Cheers to 40!

Matt turned 40! And we had three different celebrations to mark the occasion! 

First celebration - Top Golf with our friends to celebrate Matt and John turning 40 and where else would that rather be! We had a fun night of golfing and drinking! The entire night was a surprise and it was so hard to keep that secret! 

(birthday boys)

Second celebration - on Matt's actual birthday we decorated the house to surprise him in the morning. After work/school, we opened presents and headed to Bob Chin's for dinner. It was the first time we had all been there and it was an amazing dinner! 

(this guy is 40)

(birthday cake at home)

(bad selfie attempt)

(happy birthday daddy!)

Third and final celebration was at our house. We ordered Matt's favorite BBQ and invited the families over to celebrate! Phew - lots of celebrating! 

(march birthdays!)

I know Matt doesn't love to have the spotlight on him and it was a lot of celebrating, but he needed to be celebrated. He has done more personally and professionally than most 60 year olds. He is the person who always wants to fix things and make it better. He is the person that crushes it at work all day to give us a life we love. He is the person that will play catch and Barbie's in the same day. He is the person who always seeks out adventure. He is the person who pushes us to do better. He is the person that supports me regardless of the crazy idea I have come up with. We are so lucky to have him and so lucky to be celebrating 40 amazing years together! 

She's So Stylish

Evy recently told me that we needed to put up hooks in the basement for all of her accessories. The conversation went like this: 

Evy: Mommy we need hooks in the basement 

Me: What do you want to hang up? 

Evy: All of my accessories, I am very stylish and I have lots of accessories

Me: Clearly we need to accommodate you! 

Evy: Thank you (and skips away)

(clearly very stylish)

His Appetite is Getting Expensive!

 This boy is growing and his appetite is growing with him! For his post-birthday dinner with Nana and Pop, he ordered and adult pork chop (that Matt usually eats) and he finished it. Dinner out is going to start getting expensive!

Holy Cow - He's 9!

Who knew 9 years could go by so fast? In the blink of an eye, my baby boy, the baby that made me a  mom turned 9.

Charlie is so special and every year I look forward to seeing what he will learn and what he will teach me. He loves dodgeball, kickball and four square. He still loves all things Cubs and baseball, but also had an amazing basketball season. He loves math, reading and social studies and is excelling in all of his school academics. He still reads more than any other 9 year old I know and actually enjoys it. He loves hanging out with his friends and he has a great group of them. He has developed a love of video games and spent the past 3 months learning and ultimately beating the game of Zelda. He would love to have his own YouTube channel, but I am keeping that from happening. He is still the sweetest big brother and occasionally will even still play with Evy. He is very observant, sensitive and has a huge heart. He loves making people laugh and telling a good joke. He always wants an explanation and tries to find ways to make sense of this world we live in.

He has a story to tell and this is just the beginning!  I have no doubt that it will be amazing.

(Both wearing Baez jerseys - he's #9)

(time to sing)

(the cubs and zelda - his favorite!)

It's a Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood

Finally, a break in the weather. We had a 62 degree day today and it was needed! Charlie went out after school with his best friend Jack to do a pre-birthday ice cream celebration so I took Evy out to Dairy Queen to celebrate the temps no longer being in the 30's! Cleary she was loving the weather and the ice cream!

Zelda Champ!

He started playing Zelda right after Christmas. It quickly became the only game he played. He started watching videos on strategy and reading books about the game and today...Charlie beat the game! The first video game he beat and we all watched and cheered him on! 

Charlie's Dodgeball Birthday Party

Today, Charlie celebrated 9 with all of his buddies. We hosted a dodgeball/kickball party at the Park District and with the help of two kind park district employees they played and refereed quite a few games with the boys. Once they were sweaty and worn out we had pizza and sang, "Happy Birthday" to Charlie. Let his birthday week begin!

(dodgeball action)

(his goofy friends)

(his buddies who don't have the flu...)

(what a face!)

(blowing out #9)

(happy birthday charlie!)

When she rules the world...

The sun will always be shining, everyone will be smiling, you will only be able to skip, everyone will be kind, no one will ever be sad and the world will be as it should be. 

Passing it Down

Charlie was very excited to try on his new Bryant jersey and give his sister his old jersey. He wants to share his love of the Cubs with his sister and she's all for it!