Zack's Birthday

Zack turned the big 2-7 on November 14th!  We tried to celebrate the day in style and to make sure that he felt loved and appreciated!  We started out the morning by surprising him with breakfast in bed- crepes!  They were delicious, if I do say so myself! 

Unfortunately, real life does continue even if it is your birthday so he had to head off to school!  Elise and I wrapped all of his gifts and made him his birthday cake AND his favorite cookies (homemade oreos) while he was gone! 

When he got him the fun began!  We had a yummy dinner complete with the famous "You Are Special" plate :)  After dinner we got out all of our surprises! 

Elise had so much fun helping Daddy I'm pretty sure that she thought it was her birthday, it was so cute!!  Instead of a traditional card we made him a candy gram!  It's way more clever and funny and comes with a bunch of candy, so who wouldn't like it?!

I always have a very difficult time thinking of anything I can get for Zack for his birthday, I was so relieved when he liked his shoes!

We also got him a new sweatshirt and long sleeve shirt to get him through the cold Wisconsin winter. 

When we sang him Happy Birthday Elise was very excited and enjoyed being sung to.  I think she is getting to be a pro at this birthday thing!  Zack requested I made "BTS" cake or Skor cake if you will. It was very tasty!!  It was a great day and lots of fun!  We had a great time celebrating one of our favorite people!  Happy Birthday Zack, we sure do love you!!

Getting Even

That's right!!  We've decided to go from 3 members of our family to FOUR!!  We are very excited to welcome a new little one.  Due date: May 28th 2013!  Here is a picture of our cute little bean :)

So far everything is going great!  I've been feeling a little dizzy and sick here and there but fortunatley, I've been able to keep everything down!  Thanks everyone for the well wishes!  And thanks cousin Emily for letting me steal the blog post idea.

Notre Dame vs. BYU

We were lucky enough to get tickets to go to the Notre Dame vs. BYU football games a few weeks ago!  My Dad was kind enough to get them for us when he found out that they would be playing and how close we lived!  Its about a 3.5 hour drive from our home- not bad! 

The best part was that a few of Zack's siblings and his Mom all decided to come out for the game too!  We were able to spend some time with them in South Bend as well as Chicago; it was a great weekend!

Here is a picture of Touchdown Jesus as they all call him.  Unfortunately, more touchdowns were made in ND favor than our this game, but we still had fun! The campus at Notre Dame is really pretty and for how large a school it is, it's very close together!  We had fun roaming around the campus to the bookstore and other places.

It was a beautiful day and perfect weather for a football game!  It was fun to be at an away game (neither of us had been to one before!) and to sit among all the other BYU fans who came out to support!  The game started off great!  We just won't talk about the rest....

After the game we decided to do the true "Notre Dame experience" and eat at Legends Grill.  Let's just say it wasn't that legendary...but we had a fun time with everyone!  We loved having Zack's family out for a visit- thanks for coming guys!!

Trick or Treat!

Every year the medical school lets all the kids come trick or treating!  It's great :)  All the offices on every floor decorate and make the school look very fun and spooky!  It's lots of fun to go and follow the footsteps on all the floors to find the different places to go!  There is lots of yummy candy to have and the best part is- I don't have to be outside in the cold!  It's a pretty great set up if you ask me! 

When we got ready to go I tried to get Elise to wear her costume (Minnie Mouse) and she would have NOTHING to do with it!!  I was so sad!  Nothing I could do would convince her to wear it :(  I even brought out another costume I found the week before for next year and she still didn't want it!!  So she finally let me at least have her wear her Halloween pajamas!  I guess that's better than nothing, right? 

We were joined by our friend Angie and her cute girl Kennedy- who Elise calls "Kee", it's pretty cute!  She made a pretty cute little witch!

We got there on the latter end of the trick or treating hours and I'm pretty sure we were some of the last people to come around to the offices!  Everyone kept telling them to take lots- more than one!  So much for teaching her to just take one from everyone! She did get good at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you", so I'll take it!

We were lucky enough to have Zack get a little break from studying so he could come with us!  It was a fun treat to get to see Daddy for a little bit during the day!  After you trick or treat they have even more treats and juice and games to play down in the cafeteria- we had a great time!  Can't wait until next year!! 

Carving Pumpkins

There's nothing like waiting until the LAST minute, but Elise and I were finally able to carve/paint our pumpkins on Halloween!!  I got it all set up and Elise got really excited when she saw what was in store!  I quickly devised a painting smock out of a trash bag for her to wear so she wouldn't ruin her clothes and, of course, some still got on her shirt- but that's okay! 

Elise is a very focused and attentive girl when she wants to be!  Activities like coloring and painting she wants it to be perfect :)  She had a really fun time with her pumpkin!

Mom and Elise saying "cheese" to the camera!

I don't know if you can see it very well, but I carved an owl into my pumpkin!  Elise was really excited when I lit mine and put it out on the front porch. She kept trying to go out and look at it, it was really cute!  We had a great time and I see many more carving nights in our future!



Friday Five!

-Zack has been studying round the clock for the past two weeks for three big exams this week!  As we speak (or I guess, read/type) he is taking the biggest of them all, Pharmacology!

 

-We are headed out to the Notre Dame vs. BYU game this weekend and we can't wait!

 

-In addition to the game, Zack's mom and some of his siblings are coming out for the game as well.  We are so excited and can't wait to see some of our family!

 

-If having Zack's family here isn't enough, my mom is coming on Monday and gets to stay and play with us all week long. 

 

-I meant to put up a picture of what my mom sent me in the mail, but I forgot. I'll add it here!  She sent me a darling Halloween banner to put in my window.  I love it!

Don't you just love it?!  I know, you can't see it that well because the lighting in my house isn't great, but it says Happy Halloween.  I think it's the perfect decoration!

 

And because this is my blog and I can, some cute pictures of Elise:

The other day she dragged out her hamper and climbed inside!  All on her own.  So cute!

Elise loves to brush her teeth.  Well, not really.  She loves to eat all of her kid toothpaste, but does let me get in there a little bit to brush.  I'll take it. 



Five Thoughts

- I started and finished the book Divergent this week. I really enjoyed it :)  BUT  if I could change one thing about it would be......(**SPOILER ALERT)

I would change the name Tobias. I really liked the character of Four but when I found out that that Tobias was his real name it was a total letdown for me.  This is because we have been watching the show Arrested Development on Netflix lately and once you meet that Tobias, it's all you can think of. So, I'll continue to call him Four :)

-I feel like I am the only person who is keeping their kid rear facing until two!!  I feel like everyone I see is younger than Elise and they are already flipped forward. 2 more month Elise!!

- I got a fun package in the mail from my mom yesterday.  Aren't moms the best?  I have a few finishing touches to put on it and then I'll show you what it is :)

-It's getting cold here in WI so our outdoor time is getting shorter.  Any suggestions of fun and cheap indoor things to go and do?

- I FINALLY got my shelves hung!!  Inspired by this blogger, I bought the shelves weeks ago!  When I tried to hang them the first time they wouldn't hold because I needed anchors with my screws.  Having finally bought those and borrowed a drill from my neighbor, they are now hung!  It doesn't look as good as my inspiration picture, but I still love it.