Double Digits

Double digits hit today.  Yep....the big 10!  Zach is 10!!  It has been a full decade since this boy made us parents and changed our lives forever.  He was supposed to show up closer to Christmas but decided to arrive on Black Friday instead back in 2010.  This year he shared his birthday with Thanksgiving but he never seems to mind.  Plus he loves turkey and gravy!

In the midst of a pandemic we couldn’t throw him a party or take him to his first concert but Zach took it all in stride.  We had friends stop by for a socially distanced and masked up bonfire and s’mores session a couple of weeks ago and many friends and family sent him birthday wishes via video (thank you to those that joined in).  Today he spent the day in NC with Nana and Boppa opening gifts, playing games, eating good food and receiving many birthday messages.  We think Zach had a great day!  

At 10 he is becoming a young man that we are quite proud of.  Zach has become much more helpful and is fun to just hang out with.  He is a great big brother or at least has the ability to be when he wants.  He loves Legos (a resurgence thanks to spending so much time at home), reading adventure and mystery books, music of all kinds, playing baseball, riding his bike, watching movies, playing video games and connecting with friends any way he can.  He rarely lets me snuggle up with him these days but he has his moments where he gives me a “nod” by picking me as a game partner or taking a ride to run errands with me.  Zach is fluent in Spanish however saves that skill for his teachers and Gloria (he doesn’t want to waste his time on his English speaking parents....ha).  Oh, and he loves a good joke, fun fact or life hack!

Zach has given us so many fun memories!  We can’t wait to see what more he will do.  Happy Birthday Zach!!!

He has grown so much since he was out cute little bundle of joy and our little over served elf.......but we love him more than we ever could have imagined.

Halloween 2020

Happy Halloween!!!  I hope you all had as much fun as we did.  We carved pumpkins earlier this week, finished up some milk gallon ghosts today and had fun collecting candy from all the creative candy chutes in the neighborhood.  Trick or treating was a huge success and between all the kids’ loot and the candy we have leftover, we are going to be good until at least Christmas.  

And we are finishing off the night by introducing the kids to the movie Men In Black.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Fall Update

It’s been a bit since I’ve given an update so thought I would jump on to let you all know we are surviving this odd year.  So far the best part of our year have been two trips!  With COVID restrictions we haven’t done much like we normally would however we did manage to get in two trips to visit with Nana and Boppa.  Here are some of the highlights!

Our first trip was over the 4th of July (yes...I’m delayed in posting) and it was so much fun.  Having the world partially shut down for a pandemic actually made our trip so much fun.  There were no expectations to fit things in and we were able to enjoy the outdoors either in Nana and Boppa’s yard, hiking trails or out on the lake.  It was nice to get away from our day to day and enjoy each other.

This game was so funny.


Hazel got to play with my old Barbies



























Summer wrapped up with the intro to remote learning.  The boys have pretty much settled in now although no one in our house is a fan of the set up.  In fact Zach was clever enough to start ditching out of his class Zoom meetings.  I only write this here because I want to look back and remember it.  Who cuts class in home school?!  Zach has always been our star student so we were a bit surprised when we found this out at parent/teacher conferences.  That clever kid got to endure his first experience with being grounded!  Luckily this all happened after we took a little break from school and work to celebrate Nana’s 70th birthday with a long weekend in Louisville.  

We loved seeing Nana and Boppa and had a lot of fun staying by the river and seeing all the barges.

Thank you to everyone that helped me with my mom’s birthday present!  I think it was a hit!














Now we are back to the new “norm”.  I’m trying to figure out new ways to interact with my customers at work since in person isn’t easy anymore and stay active with workouts..  Rich is looking for jobs and has picked up some construction/handy work with a local firefighter that does these kind of side jobs when he is off duty.  The kids have become better friends with the neighborhood kids and run up and down the street each afternoon all masked up and playing games. 

One of the best highlights of 2020 for me was last week when I led a team of 10 women for the Chicago Habitat for Humanity Women Build event.  We raised over $8000 and spent a day helping build a home for a woman homeowner.  We lucked out on our build day with cool but clear weather and our team got to put our drills and impact drivers to use while hanging exterior sheetrock on the second story of the house we were assigned to.   It was such a rewarding and fun experience!   I’m hoping to do it again next year.  

Now our next adventure will be Halloween! We hope everyone is well.  We are currently waiting in a line to have the family tested for COVID.  Unfortunately, Gloria recently tested positive so now we are taking all the necessary precautions.  Wish us luck!!  Love to you all!