Holiday pics.

 It was such a nice day when we did our Christmas card pics, that we were able to get some great fall pics as well.

 

I call this one Tommy's Zoolander face.

 Wes happened to be wearing a jersey too, so he jumped in.  This one made the Christmas card.

 Some smooches for the little brother.

 We always have to take a few silly ones--this made the card too!

10 years!

 Wes and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this October!  We had a (kid-free) overnight trip to Connecticut the weekend before our anniversary, which was awesome!  He surprised me with a ten diamond anniversary band that night.  I told him his gift would be late.

The cool news is that he was getting inducted into the University of Chicago Athletic Hall of Fame at the end of October.  He was an amazing college athlete--football and track.  He still holds the University records for the Hammer throw and the 35 pound weight throw.  He went to nationals every year of college (and would always bring me back a shot glass from the cities he went to!).

My plan was to do an extreme living room makeover while he was away. We had a rather sterile living room, with furniture that was way too small for him to get comfy in.  Here are the before pics:

 He left for work on Thursday night at 10:30pm.  He had a Friday morning flight and was returning at about 2pm Sunday.  Thursday night, I moved all of the furniture out of the room, washed the walls, and prepared for the makeover.

I wanted a Chicago Bears theme, but a subtle one--one that would not require repainting before we sold the house!  Deep colors are to be expected in a historic Victorian home such as ours, so it was perfect.  So, we started; one of my legal assistants spent the day painting while I assembled the new TV stand and made other preparations.  I needed to spray paint picture frames orange, and frame pictures of Wes and the kids wearing their Bears gear.  My other legal assistant held down the fort at the office, but had made awesome pillow covers in orange to add some color to the room!

 The furniture arrived on Saturday morning.  We painted, framed, hung art and new curtains, placed furniture, and it was done...almost!

 I needed the TV to be hooked up!  There was a Bears game to watch when he came home!  With some help from a friend, we extended cable and he managed to set everything up so that when Wes walked in the Bears game was on!  (Too bad they were losing.)

 He was pleasantly surprised by the finished product.

 I think it turned out pretty well!

 There's a huge sofa, but if Daddy's on the loveseat, the kids want to be too!

Mission accomplished.

Wes was surprised.

He loved the room.

I love him.

It all works.

 

I cannot top my written anniversary tribute to him from last year.  It's all been said.

2013 Anniversary Post

 

The sentiments are still the same, the love only stronger.

Happy anniversary, my love.



Are you ready for some football???

Sunday!  Sunday!  Sunday!  Big Man was happy because the Bears home opener was on.  Time for lazy Sundays, game food and family time.

 

Dani and Tori prepared by doing pre-game stretches.

 Tommy's contribution was to take an nap for almost the entire game...so he didn't make it into any pics this week!

 The girls brought their little table and chairs into the living room, and played while we watched the game.

It was a reminder of how nice it is to be back home!  And, how much I love football!

Go Bears!

I was hoping to get a family pic while each of was dressed in our Bears garb during Football Sunday. Unfortunately, the kids conspired to sleep in shifts so we never had all three awake all day. But, even little Tommy was decked out in Blue and Orange!

A little snuggletime.

And, arguing over a call wtih Daddy!

Someday we'll have a good enough family pic to print!

Dress Up: two ways, a Dani guest post.

Some days, I like to dress up like a pretty princess, and play with all the jewelry in my jewelry box. I like to dress daddy up too!

But other days, it's fun to run around the house and pretend I'm a Chicago Bear!

Did you know that tomorrow I'm going to be a big sister again? And I helped mommy find my old Chicago Bears onesie so Tommy can wear it and look just like me!

We're going to have lots of fun, Tori, Tommy, and I...since we're going to outnumber mommy and daddy!

Crushing defeat.

Dani and Tori dressed up for the Bears playoff game, but were so disappointed in the poor performance they had to find something else to do:

Turkey Day!

We piled into the minivan and headed up the hill to my cousin Dave's for Thanksgiving. For the first time in years, I didn't have to cook a single thing. We were assigned to make sweet potatoes, and since Big Man actually likes them, he made them. He also made a to-die-for chocolate pecan pie.

We have much to be thankful for. Each other. Beautiful, healthy kids. Family.
Uncle John spent some time with Tori before dinner:

As usual, Dani loved looking at the fishies:
Tori, now able to crawl, wants to play with everything Dani has. In this case, Dani was playing with "Murray Guitar" (every guitar is Murray's to my Wiggles-obsessed kid):
Gail showing Dani the wine opener. That got a lot of use!

And Dani, snacking on some pre-dinner mashed potatoes with Aunt Renny.
It was a good day. And, today, the Bears won, upsetting the Eagles, which rounded out our list of things we are thankful for.

Dani's turning two in less than two weeks. She is singing happy birthday to herself and asking when the kids are coming over. We're having a Mickey Mouse themed party, and she's going to have a blast!

Busy bees!

We had a busy weekend--from a Friday night wedding at Beardslee Castle--outside ceremony and reception with mosquitos so thick you could grab them out of the air--even the wedding party was swatting. It was a cop wedding--so lots of shaved heads--which were covered in bites/welts after a short time. After the ceremony, we learned that the cocktail hour was outside too...........AH! I kept Big Man's blazer on the whole time, and the bartenders had bug spray, so we all sprayed down, because it was brutal. Today, I look like I have the chicken pox--it's that bad--red dots all over my legs, feet and ankles.

It was a very nice affair, nonetheless. As my faithful blog readers know (Dad), Big Man won't let me post his pic to the blog...so Facebook friends who don't realize that I don't type the notes in Facebook...this is why you don't see his face...because it is here on my blog.

We got home late Friday night, and got up early on Saturday so we could get ready for Big Man's family to come visit. Brothers and wives and kids and such came for the weekend to hang out, and to watch the Bears game!

Dani had a blast with her twin cousins, Jason and Justin. But, she loooooved her Uncle Ronnie. She's always been attached to him, even as a little bitty thing. After they left last night, and all day and night today, she kept saying, "Uncle Ronnie" and pointing to "Uncle Ronnie's chair" which was where he sat at the dining room table.

Dani just had a blast!

And she even got to play with the 'mote! And the Bears beat the Cowboys! It was a great weekend!

Home opener!

And somehow, the Bears won. It wasn't pretty, but we'll take it. We just can't afford to lose to the crappy teams like the Lions, and we almost did. If the officials hadn't declared Johnson's TD an incomplete pass (even Big Man said he got robbed) the Bears would have lost. But, they didn't!


And, Dani and Tori looked uber-cute in their Bears outfits!
Dani must have said "Ch-Ca-go Bears Foo-ball helmet" 4,000 times. So adorable!

And when she's not cheering on the Bears, little Dani tends to make a little mischief. She likes to sneak into the bathroom. We can't keep the door shut because that's where the kitties do their business, so every once in a while I'll hear the toilet flush, or find something like this:

And Tori is as giggly as ever. So cute and happy.

I have a video to upload but blogger's being a b*tch, so you'll have to wait for it.

It was so nice to watch Football today. Just a wonderful, family Sunday. I didn't get to watch as much of the games as I would have liked, but there were babies to feed and books to read to Dani. It was fun though. I realized that, without Donovan McNabb, I really am wildly indifferent to the Eagles. The Football Ticket has an awesome new feature this year--you can program it to tell you when your fantasy football players do something point-worthy. That was pretty cool...it kept popping up a bottom bar that would give us an update on our teams. What did we ever do back before digital cable?

Are you ready for some football?

We sure are!

I predict Colts 34 Saints 31.

We picked up some monster delmonicos at BJs today, and Big Man is getting ready to grill. He's got the night off and it's going to be fun!

Pancakes and politicians.

I took Dani to the Town of Florida dems' pancake breakfast this morning. She had a great time, and we got to spend a little time with our Congressman Paul Tonko!

I have known Paul for over half my life and worked for him for years when he was in the Assembly. It's great that he's serving in Congress during the Obama administration.

Big Man has tonight off, so we are getting ready for the Bears game. I'm going to try to stay up for the whole thing!

I got hosed in my office football pool league--too many upsets and wins that didn't beat the spread. This is my first year picking with a spread and it's hard! Sucks when you pick the winner, but lose anyway because you didn't beat the spread. Good news is that in my league of about 55 people, I'm in 1st place for the season--it may fluctuate to 2nd depending on the outcome tonight and tomorrow, but I'm kicking butt!

Almost all packed for our big trip Wednesday! Dani's first flight!

Football Sunday!

Finally, it's football season again! I must confess we didn't watch as much of each game as we would have pre-Dani, because we were constantly chasing her around and stopping her from climbing up on furniture. We did get her to sit still for a second or two:

Dani was looking awesome in her Bears cheerleader outfit! She was so much fun today.

My fantasy football team is kicking ass! Big Man is home tonight, and we are ready to watch the Bears kick some butt tonight!

I had to share this one--looks like Dani is in baby jail!

Pregnancy update: I finally understand morning sickness; never was sick the first two times, but I feel queasy about 70% of the day. Meh.