Spring Break-Day 1

I cannot even express how excited I am that it is Spring Break! I have been so busy the last couple of months working on National Boards (more on that to come in another post), but I am ready to take it easy and spend some quality time with my family! Today was Day 1. Since this was supposed to be the worst day weather-wise (and if that is the case, it is going to be a good week ahead!), we hit up Gymquest for open gym. The kids had a blast and were worn out!! Here are some pics...

Cole having fun going in and out of the jumpy

Mia was pretty fearless with her jumping today

The kids loved the trampolines there!

A quick video of Mia jumping into the foam pit-she was a little hesitant, but did it!

Color Me Mine

This past Saturday I decided to take a break from what has seemed like nonstop work with National Boards and take Mia to Color Me Mine, a really cool place where you can pick out something ceramic to paint and then they will fire it for you to bring home a couple days later.  Color Me Mine just opened in the Burr Ridge Town Center, which is so close to my mom's you could walk.  Unfortunately the weather was windy and rainy so we drove over.  :)  My mom had the idea to bring the 2 older kids there and it was a hit!  Mia saw several things that caught her attention, but ultimately she picked the clownfish (still hanging on to that love of Nemo!).  Noah appropriately picked a guitar. :)  They got to pick out the colors they wanted to paint and then they got to work.  Mia was very focused on her painting, it was cute!  Afterwards we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings where we met up with Cort and Mike and the 2 little ones.  What a great day and THANK YOU mom!!

Mia with her clownfish bank

Prepping her fish to paint

Painting

This face cracks me up!  She was so focused!

Noah working hard

Our little artist

You didn't realize this is what Nemo looked like??

Looking slightly more like Nemo

The final masterpiece (when they fire it the colors get darker and shiny)

Mia was so proud of her work

Grammy and Noah

Grammy and Mimi

Brookfield Zoo date with Cole

Today I got to have some 1-on-1 time with Cole.  Cort had decided to take Mia on a student council activity with him (she sang to seniors at a nursing home, I will have to share that video later), so we decided to take a trip to the zoo since it was so nice.  I had been thinking about going during the week and Venessa mentioned that she might be going too.  Pam and Ryan's weekend plans fell through last minute, so they were able to come along with us also. 

The weather was awesome and lots of animals were out.  It was so nice to finally get out and get some fresh air-yay!  Hopefully Spring is finally coming!  I didn't take a ton of pics, but here are a couple...

Snacking and watching the animals

This horse was VERY into Cole and the crumbs that were all over his pants

This picture of Pam makes me laugh :)

Could this goat look any more content?  It's good to be a goat!

Just like his big sister-click here to see what I mean

Group shot

Pam and Ryan visiting Ryan's family (Sorry!  I couldn't resist!)

The giraffes were very into this vent.  Somehow I imagine this isn't really healthy...

And he's OUT! (notice Leo)

The End!

Love these two!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Cole and Mia!!

Cort's Trip to Florida

This past weekend Cort took a short trip down to Jacksonville to visit with Dave, Liz, and Braiden.  We had not had the chance to meet Braiden yet, and Cort was itching to get down there (I am too, but I have to wait until they come up this Spring!).  He had a wonderful trip and said the highlight was getting to spend time with Braiden.  Thank you Dave and Liz for your hospitality!!

Things were good here on the homefront, despite the kids having colds.  They treated me well and things were relatively calm, but I was still very happy to see Cort pull in Sunday night (right in time for the Superbowl I may add!).  The kids missed Cort, but we had the opportunity to skype throughout the weekend (this was our first time) and they thought that was awesome.  We will definitely be doing that more often with Dave and Liz so we can watch Braiden as he grows.

Speaking of Braiden, he is in the running to be a weekly winner for a photo contest for Parent magazine.  Would you be so kind to click here to vote for Braiden?   Once you do that, Braiden's picture will come up and you will click on the button that says: "I LOVE IT" which is underneath the photo of Braiden.  Thank you!

Cort did not take a camera down, so I stole this pic off of Dave and Liz's blog-thanks guys!

Cort and Braiden hanging out

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!!

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!!!

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

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!!!

 

With Kristy and Graham

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!)