters aren't there...but such a ham when she's with her family!

Libby Lou, Libs, Libs-a-Saurus, Libby Frances...we love you!!!

At mommy's staff vs student bball game

1st time facing forward in a car seat...but only for 1 day!  She's back to facing back as long as she can!

Valentines Day at Monkey Joes with her cousin Leigh!  BFF

Watching Daddy and her sisters sled

I love how she sleeps!

Who doesn't love a bath picture?

Family game night

Making herself cozy

Libs

Our little Libby continues to be a lil ray of sunshine!  She has the ability to make you smile and happy...she has no idea how happy she makes everyone.  She will be 16 months in 3 months!  She has really started to make the transition from baby to toddler.  She is a very curious, very very busy toddler who is into everything!!!  She is starting to talk...and is our lil bilingual baby!  She understands polish from her sitter who mostly speaks polish to her and uses some polish words (tak for yes is a main one) but also understands English perfectly and uses lots of words.  Some words are:  bravo, hat, shoes, baba (bottle), baba (sounds different in a weird way is book), cheese, dada, mama, Bella (her sitter), tatin (Caitlin), love you, thank you...and I'm sure there is more!!!

The 3rd child is so fun because I don't "chart" everything like I did with the other 2 because I know how different every kid develops!  She is her own lil person!

We think she has some allergies so we are hoping to get her in to an allergist soon, but have started some allergy medicine which is helping with her never-ending runny nose!

Libby has the craziest mullet ever!  I really want to cut it but Rob really doesn't...so I'm trying to appreciate it because it's the only time in her life that a mullet is acceptable!  She also had the biggest, cutest baby belly ever!  I'm pretty sure I never thought a belly was cute until I saw hers!  I can't wait for her to rock a bikini all summer!!!

Libby is the biggest Daddy's girl that ever existed!!!  When she hears the garage, she goes crazy getting to the gate as fast as she can and screaming for Dada!  If he's in his chair, she makes me get her a bottle (parent fail...we still let her drink out of a bottle...might be bad parenting but I can't let that darn bottle go cause she's my baby) and brings it to daddy's chair for him to hold her.  I do not even exist if Daddy's around...and I'm totally ok with it because it's heart warming!

She is still using the potty and I'm sure I could potty train her, but I'm not in a huge hurry...maybe this summer!!   Speaking if summer, I can't wait to do some classes with her this summer.  Libs and I do a library class and it's funny to see how shy she is in big groups when her sisters aren't there...but such a ham when she's with her family!

Libby Lou, Libs, Libs-a-Saurus, Libby Frances...we love you!!!

At mommy's staff vs student bball game

1st time facing forward in a car seat...but only for 1 day!  She's back to facing back as long as she can!

Valentines Day at Monkey Joes with her cousin Leigh!  BFF

Watching Daddy and her sisters sled

I love how she sleeps!

Who doesn't love a bath picture?

Family game night

Making herself cozy

Caitlin

Ahhh...our Caitlin bug.  What can I say about her???  She is full of personality!  She is very self-confident!  She knows what she likes and doesn't waiver!!!  It has been a fun year being her teacher and I feel very blessed to get to watch her learn, grow, and develop her 1st real friendships.  That being said, it's also time for her to have a new teacher who isn't her mom!!!  But I sure will miss her next year...luckily she is right next door! :)

Caitlin played basketball this winter and LOVED it, but she really loves everything she does!  The girl has passion!  She is also in a dance class and is really excited about her performance because it's Grandpa's favorite song, "Fly Me To The Moon.". She is also in swim lessons and is a really good diver!

Caitlin has just started speech again.  She did 2 hours of speech a week until she turned 3, then got put in the school systems speech program which was a huge letdown.  Now, our school doesn't have speech since its private, so Rob and I had to find a private speech place.  We found a great pediatric place about 30 mins from our house, so Rob leaves work early once a week and takes her.  She just started but they are great and are back to treating the "apraxia" which was what the 1st speech teacher did when she made so much progress.  Funny side story, she asked her speech teacher to call her Kate.  We always thought that might be her nickname, but apparently she already is using it!

This summer she wants to start Irish dancing which she has wanted to do since she was little, so I think we will give it a try!!

She is a great big sis to Libs and an even better lil sis to Abigail!  She really looks up to her, but also is pretty good about understanding Abigail gets to do more sometimes because she's older.  We hope Irish dancing will be a thing that is special and unique about Caitlin because we worry all the time about her feeling like "the middle child" which neither of us are, but we get warnings from Nana and Aunt Julie! ;). I really don't think there is anything we can do because no matter what, she will be the middle child.  We just treat them all the same...and also key them know that everything in our house isn't always "fair" but it will always be the "best for them".

Here are some pictures of our sweet, rambunctious, sometimes very sensitive, always funny Caitlin Bug.

At dance class...2 years later she still loves the "pose".

Show and Tell at school

A valentines day project at school

The awards at the end of basketball

Ash Wednesday at school.  She really wanted a picture of herself! ;)

Basketball wearing her jersey she asked grandma and grandpa to bring back from Spain...and she literally has worn once a week for almost a year now!  She knows what she likes!

Mommys little helper

What used to be a chore is now one of my favorite times of the day.  Libby lives to help me put the dishes away!  She's really too smart for her own good...she knows what goes where and what stuff to hand to mommy.  And she names everything!  She also gives herself a standing ovation (clapping and saying "bravo") after everything she puts away!!! Nothing makes me smile more than when I find a bowl mixed with the pots and pans 'cause I know Libs put it there!!!  This little girl makes me just plain happy!!!  Even doing dishes!

Catholic Schools Week Celebration