Chicago

Last weekend we headed to Zach (Andrew's brother) and Annika's for a weekend of fun. On the way, we stopped at Dad and Mom Wiese's. We had so much fun showing them Ollie's new tricks and just hanging out and catching up.

After a delicious lunch we were on our way to Wheaton. The reason we were really going up was for the kids resale that my sister-in-law, Annika, introduced me to last fall. This was their spring one and I was so excited to get Ollie some summer outfits! We arrived around dinner time and headed out to a yummy Mexican restaurant and headed back to Zach and Annika's to put the kids down and hang out. Nancy did such a good job playing with Ollie and we had to snap a picture before bed.

Saturday morning us ladies woke nice and early and headed to the resale. We met Annika's friend and our sister-in-law Melissa there and had a full fun day of shopping. We all found really good deals and had a blast! The men did a great job taking care of the kids so we could get some deals :) Thanks so much guys!

After, shopping we headed over to Kevin and Melissa's for pizza and to celebrate Kathryn's 2nd birthday. Dad and Mom came up in the afternoon and we had a fun evening to celebrating and showing off the loot we had made out with at the resale.

Sunday we got to go to church, out to eat, and a stop at Goodwill before we headed home. It was such an enjoyable weekend and I can't wait to head back up for the fall resale! Yay for amazing deals! Thanks so much family for everything... we love you!

Long Lost Post...

So here I am posting about the Super Bowl. My mom sent me these pictures and I wanted to have them here in my little journal :) Enjoy!

Thanks for having us Dad and Mom!

Wonderful Weekend

Last weekend was a good one! Dustin and Leah flew in from Idaho for a wedding in Des Moines and we drove up to spend some time with them. It was so great to see them for a little bit, shop, and we even got to spend time with our great friends Joel and Tori . It was good to catch up with them again! We also got to see Dan and Anna over dinner and catch up with our friend, Kathleen, at the mall. The only bummer part was that Ollie had a bad cold and wasn't feeling well... but he was a little trooper! Also, these are the only pics of the weekend and they aren't even mine (thanks Mom!)...

We are thankful for such wonderful family and friends! We love you all!

Our 1st Date...

in over 8 months was had a couple of weekends ago! We met my mom at Target and handed him off for the evening. I have to admit I did miss him the first 10 minutes at Target but quickly got over it because I knew he was in good hands. We enjoyed a little shopping and then dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was so delightful to enjoy my husband over an uninterrupted meal. We could focus on each other and talk about anything. Meanwhile, our little man was hanging out with Papa and Grandma and one of his two favorite things about their house- the snowman! (his other favorite is the digital picture frame... so funny)

Thanks so much Dad and Mom for giving us a much needed date night! We love you!

Kate's 3rd Birthday

So Wednesday I watched Kate and Jake for my sister while she was working... the boys (especially Ollie) loved watching Veggie Tales with Kate.

Can you tell that Ollie is just fascinated with the movie? This is why I don't let him watch movies ;)
So Kate decided that she wanted to stay and spend the night with us. She has always wanted to and it has just never worked out. She could spend Thursday day having fun with Ollie and I, and since we would be going to her birthday party on Thursday night, we could just take her back for it. She did such a good job and we had so much fun. All she wanted to do was watch movies. Here is the birthday girl, in all her glory, just watching movies... we did do other things but an aunt can spoil her right!?

So when Andrew go off of work we headed up to Aaron and Nichole's for Kate's party. Her dad brought her home some birthday balloons...
she is 3!
and she got her Strawberry Shortcake cake :)

Ollie and Papa.
Such a cute family. We ate delicious pizza, sang Happy Birthday...
and opened gifts...
a picnic table!
and a new bike!
Such a fun birthday for a sweet little girl! We love you Kate!

8 months

Thursday Ollie was 8 months old... how time flies! He is army crawling all over and getting into everything he isn't suppose to. He loves raising his arms and laying his head to the side (see bottom pic below), it is so cute. Lately he has been taking 2 long naps a day and sleeping well at night, so nice! He had a bad cold for a couple of weeks and wasn't sleeping very well, so frustrating! He has been jabbering a lot more and is eating his baby food 3 times a day now pretty well. He loves to be out and about and gets a little bored when we are home for days in a row. I don't blame him :) He does a good job playing on his own but loves mommy to hold him. I think he is about a half pound away from 22 pounds. We better go buy his new car seat! We are enjoying this stage so much, he is a joy and blessing to have around!

We love you soooo much Buddy!

Ames Weekend

Or day... we were just there for the day last Saturday. Andrew's family (most of us) gathered in Ames last weekend to visit Dan and Anna and to celebrate birthdays. We woke up early and made it to Ames by 10 am. We did a little thrift shopping, ate a greasy lunch, and came back to the hotel for a little down time. Here is one of the purchases Ollie got. It's a little big but he will be able to wear it soon enough!

One exciting surprise is that Abby got to fly back for the weekend! It was so great to get to spend the day with her! Here are the girls and some of the purchases :)
Then we headed out to buy Dad his birthday shoes and see Dan and Anna's cute apartment. Here is sweet little Kathryn.
Before we went back to the hotel for pizza and birthday celebrations, we stopped in to see our friends, Joel and Tori, and their little boy and new sweet baby girl. It was so fun to hold a tiny baby again. Thanks for letting us stop by guys... next time it will be longer! :)

Back at the hotel we celebrated while the kids swam (Ollie didn't get to). Here are the birthday boys.
Anna entertained Ollie so well, thanks Anna!
Our sweet little boy. He was such a trooper all day.
Singing Happy Birthday before we sped back home.
It was a short trip but well worth it! It was so fun hanging out with family we don't get to see too often. We missed you Ben, Sherry, Kevin, Melissa, kids, and AJ! We love you all!