A Vegas I Do!

NaBloPoMo?? Hah!Did I really think I was going to post daily? I'm terrible! I went to Vegas for a long weekend and sure enough got completely behind on posting. Once I returned I got so caught up in catching up that writing was the very last thing I thought of.

I had a good five day run there, though.

Last weekend, Eugene and I went to Vegas for Wendi and Jeremy's Wedding.

It was on 10-11-12. Pretty damn cool, huh? 

Finally, a decent picture of the two of us!!

It was great catching up with college friends again.

Taken at the Chandelier Bar, which OMG-- it's a three story chandelier. AMAZING!

I was terribble at taking pictures though. Their ceremony was so sweet and I was too busy weeping at all the cuteness to document any of it. I've watched Wendi and Jeremy grow so much over the last 13 years and to celebrate the most important part of their relationship was truly special.

My college roomate and dear friend Carrie, a Rockstar in every sense.

This girl has taught me SO much. 

And to laugh with my boys again wasn't too shabby either!

There came a point though, when Ed and I had a shoe up our ass.

And in true Vegas fashion, we all got tattoos.

Seeing Wendi's family again reminded me of how much I adore them. It's crazy to me how time can pass and I won't see someone for years--but that moment I reconnect it's as if NO TIME has passed at all. As if time and distance never even mattered because the connection I once shared was so authentic, nothing can take it away.

I felt that SO many times this past weekend with my friends and with her family. I'm so happy that I went.

And I'm so happy for Wendi and Jeremy. Here's to many, many more years to come!!

Congratulations!

Fall Family Pictures!

You are well aware of my obsession with fall. One of the many reasons I love fall is because it makes for such amazing photography. I always love getting fall pics. In fact, Eugene took some awesome fall shots when we went to Door County two years ago, you can read all about it HERE.

We stayed local this time and the pics turned out just as cute.

What I love about this picture is that Chance has his tiny little hands folded nicely. 

My 4 year going on 24 year old Mia! She spied these gold jeans at H&M and fell in jean love. At least she's wearing jeans, I recall last year it was a skirt or dress EVERY single day. Small improvements.

Okay, she doesn't look like a first grader does she? This picture makes me a little sad. 

They're growing up too darn fast.

I love this shot for two reasons 1) dimples and 2) Elvis pose

Hug-a-pumpkin picture

Bear-hug-a-pumpkin picture

Dry-erase heaven

Arbitrary lean on a tree pose

My little boy!

Chance's angry look and Mia's stoned eyes didn't make the final cut

So this three tree pile-up was the coolest playground for about 5 minutes until I noticed the funghi growing all over it and I called it quits because clearly I am not a fun-ghi. Sorry. Had to.

Funny face picture

Looking stage right.

This picture makes my heart all warm and fuzzy!

Hide and Seek

Adore

Fall 2012

Columbus Day. Let us all rejoice, I think.

Happy Columbus Day!


Last year I schlepped the kids to the zoo on their day off. This year I schlepped the kids to the fitness center where they cavorted with friends while I moaned through an hour of piloxing.

After lunchtime, we met up with some school friends at the park and played, sipped hot chocolate and devoured some Munchkins, just the way Christopher Columbus would have wanted it.

At dinner last night, we attempted a Columbus talk and this is what went down:

(Please note I added some web images for your viewing pleasure. Also, why do I sound so mean?)

Let's Bowl Tonight

Every Friday evening we like to have some sort of family fun. Sometimes it's family movie night or sometimes, like tonight, it's family fun night.

So we went bowling. Cue the Grease 2 music.

We had a blast. In fact, I think I'll always bowl with the bumpers up. It's surprising how well you can do when there are no gutters!

The only arguing that occurred was when Chance and Mia fought over who was in charge of 

"Mission Control" and Mia wasn't budging. It was rather obnoxious. She kept explaining to him that she was in charge of communication! Hah! I swear that was a Backyardigans episode.

And Macho Man Chance refused to let anyone help him carry the ball.

And consequently almost took off his head a couple of times.

But he did it! Btw, the ramp? Totally awesome.

Unless your Mia, who ditched the ramp a couple of times and literally gave her bowling ball the SLOWEST push imaginable.

It took 5 minutes for the ball to make it to the pins. Look! It's still not even there yet!

Then I turned around and caught Bella letting her hair sway in the fan and 

couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Here's how Chance reacted every single time it was his turn.

Anticipation!

Excitement!

Hooray! 

Victory Dance!

But don't let that red headed grin fool you. He LOST HIS SHIT when we had to take off his bowling shoes. He loved them! And I gotta say, they're totally cute on him, they were velcro and easy and would match every outfit. 

Hmmm....time for a little web search!

Zombie 5K!

It's 10:22 Saturday evening and Eugene and I have decided not to watch one of the many movies that are taunting us on Netflix or not to get sucked into three back-to-back episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (which only lead to midnight nacho cheese binges anyway) and instead treat ourselves to a night of full sleep. Yes, you read that correctly. A FULL NIGHTS SLEEP. What are we, 70? 

We used to be cool, I swear.

Here's a preview of our weekend, which I hope to recap in full detail tomorrow, unless of course I take out my dentures, watch Wheel of Fortune and fall asleep in my mu-mu.

Friday Family Fun Night was spent bowling!

And today we took the kids for a trail walk hoping to get some good Fall pics. But of course with our luck it was also the Zombie 5K race. Which meant that zombies were hidden in the forest waiting to scare the crap out of all the runners and chase them away. 

To say the least, it took some explaining to the kids. 

Chance still didn't get it and I swear piddled his pants a couple times because of it.  

Our family photo sessions just might scar him for life now.

Good Night!

A Mia Medley

So in the blogging world, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) was started to encourage bloggers to write every day for a month. It was inspired by the National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo which happens every November.

While I'm obviously 4 days behind in October, I'm attempting to post daily this month. Maybe it'll be just a picture, maybe more but its a little challenge I'm putting on myself.

So please, I encourage you to stop by as much as you can. And while I've never actually admitted it, I do love to read comments. So, if you've ever thought about commenting and didn't, please do. Open exchange is always good.

Okay, here's a little video we put together over the summer for our daughter Mia. She's hilarious and I could watch her dance for hours!

Life Before Kids: A Dinner Party

Last weekend we threw a dinner party--this time though-- it was ADULTS ONLY. With other neighborhood parents, we gathered at our house to toast an evening of good eats, good drinks and NO KIDS!!!

Our children go to school together so we all know each other as families but not really as individuals. Which in turn, led to our first toast, getting to know each other as more than just parents.

We started the dinner off with a spoonful of my homemade cantaloupe ice cream. Whenever a recipe calls for a sweet cream base, you know it'll be tasty! After the second course, shrimp ceviche, we headed outside to the patio where we each grilled our own pineapples and beef BBQ sticks, filipino style. 

About three weeks prior to the party Eugene woke me up out of a deep sleep with a manic look in his eyes that could only be attributed to someone who has spent the entire night surfing the web and sure enough he wakes to tell me that he has ordered a TABLE! TOP! GRILL! as in, "we can cook a course ourselves--think of the possibilities Gina!" Tired and annoyed, I rolled back to bed and a week later, this was delivered.

I gotta keep an eye on this kid. Before I know it, our dining room table will be one big hibachi grill and he'll wow the kids with the onion volcano trick. But for this purpose, I gotta admit, it was pretty cool.

I totally dropped the ball in the picture dept. and barely took pics during the meal. In fact, it can all be traced back to doing this shot of Limoncello out on the patio which made me a little loosey goosey and a tad forgetful.

We headed back inside and enjoyed three more courses of amazing food, of which I have no pictures. But, trust me, it was good. A pasta dish, a 3-inch steak and a lemon tart to finish it off.

Glass after glass we talked and laughed and learned more about each other. We swapped stories of how shitty our kids could be sometimes and how great it is to be parents other times.

When our four hour dinner ended we all retreated to the patio for more fireside drinking. Which we did till 1:15 in the morning! Did I mention that we had no kids around?  The next morning, I SLOWLY woke, cursed Eugene for leaving the lights on only to realize it was the effin' SUN. Hungover as hell, I hissed the glowing light and went back to bed. But deep within the darkness of my blankets my eyes shot open as I suddenly realized....

SHIT! I NEVER CLEANED UP!

And I stumbled my way into the kitchen and found this staring at me on the counter

and I almost chucked right then and there.

NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT LEAVE EMPTY REMINDERS OF YOUR INDISCRETIONS KICKIN' IT ON THE COUNTER. DO NOT!!!

 All in all, I guess it meant that the night was pretty great. So great, that I didn't even bother taking the time away from good conversations and good laughs to clean up. 

Sometime around 1 in the afternoon the last dish was put away, my hangover was gone and the kids returned home (which btw, a huge thanks goes out to my parents and sister who watched all 3 kids and let them spend the night and wreak havoc everywhere.) 

I love nights like these when I momentarily escape my routine and remember the importance of letting go and living life. It's a reminder I'll always welcome. 

Until the next one...