Late Night Sledding

Finally, some snow! The kids were beyond excited. Other than doing their homework and eating dinner, they could be found outside. We even discovered the little hill in our backyard makes for some perfect late night sledding.

Liam Stevens

Amazing work by London based illustrator and designer, Liam Stevens. (via Where the Lovely Things Are -- another from the archives)

Artist of the Week

Look who's the Artist of the Week! C! My friend Tami sent me this picture when she was at the school today. I'll get to see it in person tomorrow during my lunch duty shift. He's very excited.

Out of Hibernation

Can you believe it's January and I got to ride my bike today? Outside? In Wisconsin? Not only that, I really enjoyed it! It was a gorgeous sunny day in the 40s. Besides my running tights, I had to borrow all of Brian's cold weather gear (since I don't own any). In fact, I didn't even have any wheels on my bike -- thinking it would be a few months before I'd be riding again. I borrowed Brian's Pablove wheels, but have got to say, they look pretty nice on my bike. I haven't ridden since the beginning of September and was a bit rusty. And while it looks like the warm weather is going to stay for a couple days, it's going to be cold towards the end of the week. If anything though, it makes me realize it's time to get myself on a trainer -- only a few months until Spring!

Soccer Weekend

Soccer with H on Saturday. Soccer with C on Sunday. Both scored goals, and had an absolute blast playing their very first indoor season games. In fact, it was the first time H ever played indoor, and he played better than ever. And in between we got some stuff done around the house and even made it out for brunch. It was a pretty nice weekend.

VIP

Look who came up for a visit today! Melissa. Oh my gosh, I sure do miss her. It was so great catching up. I'm already so excited for our next visit. P.S. Nice slippers, Ang. I probably could have put some shoes on. But I have a cold, remember? Not really thinking clearly. Anyhow, what a great day.

Inspiration Files :: Swedish Summer Home

 

 

I know, I know ... a summer house and it's winter. Or, at least it's supposed to be. It actually felt like a beautiful spring day. Here's another from the archives -- one I just don't want to forget. I could easily see spending time here. (via Bliss Blog, photos by Rachel Smith)

Ginger, Lemon, Honey

Woke up with a headache, and now I'm sniffly. Drinking lots of this, hoping it goes away.

Art by C :: Abstract Self-Portrait

Something to Remember

The kids went back to the school today, and Brian back to work. It was just Storm and me around the house. I had grand plans of putting in a big day of work since I was trapped without a car. But when I realized my office was still closed for the holidays, I decided to take the day off too! And I used it to get organized around the house. The tree came down. I weeded through holiday decorations we haven't used for awhile. I did about seven loads of laundry. I took the dog for a long walk. Oh, and I got my car back this afternoon, so that's a good thing. Decided it was time to go through my Google Reader too. Lots of good stuff from long ago for the inspiration files. I also found this image and figured it was a good reminder to help kick off the new year. (via It's Mary Ruffle)

New Year's Day at Ray's

We woke up this morning and took The Frig's over to Alterra for a little breakfast, then headed on over to Ray's before they went back to Chicago. Ever since Brian took H to Ray's MTB on Monday, he's been begging to go back. He absolutely loves it there. The boys were trying to go on Friday, but the timing was just off and they were not able to make it. Today worked out great though -- especially since our friend David from Chicago had planned on coming up with his son and nephew so we got to meet them there (our friend Eric runs the place, so he was there with his wife and two of their kids too -- so fun). I thought the park would be packed, but it wasn't. And it was perfect. This time, C even got in the action. H has been on a bike for a long time. But it's just not something C completely feels comfortable with. He did great today -- spending most of the time in the practice section before making his way to the flat track that goes around the entire course. I spent a lot of my time running after him, while Brian and H tackled the harder course. Even though C did a great job riding, his favorite thing still was taking breaks and jumping into the foam pit (which my husband did a 360 into on his bike, by the way -- pretty impressive). It was a really fun day. Such a great place.

Can't post without including this adorable photo of Brian and little A. It was taken at Ray's right before they left. Sad. I miss them already.

New Year's Eve Celebration

After we had gotten home from the nature center -- and endured the whole car fiasco -- we started making dinner. Over the past few years, we've spent Christmas with the Elsmo's enjoying a relaxing dinner consisting of several courses. We of course love eating this way, but so do our kids! And we really missed a meal like that over the holidays (we miss the Elsmo's too....), so decided New Year's Eve. was the perfect occasion. Scott, Ali and A swung by for a little visit in the afternoon, which seemed very appropriate. They are such a huge part of our "new" Wisconsin life -- and it was so great to do a little pre-New Year celebration with them. Around 6pm, my cousin, Justin, and his family (who just moved to the area a month ago from Tampa, Florida) came over to join us. We had such a great time. Justin, Amy and the girl's had to leave around 9pm for another celebration, while Chris, Penny, Brian and I continued eating and trying to stay awake until midnight. The three youngest kids crashed around 9:30 p.m. H did his best to stay awake until 12:00, but fell asleep on the sofa a few minutes shy of it. Honestly, we didn't stay awake much past -- but we did it!

New Year's Eve. Celebration Dinner:
Olive Cheese Puffs
Mediterranean Salad with Prosciutto and Pomegranate || Bon Appetit
French Onion Soup || Paula Deen
Mushroom Ravioli with Green Pea Purée || Vegetarian Times
Steamed Mussels || Tyler Florence
Caramel Budino with Salted Caramel Sauce || Bon Appetit

The Frigs Visit

Oh my gosh, it was so much fun with Chris, Penny and the girls. We really didn't have any plans except to ring in the New Year together. On Saturday, Brian and Chris ended up going on a bike ride. So Penny and I loaded up the kids and went for a little hike at the nature center. So much fun. They kids are seriously so cute together. Unfortunately, on the way out, my car suddenly died and I ended up having to get it towed! We'll find out what the deal is tomorrow. I was just so happy it happened on the last day of 2011, instead of the first day of the new year! That would have really been terrible.

(By the way, the tooth fairy even had to pay a visit while The Frigs were here).

Celebrating 40

Whoa. What a whirlwind weekend. Seriously, it was so much fun. And I'm honestly sitting here, just so happy and content ... thinking my life is pretty much the best ever. There's really no better feeling.

Friday afternoon, Chris & Penny and the girls drove up from Chicago. It's been a few months since we've seen them last, and was just so awesome getting to spend a few days with them. I really, really miss them! They had spent the night before at a water park, so were pretty beat. Fortunately they didn't mind that we had another party to attend that night. In fact, they suggested a slumber party with the boys. It worked out great, and the kids loved just hanging out. They've kind of grown up together, and it's really quite amazing seeing them together. The reason Brian and I had to leave, was to celebrate our friend Kim's 40th birthday! It was a surprise party, and Jesse did an amazing job planning it. I hadn't seen Kim and Jesse for a few years. They lived in California, and just recently moved to Montreal, Canada. Our friends Greg & Yvonne were also in town from California. (Quick side note story: Yvonne and Brian went to school together. We were at their house for dinner about 12 years ago, when we started talking about their neighbors. Turns out, it was Kim and Jesse -- and Brian and Jesse grew up in Racine together. We've tight ever since.) Anyhow, it's been a couple years since I've seen Greg & Yvonne too! We also got to see some friends from Chicago who came up for the occasion (Another small world story -- our friends Paul and Roger have a house in Michigan where they spend a lot of time.  And their neighbors are good friends of theirs, who we've known for years! Strange.). We just had so much fun hanging out and being goofy (and clearly immature ... as seen from the fake breasts -- a gift from the birthday girl's mom, by the way). We even danced the night away! Before we knew it, it was 1:00 in the morning. And we still had an hour drive back home. But I honestly didn't want the night to end. I adore these people, and hope it's not another three years before we get to see each other again.