Father/Daughter Dance 2011

Tonight Mike took the girls to a Father/Daughter (and Mother/Son) Dance which was put on by our town's Parks and Recreation Department. Mike took Isabella to the dance last year, but this year they opened it up to include Kindergarteners, too, instead of just grades 1-5. This was great news for Sienna! She was excited to get dressed up and join in the fun this year!

My "Mini ME"!!

Elijah wasn't feeling well, so he and I hung out at home, watched Thomas the Tank Engine, ate popcorn and enjoyed some extra snuggles.

Mike's "Mini ME!" (the female version)

Dada and his dates!

Elijah couldn't pass up this photo opportunity!

Mike took the girls out for dinner before the dance. It sounds like they had a great time running around and dancing the night away with a bunch of their friends. They topped off their evening by going out for ice cream after the dance, too! What fun!!!

Franklin Park Zoo

Today we made a trip up to the Franklin Park Zoo. I heard that they had a new baby gorilla, so I was anxious to see her! Even though it was windy and many animals were off-exhibit, it was worth the trip to see the gorillas (my favorite animal)! I could watch them all day-especially the new baby!
Mike and Elijah tried to catch a peacock.

A zookeeper gave Isabella this peacock feather. Germ city!!!!

Elijah tried out Dada's sunglasses.

The lion was warming up in a patch of sunlight between the snowdrifts. That's just like Africa, right?

The girls checked out the tapirs.

The male gorilla.

Proud mama, Kiki, and her four-month-old baby, Kambiri.

Is she smiling for the camera?

I expected her to be bigger, but she was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! I wanted Isabella to sneak Kambiri home in her jacket!

Kiki sat patiently while Kambiri played around her. She's a very protective mama!

Go BC!!

It was a beautiful day to go to Boston College's first home football game of the season. Mike is the one with season tickets, but we were able to get four extra free tickets to the home opener since they were playing Weber State (which we had never heard of). It's in Utah, in case you were wondering.

All three of our kiddos were decked out in their BC t-shirts, and they were ready to tailgate! Mike posed with the kiddos in front of Alumni Stadium.
Then we checked out Fan Fest.
They had jumpies...
... and face (or arm) painting. Isabella went for the flying eagle.
Sienna chose the sparkly BC.Sienna and I matched!
Mike raced Isabella through an obstacle course.
Close-up of Isabella's eagle. The cheerleaders made an appearance.Everyone also got balloon animals (t-rex, horse and turtle bracelet).
We finally made it over to the tailgate with our friends.
Since we had a cook-out to go to, we ended up skipping the game, but we had fun at all of the other events!

10 years!!

Today is our 10th anniversary. We've been married for a decade!! A DECADE!!! Yikes! How did that happen?!? To see pictures from that amazingly fun day, click here. Since we're back in WI for the occasion, I told my dad that we'd like to renew our vows and have another reception at the University Club. We're on our own for that one!!!

Ten years is a long time. Although, it doesn't sound so long when you consider the fact that my sister just turned 40 (and celebrated her 17th anniversary), my sister-in-law and brother-in-law celebrated their 17th anniversary, my in-laws will celebrate their 37th anniversary in a couple days, and my parents will celebrate their 45th anniversary in December . But, how is it possible that we've been married for 10 years already?!?!? We can't be old enough for that, can we? Last year I mentioned that I wanted to go back to Bermuda for our 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. Instead, we'll be at our friend's wedding in Chicago while my dad watches our kiddos in our hotel room. We'll still have a fun weekend, but it's not the romantic get-away that I envisioned. Maybe we can sneak away for a night or two in the fall. Either way, we will celebrate the fact that we've been together for 14 1/2 years and married for 10! Woo hoo!!!

Right now I'm in Wisconsin visiting my parents. I dug through one of their closets and found my old prom dresses (why my mom saved those, I'm not sure!) along with my wedding shoes and my headband and veil that I made myself. My friend, Sarah, reminded me that she helped me finish sewing my veil during my rehearsal. Thanks, Sarah! I always was (and always will be) a procrastinator! I was a little worried when I found my sister's and my mom's wedding dresses but not my own. Thankfully, my mom had it cleaned, and it was tucked away under a bed and preserved in a special box. I was able to peek through the plastic window to admire my dress. It's not worth pulling out because I know that it won't fit, but it was fun to see it and show my girls!

Isabella modeled the headband and veil and the shoes.

Sienna only wanted to try the veil.

My veil still fits! Yippee!!

Isabella also got a kick out of the petticoat (or whatever it's called) that I wore under my dress.

This is one of those times that I'm glad that my mom saves everything!!!! That's definitely where I get my hoarding behavior, but I love the memories!

Happy Father's Day!

We spent a nice Father's Day together as a family. The girls helped me make our traditional breakfast in bed for Mike.
Of course, he had to share several bites of his breakfast with the three "moochers."
Sienna made a special mug/pencil holder at preschool and made an extra special personalized card.
This is what Sienna's card said:

My Dad is the Greatest!
My dad's name is Dada.
He is 64 years old.
My dad's job is to go to work and get seed packets.
His favorite food is Oreos.
He likes to drink rootbeer.
My dad's favorite sport is basketball.
When we are together, we like to play football and chase around the house.

Isabella made a delicious trail mix for Mike at school.

Elijah got Mike two sets of earmuffs for them to wear when he helps Mike cut the grass. "Dada sit tractor Jijah." (Translation: "Dada sit on the tractor with Elijah."

I made Mike a special Shutterfly book with pictures from our recent trip to Florida.

We went on a family bikeride, had lunch at Qdoba, and Mike had a massage before he took the girls to see Toy Story 3. We wrapped up the day with dinner at home. All in all, we enjoyed a very nice Father's Day together!

Dada/Petro/Michael (as Elijah has been calling him lately)-

We love you and we thank you for working so hard so that I can be home with our kids!!! We appreciate all that you do for us. Thanks for being the best dad (and husband) in the world!!

Happy Father's Day to my dad and father-in-law, too!!!!

Weekend Excitement

We had mulch delivered this weekend, so Elijah got a close-up view of a dump truck in action. Could that driver be Henry of "Henry drive dump truck" fame?!?

Elijah wasn't the only one who was mesmerized!

Elijah even helped spread some of the mulch.