Christmas 2011 {via instagram}

{headed north}

{ my parents new farm}








{ Lucky Charms for Breakfast!!! How lucky!! Only and Grandpa and Grandma's!!}





{Grandpa & Grandma Wojo and boys}


{Reuben, Miles, Evan, and Max do the lego thing}


{Declan}

merry christmas

Christmas 2011

Ready for the game.

three {liam via iPhone}

Liam, You are 3!!!!

{Liam and one of his best buds, Caeden}

The last three years have flown by

A lego cake was very appropriate, and you were more than thrilled to lay your eyes on this. I had all these wonderful Ideas of making you a lego brick cake,but quickly realized that due to sickness and the craziness of life I better just order one from a bakery...from someone who ACTUALLY knows how to decorate a cake...I just added the little bricks...and you loved it.

You, Dad, and Evan{poor Max was sick} spent the majority of the evening playing wii. {notice remote in hand}
You, Evan, and I went to get a Christmas tree together while Dad stayed home with a sick Declan and Max. We had a fun time running through the trees, finding a tree to take home.
This year { started on your birthday} I decided to start a new tradition on Birthdays. The day of your birthday you get to run through a doorway of streamers. You thought it was so cool, but didn't quite get what to do...so you did this:

Finally with a little help from your older brother Evan, you got it..and you were giggles for quite awhile!

You are such a joy,our thirdborn son. You have a sweet smile, and a kind spirit {most of the time} and all love your brothers dearly. You love other people, especially the crossing guard at Max and Evan"s school.As we cross the road to walk up to the school, he guides us and you wave and say hi over and over the whole length of the street. You also love to have your window down when we go to the bank or Starbucks drive-thru so you can say hi to whomever is working. We are so thankful for you and your fun crazy personality.



Happy 3rd Birthday Liamster!

xoxo

Mommy

{thanksgiving 2011 {iPhone snapshots}

{ Evan's thankfulness feathers}

{Finding Nemo on Thanksgiving Eve}

{game ready}

{the feast!! From center round table l to r: Joelle, Maxwell, Liam, Julia ,Dad, Mom, Mike, Justin, Evan, and Jaimee}

{Declan}

{out at the Mitchell farm}

{Justin drumming at the church}

{Grandpa's new office at the church}

{WI farmland}

{Chicagoland oasis, headed back home!}

fall wrap up

we've been enjoying the fall! {cannot believe Thanksgiving is next week!}


soccer ended a few weeks ago. a pretty fun season if you ask me. Max is at the age where it is actually quite enjoyable to watch his games. They are playing positions and we had a great team. Max had about 20 goals this season. He is a good little player, and not to mention how HOT the coach is.

They won the last match, 7-4 {max had 2 goals} and the parents of the kiddos thanked Justin with a giftcard, and we all are already looking forward to the spring season.
I realized how competitive Justin and I are. Justin gets pretty passionate as the coach and I am that crazy sideline parent yelling the whole game. I think we keep it under control though, and the leauge has a zero tolerance for trash talking refs which I am actually thankful for. I think it is a great policy.

Evan's team {also Coached by the hot guy} ended the season on a good note too. He scored all the goals and they won something like 11- 3. Evan is the only kid on his team that had any idea what was going on {because he has watched Max play for two years} and so he carried the team.

To see Evan in action click HERE

It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week!! We are giving a go to Basketball this winter. Max and Evan are excited to give it a go, and Basketball is another sport we all enjoy. Not sure if it'll beat out soccer, but it remains to be seen!
It has been a great year, gone by incredibly fast, and I am excited to spend time rounding this year off with great friends and family!

{just us, and our youngest}

{my parents were here for a few days, and we went for a walk this morning at the arboretum, it was a little windy, but gorgeous out!}

5 months

Happy Halloween {sugar day!}

Can it be ? it's Captian Rex and Obi Wan!!!


Arrrg! Some scurrvy pirates! Captian Liam Blackbeard and his first mate Dex!




My littlest pirate!

{fun fall treat}

made these fun acorns for our small group last night.
{or if you are Jewish you could sprinkle them with some blue glitter for Hanukkah! they also work as dreidels :}
So fun, so easy, so cute.

need:
mini chocolate chips
bite size nutter butter cookies
Hersey kisses


1. melt about 1/2 cup of choc. chips in microwave. {only about 30 seconds, stir well }
2. I used a butter knife and put a little of the chocolate. "glue" on a nutter butter and stick on the kiss.
{I found it easy to have the kisses unwrapped ahead of time}
3. as you finish pasting the kiss and nutter butter together then start back on the first ones you made and put a dab of the
"glue" on the bottom of a mini chocolate chip and paste on top nutter butter.

wallah.

{Jacobsen Park}

{2 minutes}

When we get home from school in the afternoons I'm busy, helping with homework, getting snacks, folding laundry...you get the picture, and when I'm deep into say folding said laundry and someone comes in asking for water I {apparently all the time} say; " Just give me two minutes."

Liam, 2.5 and apparently picking up every phrase I use has lately been using this one, which I didn't even realize until Justin pointed it out.

When Just says: " You ready to go?"
Liam responds: "two minutes."

Max asks; " Liam, could I have some pretzels?"
Liam: "yeah, two minutes."

Me: " Liam, you ready to go upstairs to bed?"
You guessed it...2 minutes.

{happy birthday}

10.10.11 004, a photo by olives on a monday on Flickr.

both of the boys grandmother's birthdays are this week. A fun e-mail to send.

{ after school snacking}

When the boys get home from school they are a little nuts about scarfing whatever they can get their hands on.
Now I know this  is nothing new or revolutionary, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
I recently bought a few jars at IKEA  that I filled with pretzels, granola bars, raisins and on the bottom shelf of the fridge {green basket is leftover from some peaches I recently bought...need a few more of those fun things} I put easy to grab snacks that I replenish weekly. {cheese slices, carrot sticks,hummus, yogurt, grapes, apple slices, etc. }. I put them all in little baggies for them to easily grab.
Woohoo for making everyday things just that much easier! :)    

{better-than-crack- brownies}

made these last Friday get together at our casa...BIG hit with adults and kids! And I'm sorry {because they are so incredibly full of healthy goodness} to say it but these are quite possibly the best brownies ever.
Of course I won't be eating any sort of sweet treat until Thanksgiving. I'm trying a sugar fast...and let me tell you, it's only day three and ready to give up. However, I want to stick with it and since other friends are doing it along side me it makes the pain a little less painful :)

So if you would like to partake in this yummy goodness, now or down the road, I recommend these tasty little buggers. While I'm not very crack knowledgeable, I have a feeling these are better than said crack and let's be honest, it's a pretty funny name.
{Better-than-crack-brownies}

Yield: 24 brownies

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Bake Time: 25 minutes

1 batch of your favorite brownie recipe for a 9×13-inch pan
½ cup salted peanuts
8 Reese’s peanut butter cups, chopped
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
1½ cups creamy peanut butter
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

1. Prepare the brownies according to the directions and bake for about 5 minutes less than the recipe states. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top with the peanuts and chopped peanut butter cups. Return to the oven and bake for 5 additional minutes.
2. While they are finishing baking, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the cereal to evenly coat. Remove the brownies from the oven and evenly pour the chocolate and peanut butter mixture over top. Spread to cover evenly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting and serving. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
(Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is)

{rollin'}

rolled over at 16 weeks {to the day}!

{hot dog}

Evan's class has a class pet, a little dog named, Hot Dog {named by the kids of course} and on Tuesday evan got to bring him home. He was BEYOND thrilled yo have him. He came come and pretended to have a snack with him, took him to play with him, { at one point he got out the game SORRY! and played with him...saying things like, " It's your turn Hot Dog." it was pretty sweet. He even slept with him that night and in the morning he zipped him up in his backpack with his head sticking out...you know so he could breathe and all. Off they went Evan and Hot Dog to tell Ms. Walker { his teacher } about their adventures the night before. It was quite sweet. Evan loves with his whole heart...even a little stuffed pup.