A 3 year old's bedtime prayer....

Bless Mommy & Daddy & Baby Lucas
Aga and Hoppa
Grammie and Popi
My aunts & uncles & cousins
and all my best friends
and Jesus....
please take care of my Hoppa
because I miss him soooo much.

"Mommy, Jesus said okay!"

To the moon and back!

Missing my Pops today.

No fear...

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am terrified of heights. I try to challege that fear often, but it is a real fear nonetheless. My son has no fear. None at all. This might terify me more than my own fears! So I did what any typical fearful mom would do when her son follows his dad up a ladder and tries to get onto the roof of our two-story building...I grabbed my camera!

FYI - Nate never actually let him get on the roof...

A great day for a race

Nate is so happy to be able to get back into racing after the craziness of this summer - for the Fall he is doing cyclocross. Saturday was a perfect 85 degrees here in Chicago and a great day for a race! Anna, Jeff and Aidan went to watch - Aidan had a blast. He loves watching his daddy race and loves hanging out with Auntie Anna and Uncle Jeff!

Girls Night....

Autie Evie and Lori came into town this weekend so we decided to have a night out - Mom, Kris, Kacie, Aunt Elaine joined them for dinner at Kris' friend Stephanie's restaurant in Orland, Ottimo. We sat at the chef's table, had excellent conversation, food and wine.

We had a great time!

Thank you Stephanie - your restaurant is awesome and the food was excellent! You and Kris are still the dorks you always were in high school! :-)

Four Months Old....

Happy 4 month birthday my sweet, sweet little man!

Missing My Dad...

Carry on my wayward son,
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more NO!

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you


*KANSAS – Carry On

My new toy...

Loving my new car!

Conversation with this crazy 3 year old this morning:

"Mom, I'm going to give you ALL MY MONEY in my bank to buy me a great big robot...see Mom, I'm sharing!"

A weekend of firsts….

This past weekend was a good one. My whole family (except for Kylie and John!) went down to the cottage. We are trying to take all the “firsts” head on…the first time we do things without my dad. I think we did pretty well. It helped to have Kris and the girls there – that was a first too! That was one my dad always wanted to happen – he would have been so proud. It made my mom so happy as well to have them there. We laughed and cried and had a great time.

We came home with a new family member as well! “Dutch” is a beautiful German Shepard/Husky mix that someone dropped off by the lake. He was severely malnourished so Kris and a neighbor took him to the vet to get him checked out. He is about one year old, 20 lbs. underweight and as sweet as can be. The other dogs took an immediate liking to him (as did Kris!). Now he resides in Tinley Park with Luther and Kaya! So glad my sister is such a softy…lucky for her John is as well…

Lucas has decided he only likes to sleep at home in his bed.
Lucas horrible sleeper = crabby mama!

Here are some pics from the weekend: