Reconnecting

Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, Mark and I escaped for an 18-hour getaway Saturday night to see Wilco at the Chicago Theatre and enjoy a kid-free night (and more importantly, a kid-free morning).  We stayed at the Hard Rock, which has seen brighter days, but the room was free, so no complaints here! Because we don’t get out all that often as a couple, our first inclination was to try to shoehorn in as much as possible on our night away. We were debating restaurants for dinner and scouring for a cool spot for pre- and post-show drinks. But, it’s been a busy few months for us, and as the weekend neared, we realized we just needed some peace and relaxation. So instead of running around trying to make the most of the city, we kept thing quiet and made the most of our time together. And we had SO. MUCH. FUN! It almost felt like we were just two, crazy 20-somethings out on a date.

The show was fantastic—but, Wilco never disappoints. Afterward, we just went back to the hotel and vegged out on TV and convenience store junk food and were asleep by midnight. It rocked! We capped off our brief escape with a delicious breakfast at Dove’s Luncheonette in Wicker Park. Burnt-ends Brisket for me and Chicken Fried Chicken smothered in Chorizo gravy for Mark. Holy cow! Soooo good! Nothing healthy or light about it, but just the thing for a leisurely Sunday morning meal.

While, I think Mark and I do a pretty great job of staying connected, it’s so nice to escape the “parent role” for a bit and just focus on us. Thanks for the great date, Mark! And a HUGE thanks to Frank and Lonnie for making it possible!

Full Heart

We had a lovely Valentine's Day last week. Mark presented me with a box of Godiva truffles in the morning, so I could enjoy them in the peace and quiet while the kids were at school. He then surprised me that afternoon with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I loved being spoiled by my best guy, but the REAL joy of my day was being able to walk Lainey to school that morning, attend her music class performance in the morning, and then volunteer for her class party that afternoon. For a working mom, who often has to miss these moments, I loved every minute of the back-and-forth. It was an awesome way to end my brief stint of unemployment while I transitioned jobs. Happy Valentine's Day (a few days late)!

Group #1 is ready to party!

Cute Little Valentine's

Catching up...

It's been a busy couple of weeks and it seems iOS is no longer supporting the Blogger app (booo Apple and Google--work it out!), so I haven't been able to post on the go.

So here's a quick round-up of the fun happenings in our world...

Lainey's first sleepover!

Lainey had her first sleepover with her buddy Molly a few weeks back. We were at the O'Grady's for dinner and some hang time, and Maggie invited Lainey for an impromptu sleepover. I was a little worried (mostly that Lainey would rise at an ungodly hour), but my fears were for not! She slept through the night and played quietly the next morning waiting for Molly to wake up (I suggested she could also take this approach at home, but that message seems to have been forgotten). She didn't miss us at all and didn't want to leave when I came to pick here up. Thanks for having her, O'Grady's! Another big milestone in the books!

Girl Party!

I got a new job!
My dream job turned out to be a nightmare and I decided there was no reason to continue the pain. So, after two years, I've decided to move on. But, I learned a lot and made a new best friend, so I have no regrets. However, I also have no reservations about getting the hell out of there. My last day is February 10 and I start the new gig on February 15, allowing me a few days off in between. This job is in the suburbs, so that is going to be a major transition. I will miss being downtown, but the commute will give me so much more flexibility and that will be a tremendous help with two little ones.

We had Christmas the Sequel!
We finally had Brandi Christmas the weekend of January 21 and celebrated Amelia, Oliver, and Jacob's birthdays. I CANNOT BELIEVE JACOB IS 16!!! (Well, almost, he still has two more days to go!) The weekend was super short this time, but we still crammed in the fun and the love! I am a very lucky lady to have such an amazing group of in-laws. I'm proud to say that I'm one of those people who wishes her in-laws lived CLOSER to her. I owe you all an email to figure out March...

Fun with bows

34 candles!

Troop Beverly Hills, What a Thrill!
I successfully closed out the initial Girl Scout Cookies sales and assisted with the first troop meeting. There are 18 girls in our troop. EIGHTEEN! After our first meeting, I felt relieved that I only signed on as Cookie Manager and don't have to deal with THAT craziness every month. And I found a whole new respect for those kindergarten teachers who have 25 kids ALL DAY, not just 90-minutes. Yikes!

Disney on Ice
We hit up Allstate Arena this past Saturday for Disney on Ice and Mark proclaimed for the second year in a row..."this is the last year we're doing this." Famous last words, Mark. We all know you're full of it and will be sending me the email promo for tickets eight months from now. It really wasn't that bad...there was just a moment when everything went awry with two kids crying, popcorn all over the people behind us, and our coats on the floor being trampled. And we just happened to be sitting among some of the most well behaved children I've ever seen, so our kids minor transgressions seemed amplified. But, there were plenty of children in the concourse after the show that made us feel not quite so ashamed of our children's spoiled behavior over not getting snow cones.

And for the January finale...
I found time to relax...bring on February!

Nick's Entourage

Nick has taken to requiring that this bundle of stuffed animals accompany him wherever he goes. They sleep at the foot of his bed at night, travel downstairs with him in the morning, and lay right outside the kitchen at meal times. We drew the line at taking them in the car to daycare. He's added bringing the cage* to the mix in case any of the animals act up and need to go to jail. If he keeps adding animal friends, we're going to need a bigger blanket soon!

It was pretty adorable the first day or two, but two weeks later...well, it's still pretty adorable.

*Nick asked for a cage for Christmas for his bad guys, so I bought him this hamster cage. Next to The Lion Guard tree, this has been his most played with toy. And at $12, much more economical.

John, Joan, and Gene

About a month ago, Nick announced that he has brothers. It started one night when I asked him who taught him to say, “what the frek?,” and he replied, “My brother, John.” Throughout that evening, we came to learn he also has a brother Joan and brother Gene. They are all 16 and live in a castle.

He’s had many, many other brothers since this time, who usually only stick around for a day or so and are generally five-years-old and named after the first object he sees—a few names include Candy Cane, Candy Cane Lick, Towel, Cup, and Chair. Per Mark, he also proclaimed that Samuel L. Jackson was his brother when he saw him on TV (I hope during a commercial, because there is no Samuel L. Jackson movie appropriate for a three-year-old). But, all of these brothers come and go, while John, Joan, and Gene remain constant.

Despite John being blamed for “what the frek,” it appears Joan is the real trouble maker. As Nick says, “Joan’s so naughty.” He causes all kinds of trouble and makes Nick do all kinds of things he shouldn’t. I secretly love that Joan’s the bad one, because one of my dear friends is named Joan, and she is definitely the naughtiest of the group. It’s fun hearing her name around the house! John seems to be the protector and poor Gene just dies a lot—often through attack by a wild animal.

I will tell you, this kid has the most amazing imagination and I love, love, love this new element. Except for yesterday when he had a complete tantrum, because I couldn’t take a picture of his brothers. He was very mad at me, as were John, Joan, and Gene evidently. Sorry boys—I really would love to have a picture of all my sons* together!

*UPDATE: I’ve learned that John, Joan, and Gene aren’t my sons. Their mom’s name is Johnny and their dad’s name is Donny. No explanation was provided on how they became Nick’s brothers. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The trail of candy and gifts..

'Twas a very Merry Brandi Christmas! We enjoyed Christmas morning with the kids watching them tear through gifts from Santa and us. The biggest hit from Santa was the Lion Guard Tree, which really is a pretty amazing play set. Both kids love it and I have no buyer's remorse on the price. Nick alone has spent hours over the last week happily playing with it. Another Santa favorite was the Walkie-Talkie set that came with a a surprise opportunity for a lesson on privacy protection. We were getting quite a bit of cross-over from unknown users. Not so merry to hear a strange man's voice coming from our living room while we enjoyed our Christmas breakfast. Yikes! 

Speaking of "breakfast," Santa once again stopped by the North Pole bake shop and delivered Christmas cakes and cupcakes. Always a hit!

The start of a sugar-filled week

I'm also happy to announce we added two new members to the family! Introducing Foxy and Molly, our two beta fish. These babies came from Mom and Dad--no way was I letting Santa get credit for these. Mark bought the fish and set up the tank a week before Christmas, and we hid it under a box with the back cut out, so the fish could get light from the window. The kids NEVER suspected a thing! 

Not a puppy, but they still love them

My family rolled in later that day. Chris and Sean cuddled up with the kids for a movie, allowing Mark and me to sneak a quick Christmas nap before Dad and Sharon arrived. We had a lovely dinner together, before round two of presents began. At this point the kids were completely wild with sugar and high on new toy smell, so things were a little spastic. But, their uncles and grandparents have to share some of them blame for spoiling them rotten. A few of the favorites from the ridiculous bounty included an Easy Bake Oven for Lainey, dinosaur eggs that you "excavate" to hatch little dinosaurs, and of course a triceratops that "poops" jelly beans (thank you, Uncle Chris).

Grandpa really got into the spirit this year

Everyone stuck around for a few more days to get their fill of the kiddos. Dad and Sharon let Chris, Sean, Mark, and me escape to see Rogue One on Monday, and Chris and Sean gave me the best gift of all when they took the kids to see Sing! on Wednesday, granting me a few hours of alone time to recover from the holiday and prepare for two days alone with the kiddos (also know as Christmas detox. It was rough, but we all survived and are stronger for it).

New Year's Eve was a very simple affair. We let the kids watch a movie, so Mark could watch football in peace. Then the kids and I donned our Buckeye shirts and watched them lose miserably (well, watched the beginning of the miserable loss--we shuttled them to bed before the official disappointment). After the kids were tucked in and dreaming, Mark and I made a nice dinner of Steak Oscar and then watch the new Ghostbusters, which was super funny! The movie wrapped up right at midnight and we kissed 2016 good-bye and welcomed 2017 in. May it be a good one for all!

Maybe next year!

That's the way the cookie crumbles...

For those of you playing a very Brandi Christmas from home, we checked off tradition #3 this past weekend--making Christmas cookies! I decided to get adventurous and try a gingerbread house this year. That was an ill-fated decision for many reasons. First, the kids are nowhere near patient enough for such a project. Second, while the pattern was easy enough to follow, I didn't use a "gingerbread house" gingerbread recipe, but rather my tried and true recipe for cookies. What's the problem, you ask? Well, I like soft cookies, so my recipe produces cookies with a chew versus a snap--not the ideal building material. Third, while I was making Martha Stewart's "caramel glue" I decided I could multi-task and fold some laundry, answer a visitor at the door, and help Lainey spell words for her 1,237,895 Christmas card. I was wrong. I let it overheat and it turned from edible glue into a crystallized mess in my saucepan. Fine--who needs Stewart's caramel glue? We'll use tried and true royal icing. Now, the icing turned out just fine, but there really was nothing strong enough to reinforce the crumbling walls and roof. Womp, womp. I told the kids they could still eat the pieces, so they were cool with it. I even cut several squares out of the remnants for decorating. 

Maybe next year...

So, glad I salvaged some cookies from the ginger bread debris, because...

...about three cookies into decorating, I bumped the container with my elbow and sent three dozen sugar cookie cut-outs crashing to the floor. 

As Lainey is fond of saying, "oh, nuts!"

As you see in the faces above, they didn't take this mishap as well as the gingerbread house. But, they did eventually forgive me and we still had plenty of cookies to have fun decorating. It's just as well over half the cookies were destroyed, because Nick ate most of the frosting along the way. So much so that when we were done, and they were allowed to eat a cookie, he didn't even want one.

Our masterpieces

It's hard to believe we're just a few days away from Christmas Eve...and even harder to believe we're only a week-and-a-half away from 2017!!!