piñata

I am so glad we decided to get a piñata for Margo's party because it was a smash hit! (ha!) Here are some video's of the kids taking their turns...

taco 'bout a party

I love a good theme party and it helps that Margo loves tacos and nachos so, ¡voila! a theme was born: 

We invited family and our small group from church and she was surrounded by all the people she loves and who love her. It was a great day and she didn't seem to notice that everything was very taco and/or Mexican fiesta themed, but she certainly did love her tortilla chips and galletas (cookies)! After we ate taco's (obviously) the kids each got a turn to whack the (taco shaped) piñata. Somehow it worked out perfectly that each kid got two whacks and by the time it was Finley's turn, her second whack did it in and it dumped in spectacular piñata fashion. 

After the piñata, Margo opened presents and then we mingled until it was time for a siesta. It was such a fun party and reminder of how much she is loved by more than just Alex and I. We don't take for granted how important family is and that we both come from such wonderful families who always show up and love us so well. 

bestie birthday bash

On Margo's birthday, I decided to invite all of her little friends over for a playdate and for the mama's to chat and drink coffee. All of the kids played really well together and it was so much fun! At the end of the morning we decided to try to take a picture of them together and miraculously, we got a (relatively) good one!

I am so thankful to do life with all of these wonderful families and to get to raise our kids together. Staying home has the potential of being very isolating, but thankfully we're surrounded by such good, loving, gracious community. I don't know what we'd do without all of you!

margo is two

Happy second birthday to our sweet girl! I can't believe that she is two! It feels like it happened over night. I put her to bed one day and she was a snuggly, quiet, pacifier using babe and then she woke up walking, dancing, singing and talking and is definitely her own little person (with a huge personality!). I guess the old adage is true "the days are long, but the years are short".

Right now Margo loves puppies, babies, balloons, coloring, tacos and especially tortilla chips, cookies- specifically chocolate chip cookies, Peppa Pig, dancing, singing "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Trust and Obey", "Let It Go"- Frozen, "We Know the Way" (Away, Away)- Moana, and "Havana"- Camila Cabello. She loves people and hates when they leave and she can't go with them. Moose is one of her favorite things even though he'd rather hide from her and she can't go a day without asking to FaceTime Pop (and Grandma...but mostly Pop).

We went for her 24 month well child check up and she weighed in at 27lbs (53%ile), 32.5 inches (15%ile) and her head circumference was 45cm (5%ile). The doctor feels like she is growing well according to her growth curve and is thriving, little noggin and all!

Her schedule is basically the same as it's been since she dropped her morning nap. She wakes up at around 7:30am, eats breakfast, plays and depending on the day we: run errands, go to swim lessons, go to the We Rock the Spectrum Gym for open play and music class, go to BSF, play with friends or have a lazy day at home. She naps from 1p-3:30pm and then plays until bedtime at 7pm ish. She eats breakfast like a champion and will eat lunch and by dinner time she may eat a bite or two but isn't interested...unless it's taco night. She's starting to show interest in potty training, so we'll see how that goes... But, all in all, I love our days together and wouldn't trade them for anything.

We love you so much and cannot wait to see who you grow up to be! God has and will use you for His glory and for great things. I cannot even begin to express how thankful we are to be your parents. You are loved sweet girl. So, so loved.

midwinter 2018

Each February in Chicago, the Chicago Dental Society hosts a weekend of continuing education courses and an expansive exhibit hall of vendors wheeling and dealing their latest and greatest dental gadgets and products and collectively it's called the Midwinter meeting.

My dad has been going for 30ish years (minus a few here and there) and every couple of years Becky and I join him, usually the year our CE hours are due. So this year Margo got to spend the better part of a week with my mom, while my dad and I took the train to the Windy City from Wednesday through Saturday and Becky met up with us on Thursday.

We ended up with 18 CE hours each(!!), a big bag of free goodies and managed to have a lot of fun along the way. We ate a lot, shopped a little and mostly paid attention in our classes. Thanks for letting us tag along Dad, I'm glad we get to do these classes together.

sledding

We woke up to find an unexpected blanket of snow, so what's better than using our Saturday morning to go sledding?!?

There is a school nearby that has a decently sized hill, so we layered on all of our winter clothes (somehow I managed to find a pair of baby mittens that still fit Margo), grabbed our tote box lids (because who really has a sled laying around 😬) and went sledding! Margo had a great time and Alex giggled every time he went down the hill.

margo says...

With Margo's ever expanding vocabulary, I don't want to forget what and how she says some of her more quirky sayings and words. Here are a few of her latest statements:

"Waples" = pretzels, but waffles = waffles. Try not to get them confused...

She motions with her hands for us to "come here" or "come on".  She also will point to the ground or a seat and tell us to "sit down" and badger us until we comply.

From going to BSF she has learned to pray by folding her hands sweetly and at the end of a prayer she'll say a long, drawn out "AMEN". She has also learned the song "Holy, Holy, Holy" and will happily belt it at the top of her lungs.

Anytime there is an unfamiliar noise and she associates it with me being hurt she gasps and asks (from wherever she is- usually in another room by shouting), "Mama ok?" "I'm ok Margo." "Ok mama". The other day I jumped to reach something and her reaction was sweet, but very concerned.

She's obsessed with puppies and babies so anytime we see one, she gets very excited and won't stop discussing her sighting. The best is when our 7 month old neighbor/best friend Linus comes over to play. We think that she thinks he's her real, live baby doll.

"Snat" (snack) is the first thing she says to me most mornings when I get her out of bed. Somedays she asks for a "snat" before I can fully open her door and turn her sound machine off.

She has so many phrases and ways that she says things that make us laugh every day, it's been really fun to watch her turn into a true toddler. So far, this is my favorite age with Margo, but I've said that at every age and stage so far...

life update

I think I've previously eluded to our big changes in 2017, but now I get to further clarify. In October (right around the time we started the process of selling our house and moving into the blue house) Alex became increasingly aware of how dissatisfied and burnt out he felt at the office. 

While we know that it is a privilege to work for ourselves and to run our own business, there is also a lot of weight and stress that comes along with it.  We had always known there could be a point that we'd want to sell the office, but neither of us had a firm timeframe of when that could be. Cue Alex's extreme burnout. After a lot of prayer, discussion and council, we decided that it was the right time to start looking for a buyer for the office. 

After talking with several different buying prospects, Alex narrowed it down to two different agencies and the one we landed on made the best offer and seemed like the most natural (read: seemingly easy) fit. 

While the sale details and plans emerged very quickly, the actual buyout took longer than expected due to some financing hiccups. But in the mean time, the other agency took over managing our office (in early November), leaving Alex free to work on other projects. 

For the last 3+ years he has had his hand in some type of web development projects and gets the most enjoyment and is most challenged when he's working on a development project. So, that's what he threw himself into November-January. It made for a bit more challenging adjustment to the new house since he was home all day, I had a broken foot and we didn't have a normal, but slowly having him home became our normal. 

In late December he started sending his resume for different developer positions in the area and had several phone interviews and an in person interview at a small firm. But, the general consensus was that he was a little "too green" for the available positions. To say that he was discouraged would be an understatement, so he threw himself into learning and practicing even more. 

Out of the blue he received a phone call in mid January (the office sale was still pending) for a Marketing Technologist position at Concordia Publishing House. He'd forgotten he'd applied for it, but was pleasantly surprised to hear from them and even more so after his in person interview. The job was a blend of what he'd been doing for 5+ years with our business and with his new web development/tech skills. They offered him the job and he accepted with a start date of February 5th. 

I know he's excited for a new challenge and opportunity and we both look forward to seeing if this is the fit and job he's been looking for. God has been good and has provided for us beyond what we could have ever imagined and the office sale was finally complete the Friday before he started the new job on Monday! 🎊

yellow chair

Since we moved into our new house I've thought that we needed a comfy chair in the corner. But when we got the Christmas tree, it took up more than it's fair share of space so my chair had to wait. But after the tree came down, I was on the hunt. We found this beaut at World Market and convinced them to sell us the floor display since it was the only one they had left and it was on sale that day only. I love it and it makes me smile every time I see it. Yellow is my favorite.

christmas 2017

Christmas is always a busy season, but I look forward to it every year. This year as Alex and I processed our high and lowlights our unanimous highlight was picking out our Christmas tree with Margo. She was so excited to run through the fields and "help" find a tree. When Alex cut the tree down she shouted, in her sweet chipmunk voice, "oh-no!". 

Our other highlights were spending time with family and the cliche seeing her face on Christmas morning. But she really was so excited and cute! There aren't really any lows from this year except everywhere we looked someone was getting sick, sick or getting over being sick. Somehow we managed to avoid getting sick and had a great holiday season.

harry potter world

I love to read. My favorite books to read and re-read are the Harry Potter books. I don't know how many times I've read through the series, but every time I read them, I enjoy them that much more. You can call me a nerd, I'm really ok with it.

Alex and I were up late one evening two weeks before Christmas talking about what our plans for the next few weeks were. Right now with the office, Alex has a bit more free time than normal and we started daydreaming about taking a quick trip somewhere before Christmas, before Alex's free time runs out.

We talked about going skiing but with a broken foot that didn't seem prudent. Then we talked about going to DC or New York, but that seemed cold and super crowded. We finally started looking to see where Allegiant flew since they fly out of Belleville and Orlando came up. As soon as I saw Orlando I immediately thought of Harry Potter World.

I have been wanting to go for ages and it finally seemed like the right time, so we booked our flight, rental car, hotel and got our park tickets. We did all of this on Monday night, our flight left Thursday morning, to say it was a last minute trip is probably an understatement.

We planned to take Margo with us until my Mom called to see if she and my dad could keep her so Alex and I could enjoy Harry Potter World without a stroller. We were a little torn because we knew she'd have fun and it'd be fun to see her reaction to everything, but ultimately knew that it'd be easier just the two of us. So she got a vacation with Grandma and Pop and we got a trip to sunny Florida.

When we got to Orlando we went to Universal Studios and straight to Diagon Alley. I was so excited that I was shaking. As soon as we walked through the brick wall (behind The Leaky Cauldren) the soundtrack from the movies was tinkling in our ears. I may or may not have teared up. Everything was absolutely perfect and just as it should have been. Our first stop was Ollivanders to get my wand. You can't be in the wizarding world without one.

The shops had brilliant displays, the dragon breathed real fire, the goblins were cranky and the wands really worked. The Butter Beer was just as I'd imagined and I was about as excited as I'd ever been.

The first ride we rode was Escape from Gringotts and it was awesome! It was a 3D/4D ride and it was really smooth and fun. After that we wandered through Diagon Alley some more and then decided to ride the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade. After waiting in a much longer line than expected, we caught the last train out of Kings Cross. The ride was fun and interactive but not necessarily as long as I thought it'd be.

When we got to Hogsmeade it was just about closing time for the park but it was so cool to see everything in the dark. It just so happened that we got to Hogwarts just in time for the Christmas lights show. It was really well done and ended in fireworks over the castle.

The next morning we woke up early to get the park as soon as we could to keep exploring. When we got there we went to Islands of Adventure and rode the Hulk (not HP themed at all...) but it was a really fun roller coaster. After that we wound through the park to Hogsmeade to ride The Forbidden Journey in Hogwarts. The line to get to the actual ride was really fun and interactive. The portraits talked, we went through classrooms with talking ghosts, through Dumbledore's office, we saw the Mirror of Erised, the portrait of the Fat Lady (the entrance to Gryffindor), the Sorting Hat and the bewitched ceiling in the Great Hall.  The ride itself was good, but really jerky so we were both a bit queasy afterward.

After that we wandered through Hogsmeade, ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks, practiced using my wand, got sweets from Honeydukes and of course more Butter Beer. We went back to Diagon Alley (by foot since the train line was so long) and continued wandering around, practicing spells and soaking it all up. We also got to see Celestina Warbeck perform a Christmas show with her singing Banshees. We shopped and wandered and somehow ended up back in Hogsmeade at the Hogs Head to drink our last Butter Beer before heading out for the night.

Harry Potter World lived up to my every expectation and they nailed all the details, big and small. Disney may be the happiest place on earth but Harry Potter World is the most magical.

1080p from Abby W on Vimeo.

champaign visit

Before Christmas Alaina, Maggie and I conspired to have a much needed reunion. We hadn't all three been together since Alaina's wedding. So David, Maggie, Margo, Alex and I drove up to Champaign to spend the weekend with Garrett and Alaina. It was so good for the soul to catch up and be together. I can't wait until we're together again!

riviera maya, mexico

For the longest time Becky and I have wanted to go on a vacation without kids + our spouses. We tossed around several destination ideas but landed on an all inclusive, adults only resort in sunny Mexico.

We left on Sunday and had five glorious, lazy, sun filled days. We did nothing but eat guacamole and lay by the pool and beach. Our biggest struggle was finding four lounge chairs together. I think traveling is one of the best things for any relationship, sister and brother-in-law relationships too! Thanks for traveling with us Jared and Becky!

Since my foot was broken and the sand was really hard to walk on, Alex gave me a lift when needed

fall retreat

This year we took our high school youth group on a fall retreat the last weekend in October. In years past we've gone to the middle of nowhere Missouri but we always got lost and had car trouble. So this year we decided to stay a little closer to home and go to Camp Durley in Greenville.

The camp's facilities were perfect for what we needed and the weather held out so it wasn't too cold. We did all the normal fall retreat activities- we played games, had a camp fire, did a bible study, had small group prayer time, ate all the puppy chow, some of the boys fished and two of our fellas thought it was a good idea to jump into the lake...the very, very cold lake.

It's always encouraging to study scripture with our students and for them to engage and grow in their faith. Youth ministry isn't for everyone but we love our students and seeing them grow closer to Christ.

the house we sold

We lived in our brown house (maybe it's more tan?) for four years and made so many amazing memories there. Not only did we do a lot of the updates to make it our own, but we grew in our marriage, hosted countless game nights and backyard bbq's and brought Margo home from the hospital to name a few.

We loved so much about the brown house and it was far harder to say goodbye than I'd like to admit. We knew it wasn't our forever home and we felt (mostly) confident that it would sell. Thankfully it did and with virtually no hiccups!