Love this baby

I know this is not the most flattering picture of my son, but it makes me laugh so hard. This was taken in his car seat when he was a couple of months old when we were driving back to IC from visiting my family in Waterloo. I love it when you catch a moment on photo......
I had to make a post about something because my husband informed me that he checks our blog regularly and I have been "slacking" in our family blogging duties. What's my excuse? I guess I just haven't been taking very many pictures lately. I will try to get back into it.....

I HEART Jane Austen

I have to admit that every time I watch a Jane Austen movie or finish reading one of her books, I wish that I lived during that time. To go to balls, and wear beautiful dresses and be romanced in an old fashioned way! Her work has a way of wrenching my heart, like- oh just run away together! I want her characters to be together and be happy sooo badly! It always seems so clear after I finish that I am so lucky to be with a man that I am so in love with and that is really all I need in life. Becoming Jane (thanks for coming with me girls- p.s. it WAS rated PG, so I don't know what to say about the nudity!) anyway, Becoming Jane has me on a J.A. kick- so I am going to be watching all of her book-based movies in the next couple of weeks. I think my MIL has them all- if you are interested, you know where to find me. And, of course, I can't resist reading Pride and Prejudice again!I just have to say, I heart Jane Austen.

Okay, if you have seen this movie- did it not get your heart racing?! Just kiss her!

The turtle and the duck

Today Nate and I went to the mall to get a Halloween costume. I was at the register about the buy a turtle costume (his namesake) when Nate spotted what he thought was a duck costume. He got so excited. He started to quack and quack and quack. I thought- this is silly. He doesn't even know what a turtle is! So I pulled the baby chick aka the duck costume and handed it to him and he smiled gleefully. When we got home I put it on him to make sure it would fit. He didn't love the costume very much any more. He kept trying to take the hat off. How do you get your kids to wear their costumes? I am looking for orange sweat pants and a yellow turtleneck to go underneath. If anyone knows where I can get some please let me know!

Milwhat?

I have had a lot of questions as to what is in Milwaukee, where is it, etc. Here is a little info to entice you to visit :)

Milwaukee is home of:
the NLB's Milwaukee Brewers (baseball)
the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks
Harley Davidson, Miller Brewing, Northwestern Mutual, and Kohls
has a metro population of 1.5 million
is in WISCONSIN!
is located 90 miles north of Chicago
is on lake Michigan
has the average winter temp of 21 degrees and 72 in the summer
is home of the international clown hall of fame - sweet!
has a great zoo and lots of museums
and over 70 golf courses!

I have just started my research of Milwaukee, so I will really be able to tell you about Milwaukee in the spring before we move, but I hope this gives you a better idea of where we are headed!

Milwaukee-ians

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Milwaukee this weekend for interviews for Chris. While he was "working" Nate and I played and found out that WE LOVE MILWAUKEE! Which is great since Chris has accepted an offer from his #1 pick Quarles and Brady in Milwaukee. At the end of his interview on Friday they offered him a position as a summer associate for Summer 2008. He accepted today and we couldn't be happier! We are so proud of Chris for all of his hard work and for going after what he wants! Nate and I had a fun time running around downtown. Above is Nate outside of the Mil. Art Museum which is right on Lake Michigan (directly to the right). Below are pictures and their awesome children's museum and the Mil. Public Museum, lunch at a yummy pizza cafe (we went for pizza without Chris, can you believe it?), and goofing around in the hotel.

We're still here....barely!

I know many people think we are out of town, or we moved, or we just don't want to be your friend anymore :) but none are true! We have just been cut off from the outside world for the last couple of days. I got the flu bug this weekend and was lying around helplessly until this morning. During that time, Nate managed to upload a virus onto our computer, lock my cellphone with a code only know to him and lose our only car key (which we later found in the trash). So Chris spent all night last night fixing the computer and this is the first time in days I have had internet access and I will return cellphone messages sometime today after I go into Verizon to get that one taken care off. Sometimes I am glad that things all happen at once because it makes it easier to handle- for example. This morning I was giving Nate a bath and Chris was still asleep (up all night fixing computer and studying) when all the sudden I see a little poo nugget- no biggie- I pick it up with some tp and flush it in the toilet. I few seconds later there is a lot, I mean a lot of poo in the tub. Nate luckily had not seen it at that point and I start yelling for Chris and pound on the wall that the bathroom shares with our bedroom. He comes in, grabs Nate, cleans Nate up while I start draining the tub and cleaning it up. While Nate waits for me to clean up so he can take another tub he decided to eat a deodorant stick. Yuck. So then we are cleaning that up. We get Nate clean, again. Chris showers and let's Nate back in the bathroom while he is getting ready for school (Nate is in love with Chris and always wants to be in the same room as him) and while they are in the bathroom together Nate throws Chris's cellphone in the toilet- down goes our only remaining way to call long distance since as said before my phone is out- he yells for me to come so I grab Nate, wash his hands and take him down stairs and fall down the stairs- catching myself enough so Nate doesn't get hurt, but skinning my elbow and hip. Now remember this all happened within 30 minutes. Since it all just happened at once, Chris and I couldn't help but just sit and laugh! What next?! He's lucky he's so stinkin' cute!

Happy Labor Day!

Alright, so I am a little behind on the times. I just love this picture of Nate though. He LOVES the Ross's Coupe and every time we go get the mail he stops and plays with it (Sarah, if it is ever missing, check my house :o) He spent almost the entire bbq on Monday night playing in it- which was GREAT because I actually got to eat my food instead of feeding it to him, or giving up eating because he is climbing all over me and making it impossible to eat. I love this picture because you can almost hear him making his engine noise- the "vroooom" noise. Check out that dimple! What a cute little bug! We just love him!

Obsession #2

If any of you have spent any time with Nate you know that his other passion in life is water, also known as twawa in our house. If he even gets a glimps of a faucet he goes nuts and insists on me holding him up so that he can play in the water. This is a picture of him trying to get a drink out of the sink while he was playing in it. What a little nugget (word from Cheree- love ya!) Hopefully I will post more after our Labor Day festivities... sorry for lack of posts, we have been so busy playing while it is still nice out! p.s. if you haven't read Sarah Ross's blog today you have to read it! Read the first couple of comments that "Sarah" wrote in the comment box about"Breath Savers" .Sorry Sarah, but I enjoyed it soooo much, I want others to feel that same happiness:)

Welcome 1Ls

Jamie Ortega and I hosted a Law Wives Luncheon today. It was a lot of fun. We were forecasted rain, but we just got clouds which was a nice blessing to keep it cool enough. Gma Trudy took Nate so that I could actually be a host. It was so nice to think with my whole brain instead of 1/2 on watching Nate and 1/2 trying to do whatever! We have 6 new 1L wives! This has to be a record! We welcomed Kim Stoddard, Nichole Bartholomew, Andrea Hochhalter, Ashley Justensen, Chanell Nielson, and Heidi Miller- who I actually grew up with in the Cedar Falls ward! Thanks for coming ladies. I look forward to pie shakes at Hamburg!






WHEN I SAID OBSESSED.......






I MEANT IT! This was Nate this morning when we went outside while waiting for naptime. He kept trying to climb on top of the car. He would pull and pull on the handle. We've created a monster!

Schools out forever...

Yesterday I took Chris to his first day of class as a 2L I told him when we left the house that I wanted to take a picture of him in front of the law school before he went in (thanks for the idea Tricia) and he said "no way". I was going to do it anyway, but my camera died right when I turned it on! So I charged it all day and when I went to pick him up from school that night I pulled up and snapped this through the car window while he was walking to the car. He saw the camera immediately and tried to duck from view but I was too quick! He asked what the big deal was... and I guess I have transferred my excitement about first days of school to him. I would always get really excited for the first day of school each year- even in college. New teachers, new class mates, new subjects, new books- loved it all. It is strange to not have that to look forward to and the end of each summer, but I guess I will just get really excited for Chris and Nate!

New Obsession

Nate is obsessed with playing in the car! When we were in Utah at all of the Foster Wedding festivities we would often go out to the rental car and just let Nate "drive". We spent a lot of time just sitting in the car while he figured out how to turn on the blinkers, the hazard lights, the horn, etc. Since we have been back from Utah, Nate is obsessed with cars. Anytime he sees a car on tv, in a book, anywhere he says "Ca, Ca, Ca" over and over again. You can only imagine how excited he gets when we are walking through the parking lot! Anyway, we were over at Chris's parents for Sunday dinner and Nate found Gma Trudy's car keys and from that moment on he spent the rest of the time trying to get someone to take him out to the car. He even pulled on Gma Trudy's apron trying to get her to come. Here he is seeing if anyone is going to follow him and the 2nd one he is waiting at the door in the laundry room that enters the garage. He would bang on the door and yell "Ca". It will be interesting to see how long this lasts! P.S. He is not wearing a dress- he soaked his clothes while playing in the sink earlier and here he is wearing a t-shirt of Chris's 19yr old sister Dazi.

Getting Better

68%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Well, earlier this summer I took this test and I was in the 70's... I guess I am getting better from my blog addiction. I will admit, it is very addicting. I actually thought that I was worse than this. I better not let Chris see this or he will try to have an "intervention".

p.s. for those who missed out on Steve & Barry's... we are going again next week for round 2 because so many people wanted to go but couldn't go yesterday.

Shopping Anyone?

Some of us are heading up to CR to go to Steve and Barry's today. I know a couple of different people mentioned the next time I go, they want to go- so give me a call today if you want to go with us this afternoon.

Glad to be home

Nate was a real champ while we were in Chicago. It was the first time we have ever left him for more than a couple of hours, and ever over night. I think we were more anxious than he was. When we finally did get home, we walked into Grandma Trudy's and he looked up at us, and turned right back to what he was playing with! Chris was a little hurt that Nate didn't run to him and wrap his arms around him and yell "daddy!" I was glad that he had such a good time that he didn't want to leave Thanks Gma Trudy! We had a good time lounging around the house today and, of course, watching Toy Story AGAIN (I got Nate a Jessie doll and Bullseye at the Disney Store on the Magnificent Mile which he played with all day). And yes, more playing with the IPOD.

No Brangelina!

We had a great time in Chicago living the high life for a day, but are sad to report that we did not have any Brangelina sightings (sorry Heather- no photos) although I didn't really expect to cross paths since we only went from our room to the pool and back and then to the lobby in the morning. The Pitt-Joley family is living on the 18th floor (in the same suit that Jennifer Aniston lived in while filming The Breakup-weird!) right now as Angelina films a movie. We were staying on the 15th, but I didn't have the nerve to go "wander" on the 18th. Gweneth must have already checked out too because we didn't see her either. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and I thought to my self , "I should get up and go swim my laps in the pool now because that is probably when Brad is swimming :)" ha! It wasn't likely enough to get me out of bed! I will admit though, after learning they were living there right now, on the drive to Chicago yesterday I kept running through scenarios in my head of how we might share an elevator and they need a diaper for one of their kids (how many kids do they have now, 10?) and I just happen to have one in my purse. Or that I could help the nanny while we are waiting in the lobby together and the kids are crying. And the silly scenarios went on and on the whole drive:) But then I really started thinking, and I probably wouldn't even recognize them if I saw them because I saw Brad on tv this morning and he looked sooo old. Well, though we had no sightings, it still added to the excitement and "poshness" of the trip. Thank you Sidley Austin Law Firm!

our mini ipoder

Nate's new favorite thing to do is listen to music on the ipod. He will even dance... a little.




You can really see in this picture that he is going to have Chris's square jaw, don't you think?

Chicago here we come!

Chris has a call back interview in Chicago Tuesday morning and so the firm booked him a schwag hotel on the Magnificent Mile called The Peninsula for Monday night and I get to go with! Chris says that it will be a long time before we can afford to stay at a hotel this nice so I better come with. Trudy (Chris' mom) is going to watch Nate so I consider this an extended Anniversary gift :) Check out the pool...

Best Buds

Saturday morning I had a long run so Chris got up with Nate as I was already out running. When I got home they were sitting on the couch watching Toy Story (Nate's fav) sharing a bowl of Fruit Loops. It was just too cute, so I grabbed the camera and told Nate to smile and he stuck out his tongue at me! What a stinker! Chris has a Fruit Loop in his mouth in case you were wondering what the heck he was doing. We are going to really miss Chris when he starts school next week. Oh yes, and that is Buzz Lightyear's arm in the edge of the photo. He was watching the movie with them.

A Very Happy Anniversary to me!

Anniversary #4

Last night we actually went on a date! This is a huge accomplishment for us because either I am too cheap or Chris doesn't feel good about leaving Nate- but we did it! We went to Joseph's Steak House downtown IC. It was soo good. Chris, of course, ordered a steak. It was delicious. I ordered their fettucini alfredo and whipped potatoes. The potatoes were amazing. Chris even liked them and he doesn't like potatoes unless they are fat fried or loaded with cheese. Chris's parent's watched Nate at their house while we went to dinner. He hardly even noticed us when we came back he was having so much fun. Thanks Grandma Trudy! Then we brought him home to put him to sleep (ha!) and went to a late show of Stardust while Trudy and Steve (Chris's parents) watched Nate here. The little rascal is completely off of his schedule from all of the travel so when we left for the movie at 9:30 he was still jabbering away in his crib. The only reason this bothered me was because he climbed out of his crib earlier in the week and so not I like to listen at his door until he's asleep to make sure we don't let the belly flop out of the crib happen again. He started crying as we left ( I swear he has a 6th sense and can tell when we are going to do something fun) and Grandma Trudy came to the rescue and rocked him to sleep. Stardust was very cute, happy ending, but lots of killing.
I am so grateful to have a sweet, romantic husband (Check out my necklace). He worked so hard in school this past year and I am so proud of all the sacrifices he makes for our little family.

Fun Uncle

Chris' s brother Jon LOVES Nate. It is so cute. All summer he has been trying to get pictures of him and Nate together. Multiple times he has made collages of pictures of Nate for the whole family to put as their desktop background on their computer. This is the latest one, not of only Nate like it typically is. I am so glad that my little guy is so loved! We will be sad when Jon and Dazi go back to Duke next week. I already know that Nate will run down the hall to Dazi's room to peek in and look for her and will be so sad when he can't find either her or Jon.