Another Chance to Win a SkinnyKidz Belt!!

Calling all parents with young plumbers, you have another chance to win a crack-a-lacking solution (we watched Madagascar tonight;).  Go check out Jena’s blog, Cute Covered, to enter the giveaway!

I’m totally and completely spent tonight.  I’m flying solo while Travis and Kaakpema are on a business trip.  I’ve been trying to keep the kids (and myself) VERY busy with big morning outings and lots of afternoon cooking projects.  So far so good, but life would have been a lot easier if it hadn’t snowed here last night and today!!  WTF?!  Dude, I am ALL. FOR. global warming, and might just not recycle this week in protest of this weather.  Just kidding, Jack would NEVER let me get away with throwing out plastic or paper.

I’m very behind on posts and pictures, so I’m just going to try to catch up in this post.  Nick & Hillary (Shane’s godparents) were here visiting last week, and it was awesome to spend time with them.  One of the reasons Milwaukee was so high on our rank list was because it’s only 1-1.5hrs from them (they’re in Chicago), and that’s essentially having family nearby for us.  They’re sort of the ultimate friends when it comes to our kids, too, since they don’t have any (yet;) but love ours.  So yeah, we love having them in town!!

We have known Nick & Hill for a long time; Nick and I were housemates in college and really close friends then, plus he knew Travis really well too (since we were practically doing a long-distance marriage at that point).  Nick and Hillary started dating shortly after graduation.  Then Nick moved down the street from me and Travis in DC and used to come over for dinner & drinks almost every night,and would often meet up with us for morning runs.  Nick and Travis would go mountain biking on the weekends while I was studying (I was in med school then).  At that time, Nick was rooming with another really good friend of ours who Travis and I grew up with (Sharyn – she was Travis’ next door neighbor until they left for college, but they both went to UF together too).  I think Nick & Hill met Sharyn at our wedding.  So anyway, we all used to hangout a lot and Hillary would visit frequently on breaks from her masters program.  We had lots and lots of fun together.  Ahh, those were the days.   Where was I??  Oh yeah, catching up on pictures.  Here are a few from their visit:

Last weekend we got to hangout with some really good friends of ours who live ~1:15 South of us.  A lot of you know Emilie, Chris, Juneau, and Nova, and I’ve blogged about hanging out with them a bunch.  They’re a really incredible family that we absolutely love to spend time with because we have tons of fun and it’s just such a natural friendship due to our personalities, interests, and similar family dynamics.  This weekend we got to celebrate Nova’s 2nd birthday, which was precious.  Emilie’s mom was in town, and it was AMAZING to have an extra set of hands; she totally played grandma to all of our kids that day / night!  Em, Chris, Trav, and I got to watch some UFC fights while the kids watched Wall-E and snuggled on the couch with each other and their popcorn in the basement while Em’s mom took care of them.  Sweeeeeet!

Jack had a great time at the Stickley’s house as his alter ego, Princess Jackie.  He can’t resist when he comes across good dress up gear.  I love this kid; he’s so much fun.

We’ve all always thought Finley and Nova have a slight resemblance.  They have VERY similar hair, eye color, dimples, and skin tone.  I’ve never seen Nova spit fire or bite anyone though.  She’s 100% sweet, while our little one is more like the characters in those sour patch kid commercials;)  Oh how Finley loves her “No-fa, Juneau, Em-uh-wee, and Cwis.”