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!)

Field Museum-Visiting Sue

Cort and I have really been enjoying our break. Being a teacher has its perks!  The first week of break was mainly prepping for Christmas, celebrating, and taking it easy (I still have Christmas pics to share!!).  This week we have tried to get the kids out and go some places we haven't been.

Today we hit up the Field Museum.  Another great perk about being a teacher is that it is free for us-yay!!  I had not been to that museum in several years (I don't think we had been there since before we had kids), so I was curious how the kids would be, and if there would be stuff Mia and Cole were interested in.  Let me tell you, it was a big hit!!  They had a special area for kids, The Crown Family Play Lab, so we started out there first.  There was a storytime of Where the Wild Things Are and a bunch of arts and crafts, and hands-on exhibits-very cool! We then headed to see Sue the T-Rex and several other cool exhibits (the stuffed, preserved animals is where we spent a good portion of our time!).  The kids passed out almost immediately in the car, which is always the measurement of if it was a good day!  :)  Here are some pics...

Mia's new best friend

Cole's not so sure....

Cole communicating with the pandas

His new buddy

Mia looks like she thinks the tiger is about to get her

Sue!!!!!

Cort, Cole, and Sue

Mia, Cort, and Sue

I need to buy a LOT of fake corn.  This kept our children occupied for an amazing amount of time!

Cole doing what he does best :)

Mia and Cole in the art lab

And I was there too-blurry with uncooperative children :) Ha, ha!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from The Graskes!!!!!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Oh Christmas Tree!

After reading another blog, I was inspired to write this post.  Every Christmas one of my favorite things to do is decorate the tree.  Actually, I should probably rephrase that and say one of my favorite things is putting the ornaments on the tree.  Christmas lights have become our nemesis and each year we put up the tree I swear our next one will be prelit.  Poor Cort had to restring the lights like 3 times this year.  I digress.....

Putting the ornaments on the tree has always been a fun tradition since the days when I decorated the tree with my family.  You would oohhh and ahhh over certain ornaments, and tell stories of where they came from and what they reminded you of.  It is fun to now be able to do that with my own family's tree.  While putting up the tree this year was not the world's most relaxing experience (meaning that I believe both Cole and Zip were on a mission to destroy at least a couple of ornaments-thankfully they didn't!), I love to just look at the tree at night when it is all lit up and check out all the ornaments (as do the kids).  They represent so many different periods of my life, Cort's life, and now our kids' lives.

Here are a couple of pictures I took tonight.

The tree

Same pic, but see the streak around the tree??  That's our Polar Express train going around, so cool!!

One of Cort's childhood ornaments given to him by his grandma

One of my childhood ornaments, given to me by my best friend growing up, Cheryl (who I am still in touch with).  It has my name and the year engraved on it-1986!!!!!

One of the many ornaments Cort and I received at Christmas the year we got married (from Pam's mom I believe)

One of Mia's ornaments on the tree (from Rebecca).  She also has her own tree in her room now that has a lot of her ornaments on it (1st Christmas, etc.)  When I was growing up I got to have my own tree too, so it is fun to pass that tradition onto her and she LOVES her tree.  :)

One of Cole's ornaments-from Pam I think (he will get his own tree too, probably next year)

Even Zip has ornaments-this is from before we had children obviously, when you take your pet to see Santa.  This did not go well.  This was a favorite story of my dad's to tell, seeing that Zip bit Santa through his gloves. 

We have so many other ornaments too, given through exchanges with my high school friends and ISU friends.  This one was from Julie last year.

I love too that the majority of my and Cort's childhood ornaments are on the tree in Mia's room and she loves to check them all out.  Once Cole is a little older, we will divide them and they will be passed along to them.  It is crazy to think they may one day be decorating a tree with their family with some of the same ornaments that are on our tree today.  Merry early Christmas-1 more week to go!!

A Ride on the Polar Express

One of my all-time favorite Christmas books is The Polar Express. It is so beautifully illustrated and I love the message in the book (all about believing in Santa). A couple years ago Kristy had told me they do Polar Express trains around Christmas time and I had been keeping that in the back of my head. Along with that, my mom had mentioned last year how fun it would be to take the kids on one. I had marked it on my calendar to look into tickets this year, but before I had a chance, my mom told me they had stopped doing it. However, I did some googling and was able to still find one going out of Lisle. :)

So today, Jen and I surprised my mom and took her on a trip on the Polar Express. :) We left the littlest ones at home (Cole and Claire) since you don't actually get off the train. We knew it would probably be too long for them to be contained, plus after Cole's experience with Santa, I don't think being confined in a small space with him would be such a great idea. :)

The ride was a ton of fun. The whole train was filled and they kept things going the whole time with caroling, elves, clowns who made reindeer balloons, other costumed characters, and of course-Santa! The kids (and adults too) really seemed like they had a great time. Of course at the end they got bells too (a big part of the story). Here are some pics...

The kids and us with Grammy

Mia and Noah right as the train started

Cort, Mia and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

And Elf making Noah a reindeer balloon

Mia snuggling up to Santa

Noah and Santa

 

Mia with her bell

Grammy, Noah and Mia