Gunnar is 3!!

This boy is 3 years old!!!

Gunnar turned 3 last Friday and we had a weekend full of fun.  Nana and Boppa even drove up for the festivities.  We can't believe it has been three years since he so hurriedly came into this world but it has been a lot of fun to see him turn into the funny little boy that he is.  He loves cars and trucks, playing outside, and pushing Zach's buttons.  He truly is funny and he knows it.  Not all of my photos are downloaded yet but here are a few of our birthday celebrations.

Two nights of birthday celebration so of course.....two cakes!

The Choo Choo restaurant, presents, and play!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUNNAR!

In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb?

When I was in elementary school one of my teachers taught us the saying "in like a lion and out like a lamb" in regards to the months of March and April.  I don't know if that really holds true or not but I can say that the past two months can at least qualify as a whirlwind.  I feel like we have been going and going and going like crazy but maybe that's just due to my work, coaching and the boys.  Everything seems to be at full speed these days so I apologize for not throwing a few pictures out on the blog here and there.  I'll try to catch everyone up with some photos.  If you are on facebook you may have already seen a few of these.....sorry for the repeats!

St. Patty's in Chicago is a pretty big deal so Rich took the boys down to see the river dyed green.  Baby Jax join them as well.  The boys love having Baby Jax around (our friends Henry and Sarah are his parents) so they are going to miss him when he moves to Colorado in a few months.  Hopefully our boys will be as nice to their new little sister when she arrives as they are to Jax.

 

We've done several movie nights and a lot of goofing off...

 

Zach has helped Rich with some household projects and Gunnar finds him self funny and quite the smartypants.

At the end of March we made our way to Nana and Boppa's house!  I spent a few days there before coaching the rowing team in SC and the boys got to stay and play all week.  Rich even got a little play time in while he spent some time job hunting in NC.

 I think this may be my favorite photo of the boys.  Thanks to Lynn and Rich for letting them play at the lake!

Rich and Boppa took the boys for a mountain hike and they had a blast.  It ended with a bit of a scary run in with a black snake.  If you want the full story, you'll have to ask Boppa or Gunnar.  They seem to have the most exciting versions of how it all went down.

 Back in Chicago for April we have started up the spring sports season.  Zach has t-ball on Saturdays and soccer on Sundays.  Luckily Gunnar enjoys going to the fields almost as much as Zach.

While I've been coaching rowing the boys have found some fun ways to spend their time.

 I don't like missing out on fun with the boys on my rowing weekends however I have to say that at least some of our regattas prove to be worthwhile.  I've got a really small team this year but today they hung in there through the cold and wet conditions and really impressed.  They brought home 2 silvers and 1 gold!  It was fun to see them so excited about their success.  Oh...and the girl right in front, Genevieve,....our boys LOVE her!

Ooh, and I had a birthday a few days ago.  The boys were great for my birthday dinner and helped me to celebrate wtih one of my favorite desserts.  No need for plates!

Ok, are you all tired of this yet?  Sorry for the long long post.  I'll try to get back on at least a monthly update.  It gets easier to find time to do things with 3 children, right?  Eek!

Maybe we should all just stop and smell the flowers.  *Note....not all of these flowers were on sale.  The employees of this store and I had an interesting interaction.  Only the "spring flowers" were on sale.  Duh!

Happy Leap Day!

February is our shortest month but for some reason it always feels like the longest to me.  Maybe that's because we live in Chicago and typically February isn't ideal from a weather standpoint but this year hasn't been so bad.   In fact is has been warm enough to get a few good days of playing outside and the water in the river is already thawed so I may have my rowers out on the water in the next week or two.  Woohoo!

Anyway, this month we had a visitor from Zach's school join us for a weekend.  Buzzy the bee was quite the houseguest.  We also had some fun days playing outside and as most of you probably know,  we took a super quick trip to NC to visit Nana and Boppa and give Rich a chance to interview.  Rich's work contract ended last week so he is looking for a new job.  Let us know if you have any good ideas or leads!  Until then.......we are just going to have as much fun with the boys as we can and try to figure out our next steps.


Buzzy the Bee comes to visit.

Sunday afternoon lunch at Herm's!

Gunnar makes himself right at home on an airplane.

And this is what Zach does when he gets the phone all to himself.

 Anyone else think this looks incredibly uncomfortable?  Clearly Zach was doing just fine.

 Gunnar tried filling Rich's shoes.

Zach played superheroes at he park and got caught in Spiderman's web.

And lastly, we had enough wind this weekend to fly a kite.  It was a first for Zach!

We are supposed to get 1-3" of snow tonight.  Fingers crossed that spring is right around the corner!

Winter Fun!

January is over and I realize I haven't posted much about what we've been up to since returning from NC over the holidays.  Really we've just gotten back into the routine of work, school, and life.  Here are a few photos/videos of how we've entertained the boys in our free time.

Sledding Fun......... (with less snow then the southeast has received)

Grocery store helpers....