Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Mia's Artwork

Mia has always loved to color with crayons, markers, paints, whatever she can get her hands on.  But up until this point, her drawings have been pretty much unidentifiable.  :)  She would tell us what it was, but it didn't necessarily look that way to us. :)  Anyhow, today she was working on her with markers today when I came over and was surprised to see a smiley on her paper.  I asked her what she drew and she told me it was a picture of Cole 

Cole in all his glory

A couple minutes later I checked back in with her and she had created a new piece of artwork.  I asked her what she drew this time and she told me "my cat."

I present to you, our cat Zip....

So since she was drawing things that were important to her, I can't forget the picture of our COUCH that she drew (pic in magenta)


She is also getting better with her name, she is pretty good with the M and i, but the a tends to be tricky for her. :)  I can't believe how big she is getting!!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Playoff Football with Hendix

Yesterday Corey invited Cort down to the city to have a boys afternoon (with Hendix and Cole) and watch some football .  From everything I hear, Cole and Hendrix had a great time.  Marina sent me this cute picture of them enjoying some food together (thanks Marina!!).  Back in the day of Marina and myself playing intramural flag football together at Jefferson Junior High, I never imagined that one day our boys would be watching football together (allright, playing while the guys watch).  I love it!!!


Monday, January 18, 2010

Holiday Magic at the Brookfield Zoo

Right before Christmas, we decided to go to the Brookfield Zoo for their annual "Holiday Magic."  I had been wanting to do this for years, but it just seems like the holidays are always so busy and we just never had a chance.  I had gone as a child for Holiday Magic, but it has been MANY years since then!

So, we bundled up the kids and headed over on a chilly evening, meeting up with Sarah, Ian, and the kids. Despite the cold, the kids did good and enjoyed seeing the lights, watching the light show, riding the train, and watching some dancers in the heated tent (I think this was Mia's favorite!).

Our Family
( I never realized until I looked at this picture that Cort and Cole look like they have matching jackets.  Cole's was a hand-me-down from Melissa-thanks Mel!)

The Graske Men in front of the Sox tree

Cort and Cole

On the train

All bundled!

Loving the train ride with Ava

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! It is so hard to believe that it has been 10 years since the infamous "Y2K!"  I started thinking about what we did that New Years Eve and where life has taken us since and I realize it has been a busy 10 years!

The night of Y2K, I was a senior in college, getting ready to student teach.  I was home on break and went to one of those big hotel parties at the Double Tree near O'Hare.  It was mainly with Cort's friends, but Kristy and Graham joined us too and we had a fairly large group, including Sarah and Ian.  Of course midnight hit and nothing happened. :)  Just for laughs, here are some pics of Cort and I from that night.  Excuse the poor quality, they are scans since I DIDN'T HAVE A DIGITAL CAMERA!!!!

Ha, ha, we look like we are going to prom here. :)  I don't know whether to laugh or cry-we look so young!!!
 



And onto the present...This is what New Years looks like when you have a 1-year old and a 3-year old. :)



Just a little different, huh???  Thinking back, the last 10 years has really had a lot of change for Cort and I.   Shortly after Y2K, I graduated and started teaching 1st grade in Berwyn, since then I have moved on to a job in Naperville at Kendall teaching 3rd grade, and finally now to Georgetown teaching reading.  Cort has had a similar job journey.  First he started out by becoming a Licensed Counselor, but soon realized he rather be in a school.  After some additional schooling he had an internship at Waubonsie, got a job at West Aurora, and finally ended up back at Waubonsie.  Looking back we have had quite a few jobs between the two of us, but I feel like we have both landed where we want to be, at least for the time being.  :)  Throughout our job jumping we both were back at school getting our Masters. 

Over the past 10 years we also got married and had 2 kids.  We have been lucky enough to have summers off (or working part-time) as well as long maternity and paternity leaves, a perk of being in the same district!!  We also began married life across town in Bolingbrook in our first house, but decided 2 years later when the market was hot that it was time to move to a bigger house that would hopefully be a larger space to have kids.  At that time contracts were being put on houses the day they hit the market and you had to be super-agressive.  We lost two houses we bid on in the same neighborhood since it was so competitive at that point.  Oh how the market has changed!!! 

Over the last 10 years, there has been lots of celebration-we have watched many friends get married and start families of their own. Both Cort and I are lucky to still have the same core group of friends we have had forever and we have all been able to watch each other grow.  There has been a lot of good, but also some bad mixed in there.  I lost my dad when Mia was just 6 months old and friends close to us have lost loved ones as well.  :(

It is hard to imagine that 10 years from now our kids will be 13 and 11!!!!  I cannot begin to guess what the next 10 years brings for us, but I am guessing it will include sending the kids off to school, returning to work full-time, celebrating being married 10 and 15 years, and probably a lot of other things I can't even begin to imagine.

Enough with the reminiscing, here are a couple more pictures from New Years Eve. We were pretty low-key this year.  We went over to Sarah and Ian's for Chinese food and games.  I was pretty lame taking pics, but got a couple before the kids went to bed.

Cole-looking very dapper in his new outfit from Jen and his hair styled by daddy :)

Cole and Mommy

Kiddie Cocktails (ignore the fact that Cole is drinking out of a Little Mermaid cup!)