Big Girls and Happy Belated Easter!

 I hope you had a wonderful and Blessed Easter weekend.

We did around here...it was very laid back and so nice to enjoy the weekend with no major plans!

The girls had a great time finding all of the eggs the bunny hide around our house and loved all of their goodies in their Easter Baskets too! 

Each year is more fun to celebrate with them...seeing the holidays through the eyes of children is such a joy!

The girls had a BIG weekend of learning....

They both learned how to ride their bikes with no training wheels!

Mara is going everywhere...and is really fast!

The first thing she wants to do every morning...is go ride bikes!  

She LOVES it!

K is a little bit slower, which is okay with me.

Have a wonderful day!

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

They cannot get enough of each other these days!

We found them sleeping in their rocking chair together a few weeks ago.

And most nights we find them in M's bed together!

Sister Love...is the BEST!

Family!

I can't believe it has been a month, since I last wrote a post.

Again, life is crazy around here and just doesn't seem to slow down at all.

We had Grandma Gruber's funereal a few weeks ago. 

It was a sad, but happy weekend all at the same time.

She lived a very full life, full of family and friends!

Speaking of family, the whole Gruber family was home for the funeral.

All of the grandkids where here, which has not happened in years.

It was so fun to see everyone.

Todd has a very BIG family...with all of us there is about 95 people total!

Here is a picture of all of the grandkids!

 After all of the funeral things, we all hung out at one of Todd's aunt's house...all most all of us!

Yes, about 90 of us...relaxed, wrote thank you's, caught up on life and ate!

The great-grandkids...played!

I LOVE being apart of such a large family.

I am an only child, so my family gathering top about 10 of us.

Enjoy your day!

Grandma Gruber

Todd's Grandma Gruber passed away this morning.

She lived a very full life...I think she was 92 years old.

Here we all are at her 90th birthday a few years ago...

I know, she is not looking, but I was the only picture I had.
She was a blessing in our lives. 
We love you Grandma Gruber!

Hello There!

I know it has been over a month, so sorry!

I have been a little busy, with what, I am really not sure, but just life!

I have not even uploaded pictures from Christmas, which is terrible!

Matter of fact, today was the first time I have picked up my camera in over a month!

Life has just been busy around here....

Figuring out school for the girls...this has been no easy task around here!

Thinking of a move, this is still up in the air

Planning Donut Sunday for Catholic School's Week, which included 55 dozen donuts!

Lots of school meetings...lots and lots of them!

Boot camp, kicking my butt into shape 3 times a week

Enjoy our family and staying off the computer more and more...and it has felt really good!

I my plan is to be back a few days a week.

The girls just worked on their cute Valentine's for their friends at school, so that post will be coming soon!

Enjoy your day!  

I will be back and with pictures!

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

{Front & Back of our Christmas card}

God Bless!

Tommy's Blessing

A little over a month ago our friends lost their baby boy at 2 months old.  I still remember hearing the news on a Friday morning and thinking how could that be...he was a healthy 2 month old baby boy!  I had a sick feeling all day and really couldn't get a lot done, thinking about our friends, their little baby and their 4 year old daughter.  I thought what if that was us, what would the girls be thinking...we just had this cute little baby at home and now he is gone.  I just could not go there.  I cried for them, my heart is still heavy for them and I hold onto my girls a little longer now.

They had a service for Tommy a week before Thanksgiving and I had no idea that Tommy's service would be so hard for me.  I knew it was not going to be fun...a little baby boy just died for no reason that we no of, but it was so much harder for me then I thought.  I cried and cried and cried at that service...my heart was so heavy that day and for many days after that.  All week I thought what am I going to say to them, there are no words that can say what they want to hear...they just want Tommy back.  So, I just gave big hugs and listened to the dad talk about his son.  Told Tommy's mom that when she is ready we are ready for a play date!

The service was amazing, just amazing.  The support of friends and family, the support of an amazing church and of God!  Our friends actually spoke at Tommy's service...I really have no idea how they did this, because I am not sure if I could have.  They were amazing!  And the music was the icing on the cake...it was breathtaking. 

Tommy's mom has started a blog.  I think it is helping her with the healing process.  I find myself checking it for her next post to see how they are doing.  They just found out why Tommy is in heaven, which I am sure has help with the healing process.  Please check out her blog:

Tommy's Blessing

And again, if you could pray for our friends.  I know the weeks and months that laid ahead of them are going to be hard.  They are healing, but I know it will take time, lots of time for them to find their 'new' normal now. 

Give your children a hug today...and hold on tight a little longer.  As Tommy's mom just wrote in her blog from a book she is reading;  our children from God and we should feel very blessed that He loves us enough to entrust them to us.

Halloween Wrap Up 2011!

The girls had a great Halloween!

It started with a parade at school Halloween morning...

Class picture!

Two Halloween parties, lots of games, art projects, treats and fun...I think they had a great time at their Halloween parties!

Then we came home to get ready for Trick-or-Treating!

And we ended the night on a sugar high and being silly!

Hope you had a sugar high Halloween too!

11!

11 years ago I married the man of my dreams.

I can't believe it has been 11 years! 

It feels like yesterday that I was getting married!

It was a beautiful day and I would  not change a thing about it.

It was a very fun day with lots of great friends and family!

And I married into a wonderful family, that I love to pieces!

I am so thankful for everything he does for me and our family.

He is an amazing husband and now father to our girls.  

Happy Anniversary Babe!

 Love ya! 
Here is to many, many more wonderful years!

Getting our Routine back!

picture source

Sorry it has been a little quiet around here.

We are getting back into a routine, which I love, but it is just taking a little bit of time for everyone to adjust to 7AM wake up calls 3 days a week.

I feel a little like this these days:

Our summer schedule was so laid back, we were gone so much in August and now our fall schedule is just as busy too!  I know we will find the rhythm soon, but we are all slowly getting into this new schedule.

I will be back with more fun stories and pictures to share this week...our Chicago trip and a pre-school update.

For now, I am going to enjoy my diet coke and the quiet house before everyone is up.

Happy Tuesday!

Back to School!

The girls are Back to School!

Their first day was yesterday...a full day too!

We had to get Back to School haircuts, so I took them to my salon!

I don't know if they loved it as much as I do, but it was fun!

Shampooing 

Cutting

Styling

New Duos and so, so cute...but I am their mom!

Happy Thursday!

Brookeside!

What a week we had at Brookeside.  I am not sure how to describe it, because it is kind of like a little magically place up north in MN.  The resort is small and older, but has so much history.  It was so comfortable, relaxing, kid friendly and just felt home...away from home!

(all the kiddos)

My husband's family use to go to Brookeside every summer when he was a kid.  He has not been back from 19 years, so it was fun for him to go back and relive his childhood memories with the girls!  Not much has changed in 19 years...what has changed is for the better.  The cabins are not fancy, but clean and very well kept, the pool is not huge...but the kids swam every day for hours.  The best part about the resort is how kid friendly it is! Activities all day long for the kiddos and the parents get a little bit of kid free time, I LOVED that!

This year we started a new tradition and went with some great family friends for the week...everyone LOVED it!  We are going again next year...and I can't wait!   Some of Todd's family was up there too, which was a lot of fun to hang out with them and make some new Brookside memories!

 (W Family)

Warning...there is a lot of pictures...but here is a recap of our week:

Swimming with daddies:

Enjoying the lake activities:

BINGO night!

Captain BINGO comes for a visit!

and saves the BINGO night from some crazy noodle man!

We did a little sand castle building!

Finished...Huge fish castle!

And the kids enjoyed doing the Minnow Races! 

K's almost made it to the finals.

But, Andrew took 3rd place!

 I can't believe I cheer on a minnow, that was a first for me!

And Andrew's 3rd place race!

A lot of ping pong was played...by adults and kids during the week!

And then there was a loft slide!  It is the same loft slide when Todd was a kid!

All of the kids...got along so great!  It was so much fun to see them play together so well!

Glow sticks where a BIG hit one night!

The skiing bear!

And the beautiful sunsets!  Every night we enjoyed one of these!

Thanks Brookeside...we had an amazing week with friends and family1

We can't wait until next year!

Happy Weekend...long weekend!

We are off to Chicago for a little fun!