This past weekend, August 27 and 28th, we went to Springfield! We visited the Scheels store - it had quite a reputation. Who knew they could fit a Ferris wheel in an otherwise basic sports store?? Well, it was the first time for Matt and Jackie - Gracie and Tyler had already "been there, done that" - which is not to say they weren't beside themselves with excitement over the prospect of riding the wheel again!

The Ferris Wheel!!!!!!!!















Aunt Danielle took Gracie on!!

And Tyler got to ride with his Aunt Michelle :)

I had to add these - the kids are too funny, and Gracie loves to use Charlie as a pillow/footrest!

Tyler *LOVES* his new Bears hat from Grandma and Grandpa - he is the "good guy" and wears it backwards, of course!

The First Day....Getting Off the Bus!

Gracie learns to ride a 2-wheeler

Sunday, August 14th, the baby wheels came off......

Gracie: Doing an impersonation from RANGO

she needs to get into acting :)

June..July... where have you gone???

The story of June and July... using my favorite medium...PICTURES!!

Here is Tyler at the American English show, July 1 in Lisle. He is turning into the goofiest kid!!

We are a Beatle-Loving, Crazy-Dancing, Happy-in-love family!!! (note even little Sophia is getting into the music!!)

Below here we have silly kitty-cat Gracie and her newfound BFF, Liz Todd. Yep, Liz, I posted this one here as well!!!!!! A-hahahahaaha!!!

Hey! Look! It is our new famly portrait!! how we all have changed in the past year.. here, let me go get LAST year's photo and stick it in here for comparison purposes (because no one reads this blog but me, I can do what I want :) )

~~~~~~~~~2010~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~2011~~~~~~

And...we have here... the love of my life. Happiest parents on the block... 'Nuff said!

Okay, so, in the next few days, when i am *not* doing Payroll, i will further update the blog. I have been inspired by a friend of mine that updates a wonderful family blog in a much more timely manner...and she even gives weather updates and has made me interested in visiting Minnesota :-) Life's a garden - DIG IT!!! :)

.

May 9th, 2011: just fun at home

me and Tyler... he is so good at taking pictures with me :)


She says to me "see? i'm going to be a doctor - give me your belly so I can look at it." SCARY!! hahahaahahaha!!!



The 2 ham-bones ...no one likes getting pictures taken like my 2 gorgeous kiddos!!

The backyard is their paradise .....

Gracie and Tyler love to roll down the "hill" behind our house.... they will be out there for hours!

Cute Videos...

Gracie and Tyler, playing outside on Saturday, March 12.

Get Better Soon Danielle!!!!!!!!!!

A photo tribute to our favorite Missouri girl...

Keep smiling Danielle - we are all pulling for you!!!!!!!!!!!

Get that sassy attitude out and tell those docs to make it right!!

More photos from our Feb 5th sledding extravaganza!! These loaded to the site in backwards chronological order.... boo. Moving on...



Here is Gracie, probably right after she almost slid into that tree there...see Video # 2 below! ha!

Matt and Tyler heading down the hill.... i tried to make it easy to see them!

Matt and Tyler, right before the preceding picture!! How adorable are they!?!? Tyler INSISTED on going with Daddy 9/10 times. Apparently, Daddy is the fun one...or he goes faster... or it's because Daddy will pull him back UP the hill, whereas Mommy makes him walk! :)

Before we left for the hill, we spent some time at Grandma's in Lisle. Tyler is a BIG FAN of helping Uncle Dave shovel!! Luckily, Grandma picked up 2 Tyler-Gracie-Sized shovels just for this activity.

And, here is Matt and Gracie exploring the (really gross) sewage pipe under the bridge. They didn't get very far ;-)

Matt - about to sled down the side of the hill - yes, towards the very frozen creek!!! HAHAHA!

My Gracie, doin' a snow angel.........

Me and Tyler, because he likes self-portraits as much as his mother does ;o

Outside Grandma's house in Lisle!
Posing for her mommy...

In all, it has been a VERY snowy February, and I can't say that I am complaining about that at all! Might as well snow... better than it being frigid out there... oh wait, today is Feb 9th, and the high is somewhere around 0 (that is a ZERO), with wind chills around -15 or so. BRRRR!! Give me the blizzard back!!!!!

j.

February 5th Sledding Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First Video:

Matt and Tyler head down the hill!!

Video ONE

Video Two: Gracie sledding down the side of the hill, almost hits the TREE!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!

Video TWO.

Pictures to come in next post!!

We are at the Lisle Park District hill, where we went to see American English at the Fourth of July. Looks kinda different now,eh? :)

Til next time..

Jackie

Blizzard 2011 - Videos!

Summer memories on this Snowy Day in December

Entry for December 21, 2010...

Tyler watching Daddy play baseball at the Rt. 30 batting cages.

The Blizzard - December 12, 2010

It should be noted that during the most terrifying moments, when it was a complete white-out and/or there was only ice-covered road in front of us, I was NOT taking pictures. Obsessive as I am about the documentation of our experiences (this is the most accurate way of describing my "hobby"!), I could not bring myself to wipe the sweat off my hands long enough to find the "Take Photo" button on my phone. I also do not approve of taking pictures of people stuck in ditches, having just spun out on the ice into the snow-laden banks while the wind comes whipping by sideways at 60+ mph... yeah, that's just not cool. Or the 20-car pileup which caused miles of snarled traffic behind it, causing additional fender-benders and spinning out of cars.



Photo 1: Taken at 2:25 pm... having left Springfield at 12:30pm, this would put us on Route 10, heading East towards Lincoln, IL. Having been turned back at the Veterans Parkway entrance to Rt.55 North, we took the back roads up and over (29 N to 10E to 55N). We found out later that the closure was due to a pileup that included an exploded and burning semi truck. Right.

____________________________________________________________

Photo #2: Taken at 4:41 pm; this would put us on Rt. 55, somewhere after Bloomington, because we stopped not too much later, at 5:10. This picture makes it look like the semi we were following was FAR ahead of us, but it could only have been 8 to 10 feet at the most - we didn't want to lose his taillights, for fear that a complete white out would come and we wouldn't be able to go OR stop...

Well, the ending to this story is a good one. The kids slept almost the entire trip, so they were not aware of the stress that had taken hold of Matt and Jackie :) We stopped for the night at the Pontiac/Flanagan exit, #197, having driven 5 hours and gone about 70 miles (that's an average of 14 mph!!!!!). The Comfort Inn was luckily also right across from a WalMart! We needed supplies, as Gracie had a fever and Tyler was thirsty (surprised? anyone? That kid drinks more than he eats!) In short, the hotel was a "fun vacation" for the kids, who spent the evening watching Fred Claus and jumping from bed to bed and back again. Some BK dinner and cookies for dessert, and who doesn't like a good blizzard!?!? However... never. again.

Thanks for reading!!
Jackie

Best Pics_2010

If I were to have a "Best Pictures of 2010", the below items would definitely be included... I am working on my masterpiece, the Shutterfly Year In Review photo book, and I am considering making a section of that book just for my most favored pictures from the year. Generally, you will find these in my monthly-produced photo books that reside on the bookshelves, but they are probably enjoyable enough (at least to me!) to print twice. Is there agreement? :-)

The first "photo victim" is a January, 2010 snap of Matt and Gracie in the Bears blanket. Gracie's little face coming out of Matt's midsection is just too funny!! This one also hangs in our upstairs hallway as part of a collage.

Photo #2, from February 18, 2010, is a frozen Tyler snap! The expression on his face is priceless! Tongue sticking out, rosy cheeks, and the floppy hat - he is precious!!

This next one is in March, a freshly-braided Gracie in her favorite purple furry coat, with the requisite "tights and a dress" on with ballet flats... drawing outside with chalk. Her favorite thing to draw is a hopscotch board; I think it is good practice for writing out numbers - sometimes I make her "hop" to the Spanish count too :)

Okay, apparently, I took some really nice pics in April 2010, because I couldn't pick just one... or 2...or 3. I picked 6. yep, 6 - it's my blog, my pictures, and I wanted all 6. :)

Gracie and Tyler in Springfield at Easter - the colors in this one are brilliant, and they could not be any cuter!

Totally random Gracie pic - a gift from Grandma in Springfield turns into *FUN TIMES* with the packaging!!!! She was so proud of her Mickey-hat!

***3 more April pictures from an outing to the "Secret Park": Swingin' Away Gracie, The Case of the Curious Boy, and Fencing Lessons with Sticks!!! Someone please ask Matt how many times he has let his daughter totally nail him with one of those "swords"!!!!!!

May 2010 - EXCITING!!! Another 5 pictures for you (and me!) to enjoy here, and after this I will be taking a day's hiatus to gather my thoughts, my favorite pix, and to do some actual work :-)
Probably one of the absolute, most adorable pictures ever taken of Gracie and Tyler together. Thanks to Snapfish for providing the border of my cell-phone-taken

picture!

Gracie, the ballerina - I love this photo, both because it is B&W, and because of the light and lines created by the studio's big windows.

~nothing more precious than a big sister helping her little brother get his shoes off so that they can go make a crazy mess of themselves in a flooded sand volleyball court!

Quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites of a sleeping Tyler (and trust me, I have too many "sleeping Tyler" pictures!!), this sepia snap portrays my little boy as the angel he is!!

And would any collection be complete without a *FUN TIMES* addition?? Kelly's 21st birthday, picture taken at "Blur" - which, for those uninitiated, is the over-21/Friday-night only - Zero Gravity club.

Well, in case anyone besides me reads this, farewell until tomorrow..or the next day... when I do June - November 2010, Favorite Pix. This was fun!!

Jackie.

Happy 1st Birthday, Charlie!!

Happy First Birthday, Charlie Chaplin Magis!!!!!!!!!!!!
( AKA, Feline Escape Artist!!)

Charlie was born, actually, Nov 29, 2009 - and he got a beautiful new collar to celebrate!! Picture of that coming soon - he is so handsome!!

i. am. 30.

Yep, that's me. and he loves me :)

had to post this one, because they are TOO CUTE!!!

And, this one. i love it. he is amazing. matt, are you reading this? :)