GO CUBS GO

I know two little girls who want the CUBS to win the World Series!  Isabella and Giselle were waving the W flag proudly this morning and singing the song, GO CUBS GO!  We are excited to watch the game TONIGHT and HOPE THEY WIN!!

The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first Major League team to play in three consecutive World Series, and the first to win it twice. The team has appeared in a total of eleven World Series, most recently in 2016. The Cubs have not won the World Series in 108 years, and they had not won the National League pennant in 71 years until finally winning it in 2016, both of which are record "droughts" in Major League Baseball. Since the start of divisional play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times. This included five trips to the League Championship Series—in 1984, 1989, 2003, 2015, and 2016 which they won.

I hope you all will be watching the game tonight and CHEERING GO CUBS GO!  We want Chicago to WIN this WORLD SERIES!  108 years is too long!  Here is to making HISTORY Isabella and Giselle : )

Pumpkin Patch AND Our Annual Pumpkin Painting/Carving Contest

A few weeks ago, Bob and I took the girls down the street from our house where a family grows pumpkins in their front yard!  They are a small, family farm with about 2 acres and have been growing pumpkins for about 9 years.  The girls picked out the biggest pumpkins they could find!  Just look at those SMILES......

Over the weekend, we had our 12th annual pumpkin painting/carving contest, a tradition Bob and I started together when we were dating.  Years later, it has now become a family event with nieces, nephews and cousins! 

We were lucky that the weather was nice on Sunday and we were able to enjoy the outdoors while crafting with our pumpkins.  Baxie loved it too!  Bob grilled chicken, I made mini pumpkin pies, Aunt Jenn brought some goodies and Lynn brought a nacho machine!  YUMMY!!  We had a great afternoon adventure together!!  PICK or VOTE for your favorite pumpkin today!  All votes matter!  Until next year.......

Mustang Color Run - 5K

On Sunday, October 23rd, the students, staff, family & community members came out to participate in the 5K Mustang Color Run!  Funds raised from this event go directly back to the students in the form of classroom supplies, assemblies, technology needs and school improvements.

What a beautiful, fall morning to run with my family!  And all proceeds go back to the school to benefit the students?  WHY NOT!  Isabella and Giselle enjoyed running a little over three miles where at each mile marker, they got sprayed with colorful powder.  Along the running path, they even met up with some of their friends and played while they ran.

Isabella is one fast runner!  Or maybe I am out of shape?  Lots of laughs!  Little Giselle needed some encouragement along the way to keep running however she kept going and finished!  This morning, she woke up and said, "Mommy, my legs hurt!"  I imagine for her little legs, running three miles is probably equivalent to running 10 miles?

All in all, it was a great way to start our Sunday, and for a great cause.  The girls had fun with all of the color blasting, their teachers and classmates.  I think it will only take all of us about 5 more showers until we get the color dye out of our skin and hair!  A big THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored this event!!

Isabella Marie turns 8 years old!!

Isabella turned 8!  They say time flies when you are having FUN and I am enjoying watching Isabella grow into a beautiful young lady!  On her birthday she woke up at 5:30 a.m. super excited to celebrate her day. 

I remember when I was a little girl, my mother always made our birthdays special.  She would always make a homemade cake that was beautifully decorated.  She must have spent hours decorating our cakes.  They were show stoppers.  Like the kind you would walk into a bakery and buy.  I always looked forward to her cakes and they always made my eyes light up.  And my favorite was, she would always ask what WE wanted for dinner on our birthday.  Nothing makes a girl feel more special than when she gets to pick what her meal is on her birthday.  I always chose spaghetti or meatloaf.  Those were my favorite home cooked meals that mom made.

I would like to say that I am carrying on my mother’s birthday tradition….however let’s be honest here, I don’t have the patience to decorate a cake for hours.  Nor do I want to.  For years, I have been buying Isabella’s birthday cake at a bakery.  Well this year, she put a stop to that.  I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she said, “Mommy, I want to make my own cake!”  Because when you buy them at the bakery, the cake has strawberries inside and I don’t like that!  I took Isabella to the store and she picked out a yellow cake with pink frosting.  Giselle, Isabella and I baked her cake in the kitchen together and she LOVED every minute of it.  I have carried on the dinner tradition and this year Isabella wanted cheese pizza.  I guess I got off easy this year because I didn’t bake the cake nor did I cook dinner!

All in all, Isabella had a grand birthday complete with Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, cheese pizza for dinner and pink cake!  The day before her birthday, I took her to the store and let her pick out an entire outfit complete with shoes so she could feel super special on her birthday.  She also wanted to paint her nails, so we did that together.  She got lots of goodies for her birthday that included new clothes, a chess set, lots of Lego's and crafts, her favorite!  She was most excited about her new basketball hoop in which Grandpa Dale and Bob put together for her.  Isabella and Giselle have been playing basketball in the driveway non-stop since it was put together!  Over the weekend, we had a celebration with her Grandma’s and Grandpa’s and Aunt Jen, Uncle Mike and Tristan! For the weekend celebration, Isabella baked white cupcakes with white rainbow frosting!

Here are some pictures from her birthday celebrations!

 Here are some of my favorite photos of Isabella Marie over the course of time....

Baby girl, KEEP being YOU!  I love your free spirit.  Your effervescence for life!  Your compassion towards others.  Your love for crafts and making things with your hands.  How you always look out for your little sister Giselle.  Your LOVE.  Your beautiful SMILES.  How you love math and chess and Lego's! 

I LOVE YOU Isabella Marie.  KEEP BEING YOU! 

 Love Mom

September 1, 2016

September is starting out to be a GREAT month!  It was the morning of September 1^st around 8:30 a.m. and I had just finished washing and vacuuming my car.  As I was getting ready to get back in my car, I noticed a penny, HEADS side up!  It made MY DAY.  At that moment in time, I thought, it’s going to be a great day!  A great month! 

Finding a penny is considered good luck!  So what did I do?  I passed that penny along to someone else the same day to share the good luck.  And would you believe later that day, as Isabella was walking home from the school bus, she found a penny heads side up to!  And without even knowing about the luck of the penny, I heard her give it to her sister in the back seat of the car.  GOLDEN!

The sky was so beautiful and magical on September 1^st.  When the girls got off the bus from school, I said LET’s GO TO THE PARK.  Once we were there and playing for quite some time, it started getting really windy.  And then it dawned on me.  I have KITES in the back of my car!  They had only been sitting in the back for about 4 months.  So WHY NOT?  What had I been waiting for?  A windy day??!!  The girls and I had a magical afternoon.  Between finding pennies.  The beautiful weather.  The park after school.  And then flying kites!  What really made September 1^st was the RAINBOW we saw in the sky on the way home from the park.  MAGICAL I say.  Just MAGICAL!

And SO IT BEGINS……The First Day of Kindergarten for Giselle and 2nd Grade for Isabella

Last Monday, August 22^nd was the first day of kindergarten for Giselle and 2^nd grade for Isabella at Schilling School.  Which, by the way, I recently learned that in Will County, Luther J. Schilling School rated as number 7 as the Top 10 Elementary Schools!!  As a parent, that is exciting to learn and know your children are in a good school because we always want the best for our little ones that we hold dear to our heart.

Back to the first day of school.  For the first time in 8 years, I would be kid free.  All day.  Everyday.  I was NERVOUS.  Giselle?  BEYOND EXCITED.  The night before, she packed her own lunch without being asked.  She set her school bag by the back door with her tennis shoes and socks laying in front of it.  EVEN placed her outfit in the bathroom.  She couldn’t WAIT to ride that school bus with her big sister Isabella for the very FIRST time in her life.  She even spoke to me about how excited she was to meet and make new friends.  Isabella?  EXCITED.  Once she saw how excited Giselle was, the competitive side came out in her.  She observed Giselle being prepared and organized and decided maybe she should do all of those things too.  And she did.    

And the morning came.  We did what all parents do.  Take the first day of school picture with our children outside and see them off on the bus.  Giselle was so excited at the bus stop that she started running to get on.  I had to yell, “Giselle, can mommy have a hug and a kiss good-bye?!”  “PLEASE.” Isabella gave me big hugs and kisses and said, “Mommy, I am really going to miss you.  I don’t want to go!”

While I didn’t cry as I waved and watched the bus drive away, I did say the words out loud to myself… "You’re taking my little ones away. Both of them.  Bring them back!”  They both had a great first week at school and I love seeing their excitement each and every day.  I have even noticed that because they are not together as often during the day, they work as a team more when they are home.  WHICH IS AWESOME.  Isabella is really looking out for her little sister and I couldn't be more proud!

As a parent of young kids, it feels like there’s a constant conveyor belt of things that have to get done.  If we’re not helping to get the children changed, dressed or fed, we’re getting ourselves ready for work, running errands, taking kids to appointments, activities, birthday parties.  Even in the summer, when we try to keep things as unscheduled as possible, there are always things that you have (and want) to do.  Quality family time, making dinner, bathing children, reading stories and asking about their day.  By the end of the day, there is exhaustion.  Maybe one of this girls are having a bad day.  Perhaps there was an emergency with the house.  There’s the non-stop juggling of time.  All of this on top of shaping young lives.   Raising little girls to be women is a FULL-TIME job on its own.

With the start of school for both of my children, gone was knowing how I would spend my time.  It’s the 2^nd week of school and would you believe several friends have said to me…. So Sandy, NOW is the time!!  YOUR TIME.  To go back to work full-time and be a successful career woman again.  Like you were before!  HA HA HA!!  I think to myself. 

I already work part-time.  I’m knee-deep in parenting little kids who need me full-time.  This stage of life doesn’t last forever.  Giselle and Isabella will quickly grow up and need me less.  As unglamorous as this sounds to others, TO ME.  It sounds pretty darn GLAMOUROUS and I want to HOLD ON TO IT.  GONE are those 13 hour days as a “career woman” in the office.  I want to remember their sweet little laughs, I want to be there to pick them up if they fall, I want to be able to have and be afforded the availability to volunteer at their school.  I want to soak up this time when they think I’m the best, most fun and hilarious human that ever graced this earth.   And I will continue to do “just” THAT.

No Cavities!

Why not commemorate milestones in dental health with Recognition Certificates!  Isabella and Giselle just had their 6 month cleaning at the dentist.  They were rewarded with a certificate for their achievement in valor while encouraging them to continue down a path of excellent oral health care!!  Yeah!  Good job ladies!  Keep up the good work!