Happy Birthday, Luke!!

Happy Birthday to the one and only, Luke! I am so blessed to call you my husband and I am thankful for all you do for our family! Your hard work ethic and determination to be the best at everything you set out to do is something I value and appreciate! Thanks for being such a positive role model for Bishop and Nora! We love you as big as the sky! :)

We started Luke birthday celebration on Saturday evening with Dan and Molly! Our night started in NE at Tattersal, which was a really neat spot to have a cocktail! We ventured over to Bauhaus from there and ended at Tilia for dinner! It was the perfect night to re-connect with great friends and to celebrate Luke's birthday!

 A big shout out to my parents for watching the kids that evening.....and to my mom for bringing Luke's favorite dessert! :)

 Luke's birthday fell on a Monday and the kids had swimming--so we celebrated at the Red Cow after swimming and we played a game of Uno while we waited for our food!

So much love for her daddy!

He looks up to Luke so much and wants to be with him-it's so sweet!

Pokemon, The Renaissance Festival

Bishop and Andrew trading Pokemon cards!

A raccoon in the neighborhood tree!! Watch out!

Happy birthday to Claire! The kids made her a little present and card! :)

Bishop has been working so hard on reading--and I was so proud and excited when he came down for breakfast one morning with his book and dove right in!

Practicing with dad on a beautiful fall night!

After soccer fun with the Weaver kids! :) 

After gymnastics on Saturday we headed out to the Renaissance festival! We went a couple of years ago and the kids were excited to go again! Nora was a little apprehensive at first with all the people in costumes....and I didn't blame her-there were some interesting and scary looking folks there! Once we walked around a little and found some fun things to do we all enjoyed it and ended up staying for almost 4 hours!

My obligatory picture in case we get separated! ;)

Target practice

The kids got a kick out of the tomato throwing and Luke ended up taking a turn. I thought the heckler could have done a better job with him--he was razzing Luke about his 401K and how he probably had to take money out of it to afford the Renaissance festival! Ha!

Luke did his best in the tomato heckling throw! 

Nora LOVES getting her face painted!

Soccer, gymnastics, Fulton Fest and Block Party!

Friday night was the first night of fall soccer! Bishop insisted he play with Cal and Charlie--and Johnny's on their team too, which is fun! It became tradition for the boys to take their shirts off after they play--and they've kept up with that tradition with soccer--oh boy!

Saturday morning brought back gymnastics for Nora! She loves it and I'm so happy for the positive experience for her and for it being so fun! She doesn't know anyone in her class, but that doesn't bother her--she has fun at each station and I've definitely seen some big improvements with her front and back roll!!

We hustled after gymnastics and met Bishop and Luke at the Fulton Festival for the bike parade! The kids decorated their bikes and biked around the block! Nora participated for the first time on her own pedal bike and did great! It's a little chaotic with all the kids and not the easiest place to bike, but dad was right there to help her out the entire way! She was excited and proud, which was fun to see!

After the bike parade the kids played carnival games, had some lunch and Nora got her face painted! I was happy that they chose the free events (they had no interest in the bouncy houses which cost $)!

And we ended our fun, busy day with our annual block party! I took a little more responsibility in helping plan/organize the evening, although it wasn't that bad! We decided against a bouncy house this year and it didn't seem to be missed--while it's a lot of fun, it can become a little nerve wracking with all the kids and "policing" to take turns. The firetruck came early and the kids had fun biking and hanging out on the block instead!

Nora loved driving Carolyn's car!

Claire came! Big hugs for Claire!

Nora is so lucky to have such great girls to look up to on our block! Alex and Nora!

Honestly--just a few of the kids on the block!

Andrew and Bishop by the fire!

Silly Nora!

I know I've said it before but we absolutely love our neighborhood! We have a nice mix of families--some older kids, younger kids, retired couples, singles, etc. It's great to connect and the kids love having the open street!!

Labor Day Weekend 2016

The first week of school went well and we were all excited for a 3 day weekend to break things up and "officially end summer"! Friday night Luke and I went out in NE. We went to Psycho Suzi's and then we had dinner at Betty Danger's Country Club, which was a blast! We rode the ferris wheel, had dinner and played mini golf--it was such a fun night together!

On the Ferris Wheel!

The kids made a little play area in the window well!

Saturday night the McGovern's came into town and we hosted our friends for dinner! There were 13 adults and 19 kids at our house....it was crazy fun!! I'd have to say Bishop and Nora handled it really well--especially considering all these kids came into their house and played with their toys! One friend commented that at one point she saw them standing together just observing everything that was going on......and that describes them perfectly (being there for each other and making sure they're each ok with what's going on).

Bishop and Stella playing air hockey--note the mess of toys from the evening! 

The McGovern's spent the night and Stella, Bishop and Nora had a blast in the morning making pyramids and "forts" with the unused red solo cups! It was great to see everyone and it reminds me how lucky we are to have such great friends! This group of friends is really special.....everyone is there for each other and there isn't a feeling of judgement from anyone, which is pretty neat with that big of a group!

On Sunday we headed up to the Bormann's in the afternoon for the fantasy football draft! Every year it goes smoother and faster than the past year (at least it feels that way). The kids ran around and looked for attention from us (by making up a little noisy band) while we were drafting, but overall they played great together! When we arrived Nora and Madelyn ran up and hugged each other and didn't let go for a LONG time.....and the boys joined them! It makes my heart so happy to see the bond they have and how much they love each other! I was too busy drafting and having a good time, I didn't take many pictures! Thanks, Ryan and Shelly for hosting--it was such a fun time...I always love our family time!

"Sweet sisters!" :)

And we enjoyed our Labor Day at the Como Zoo! Bishop was so excited to show us around since he had been to the zoo on a field trip this summer!

Enjoying icees and cotton candy!

The kids enjoyed driving around Como Town! Bishop was hesitant at first...but ended up doing it and loving it!

I think Bishop needed a bigger car! ;)

After Como Town we headed over to the pavilion for lunch and ran into Phil and Lisa and their kids! The kids had a riot running around together and we ended up walking over to their house for a little bit before heading home!

Bishop really wanted to go mini golfing, so we played 9 holes, which was a ton of fun.....until we had to leave. Bishop REALLY wanted to golf 18 holes and was tired and hungry and had a bit of a meltdown. It's something to look forward to for another time! ;)

And just like that our 3 day weekend was over!!