Hankenkirchner

Sdowing!

2012-01-22T22:27:00.001-05:00

Finally it snowed some! We took Conor out today (thanks for the snow pants, Mima and Ampa!) and it was a million times better than last year's excursion in the tundra.

Conor was excited to wear his boots and go out in the "sdow". The snow wasn't very soft and fluffy, which made it difficult to walk on, but Conor enjoyed it anyways!

Christmas

2012-01-22T22:22:00.001-05:00

WAY TOO LATE!....but here are some highlights if Christmas. We had a wonderful holiday with lots of family and 3 Christmases in 1 day!

Santa came a few days early to allow for travel to other Christmases. He is thoughtful like that :-) Conor was excited about his bike and the magnadoodle was the biggest hit.

Thanks to all of our wonderful family for great memories. Love you all!

Frosting!

2011-12-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we frosted our cookies! Conor much preferred to eat the frosting. He would sometimes put some on the cookie and then lick it off. Eventually he just skipped that step and just ate frosting with the little spoon I gave him to frost with.

He had lots of fun (until he fell off the bench backward and got a big goose egg on the back of his head. Ge doesn't seem to mind today though.

Enjoy some pics of the mess!

Christmas and Cookies!

2011-12-12T22:41:00.002-05:00

Christmastime is in full swing at our house! The tree with lots of "wights" is up and so are the stockings and other decorations!

Tonight we made some cutouts. Conor hung in there almost the whole time and liked to make "pwanes" and of course eat lots of dough. Anytime Ryan or I weren't looking he'd eat some :-) Isn't that what it's all about, though?

We have lots of planes and lots of candy cane cookies. I did the candy canes just so I could hear him say "tanny tane" in his super fast babble voice :-)

Decorating will be tomorrow...stay tuned!

plastic cookie cutters for the little guy

making a "socking" as he eats some dough

"It's whoawing"

another mouth full of dough

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:42:00.001-04:00

Hi there! Again I've neglected to update. We have had a busy month of football, friends, and family! This past week Conor went trick or treating with some friends in St. Paris. He collected rocks and leaves in his bucket, along with a few suckers. He seemed to be having fun, even though he didn't understand the treating part-that's okay! He went as a monkey.

We also carved pumpkins while Conor colored on his with marker. He wanted nothing to do with carving and the guts. He instead tried to sit on the pumpkins and balance.

Ryan and I also ran our first 5k yesterday in Piqua. It was a lot of fun! Despite having to walk two gigantic hills I ran the whole time! I think I'll be signing up for a Turkey Trot for this year (they should actually call it a birthday run)! Here is a picture after the race. I pushed Conor and he was none too happy about it!

I am just realizing that I forgot to post about alumni band and my dad's birthday (that we celebrated today). That will have to be another post.

Hope you have a wonderful week! Comments always welcome :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Winter Ridge Dr,Sidney,United States

Holy Toledo!

2011-09-30T15:16:00.003-04:00

I feel like the worst blogger in the world. I just looked at this and realized it's been a little over 2 months since I posted! I promise not to blab and just hit the highlights of the past 2 months.

August: We wrapped up summer with running, playing at the park, and visiting with family. The last 2 weeks of summer were spent preparing for the new school year...and my new job. I had to unload my boxes where they were and decided what was coming with me the board office. I started my new position with hesitance and thought it very awkward to work at an office. I can't even really articulate where August went...it seemed to fly by!

swinging at the park

September: Conor did well transitioning back to Cheryl's and I began to understand my job, its roles, and how to work in an office setting. It's still weird, but I get out to schools often. We traveled to Cincinnati one day to celebrate Caleb's 1st birthday. Very hot...but lots of fun! Rocket football started back up and while Ryan and I have made it to a couple of games, Conor has yet to go. His first this season will be next week. The schedule is a bit different this year and has prevented tailgating (boo). Conor had his 18 month check up (where we were told he is too skinny-don't get me started-he's fine) and did great getting his shot. We spent a day at the zoo with the DiLorenzo's, which was long overdue. We had a great time and it was fun to watch the boys interact. Conor loved the ant tunnel and brushing the goats. He probably would have sat next to a certain lazy goat all day if we had let him.

happy birthday, caleb!

conor and mason thoroughly enjoyed these turtles at the zoo :-)

obligatory elephant picture

Conor: He loves to babble on and on and seems to learn a new word everyday...if not 2-3 new words. He just learned to stack block on his own so he can promptly knock them over with a resounding "DOOOOOO" (which rhymes with go). He loves playing outside with his lawn mower and ride on toys. He has recently learned to say "bike" and points them out wherever he sees one. He also can hear a plane about 10 seconds before anyone else and makes sure everybody looks at "uh pwane". We have been working on the fight song and he loves to participate in "Fight, fight, fight", "Let's go Blue" and fighting just like our ancest-ors.

I hope this catches everyone up! I will try and stay on top of these as fall (my favorite season) begins. Enjoy your weekend, GO ROCKETS!, and leave comments! :-)

conor & daddy

Lakeside 2011

2011-07-26T13:13:00.005-04:00

This post a bit late, but we've been busy! July 9 we headed to Lakeside for Hanke Family Vacation week. It was a beautiful week with lots of laughs and love. Most days were spent going on walks, playing with cousins, swimming in the lake, and playing at the playground. Conor really loved the big sand box at the playground, as well as the sand at the beach. We are so fortunate to have this time with family. Enjoy some photos of our week!

345 Sycamore

conor's favorite place at Lakeside: the sandbox

the whole family enjoying time at the beach

ready to swim!

playing in the sand

a little hesitant about the chilly water

Hanke cousins

Conor, Lucia, Abigail, Ella, Caleb, Maxwell

Tuesday of that week Ryan and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Thanks to Mom and Dad Hanke we were able to go to Cedar Point for the day. Thanks for this gift! We had a great time, and I even mustered up the confidence to ride the Top Thrill Dragster. Ryan asked if I felt like it had been 3 years...my answer was, "Yes...I guess it does." :-) Happy Anniversary, Ryan! I'm so lucky to be married to my best friend.

Summer has Arrived!

2011-06-21T22:01:00.004-04:00

Today marks the first day of summer and the second day of what I consider to be my summer. I participated in a training last week that I was a little hesitant about, but that I ended up LOVING. I am SO excited about the program and what it can do to help our students on a road to literacy. It was awesome, to say the least. Because of this training, however, my first day of no work was yesterday.

We have spent today and yesterday playing outside, playing inside, and playing outside some more! Conor is loving playing outside, although I can't tell if he's thrilled with being home all day. He really loves his sitter and her grandson who is there with him. I think some play dates will be in order for the rest of the summer.

I am happy to have time to enjoy my hobbies over the break. I am giving a horn lesson this summer (for a little while) and playing for Sidney Civic Band, as well as subbing in for Piqua's band. It is so much fun to play on a semi-regular basis again. Thank you to my wonderful husband for putting up with the concerts and bringing Conor to support me!

Father's Day was fun and relaxing. We spent the morning at Costco stocking up for Lakeside 2011, ate lunch with my mom, dad, and brother, went to the mall with my dad, and then headed back to Sidney. Sorry, I have no pictures of father's day...camera FAIL :-/ I do have some pictures of Conor eating strawberries (which he loves) in the kitchen. I had to strip him down in order preserve his outfit :-)

angry because he wasn't allowed to take his strawberry into the living room

sorry it's blurry-but it's still cute!

I hope you're enjoying the summer weather and thanks for reading! Comments always put smiles on our faces :-)

Where to Start?!

2011-06-08T07:18:00.006-04:00

Well it seems as though this blog has once again gotten away from me. Not because I have been lazy, but because life has been a whirlwind since I last posted. I will try and make this as quick as I can so I can get on with regularly blogging again.

1. I found out that I would not be laid off from work, but that I would be getting a 2 year contract. Yippee!!!!

2. We spent our weekends supporting my family in a difficult time. Everything is going to be okay!

3. We traveled to Columbus for Ryan's PE (Professional Engineer) test. Conor and I shopped around Easton while he took the test.

4. We celebrated both of our Mom's birthdays!

5. Conor learned to walk...and it didn't take long for him to run a little!

6. Conor got to see the Easter bunny, and didn't cry at all. He also had a peep and loved his basket!

7. The Board of Education voted to close Central, the school I work at.

8. Steve graduated with his Master's!!!! Way to go!!!!

9. We celebrated Mother's Day with a wonderful meal cooked by my dad and just relaxing outside.

10. Happy Birthday, Steve! :-)

11. Conor had his first sleepover weekend at Grandma and Granpda Westenkirchner's while Ryan and I went to Chris and Megan's wedding. He did great and the wedding was awesome!

12. We spent Memorial Day in Upper Sandusky swimming and hanging out with the Hanke family. Lots of fun!

13. School has been absolutely crazy with all of the packing. The entire district restructured into K-5 buildings. As of right now I will split my time between two buildings...but maybe not...but maybe I will. NOTHING is set in stone. Needless to say I will be very busy next school year!

14. Conor got his first big boy haircut...thanks to Tina and suckers! :-)

15. Ryan passed his PE!!!!!! Way to go! :-)

16. I got to help ring the 1853 bell at Central one last time on Monday as students and staff exited the building. So sad :-(

17. Today marks the first official day of my summer (barring the week of phonics training next week)!

18. Conor would live outdoors if we let him. He is either playing outside, or whining inside to go out.

I think that covers almost everything, in a nutshell. I know it's not great, but it catches us up to now. With Summer here I will definitely post about our adventures. I hope to get a pass to the pool, spend lots of time outside, and work on wedding cakepops! :-)

Conor is 1!

2011-03-29T12:41:00.006-04:00

Please excuse the lack of prompt post-birthday blogging. A lot has been going on and I am now on spring break so I have some time to post.

Conor had a wonderful birthday! On Conor Patrick's Day we celebrated at home by having tacos (his favorite) and lit a candle in a cupcake (with green frosting, of course). He ate a lot of the actual cake part and enjoyed smearing the frosting around on the table. He was able to open gifts from us and gifts that were sent to him. He also got to see both sets of grandparents, Aunt Kim, Uncle Mark, Ella, Luci, & Max thanks to technology :-)

Saturday of his birthday week (March 19) we had a party at my mom and dad's house. There was quite a turn out and he did GREAT. I was expecting him to get overwhelmed, but after initially being a bit shy he turned into quite a ham. He got many wonderful gifts and is definitely well-loved! He enjoyed the cake at the party, and made a bigger mess than his cupcake at home. I tried to give him some ice cream and he really wasn't a fan of that. After everyone left he spent the evening playing with new toys and spending time with family.

I can't believe that a year ago we were getting used to having a baby and this year we are chasing the little monkey around.

Happy Birthday, Little Guy! I love you, lots!

i am backing away because he planted this one on me-i was afraid to get bit!

Rachel & Dan Get Married!

2011-03-07T20:26:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we traveled to Chicago for Rachel and Dan's wedding. The ceremony was short and sweet and the reception was super fun! Rachel looked beautiful! We started the weekend by heading to Chicago Friday morning. After putting Conor to bed Ryan and I were able to go out to Dave & Buster's with the Westenkirchner cousins for some fun. Thanks to my mom and dad for hanging out at the hotel while Conor slept. This was the first time we have gone out (besides to the grocery store or target) since Conor was born. The food, drinks, games, and company were awesome :-)

Saturday we swam in the morning, went to IKEA in the afternoon and attended the wedding at 4:30. It was so great having the wedding venue connected to the hotel. This made it so easy and relaxing! I had tons of fun with family and I wish we all lived closer together. Thanks to Ryan for staying with Conor I was able to dance and hang out with the Westenkirchners. We had a great time and the dance floor take over was nothing short of amazing.

Rachel & Conor

family

modeling his ceremony outfit

reception outfit (don't worry it's not actually a full tux-it's a cotton one-piece)

Conor did great the entire trip. We turned around his car seat (just 2 weeks early). He loved the view and was mesmerized the entire way there. The way home was a little rough for him, but he was a trooper through it all. He had a great time pushing around his new trucks (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa!) on the dance floor while everyone ate. His tuxedo one-piece was a huge hit :-) I didn't get a great picture, but my Aunt Robby did (if you're reading this, Aunt Robby can you e-mail it to me?). He never cried through that whole busy day!

On to the little guy's birthday next...I can't believe it's only 10 days away!

Remember-comments keep me blogging :-)

Conor + Snow = Fail

2011-02-27T08:03:00.004-05:00

All winter I have been worried about not getting Conor out in the snow during his first Winter. This has been quite a winter, so there were many opportunities. We had yet to get him out there due to lack of proper snow-playing wear. I didn't want to pay full price, as I knew he wouldn't use it a lot, so I waited until winter gear went on sale. A couple weekends ago we found some snow pants and puffy coat on clearance. All we had left to find were boots of some sort. This proved to be harder than I thought it would. Last weekend the snow melted and I was so upset that we hadn't taken him in the snow yet. Alas, Mother Nature heard my lament and dumped on us again. Friday night we finally found boots under $10 and, with the help of MawMaw and PawPaw, finally suited him up and got him out to experience snow.

getting ready-sort of unsure about the whole thing

not happy, at all

looking very scared

before being put down on the snow

total fail!

Needless to say he was not a huge fan. As soon as I set him down he screamed. I tried to put snow in his lap, he screamed louder. That was the extent of his contact with the snow. I picked him up and Ryan took off one of his mittens to let him feel the snow. He didn't cry at this, but was very hesitant. We tried to get him to eat the snow, that was a no-go also.

right after we came back in-looking quite perturbed with the whole thing

In conclusion, the whole experience was quite a fail, but at least we can say he went out in the snow during his first winter (and it's documented)!

Countdown to Conor's First Birthday!

2011-02-18T20:48:00.004-05:00

I can hardly believe it's almost little guy's first birthday. Time truly does fly by when you're having fun. Conor has been getting into everything and anything he can reach. He loves to walk with his wagon and really loves to pull things off of shelves. His hair is starting to curl up a bit on the bottom, which ends up looking like crazy scientist hair after he cakes food in it. :-) Today he realized that he could stand on his tippy toes to see out of the window. It was too cute to watch.

walker wagon

crawling through his tunnel

Brown Bear, Brown Bear - his current fave

peeking out the window for the first time

We've had a busy past month. We celebrated Abigail's 3rd birthday and I started rehearsals for a local high school's musical. I'm playing Phantom of the Opera. I'm excited to be playing again since I missed musical season last year (for a good reason :-D ) About 2 weeks ago I was told that I am being RIFed from my job. I was pretty upset for a few days, but I know it's not from how I do my job, rather it's from the community not supporting it's schools. (Don't even get me started on the governor not valuing public workers) I will be looking for other jobs and hoping that I can still work for Sidney in some capacity next year. I love my school and I am most upset about not seeing my friends there after this year. :-/

I apologize for the lack of posts in the past month and will try harder to post more than once a month! Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and comments always make us happy :-)

10 Months Old!

2011-01-12T07:42:00.008-05:00

I should preface this by warning you this post is about Conor and his tricks. I am doing this so I can have this to keep some day by printing it all out. I think it's a neat way to keep track of his growth and keep friends and family updated as well.

I think I can safely say we are all healthy now...finally! We have tired getting back into the routine of work/going to the sitter, but snow and ice have had different plans. I don't mind the extra time with the little guy though. He is certainly a busy bee these days. He crawls faster than I ever imagined he would be able to, and gets away too quickly. He loves to pull himself up on anything he can reach and tries to go under anything and everything. This includes under the coffee table and under the chairs (where bars get in the way). He's very determined and becomes angry if he cannot accomplish this goal.

yay!

loving his bath

be assured: he will never leave a tower standing

Conor has also started eating with a fork. We stab the food for him, but he's quite good at getting it into his mouth. We started this because he is very resistant to having help eating and slippery little pieces make him very angry if he can't catch them. His most recent favorite is when we have tacos. He LOVES the meat, beans, and tortilla. He also loves cheese. Unfortunately I'm having trouble getting him to eat any fruits and vegetables. Good thing he still relies on milk for nutrition!

tacos!

i love tacos!

He loves standing up at his activity table and the coffee table. Just today he has gotten really good at holding on with one hand and reaching down for a toy. He also started pulling himself up to the couch today. Basically anything he can reach he tries to pull up on. He is standing in his crib, which has been lowered all the way. He tries to pull up on table legs, chair legs, the cupboards, and even the wall.

caught!

We took a trip to Ikea this past weekend and got him a tunnel while we were there. He was reluctant the first day and cried when we tried to put him in it, but the next day he did better and now he goes in all by himself.

I can't believe how fast he's growing and I need to begin planning his first birthday bash. It's amazing how he went from a little lump to a moving, talking, laughing little guy.

sooooo big!

can't help being so cute

I hope you've had a good week and thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated :-)

Conor's First Christmas

2011-01-01T14:20:00.005-05:00

I, sadly, took down the Christmas decorations and tree yesterday. I love Christmastime so much and hate putting it away, but that's what makes it so special each year. We have had a whirlwind break and Conor did great. We started Christmas on Christmas Eve morning. Santa came early to our house so Conor could open his gifts before we headed out for the holiday. He loved the paper and ribbons (as expected), but is now enjoying his toys. It was so fun to watch his excitment: marked by stiff flailing of his arms and what we like to call his "cheesy smile" where he scrunches up his nose and bears his teeth :-) Too cute.

Santa came early!

entranced by paper and ribbon

i love the joy on his face-even if it's just ribbon

After cleaning and packing up we headed to Norwalk for a little time with MawMaw and PawPaw before playing at the 7:30 service at their church. Conor did great on the trip and was excited to see them. He did fall on a toy there and got a bruise...he apparently decided not to catch himself with his hands and arms. Silly guy. We played the service (Conor did great again-despite it being bedtime), put on Conor's jammies and made the annual Christmas Eve turnpike drive to my parents' house.

sleeping on MawMaw at the end of the service

We woke Christmas morning to another visit from Santa (and Grandma and Grandpa) :-) Again, Conor was loving the bows and paper. There was a gift tag that he was especially excited about. We spent the morning visiting with Rachel and Dan and the afternoon celebrating Christmas with my mom's family at Uncle Chip's house. It was a nice and relaxing day.

yes?

opening his new milk truck from Uncle Steve

playing with one of Uncle Steve's tags

After spending time with my family (until Tuesday) we headed to Norwalk for the Hanke Christmas Tuesday morning. We arrived to a houseful of very excited kiddos. The kids opened their gifts and then we went swimming. Conor LOVED swimming, although he thought he could swim without being held. Wednesday we were able to have a really nice meal with extended Hanke family (and my parents) at the church. It was a great space for the kiddos to run around and get some energy out. Ryan set up the Wii, which was also fun. We ended the evening doing a white elephant type of exchange with gifts from The Something Store. I thought it was lots of fun! We left Norwalk for home Thursday afternoon. I have yet to upload the pics from this leg of our break, but look for them on Facebook.

We were sad to miss NYE with friends in Cleveland, but it was just going to be too crazy. Good thing we didn't go, because last night (NYE) Ryan and I both were up all night with the stomach flu. I am feeling a little better, but Ryan is still not doing so well. I hope this is not a sign of things to come for the new year!

scrunchy nose!

I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing, family and fun-filled Christmas and a safe New Year's Eve. As we recuperate we also must get ready for heading back to work :-/ At least we have Conor's first birthday to look forward too :-)

9 Months Old and Christmastime :-)

2010-12-17T22:25:00.004-05:00

Today marks 9 months for Conor. I can't believe he's been outside as long as he was inside! I love to watch him crawl around and discover new things. It's so interesting to watch what interests him. He loves to laugh and chit chat :-) It is amazing how much he has changed since St. Patrick's day. He's experimenting with standing on his feet and hands and tries to pull up on some things. He can say "Dad" and "baby", give kisses, and clap to pattycake. He's an all around happy guy that loves life!

He has been doing quite well with the tree. He pulls on a few branches and plays with some ornaments deemed appropriate for him to pull off and chew on. I cannot wait to watch him discover his presents. Although, I'm quite certain he will enjoy the paper, ribbons, and boxes better than the toys :-)

With Christmas comes baking!!!! I love making Christmas goodies! This past week I made some cutouts (that I must admit turned out awesome), candy cane cookies, some pillow cookies for a gift, and pirate cake pops for a colleague's son's birthday. I only have a picture of the pirates. I think they turned out pretty cute :-) More baking to come next week!

My Christmas break began after school today. I'm looking forward to hanging with the little guy next week and then doing the "Ohio" tour the following week to spend the holidays with family.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-12-05T16:52:00.002-05:00

Tis the season to be jolly! This really is the most wonderful time of the year and we are definitely getting into the spirit. We had the tree up before Thanksgiving (which is never usually even allowed-by me) and have taken to listening to Christmas music quite often. I love every minute of it! The holidays were kicked off with a trip to my parents' for Thanksgiving. We celebrated my birthday the day before, and enjoyed family, friends, and delicious food on Turkey Day. We are lucky enough to be able to celebrate with both my family and Ryan's parents all in the same place. Conor enjoyed seeing LOTS of family and getting plenty of attention. He even tried some turkey. Like most things, he was indifferent.

Thanks to Sue we have a beautiful new, pre-lit tree. We decided since we have a bigger place that we could get a bigger tree and she happened to have one she wasn't using. We love it! She also suggested we get some little gun thing called the "Light Keeper Pro". I am a walking commercial for the thing and if you have trouble with lights-GET ONE. It's well worth the $18 to not have to hassle. You just plug the gun into a light socket of a light that is out, pull the trigger, and VOILA! the whole strand lights back up. AMAZING. Get one.

Conor sometimes looks at the tree, but doesn't really have much interest in heading toward it. He is not crawling, yet, but is so very close. He has rolled/scooted over to it and just pulls on a branch. We got him an ornament and he helped Ryan put it on the tree. Again, he was indifferent about the whole thing.

putting on his ornament

Aside from throwing himself forward so he sit himself back up, he is starting to clap and do patty cake. He loves to say "Dad" and "bob". Occasionally we can get him to say "baby". He's also into making a kiss noise that is absolutely hilarious. Today we spent the day switching his room with the guest room because his room was getting so cold at night (due to having 2 outside walls). Hopefully he's warmer now at night.

concentrating really hard on getting a toy

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying the magical holiday season!

8 Months!

2010-11-17T21:39:00.003-05:00

Today Conor is 8 months old...we can hardly believe it. We have no idea where the time went, but are loving our little guy and is goofy personality that is starting to show. He currently enjoys talking (Dad, Bababababa, screeching, etc.), eating (especially picking up food using his thumb and forefinger), and scooting around the living room. He is only able to scoot backward, but does get up on his knees and rock back and forth. He can roll and scoot backward quite quickly. Before you know it, he's on the other side of the room! He is into exploring whatever he can reach, and tonight decided to drag his toy basket around the living as he scooted backward. I think he finally realized that if he doesn't drag it along the toys get out of reach as he pushes backward.

We did a little photo shoot tonight to document his 8 months. You may notice a line/bruise on his forehead. This happened at the sitter yesterday while he was eating lunch. He was watching her dog (this tiny little thing) walk around the kitchen and the dog went under the table/chair. Conor quickly moved his head to keep tracking BamBam (the dog) and slammed his forehead on the table. :-/ Poor little guy has a bump and bruise. This won't be the last, but I still felt bad for him.

do we really have to take pictures?

love this little guy :-)

give me that camera!

I have been quite busy, especially last week (conferences at school), but are starting to settle down a bit before the craziness that is "the holidays". I am excited for them, and looking forward to break and spending time with family :-) Here are some pics from Halloween weekend. We celebrated my dad's birthday!

death by chocolate cake-by thrush's YUM!

trying out uncle steve's waldo glasses from his halloween costume

I hope you are having a great week, and if I don't post before Thanksgiving...I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with great family, great fun, and great food :-)

p.s. bgsuCKS

October is Over!

2010-10-30T10:40:00.008-04:00

Again I have failed at keeping up on posting in a timely manner...someday I will figure it out :-) We had a busy October, but have enjoyed an orchard, a pumpkin patch, a baptism, and Conor's first Halloween. I can hardly believe that it's November already!

We started off October with a little football. Unfortunately the schedule this year only permitted 3 tailgates, the first of which was rainy and the last one we were unable to attend. Here are some pictures from the last football game we went to.

conor & ethan just chillin'

ryan enjoying the game & conor enjoying the lights that are in front of our seats

A few weekends ago we headed to Cincinnati for Caleb's baptism and were able to see Kim, Mark, Ella, Luci, and Max too! We had a great time with the whole family and even got a chance to do Christmas pictures with all of the kiddos in matching/coordinating outfits. Thanks for the cute clothes, MawMaw & PawPaw!

PawPaw, Maxwell, Abigail, MawMaw, Conor, Lucia, Ella, & Caleb

(what you can't see is Mark, Kim, & myself jumping up and down like fools to try and get this)

swimming at the hotel-he actually kicked and splashed!

We were able to finally find a pumpkin farm in Sidney and headed out there one day. It was a nice little place and we walked pack to the pick-your-own patch too. We all got a pumpkin and eventually carved them. Conor's did not get carved, as it was a little small.

I must note that we set him down in this spot and this was the only face he made :-)

let's carve a pumpkin

entertaining himself as we carve our pumpkins

Conor's first Halloween was uneventful. Sidney trick-or-treats the Thursday before (so silly), which turned out to be a very cold evening. We were going to walk him around the neighborhood (not get candy!), but decided it was too cold. We did put on his costume and take some pictures though. Here is our little banana!

Shwew....October flew by! Now here we are in November, preparing for the holidays (It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!). This coming week will be a long one for me with conferences (boo) two days until 7. I hope you had a great October and that you are excited for the holidays like we are! :-)

Remember....comments=love

Our New Home (and More)

2010-10-11T20:08:00.007-04:00

We're baaaaack! Sorry for the hiatus, but we've been busy getting moved and settled into our new home. We had a busy week leading up to move with trying to pack and keep things unpacked that we would be needing. A big thanks to our parents and my brother for all of the help! We really appreciate it! It has been an adjustment moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom townhouse/duplex/double. The extra space is awesome and we love the windows. Not to mention the peace and quiet that was lacking at the apartment. We also have new couches and are loving them! I was more than happy to see the purple couches go, but when it came time to leave them at the dumpster I was a little sad for them :-/ As my dad, Ryan, and my brother were moving the couch out of the building the woman who lived below us saw them and decided she wanted the couches! They live on!

Here is a virtual tour of our new home:

kitchen (from the door to the garage)

living room (from front door)

living room (from kitchen area)-new couches!

guest room-come visit!

conor's room

Another perk of our new place is the neighborhood. It's quiet, clean, and has a brand new park. We try to go there most days and let Conor swing. He loves the swing and doesn't mind the stroll either. The park will definitely come in handy next Summer!

the view from our apartment...

the new view! (from the front window)

view from the patio

swinging!

Last weekend we had our first tailgate of the season. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy :-/ We even had to go to the mall to find a hat and mittens for Conor. He was such a trooper and stuck it out. He even saw pregame and a few minutes of the first quarter. Conor, Jessi, and I left the game after about a half hour to take Conor to my parents' and put him to bed. We no more than made it out of the stadium when Conor fell asleep.

ready for the first tailgate

it was cold and yucky

passed out in the carrier

This past weekend Matt and Karen came to Ohio! Karen was in a wedding in Dayton and they stayed here. Even though they were in and out all weekend, it was still great to hang out! We miss them lots and hope they move closer eventually :-) Conor enjoyed them being here and was a big flirt.

Conor now has two teeth, on the bottom, and loves to sit up and play. He would much prefer sitting up and playing than lying on his belly. He is able to roll over, but rarely does it. It seems as though he would rather move forward than mess with rolling over. He smiles, babbles, and is enjoying his homemade baby food :-)

This weekend we will be tailgating and cheering on the Rockets. I sure hope it's good, Fall, football weather! Thanks for reading! Comments=smiles :-)

Happy Half-Birthday, Conor!

2010-09-19T09:29:00.005-04:00

Friday marked Conor's half-birthday (meaning he's 6 months old)! I can't believe 6 months have already flown by. It seems he has always been in our lives and when we stop to think about before Conor (B.C.) we have no idea what we did with our time. Nothing was important enough to stick out in our minds! I know we thought everything B.C. was important, but now that our lives have totally changed we can't remember what those "important" things were. It's amazing how much one little guy has changed everything, and we are so happy he did.

6 months old!

obligatory Ricardo pic-Ricardo is getting smaller and smaller!

notice the wet shirt from his teething drool

That was a bit deep-on too fun and pictures. Last weekend we decided to check out the Applefest here in Sidney. I was kind of looking forward to it, seeing as the Strawberry Festival (in Troy over the Summer) was tons of fun and EVERYTHING was Strawberry themed. The Applefest, however, was not apple-themed. In fact I only saw one food vendor with apple dumplings and one booth with a guy selling apples. That was it! Needless to say it was a bit lame. My mom and dad came down Sunday to visit and to see Conor on Grandparents' Day.

happy grandparents' day!

This past week was busy, as usual, so we decided staying in Sidney this weekend would be a wise choice. Monday night Conor was a bit fussy during the night and I couldn't figure out why. Tuesday he came home from the sitter's with a bottom tooth cut through his gums! I can't believe he's getting teeth already! I tried to get a picture of it, but that was difficult. I made a video and posted it on my facebook about the tooth trying to show it, but Conor just chatted instead. It's still cute, though :-)

Friday night I was lazy and decided to let Night Sky (in Troy) make dinner for us. It was peanut butter night, so I was happy! We did a little photo shoot in the evening to commemorate Conor being 6 months. Here are some more pictures of that:

the elusive mommy and conor shot

a bit blurry-but i couldn't resist conor's smile in this one

Yesterday we were busy! We went to the park in the morning, packed up lots of books, and headed to Dayton to do a little shopping. We didn't do too much damage, but it was nice to walk around and get things we needed at Target. Today we have already packed a few more boxes and Ryan has loaded them into the car. We plan to start taking boxes over today and continue throughout the week. We hope the landlord doesn't mind. She gave us the garage code and the keys are in the kitchen just sitting on the counter, so I don't think it will be a problem if we start to take things over. If we don't, our apartment will be full of boxes and we will have nowhere to move!

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend and I will post pics of the new place after we get settled. Thanks for reading and please leave comments :-)

F is for Family, Fall, Friends and Football!

2010-09-13T18:06:00.006-04:00

This past month has been a busy one! I started back to school, Conor started at the sitter, we found a new place (not an apartment) to move to, and football started! School has been going well and Conor is doing great at the sitter. He smiles everyday when he sees her and he smiles at us when he gets home :-) While I enjoy working (I do miss Conor though!), it's crazy trying to get everything done in a few hours after school and play with the little guy. We are all adjusting though.

A week before school began Conor's new friend Mason was born! We are so glad he's finally here and can't wait to see him again :-) He's an adorable little guy and I'm sure in the future Conor and Mason will be buddies. We went to meet Mason when he was just 6 days old. Conor had fun too :-)

conor likes his new friend

Football began about a week and a half ago. It was a Friday game and we did our best to be there. Conor and I stayed for a short while and then headed back to my parents' house so we could get a good night's sleep for the family reunion the following day. The reunion was super fun and it was great to see all of the family. Conor did not mind being passed around and was great all day.

go rockets!

daddy and conor

The day after the reunion Matt and Karen came through on their way back to NYC. Matt had never met Conor and it was very nice to hang out with old friends at the park on such a nice day. I did not take many pictures, but here is one of Karen and Conor. Hopefully she posts the group pics we attempted to take with the help of the stroller and a timer.

karen and conor :-)

This past weekend we went to meet the newest member of the Hanke family, Caleb Frederick! He is a cutie and doing well. Big sister, Abigail is also doing great. Here are some pics from our visit. Can't wait to hold him again!

brothers and their boys

caleb frederick

Next weekend we are moving! We are going to be moving to a townhouse/condo thing in a really nice neighborhood. We will have 3 bedrooms (that means a guest room-come visit!), 2 full baths, a master walk-in closet, a 2 car garage, and my personal favorite: a window in the living room! :-) We are very excited, although my brain gets overwhelmed thinking of packing and moving. I am hoping a moving fairy will do it all for me.

Conor has been doing all sorts of new things everyday, it seems. He is regularly rolling from front to back and is SO close from back to front. His new favorite is to "talk". He says, "Ba, Ba, Ba..." and "Da, Da, Da..." It's so cute and sometimes he moves his mouth without making any sounds. I hope you're enjoying the awesome fall weather and I will write again after the move. I can't promise anything before that. Thanks for reading and comments are always appreciated :-)

5 Months, Already?!

2010-08-18T11:25:00.005-04:00

First off-we had a wonderful weekend at my mom and dad's to hang out with some of the Westenkirchner family. We had a wonderful time and were happy that Conor could meet Uncle Dave and Aunt Robby! :-) He did a great all day and eventually adjusted to the craziness. We spent the day hanging out, eating, catching up, and looking at old photos. It was very nice to have a lot of the family there, as that doesn't happen too often. Of course we missed those that were not able to make it. Here are some photos from that day.

Great Aunt Laura and Conor

First cousin once removed Laurie, Conor, and myself :-)

Nestor, Laurie, Conor, Me, Ryan

Yesterday I took Conor to the sitter for the first time so I could put in a few hours at school. I knew he would be alright and adjust, it was me that was not exactly okay. I made it though! The sitter said he did fine and even went down for a nap quite easily. He was smiling and chatting with her when I went to pick him up. Tomorrow he will have another morning with her, to ease him into the whole thing. Next Tuesday he will be there all day for the first time. I'm sure I'll be busy enough at school to keep my mind off of it, and I know he'll be just fine.

We also did a little 'after-bath' photo shoot yesterday to commemorate Conor being 5 months old! I can't believe 5 months has already gone by. Time truly does fly when you're having fun. He is laughing, smiling, babbling, and recently started to try and blow raspberries. He gets it every once in awhile and makes a huge, drooly mess. That's okay though, it's too stinkin' cute to care :-) He's putting everything in his mouth these days and loves his Sophie (chew toy giraffe). He's starting to enjoy the excersaucer for short periods of time and recently tried peas (which he seems to enjoy). He also enjoys playing with his feet and trying to get his toes in his mouth. One of these days he will roll over, until then he will just continue to tease us :-)

get those toes!

look how long he is!

I just LOVE this sequence of pictures:

Why hello, Ricardo

What's that, Ricardo? You want me to eat you?

Hmmm...

Okay!!!!

Ricardo told me to do it.....

We also have some good news! We are moving! Monday we went to look at a townhouse in a brand new subdivision where there are NO train, car, motorcycle, and other apartment noises! YAY! There is a park in the neighborhood also. It has a two car garage, living room windows, ceiling fans, 2 full baths, a walk-in master closet, and a separate laundry room. Needless to say we are so excited to move there. Unfortunately we must wait until the end of September :-/. We will be counting the days!

Hope you are enjoying the end of Summer! Thanks for reading and PLEASE leave a comment!!! :-)

Why did July have to Fly By?

2010-07-30T12:57:00.005-04:00

I can't believe July is practically over. The day after my last post we started Conor on rice cereal. He, as with most new things, was indifferent. He eats it, but doesn't get too excited. I feed him rice cereal for breakfast (of course he still nurses the same amount) and he's starting to get the hang of swallowing and not spitting it back out.

all done with his first rice cereal!

After 10 days of rice cereal the doctor suggested we start a vegetable. So today I used my Beaba Babycook for the first time to make some organic carrots. It was super easy and didn't take long at all. Again, he was indifferent about the whole thing. We will not have cereal at breakfast and carrots for lunch for the next 4-5 days and then I'll get to use the Beaba again and make a new vegetable.

ready for something new!

modeling the goods

first bite

not too messy!

On Tuesday Conor and I went to the Children's Garden in Dayton with one of my friends from school and her 3 kids. It was such a cool place! Conor will have so much fun there when he's able to run around. He enjoyed himself too, especially since he can no look out in the stroller.

having fun, despite the heat

have skwish (toy), will travel :-)

Yesterday we walked down to the Shelby County Fair to check it out. We have never gone and we wanted a funnel cake :-) It was....interesting, to say the least. We saw lots of cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and bunnies. Conor seemed to enjoy himself. He smiled and laughed and chit chatted the whole time. We did get our funnel cake and decided to head back and swim after we had seen enough of Shelby County's finest.

at the fair

This weekend we will meet up with Ryan's family in Dayton at the Children's Garden and maybe get in some shopping too :-) Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Comments=smiles :-)

4 Months!

2010-07-20T12:35:00.003-04:00

I can't believe that Conor is 4 months old already! It seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. I love how interactive and alert he is, but miss my cuddly teeny tiny little guy. He is growing up so fast! He loves to be sitting up, and would much prefer to do it on his own. He still needs help with this, but is well on his way to sitting unassisted. He tries to sit up in his car seat every time he's in the car. It's so funny to watch him try with all of his might. On Saturday we went outlet shopping and then stopped at a mall in Dayton. Because he is so into sitting up we decided (well-Ryan had to coax me) to try the stroller without the infant seat. He loved it!

such a big boy!

After shopping all day (he was a trooper the whole time!) we did a little photo session for his 4 month "birthday". We put Ricardo in the shot last time and will continue to do this so we can see him grow!

4 months!

He is also really into putting anything and everything in his mouth. He's not teething, yet, but just loves to explore by putting things in his mouth. He's doing great at lifting his head up for tummy time and we're working on rolling over. He still is hesitant about this, but with some help to get up on his side he will sometimes roll to his tummy. One time he even got his arm out from underneath him all by himself!

why hello Ricardo-let me eat your ears :-)

Can you believe this was just 4 months ago?

We spend our days playing, reading, laughing, and smiling. We love to hear him laugh and will repeat whatever silly sound and/or movement makes him giggle until it's not funny anymore. :-) We've also been swimming at the pool in the evenings and I think he really enjoys it finally. He never fussed, but seemed indifferent. The past couple of times he has smiled and laughed while in the water.

love him!

Yesterday Conor had his 4 month appointment. He was 15 pounds 12 ounces and 25 1/2 inches long. All around he's in the 75th percentile. A little above average, but not too bad! His head size is near the 25th percentile. The nurse said, "Where did you get your little head from?" Haha-hopefully his head grows into his body :-) I still think he's cute! He took the shots much better than last time. He still cried a lot, but it was MUCH less dramatic. I was able to calm him fairly quick, but while I was checking out and scheduling the next appointment he would randomly yell out. It seemed as though he was just letting me know that he was still angry about the whole ordeal. I thought it was kinda funny :-)

Thanks for reading! Hope you're having a great Summer and as always comments are more than welcome :-)

2 Year Anniversary

2010-07-13T09:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Not a lot of years, but still special none-the-less. We also reminisced about our first anniversary, one year ago, that we found out our lives were going to change completely-for the better :-) I can't believe how much has changed in that one year, let alone how much in 2 years! I must say it's pretty great to marry your best friend! I love you, Ryan!

We celebrated by going to The Greene in Dayton to The Cheesecake Factory. YUM. I kept with suit and unknowingly tried to foil a surprise. Ryan REALLY wanted to go to Cheesecake Factory, and so did I, but Conor ended up taking a super long nap when he usually only sleeps an hour. This caused it it to be 6:00 or so when we would finally get to leave. It takes an hour or so to get there, then we'd have to eat, then drive an hour back. I was determined to just stay home and make something here and go out later in the week. Ryan insisted we go. So we went. I was a bit grumpy about it being so late. We got the Greene and I said, "Why don't we just park close to the restaurant since there won't be time to walk around?" Ryan said no and proceeded to park on the complete other side of The Greene. I huffed a sigh of frustration at this point. We got out of the car and started walking to The Cheesecake Factory. He turned off to some stores and I said, "What are you doing? The door is straight ahead, we are wasting more time!" He just kept walking and I kept following. We went into this store called Life in Letters. We've been in there a few times and I love what they do. I saw on their display wall one that said, "Rockets" and I thought it was so neat and then realized that we were no where near Toledo and that it was probably my anniversary gift. It was! I love it!

Once again I had tried to ruin a surprise, but Ryan has gotten pretty good and just taking my brattiness and continuing on :-) Thank you, Ryan! I love you!

Lakeside and 3rd of July!

2010-07-07T11:53:00.007-04:00

We returned home this past Sunday after a week at Lakeside and another DiLorenzo 4th of July party (which was on the 3rd)! Lakeside was beautiful, relaxing, and after a couple days of unbearable heat the weather was absolutely perfect. Conor and I stayed the entire week, while Ryan had to work Thursday and half of Friday. We had a wonderful time just hanging out with family. Conor was a trooper and did great! It was so nice to just be able to walk everywhere without having to get in the car. Great Grandma and Grandpa Hanke were also able to visit and meet Conor. He loved the time with MawMaw, PawPaw, Aunt Kim, Uncle Mark, Uncle Adam, Aunt Louise, Ella, Luci, Max, and Abigail. Luci took a special liking to him and I wish I would have caught her "Hi, Conor! Hi, Conor! Hi, Conor!" on video. She enjoyed just sitting next to him and telling him about things (her fingernails, MawMaw, things in the room). It was adorable! Friday of that week my mom and dad came up and took the kayak for a spin on the lake. It was a beautiful evening and the water was perfect!

ready for the baby pool!

after a swim in the baby pool-he seemed to like it, but showed no emotion

watchin' waves with daddy

happy boy :-)

his first Patio photo!

look closely: his out-of-control hair gets him to 2 feet!

maxwell :-)

ella :-)

lucia :-)

ella and me :-)

We were sad to have to leave Lakeside and family, but headed to Nick & Erin's on Saturday for the annual party. We had a great time and Conor did great! We are relaxing big time this week and just taking it easy. Saturday we head up to Toledo for Shelby's graduation party and Conor will get to meet Allison on Sunday! :-)

Hope you had a great 4th! Remember to comment-Conor loves to read them! :-)

Friends, Family, & Father's Day

2010-06-24T08:24:00.004-04:00

Since my last post Conor and I have been busy being lazy most days. We play, read, sit outside (if it's not too hot), and go to the park in the morning to run. Although the last part has not been accomplished in more than a week due to my cold that went to my chest and then the hot, humid weather. He turned 3 months last week and I can hardly believe it! He is starting to giggle, laugh, and chit chat (in his own way) :-) We are still working on rolling over, but he is getting closer!

3 months

Last week was a busy week! Conor and I headed up to Toledo on Tuesday night in order to see Karen on Wednesday. I also scheduled his 3 month pictures with Shutterlove for Wednesday morning. He did a great job and they turned out wonderful! I was so excited to see Karen and other friends, and Conor was able to meet them! We went to Red Robin and Mr. Freeze. He did GREAT the whole trip up and back-which was nice for me. I was definitely nervous making the trip by myself, but we survived! Here are some pictures from meeting up with Karen and friends. (P.S. Congratulations to Megan on her new job and her awesome new look :-) )

Karen!!!

Megan!!!

This past weekend we headed back up to Toledo for a couple of graduation parties and Father's Day. Saturday we went to a family friend's party and then to Ashley (my cousin)'s party. I can't believe she is old enough to be out of high school! Conor was a trooper the whole day despite the heat. He was able to meet Aunt Jane, Taylor, and Samantha :-)

Taylor!!!

Samantha!!!

Sunday, Father's Day, was a big day for my Dad. It was the maiden voyage for his kayak, which he built from "scratch". He has been working on it for a LONG time and after many frustrations and drilling a hole in his finger it was awesome to actually get it in the water. It worked! Of course Dad went first, but then Steve, Ryan, and myself tried it out. It was fun!

giving land kayaking a try :-)

Dad and his kayak :-)

First Father's Day!

This week has been more laziness and resting up for Hanke Family Vacation at Lakeside starting Saturday. Conor and I will be there the entire week and Ryan will have to come back to work Thursday and Friday :-/. We can't wait to relax and spend time with family!

I'll leave you with the video I took the other day of Conor and Daddy talking. I hope you have a safe and Happy Fourth of July! :-)

We Have Laughing!

2010-06-09T21:47:00.002-04:00

Conor is 12 weeks today! I can't believe it! Where has the time gone. It's amazing to look back at pictures and think about what he was like 12 weeks ago. He has grown and learned so much, already!

Here is a video we took tonight after Ryan discovered something that makes Conor laugh, a lot. He started in the tub and we were fortunate to catch it on video just after his bath. Enjoy :-)

Summer is Here!

2010-06-03T07:29:00.004-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I have posted, but being a working mom is exhausting and leaves little time for blogging :-) I'm sure once Fall rolls around we will be in a better routine and I'll be used to it, but these past couple of weeks have been tiring! Heading back to work was difficult, but thanks to Jessi and Nikki it's been an easier transition that I expected. I do miss the little guy an awful lot, though, while I'm at work. Good thing today is teacher work day and Summer break starts tomorrow! :-)

We have been quite busy and the weekends have also been busy. We have traveled to Toledo every weekend for quite a while now. I love to spend time with my family and seeing friends, but we are ready to just stay home! Conor does great sleeping at Grandma and Grandpa's and since my brother moved out a few weekend ago he can sleep in his pack n' play in his own room. He sleeps MUCH better in his own space. Not to mention, so do we! I am finding time to blog this morning because the little guy slept 10:00 pm until 6:45 am! He usually sleeps about 6 hours then goes back to sleep. This morning he ate at 6:45 and is back to sleep now. I decided since I got a solid (almost) 8 hours of sleep I didn't need to catch the extra z's. :-)

from a little photo shoot we had for 2 months

his sneaky smile :-)

Conor is such a fun baby! :-) He is now smiling purposefully and we can even sometimes get a little giggle out of him. He loves to pull him self up (with help of course) and sit up. He's got pretty good control of his neck and head, so we decided to give the Bumbo seat a try. He seems to like it and we just make sure to pay attention to his head. After a bit he gets tired and it slumps down, which tells us he's done sitting up. He just loves to be up and looking around. He also loves to coo and chit chat. He's also really into talking to himself in his mirror on the play mat. I can't believe he's 11 weeks old! Time truly does fly when you're having fun :-)

first time in the bumbo

the only thing I can think of is "blue steel" (from zoolander)

This weekend we are off to celebrate Ryan's birthday (which is tomorrow). We will be traveling, of course, so hopefully the little guy handles it like he usually does :-) I hope you've had a great week so far and thanks for reading :-)

Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you!

Remember, comments=smiles :-)

8 Weeks, Already?!

2010-05-12T12:57:00.004-04:00

Today the little guy is 8 weeks old! I can't believe how quickly time is flying. Ryan returned to work a couple of weeks ago and things are going well. We spend our days playing, reading books, listening to music, and napping. Well-he naps and I do laundry/dishes/blogging :-)

Conor is starting to coo and "talk" to us, but mostly to his friend in the mirror. He has also started sleeping longer stretches at night which is quite nice. I am learning more about him, which is helping me help him to sleep soundly. Originally we thought since he loves to have his hands by his face that we shouldn't swaddle his arms down to sleep. I realized last week that his hands/arms have a mind of their own and wake him up. I started to swaddle his arms in and he's sleeping much better. His been in his crib a little over two weeks. We all sleep better. He has also moved up a size in diapers and I've had to clear out his clothes that are too small. Can't he just stay little forever?!

he likes to be in the bath and finally is putting his limbs in the water!

trying to fill Daddy's shoes :-)

he fell asleep while being "flown" around

laughing at himself in the mirror

Little guy has been battling a cold, but has been smiling the entire time. The doctor said if he's smiling like that then he doesn't care. I think it's more painful for us to hear his snuffles and coughs. Hopefully we're nearing the end.

This past weekend we headed to my parents' to celebrate Mothers' Day. Saturday Ryan's parents came to hang out and celebrate Mothers' Day. We gave MawMaw her gift and then went to eat at Claddagh. Ryan and I got a new chicken burger (made with ground chicken). The edges were delicious-the middle, not so much. Mine was raw in the middle and Ryan's was only a bit more done than mine. Needless to say we sent them back, ate my parents' leftovers, and got free dessert. Thankfully I did not get sick! Sunday we spent the day at the zoo with my Mom's family. We had a great time and it was a nice sunny day for the zoo, which apparently all of Toledo thought too :-) Moms got in free! After the zoo we went to Don Pablo, yum! Overall, it was a great first Mothers' Day and thanks to Ryan and Conor for my giraffe ring holder :-)

one my all time favorite pictures-playing piano with Grandpa :-)

my mom and i on mothers' day

my first mothers' day!

we love our zoo-and sunglasses :-)

As time keeps flying by, it is getting closer to my return to work Monday :-/ I have bittersweet feelings about this. I am looking forward to the kids at school and the staff. I like my job and like the people I work with. On the other hand I'm starting to feel like a bad mom for going back. I will only be back for 2 and half weeks before Summer vacation, so it won't be too bad, but it's just hard. I am not worried about Conor, as my cousin Jessi will be with him for 2 weeks and then her sister, Nikki, will be with the last few days of school (thanks to snow days we must go 2 extra days). I am VERY thankful for them being able to come and stay with us and know Conor will have fun, but I just can't shake this feeling bad about the whole thing :-/

On a happier note-we will travel to Toledo once again to celebrate my brother, Steve, and Jessi's birthdays! As much as I'd like to continue playing on the computer I should probably end this post, clean, launder, and clean some more. :-)

Thanks for reading! Hope you're having a wonderful day! Comments=Conor Smiles :-)

Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oh My!

2010-04-27T20:37:00.005-04:00

Shwew! We have been very busy the past few weeks. Most of our weekends have been action packed. During the week we take trips to Dayton, walk at the park, and just hang out at home. Sadly, our daily family time is coming to an end today :-( Ryan returns to work full time tomorrow :-( We will miss him being home all day and I hope I can handle the little man all by myself!

Two weeks ago we left for my parents' on Wednesday, my mom's birthday. We spent the day with my mom and family and had this delicious cake that my dad got from a bakery in Monroe. It was SOOOOOOO good.

yummy birthday cake

Thursday we travelled to Norwalk to be with Ryan's family. Kim, Ella, Luci, and Max were there too! They had not met Conor yet, so we had lots of fun playing and just hanging out. We stayed there Thursday night and spent most of Friday with them also. We had so much fun and miss them lots!

luci holding conor :-)

max + conor=best buds :-) -the raccoon has a speech bubble that says "feed me" :-)

(thanks for the awesome outfit Aunt Kim and Uncle Mark!)

Friday night was the Blue and Gold game at UT. Our friends were all going and we decided to brave the cold air and head out with Conor. He hadn't met most of them, so they were excited to see the little guy. It was a bit chilly, but he did great and being held the whole time made him the warmest person there! We spent Friday night back at my parents in order to be in Toledo for our first zoo trip with Conor!

conor's first visit to the glassbowl!!!

Saturday we met up with Ryan's family. Mark had flown in the night before so he was there, as well as Louise and Abbey. We had lunch at Olive Garden and then headed to the zoo! It was Conor's first time and the girls had a great time. It was a bit chilly, but we survived!

first family trip to the zoo!

ryan and ella :-)

pizzapaplis with friends!

1 month old!

We took last week to rest up and get ready for a HUGE trip to Wisconsin this past weekend. My cousin Mark and his fiance, Lesley got married. We left Friday morning, stopped in Chicago at my cousin Rachel's house, and arrived in Fort Atkinson, WI around 10:30 pm. It was a LONG day, but well worth it. Conor was able to meet the Westenkirchner family and I think they took a liking to him :-) He was such a trooper being passed around and cuddled by everyone. The wedding was really fun and I already miss everyone!

indiana!

illinois! (it was too dark when we got to wisconsin)

pool time! - he got his feet wet and didn't mind at all

at the norris-baird wedding-Congrats Lesley and Mark! :-)

his totally cute outfit :-) he's sitting with cousin Matt in this pic

we're home!!!!!

We chilled at home yesterday and headed out to pick up Ryan's contacts today and take advantage of this one last week day together :-( Conor will be 6 weeks tomorrow and I can't believe it! It's flown by and somehow everyday we love him even more.

Thanks for reading! As you can see Conor has had a busy couple of weeks! I hope you're having a wonderful week and if you comment Conor will smile :-)

Spring Has Sprung!

2010-04-12T17:22:00.011-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I've posted, but I thought I should probably keep this up so that you can read it and I can have them to show Conor some day :-) The past (almost 4!) weeks have FLOWN by. I can't believe how much Conor changes everyday and to look back at his pictures from birth, it's astounding! He still looks like Conor, just a little different every day. We just love him to pieces! :-)

after a bath-he doesn't really love it yet

first time in his crib, although he doesn't sleep in there yet

my favorite picture of my two favorites :-)

Since the last post we've been taking it easy for the most part. We have made trips to 3 different malls in Dayton. We had to work up to it, though. We started by taking trips to Wal-Mart, then the park, and when Rachel and Dan came to visit we even went out to eat and then to the park! Ryan had to convince me that we needed to venture further, so we headed to the Piqua Mall one day (which is totally lame, but further than Sidney!). Conor also made a trip to my school to meet the other teachers and some students. He did great, even though we had to put off a feeding for a bit.

rachel and dan came all the way from Chicago to visit! Thanks! :-)

Last week we made our first trip to Fairfield Commons Mall (Dayton) and Red Robin. Easter weekend we even traveled to my parent's house and Ryan's parent's house! That was quite the trip! We are used to packing for us, but packing for a little one adds SO much more. We figured it out and rolled with the punches. He had is newborn session with Shutterlove Studio (LOVE THEM!) and it went pretty well. For Easter we went to my Grandma's and Conor was able to meet the rest of my family he hadn't already met. I bought him a super cute Easter outfit, and of course he peed right through it (and on Aunt Heather) within an hour and 10 minutes of putting it on. Silly boy.

hoppy easter!-before it was soaked in pee :-)

yay! nick and erin came to meet conor!

chillin' with grandpa westenkirchner

daddy and conor on easter

This past weekend we stayed in Sidney and took it easy. We did make take a trip to Dayton to do some shopping. We of course came home with things for Conor, but we found a really great deal on cupcake caddies that came with a regular muffin pan and a mini muffin pan. They were only $7.79 (we had to ask the lady to scan them because there was no price and only 2 left)-so we bought both of them. Turns out the original price of one was $40! I love sales!

one of our purchases-sunglasses!

We spend most of our days just tending to the little guy, and we love it! The weather has been nice, so we try to get to the park at least once a day. He usually sleeps through it, but it's nice to get out. Ryan has to work tomorrow (he has to supplement his time off by working 2 and a half days). It will be very strange, but we'll manage for the day. Wednesday we will be heading to my parent's for my mom's birthday!!!!! Thursday and Friday we will be in Norwalk so Kim, Ella, Luci, and Max can meet Conor and Saturday we will all head to the Toledo Zoo. Don't worry-I will have a TON of pictures from his first zoo trip! :-)

love him :-)

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful week!

If you'd like to check out Conor's newborn session click the link below and choose the "Conor Patrick Newborn" album (they are adorable):

Conor's Newborn Pictures-by Shutterlove Studio

COMMENTS=lots of smiles :-)

Falling Head Over Heels in Love :-)

2010-03-21T08:36:00.007-04:00

Well-he's here! A week late, but he decided to make his entrance into this world on St. Patrick's Day :-) He must have known his middle name was going to Patrick (not for that day, but after Ryan) :-) I will now attempt to write his birth story while he chills in his boppy next to me. It's long, so you can skip down to the end with pics if you so choose.

I went to work Monday and Tuesday (a little pertubed that we still had an inside baby), and become very frustrated that I had not bought a green shirt to wear for St. Patrick's Day because I had not planned on still being at work. Well Tuesday (which was a beautiful day) we went for a walk and I had some mild contractions that weren't regular, nothing I hadn't had before. We then ate and headed to Piqua to find a green shirt (which I was not happy about). We didn't find one and I just said, "Screw it, I will wear my black shirt again". I should probably mention that by this point I was down to 2 shirts-the same style in navy and one in black- and I had already worn them both that week! We came home for the evening and I convinced Ryan to go get me a Shamrock Shake, just in case I wouldn't be able to get one on St. Patrick's Day. We went to bed, me absolutely angry to be going to work in the morning.

Little did I know, around 1:30 am I woke up with a terrible stomach ache. I thought to my self, "Ow, what the heck did I eat?" and fell back asleep. Woke up again a few minutes later, "Geez. My stomach really hurts!" and fell back asleep. Around 2 I woke up again and thought, "I'm sure I didn't eat anything different, what the heck?". Then it hit me. Duh, Jill! I grabbed my iPhone and kept track of the contractions for about an hour. They were, for the most part, about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds. I just laid in bed and silently kept track. Ryan woke up all of the sudden and asked if I was okay. He could tell that something wasn't quite right. I told him what was going on and told him to go back to sleep. I continued keeping track as they become stronger and longer. I headed to the couch eventually and continued to try and rest between them.

Around 6 Ryan got up and took a shower. He called into work and began gathering things for the hospital. I had yet to call the birth center and/or on-call doctor and decided I wasn't calling until my OB's office hours-8 am. I continued resting and got a shower. At 8:30 I called, told them what was up, and they said I could go to the birth center whenever I wanted because at 41 weeks and 6 hours of contractions they wouldn't send me home. Ryan was ready to go at this point, but I wanted to wait. I wanted the freedom of moving and drinking water (I hadn't eaten because I just plain didn't feel like it). I know this was hard for him to wait it out with me, but around 10 am we headed to the birth center (which is whole 1/2 mile from the apartment). We got there and everyone was astounded that I had waited and not been induced. They got us in a room and hooked up to monitors. I was staying for labor.

I got an IV, which I had never had before, and that was a blood bath. The nurse kept saying, "Your veins are cantankerous" and it took 2 of them to finally get one to work. That was painful. At this point my contractions were much stronger and the pain was centered in my lower back. Talk about painful. I had felt this at home, but they were stronger and being hooked up to monitors and having the IV in my arm made it very difficult to handle them like I had been at home. They checked my cervix and I was 3 cm and 80% effaced. More than the week before, but I for sure thought I'd be more with all the labor I'd worked through so far! About an hour or so after I was admitted and got the IV my doctor came to check me and I was 4 cm and 100% effaced. She also broke my water (EW!). I felt good about some progress in a short amount of time with just lying in the bed breathing through contractions and decided to just keep waiting and seeing what I could handle before making a pain management decision. I continued this for an hour or more while nurses came in to ask questions, fill out paper work, take my blood pressure, etc. They were getting stronger, and the pain was still in my back. My labor nurse, Tina, checked me and I was now 5 cm. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is going much faster than I anticipated." At this point it was getting difficult to bear the back pain and so I caved and said, "Sure I'll have an epidural."

Good thing I did! Tina advised me to get up and pee (I still had to go in a cup for them) while I could and move around and she would get the nurse anesthetist. Well, between saying drugs please! and the nurse anesthetist coming (maybe a total of 30 minutes) my contractions become debilitating. Peeing in a cup took that WHOLE time because I had so many contractions that hurt SO bad. I came out of the bathroom and was advised to sit on the edge of the bed. I leaned on the table and really had to concentrate. Those last few contractions were absolutely horrendous (which I now know is because of the back labor). I had felt so in control until that point and all of the sudden I could feel myself starting to lose focus and control. Ryan was great during all this, just standing by and being a huge comfort.

Getting the epidural didn't hurt, in fact the IV hurt more than that. Within minutes I began to feel some relief and gained control. Tina wanted to check me after the epidural was done. I figured I'd still be at 5, being that she'd checked a half hour before. Boy was I wrong. Turns out those contractions hurt so darn bad because I'd gone from 5 to 8cm in a half hour! I like to consider that I made it more than half way on my own. It was now around 2:30 pm and we had only been the room for about 4 hours.

At this point I just laid in bed, happy as a clam, while Tina started to have everyone bring in the equipment for delivery since I had progressed so quickly already. I remember looking at Ryan and saying, "I don't think it's suppose to go this fast!" I know I had labored at home for 8 hours before coming in, but holy cow, it was really happening! I began to shake shortly after the epidural from being in transition (from 8 cm to 10 cm). I shook for the rest of labor, but didn't even care because I couldn't feel the pain. Being that I had made so much progress Tina expected us to be pushing by 3:30 pm. I think Conor heard this and decided he would rather just stay inside. My contractions piddled out and I was given pitocin to regulate them (which did the trick), but his heart rate was quite erratic. Tina eventually ended up having to insert an electrode monitor (that was put into the top of his head) and I was flipped from side to side with my leg up on the table. I didn't care, I was still talking and laughing and updating facebook.

After 3 hours of flipping and oxygen and more flipping to get him to keep moving down and to keep his heart rate up we began to push. I could feel the pressure of the contractions, so I sort of knew where to push. Another nurse came in and played tug of war with a sheet with me which was awesome. It made it so easy to feel where to push. The doctor was popping in and out just waiting for her time to catch. The nurses and the doctors at one point laughed and they said he had light colored hair and he looked like Alfalfa with a little sprout sticking out. I found this hilarious, but chose not to reach down and feel for myself. I pushed for just an hour with Ryan by my side the entire time and at 6:30 pm Conor Patrick was born. I must say I couldn't feel pain, but the feeling of pushing him out is one that I will never forget and is definitely has to be the weirdest feeling on the face of the planet.

They placed him on my belly and wiped him off. He was the shade of "bruise" and didn't cry. This was because we was a bit congested. The respiratory therapist got him to cry and nothing was wrong. Ryan cut the cord and we were able to spend a few seconds admiring our brand new baby. They took him to the warmer and while Ryan helped and watching them clean him all up I was put back together. TMI WARNING: I had third degree tears and had some "extensive repairs", but I had that epidural so I couldn't feel a thing. I carried on a conversation about the weird things people do with their placentas while she sewed away. Eventually I was done and they brought Conor over and we were now officially a family of 3 :-) He weighed in at 7 lbs 5.9 oz. and 21 inches long. He's a skinny mini with super long feet, toes, and fingers.

he's here!

Ryan washing his hair for the first time

:-)

a bear?! eeks! - conor and ricardo meet for the first time

Being that I was in a suite that I labor, deliver, and recover all in the same room (which is awesome) I had to wait until my feeling came back in my butt and legs to get up and let them clean up, put the bed back together, and put a thick mattress on the bed. I was able to do this within 45 minutes or so, to the nurses' surprise, with little stumbling.

Both sets of grandparents were able to meet him that evening and my mom brought me a Shamrock Shake :-) That night Ryan went home to sleep (that hospital couch/bed thing looked terribly uncomfortable, while Conor and I stayed in the room together. Thursday he had a little photo shoot (these are the hospital pics). My mom had stayed Wednesday and visited with us Friday morning. We had one other visitor Thursday and Lindsay visited on Friday. Lo and behold the hospital was getting boring and I just wanted to get out! We stayed in the hospital until Friday, late afternoon and got home around 4 pm.

where's my thumb? FOUND IT! :-)

ready to go home: have we met before?

he didn't fuss at all in the car seat, i think he likes it

welcome home!

now it's time for a nap

Since Friday we've been adjusting to our new life and falling deeply in love with our little man. It's still surreal that he's "ours" and hard to believe we get to keep him. He's too cute for words and I'm so lucky to have such an amazing husband to share him with. I must say that I totally thought that Ryan would be the softie and I wouldn't be, but it's the complete opposite. I am a HUGE push over with Conor and would do anything to not see him cry. He has this little lip quiver when he's really wailing that just breaks my heart. In the hospital the nurses would swaddle up his hands, which he loves to have by his face at all times, and he would get mad about it and I would get his hands out for him because it made me feel bad. Hence, his scratched up face in the hospital pics.

Yesterday, Saturday, our families came to visit and hang out with the little guy. He is jaundice, so we had to take him to get a bilirubin count at the hospital. The doctor is okay with it, but we will visit the pediatrician (a really funny little Indian man) tomorrow morning just to make sure all is well :-)

Now for some Conor pics-we have about a bazillion already. I apologize for not having more pics of us with him, but I still need to get them from the g-rents. I'll post them another day.

notice the dribble-he's happy to be home too :-)

Thanks for reading this LONG blog and Conor can't wait to meet you! :-) As always: comments = smiles (and now baby smiles :-) )

Nearing the End

2010-02-26T12:41:00.002-05:00

Well folks-the end is near. I am still in denial that this baby has to come out of me somehow, but I have to keep telling myself that bajillions of women have done it, so I can too. I'm tough, well maybe more stubborn than tough, but that has to come in handy, right? I must admit that I'm scared most about labor and delivery. Ryan is very excited about the arrival of the little guy, but I'm okay with him cooking for a bit longer. :-) I'm not ready yet! Today I was supposed to meet with my sub, but Sidney went and closed AGAIN. The one day I needed school! Not to mention the poor kiddos aren't retaining ANYTHING with all these messed up weeks.

The past few weeks have seemed to fly by, despite all my time at home. School had a really nice shower for me two weeks ago and it was a really nice time :-) I spent some of my down time working on incorporating baby towels and toiletries into our space. Talk about a weird feeling. I also worked on his room a bit, it's coming to together slowly, but surely. Two weekends ago we headed to the Jeffersonville Outlets to look for a shelf for his room. We didn't find anything in the right color at the Pottery Barn Outlet and ended up driving to Polaris (Columbus) to go to Pottery Barn Kids to order a shelf. We would have done it online, but when I called about it they said they would waive the shipping for us-AWESOME! It arrived early this week and of course Ryan put it together right away. It has stuff on it, but needs some bins/baskets to hold toys.

Last week we had a 37 week ultrasound to estimate size. The doctor said he was about 6 lbs. 5 oz. (plus/minus 2/3 lb.) I'm just happy he's not gigantic like myself or my brother :-). She said she wished all babies were that easy to ultrasound. We couldn't really see anything being that it's so far along, but he did show us his foot that he LOVES to stick in my ribs. The doctor was surprised that it was all the way up there and so visible, apparently this is not common. Well-it's still there and no matter how many times I push it out of the way it's back up in my ribs within 2 seconds. This week was my 38 week appointment. My body is starting to prepare, but isn't too far along-which is perfectly OKAY with me :-). The doctor said 1-2 cm and 50% effaced, but his head is still pretty high. Direct quote from doctor: "His head is still pretty high up there, but I tickled it!" UH-weird. I know that these "progress reports" don't mean a lot, but I like that they instill a false sense of security that he will wait until at least his due date :-)

36 weeks

37 weeks-full term!

38 weeks-still pretty high if you ask me

Last weekend I spent Sunday making basketball cakepops for a teacher at school. I made Rudolph cakepops for one of her son's birthdays right around Christmas and she employed me to make basketballs for her youngest son to take to his preschool. I have to say that while the basketballs are easier to shape and dip and don't require sprinkles/other decorations, the lines were hard to draw! I think they were more difficult to make that Hello Kitty or Rudolph. Here are some of them (sorry for the small amount in the pic-I realized after almost all of them were packaged up that I hadn't taken a picture).

cakepops!

My cookie press is still being put to good use, also. I made hearts for Valentine's Day and this week made "Olympic Cookies", as Ryan put it. I wanted to make cookies for conference night and I didn't know what shape to make. There is a maple leaf shape and Ryan said I should make Olympic cookies. Well I did and then I made them again last night for his work. I must insert here that Ryan got me an awesome gift for Valentine's Day and I was able to use some of it for these cookies :-) He got me a "tackle box" for cake decorating with tips, bags, and gel colors. I love it!

to honor the closing ceremonies (Ryan's words, not mine)

Once again, I have typed a novel, but I'm avoiding finishing cleaning :-) Here's to hoping the little guy waits until at least his due date and I can get one more blog in before his arrival. Maybe I'll blog from the hospital :-) Hope you've had a wonderful week and have a GREAT weekend!!!!

I shall leave you with a picture of baby's outfit that has his name embroidered on it :-) He will wear this for pictures at the hospital and possibly home (as long as it's not too big).

hahahahahaha-you can't see it, it's in the box! :-)

Thanks for reading! Comments=smiles :-)

Baby Shower...more like Baby Monsoon! :-)

2010-02-07T18:54:00.006-05:00

I feel like we've been ridiculously busy the past few weeks, although I cannot even put a finger on what we do in the evenings to keep busy. I have done some baking (chocolate chip cookies, banana bread), but nothing spectacular. The baby's room is getting...better....but not anywhere near where it probably should be. There's time, right? :-) We completed our childbirth class and received a certificate for it! What I want to know is when I get the certificate that says I'm READY to birth a child, I could care less that I am educated on the process! I can have all of the gear, clothing, diapers, wipes, etc., but I'm pretty sure I'll never be ready for the actual birth. All in all it was informational and we got a tour of the birth center, which is really nice and fairly small (which I like).

It seems like just yesterday was the baby shower, but it's been a couple of weeks already! I can't begin to write down in words enough thanks to Mom for such an amazing shower. It was so classy and adorable, all at the same time. I also can't write enough thanks to the many members of my family (Aunts, Cousins, Mother in Law, Bunco Babes) for all of their help in the planning, setting up, and tearing down. It was held in the basement of the Manor House at Wildwood Metropark in Toledo, which was such a neat place to have such a big event. Here are some pics of the awesomeness!

just some of the 8 tables that were decorated adorably

each table had it's own cute, little stuffed animal which are now in baby's room :-) so cute!

my cousin, Ashley, and I before everyone arrived

the bar area where the wonderful food spread was set up

awesome cheese ball (well letters) made by aunt robin!

of course it wouldn't have been complete without a Wixey cake (the teddy bear's name tag says 'Ricardo') :-) YUM!

I couldn't believe how many people were there. I appreciate every single one of them and had to really try hard to not just burst into tears. Thank you to everyone who came, helped, and a HUGE thanks to my wonderful Mom. I love you all! :-) We received many gifts and are thankful and appreciative for every single one. Let's just say Ricardo is spoiled :-) We got all of the gifts home, with the help of my mom and dad bringing what we couldn't fit the following weekend (which was last weekend). Everything is in his room, and out of packages and some things washed, but they don't have places to go yet...eventually!

Last weekend we stayed in Sidney and traveled to Cincinnati on Saturday to celebrate Abigail's 2nd birthday! I can't believe she's already 2! We had a great time and hope she had a wonderful party this weekend. On the way we stopped at the new outlets (even though it was freezing cold out) and were quite impressed. We also stopped at IKEA, which was a total bust. There were SO many people and I was getting annoyed easily by them all and then a lady in velcro shoes told me I couldn't by the boxes I wanted because they were the last ones. Velcro shoes! Ugh...needless to say I was perturbed.

Baby Ricardo is doing well-moving like crazy. He likes to listen to Jupiter (Holst). I play it for him so he can learn his favorite instrument :-) Sometimes he'll be moving A LOT and then a pop/cracking noise comes from my belly. I asked the doctor: apparently just one of those mysteries of pregnancy. One pop this morning was so loud I thought he broke something in there! Speaking of moving he's rolling around like crazy right now, his way of saying, "Hi-can't wait to meet you!"

I will be 36 weeks on Wednesday. Doctor's appointment become weekly this week and a little more ....ahem...invasive shall we say? Apparently 37 is considered full term, so anytime after that is game for baby time, but I've had a little chat with him about staying in until at least his due date :-) Now for some scary pictures-

33 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks

This weekend we traveled back to the homeland and spent a fun day with my family yesterday. I found the most adorable, blue & gold vest at Gymboree. I can't wait for him to wear it for football season! This week brings a breastfeeding class tomorrow, a shower at work on Tuesday, cookie making (with my cookie press) for Valentine's day treats, and then a long weekend to relax!

Sorry for such a long post, guess I'm long winded today. Friday Sidney was hit with quite the snowstorm (which we drove through) and even though it stopped snowing yesterday morning we already have a 2 hour delay for tomorrow, due to the icy roads (yes, they are STILL ice covered!). I hope you have a wonderful week and hopefully I can start updating this weekly, as the end is quickly approaching!

Thanks for reading! Comments=love :-)

2010: The Year of Ricardo (as Ryan put it)

2010-01-13T18:12:00.004-05:00

Yet again I have fallen behind on blogging, although I think this time the interval between posts is less. That's a good a sign! Christmas break began for us the day before Christmas Eve when we departed for Norwalk. We surprised Ryan's parents and showed up a day early! We spent Thursday (Christmas Eve) finding some fatty tights for me and waiting for Kim, Mark, Ella, Luci, and Max to arrive. We made candy cane cookie dough and made some candy cane cookies with the girls. Of course I have no pictures-we like to LIVE life, not document it :-) We played the first service in Norwalk and jumped on the turnpike around 10:30 pm Christmas Eve to head to my parents' house to await Santa's arrival. :-)

Christmas morning we opened gifts and relaxed. I got an AWESOME Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag from Ryan, as well as a new Coach wallet. Santa got me a FoodSaver (which I totally love to use) and a Williams Sonoma cookie press. That thing is AWESOME. I made 6 dozen, decorated cookies in under 2 hours on Christmas Day and boy did they taste good! I got some really cool pocket pie molds too. Steve made Ryan and I a really neat shadow box frame with old turf from the Glassbowl and a couple of our wedding pics we had taken there-such a thoughtful and very cool gift. My mom and dad got us a build-a-bear named Ricardo so that when the little man actually comes the name won't be lost. He's so cute and soft! Stay tuned for pics of Ricardo (the bear) in this post. After gifts and relaxing (and cookie baking!) we headed to my Grandma's to have some fun with family.

delicious cookie press cookies! yum!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Upper Sandusky for a Hanke Family Christmas and were surprised by a mini "shower"! We received some blankets, adorable outfits, and a swing!

Ricardo enjoying the swing

After a wonderful Christmas meal and mingling we headed back to Norwalk with the entire clan (Kim, Mark, Adam, Louise, and 4 kiddies). The kids opened gifts and were put to bed so the adults could exchange gifts. We had a good time relaxing and the next day headed to Castaway Bay for some swimming and fun. Again, no pics. We just lived it up instead of snapping pics (this is just my excuse for being too lazy to carry the camera around).

We stayed in Norwalk until Wednesday to spend more time with Ella, Luci, Max, and Kim. We were sad to go, but were glad to get the quality time! We headed back to my parents to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends and family. It was a good time, but of course we missed our peeps partying in Cleveland!

Now that we're back in the swing of things we must get down to baby business. Today I am 32 weeks and there are only approximately 8 left to go! EEKS!!!! The mattress just came in the mail and my shower is quickly approaching (which I'm totally excited about due to the amount of family and friends I will get to see!) Here are the bump shots from the past few weeks. Baby moves like CRAZY and his movements have recently turned into rolling and twisting as opposed to kicks and punches. I think he's run out of room to recoil (although he's proving me wrong right now as I type).

29 weeks

30 weeks

31 weeks

32 weeks

Shwew! There's our life from the past few weeks-quite a whirlwind, but definitely worth it all! Thanks for reading and hope you have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!! :-)

comments=smiles :-)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-12-22T08:38:00.008-05:00

Well-another month has almost passed and I somehow managed not to post again! I must blame it on the fact that this past month has absolutely FLOWN by it seems. I am currently on Christmas break and have some time to revamp and update this blog-so I decided to bite the bullet and just do it! This is definitely the most wonderful time of the year and I've been taking full advantage! We put of the tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving-only to realize we'll need to invest in a larger tree next year due to my obsession with ornaments and tree decorations :-) I just love to sit by the lit tree in the evening and drinking hot chocolate.

My absolute favorite part of the season is giving gifts! Not to mention I also love to shop, so it goes hand-in-hand. I have the spent every weekend this past month shopping for gifts and loving every minute of it. We got some GREAT deals on Black Friday (after getting up at 2:30 am to get in cold, rainy line outside Kohl's at 3 am). I LOVE to watch people open presents I've picked out for them. I love the challenge of finding something that will be appreciated and maybe a bit of a surprise :-). Another favorite past time of Christmas for me is wrapping! I love to wrap gifts and have plenty to wrap this year. I have been spacing them out so I don't waste all of the fun in one night. Even with Christmas only 3 days away I have some last minute shopping to do and plenty of wrapping left!

A few weekends ago we braved the cold and went to The Lights Before Christmas. I just love the zoo lights! We went with my mom and dad and while it was bitterly cold, the wind held off and we had a good night to go. Here are some pics from this years display.

love these blue and green lights!

the big tree-of course!

BAKING! I also love to bake and make holiday treats. I made cutouts, candy cane cookies (2 times and onto a 3rd either today or tomorrow), fudge, and Rudolph cakepops (for a coworker's son's birthday). We spent this past weekend decorating cutouts-Westenkirchner style- with my family and had a great time.

making Christmas sweeter one batch at a time :-)

We will be heading to Norwalk for Christmas Eve, then to my family for Christmas, then back to Norwalk for Hanke Christmas this weekend and cannot wait to spend the holidays with family, food, and fun! :-)

BUMP! Here is my catch-up section on the growing bump. Our little guy squirms and kicks all day long and sometimes I would really appreciate it if he refrained from flailing his extremities into my ribs. He must be just as excited for Christmas as I am! :-) It's hard to believe he'll be making his appearance in just over 2 months.

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

I must say I didn't think I was growing all that much in the past weeks, but I guess it's grown some. I had my glucose tolerance test and passed (or least I hope no call means I passed!) which is good. His heartbeat is still good and he yet again kicked the doppler when the doctor was listening. I have now entered the realm of bi-weekly appointments which means I am in the homestretch. EEK!

We have a busy week ahead and are looking forward to spending time with family! I hope that you have a Christmas filled with love, fun, food, and wonderful memories!

comments=smiles

My Birthday Eve

2009-11-23T16:25:00.005-05:00

Well I haven't let a TON of time pass since the last post, so I guess that mean I'm getting better at keeping up! Since my last post we have made a trip to Cleveland to celebrate Ethan's first birthday! We had a great time and the cake was REALLY delicious. A shout out to Ethan on finally walking, as of yesterday-Go Ethan! Last weekend we went to my parents to hang out and I got to spend Saturday spending some quality time with Allison. It had been way too long. This past weekend we had the last Toledo home game (we won!) and spent Saturday with Dawn, Jim, Nikki, and Jessi for the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. I didn't watch it though, I spent the entire time talking :-) That evening we met up with Ryan's parents, Adam, Louise, and Abbey for dinner at Don Pablo's. It was nice to see them!

Shwew-now we're caught up. Today is Mursday-Monday that is actually like Thursday-and tomorrow is my birthday!!!!!!! I love my birthday and always have! After work tomorrow we will pack up for a long stay at my parent's for birthday celebration and Thanksgiving! I love this time of the year and can't wait to just relax and eat yummy Thanksgiving food.

Baby is doing well. He moves constantly and has started to get up in my ribs sometimes. It doesn't exactly hurt, but it's definitely distracting. He kicks and flips and flails around almost all day. We enjoy setting a remote on my belly and watching him kick. I have tried a number of times to get this on video, but every time I press "record" he stops and then I give up and he starts again. He must be stubborn-like his Daddy ;-). I had an appointment today and he's measuring right on track (not too big, not too small) and has a good heartbeat. He had the hiccups while she was listening to the heartbeat and was squirming all around. He did eventually kick the doppler wand thing-which he did last time.

We are slowly, but surely, working on clearing out the extra bedroom and making room for baby. We ordered a changing table and put that up already and Ryan got the crib up yesterday. I'd post a picture but it's boring-no mattress or bedding. I'll wait until it's all done. I can hardly believe that I'll be 25 weeks on Wednesday and have only 15 left to go! I just think to when I was 15 weeks and thought to myself, "That was fast!" and now that's all I have left before he gets here! EEKS!

Here are some recent pics of my expanding body-which is not something I'm too fond of-

23 Weeks 1 Day

24 Weeks 1 Day

24 Weeks 2 Days-The only purpose of this picture is to prove that my Rocket Fanatic shirt can still fit!

Thanks for reading my ramblings and updates on our little guy! I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and stay posted for a picture of the shirt I made myself to wear on Thanksgiving! :-)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Love: Jill, Ryan, and Baby

It's a... and My Lovely Baby Bump

2009-11-04T16:10:00.010-05:00

Yet again I have failed to keep up on this blog. Seems that working full time (and not just half a day like last year) is cutting into my blogging time-imagine that! :-) Well I am making a vow today to post more often, because I know once our little one is here everyone will want updates. Here's to more blogging! (I hope).

We've been busy the past couple of months with football. We did take one weekend to visit Kim, Mark, Ella, Luci, and the new-Max for a weekend in Baltimore. We had a blast and so glad we got to meet the little guy. Wish we lived closer! Most weekends are spent in Toledo cheering on our Rockets and tailgating with friends. As a matter of fact we spent the last tailgate with friends AND family so that we could reveal the gender of little one. I spent an entire morning (between working with kids) at work trying to find a bakery that would make a colored cake in time. Unfortunately our ultrasound was on Thursday after work and we needed the cake by 2pm on Saturday! I didn't think it would be as hard as it was and I was greatly disappointed that my old standby-Wixey-couldn't do it in time. I eventually found Thrush's (in Toledo) and they could do it! It was DELICIOUS and I can't compare to Wixey because their frostings are so different. Here are a few pics from the fun. We had our moms cut the cake and I think they enjoyed it! Of course everyone enjoyed the yummy cake!

What color is it inside?!

The happy Grandma's got to cut the cake...

BOY!!!!!!

This was a blueberry flavored cake that was super yummy

Yes, Ricardo is actually a boy! Ella was right and boy was she happy when we told her! It will be fun for our little guy to have a cousin (Kim gave birth to Maxwell Edward on September 20) so close in age to play with. We had our ultrasound at 20 weeks (I am 22 weeks today) and then I had an appointment last week for the results. I was told everything looked great, EXCEPT a bright spot on his heart-an echogenic focus. I was scheduled for a level 2 ultrasound in Dayton and we had that yesterday. We were of course worried, but the doctor was not that concerned. Of course I did some researching online and found out an echogenic focus is a soft indicator for down syndrome (I started think that maybe I shouldn't have done my own research), but it common in 4-5% of all pregnancies. When accompanied by other indicators found through ultrasound there is cause for concern, but when by itself there is no concern. Turns out the bright spot is a calcification of muscle in the heart. The doctor and tech checked everything out (and we got to see him again!) yesterday and said he's a "beautiful baby" and that the calcification will dissolve before he is born. Needless to say we were very relieved. We even got more pictures of him :-)

He was very stubborn at the 20 week ultrasound, covering everything up with his hands and then we got to see him hit himself in the face while trying to find his thumb. At the second ultrasound, yesterday, we found out his little feet are about 3 centimeters long and he is currently weighing in at 1 pound 2 ounces. Here are some pictures from both ultrasounds. Oh-he is DEFINITELY a boy. We saw his business very clearly 3 times and 3 different people saw it on the ultrasound too. :-)

Our little man sucking his thumb-we got to see him try and find his thumb which was hilarious! I felt like saying "Stop hittin' yourself" :-)

A bird's eye view of his body-his head is the top left and his body is diagonal down to the bottom right corner. You can see his belly button and he is holding up his left arm.

Being stubborn-this is a profile view of his body and head with his arm and hand up in front of his face. He must be camera shy!

His itty bitty foot :-)

My Favorite! A profile of his face-you can actually see his cute little nose because his hands aren't in front of it! I think he has my nose :-) (Ryan agrees)

As for me-I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't been sick for quite a while and the little guy is constantly moving and kicking. So much so that for a couple of weeks now even Ryan is able to feel him move and kick from the outside. He active A LOT during the day and thankfully not so much during the night-although party time seems to be around 10:00pm til around 11:00 pm. Of course you might be wondering if there's any bump. Well-there definitely is a bump now. I will post pics I take of myself in the mirror starting at 17 weeks below. He's definitely a growing boy!

17 Weeks

18 Weeks

19 Weeks-ignore the shirt repeat my supply of shirts that are long enough anymore is limited :-)

20 Weeks-pop! Halfway there!

21 Weeks

22 Weeks-Today-how much bigger will it get?!

I feel like every time I post I must apologize for my blogging laziness, but I am vowing that this is the last time I will have to apologize. I hope everyone is loving the Fall weather and season as much as me. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and then Christmas!!! Thanks for reading and putting up with my lazy blogging and please leave a comment so I know people actually read this! :-)

P.S. We have a name list but have decided to keep it a secret, since we revealed his gender! :-)

P.P.S. A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dad (October 26), Matt (November 3), and Ella June (November 6)!! I can't believe she's already 4! :-) Hope you had a great day, Matt and I hope you have a wonderful birthday, Ella!

Here goes nothin'...

2009-09-10T16:03:00.006-04:00

So I know I said I would never let this blog go as long as I did before the last post. Alas, I've let it go even longer this time! Do not fret-this blog includes some very exciting things and you will soon see why there will begin to be more frequent posts. Now to begin where I left off (don't worry I'll make it as short as possible)-

The weekend following after my last post I drove to Chicago (in the new car!) to help my cousin, Rachel, wedding dress shop. She lives in the city and I drove in it. Tons of traffic and quite scary, but I didn't die and I parallel parked (all big milestones for me). She lives above a Subway and every morning it smelled like Italian Herbs and Cheese bread. I thought it was good while I was there, but I can see how it can become annoying quickly. On the way home I stopped at my Aunt Jane's in Indiana and got to swim and hang with my Aunts and cousins. Lots of fun!

The next weekend Ryan's parents took us to Indianapolis to see DCI Semi-finals and Finals. That was very cool and it was fun to walk around Indy and see the ginormous, Lucas Oil Stadium. We ate Hard Rock Cafe and Cheesecake Factory all in one weekend! Yum!

The two weekends following we stayed in Sidney. I played for Into the Woods for a local theater group that was performed at an old theater called "The Sidney" right down the street from our apartment. It was quite an interesting show, with many glitches, but none the less, fun. The theater is quite old and the theater group is in the process of raising money for things like working bathrooms and heat. There is a bat that lives in it and during the second weekend of shows it made it's way into the show quite a few times. Luckily it's set "In the Woods" and so it fit :-) Although every time it came out and started flying all over I got scared. It's a bat! That was crazy.

*Keep reading-I promise there is something very juicy coming up*

Oh! I got a job! While were in Indy I checked my school e-mail on my phone to see a Title I Reading Teacher (full time) position posted for Central (the school I worked at last year). I got so excited, as I was sure my aide job was gone after yet another levy failure on August 4, and put in my interest. I was contacted within 2 days, talked to the principal, and the Thursday before school started was hired! I primarily work with Kindergarten students who only have a half day now (due to levy failure). I pull out students who need extra help. I spent the first week and most of last week testing the students. I began working with select students on their names, as a handful do not know any of the letters of their name. I love being back at the same school and enjoying my job :-) I'm finally a full time teacher!

*That was a good event, but it gets better-keep going!*

We spent the last two weekends in Toledo (as we hadn't been there in about 4-5 weeks). Did some shopping and had a family reunion last weekend. Football starts TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm SO excited for Fall, football, tailgating, and lots of good friends and family :-) We'll be leaving right after work with puppy chow and Rocket Fanatic shirts! WAHOO!!!!!

*Brace yourself-here it comes...*

So part of the reason I haven't posted in so long is because all that was going on seemed to be overshadowed by one HUGE thing happening in our lives. Now-I know you love me and you probably love Ryan too-so get psyched because you now will have the chance to love a little Jill+Ryan. If you didn't catch that-we are having a baby! The current due date is March 10-making me about 3 months along. I've spent many evenings/day on the couch being tired and sick, but it's for a good cause. I'm starting to feel better and I hear that the 2nd trimester (which I just entered) is the best. I sure hope so!

*See it was worth the wait and the long read*

Please don't be offended if I didn't call and tell you or tell you in person. I'm not the biggest on this whole "telling" thing. I am excited, but choose not to scream it to the mountain tops. This is just how I am. Ryan is very excited. Sorry-I have no "belly pics" to show, because I have no belly. I've been reading that it could just "pop" out one day in the next few weeks. That sounds crazy to me, but it's all a part of it. Ella has told us it's a boy and his name is Ricardo, therefore we've taken to calling the baby, Ricardo. :-)

I hope it was worth reading about the other boring parts of my life, to get that last bit of excitement. I WILL be updating the blog more frequently now that it's out on the web-probably soon Facebook as this blog also updates to Facebook. Thanks for reading this RIDICULOUSLY long post (again) and I hope you're having a great week! Have a wonderful weekend and GO ROCKETS!

OH YEAH! If you read this and don't comment-I'll be very disappointed! :-D

LOOOOOOOOONG Overdue Post!

2009-07-21T11:25:00.007-04:00

Oh my! I feel so bad that it's taken SO long for another post! We have been uber busy! Our vacation at Lakeside was tons of fun (despite the cold, yicky weather) and quite relaxing. We didn't get to swim in the lake because of the temperature, but we had wonderful family time! Here are a few pics from that week (leading up to the fourth):

sunset on lake erie

Ella wearing my sunglasses :-)

Luci and I seeking shelter from the rain

Ryan, Ella, and their super suckers!

We left Lakeside on Friday to head back to Sidney so I could play with the Sidney Civic Band. We played American Overture, which I love! Ryan would probably like me to include this wonderful picture he took, I'm not nearly as fond of it as him :-)

my debut with the Sidney Civic Band

After the concert we repacked and headed to Defiance for our Fourth of July party at Nick and Erin's. It was super fun and we got to meet Ethan Garnes. What a cute, awesome, laid back baby! The sun never really came out that day, but I still got out in the canoe a bit! Ryan spent a lot of time in a kayak, which he loved. I don't have any pics from that day, because we were having too much fun! Ryan, Nick, and some other boys put on a great fireworks show (atleast I think it was great-I got ash in my eye and spent the whole time under the faucet trying to flush it out!). They were very safe, and no one was hurt.

We headed back home on Sunday (the 5th) and I did lots of laundry, repacked, and headed to visit Interlochen on Monday morning. I drove my car to Toledo and switched cars with my mom for what I thought would be a more reliable car (boy did it trick me!). On the way home (on Thursday) the car started to act like it was going to stall whenever I accelerated. I about cried when I got on some back road and all I saw in front of me was hill after hill. I was never so happy to get back to flat land! Eventually the car started stuttering when the cruise on, not accelerating. I babied it all the way to exit 78 on 23 in Michigan. AAA tows for free within 100 miles of the wherever you want it towed. I had gotten 80 miles from home, so I was good! I called AAA, and spent the next hour reading in the car. The driver got there, hooked the car up and rode home with him. He was-interesting-to say the least. He was kind of angry we had to go so far because he was going to miss the Demolition Derby that night. He also told me about his, and I quote, "Bitch-ass ex-wife". Oh boy! On the other hand camp was awesome and I got to see Collage, The Cherry Festival and of course brought back yummy fudge, and Cherry Republic treats! Here are some pics from my trip North:

I was there all of 25 minutes and had to borrow uniform as to sneak into Collage dress rehearsal-it was worth it, but I was not thrilled about it!

view from the HSG Sundecker-oh how I miss this place!

moomers!!!!

ahhhh-lake michigan!

I got home Thursday night and did lots of laundry and cleaning on Friday. Saturday was rainy, so we went shopping in Dayton and saw The Hangover. By the way, The Hangover is a HILARIOUS movie. See it. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and shopped some more. Sunday was our First Year Anniversary and we spent the day grocery shopping for a picnic for my new picnic basket :-) and went for a bike ride on a trail in Troy. We ate the cake (after 1 year in the freezer). The cake part was pretty good, the frosting was bad, per se, just a little stale. All in all a great anniversary weekend. Here is the picnic basket I got from Ryan:

it came with all the utensils, cups, plates, and napkins! the inside, big part is a cooler too!

Last week I CHILLAXED. Well, I guess we did buy a car! CRAZY! We got a 2006 Vibe. We pick it up today so I will post a pic of it in my next post! We are very excited about it! Friday we rented a car and drove to Marshfield, Wisconsin for my cousin, Laurie's, wedding celebration. It was SUPER fun and awesome to see some of that side of the family! My aunt lives on a lot of property and has horses and ponies and chickens! Ryan loved the horses and decided he wants one. HAHAHA I'm not sure we could fit one on our apartment porch. They were neat though! Again-no pics :-( I was too busy having fun! CONGRATS LAURIE and NESTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally-I'm caught up to today! We are picking up our car after Ryan gets off work and then I think we are going to have to take it for a test drive to Dayton to go shopping. I got a call this morning from the principal of one of the elementary schools, here, in Sidney. I have an interview on Friday for a first grade position! The position was posted last week and I sent in my e-mail of interest. I can't believe I was called! First of all, I can't believe they have an opening. Our levy is up again on August 4 and it NEEDS to happen for the schools to keep functioning successfully! Keep your fingers crossed for the interview, and the levy!

SHWEW! That was long, sorry! I will not let it go that far again, I promise. I hope you're having a wonderful week and thanks for reading the short version of my past few weeks!

Hello Kitty!!!! :-)

2009-06-25T13:01:00.005-04:00

So it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. We got iPhones, went to a graduation party, a surprise party, and celebrated Father's day last weekend! I'll post pics from that later. This post is dedicated to my latest cakepop venture. I cannot take credit for this idea I must site Bakerella for this. If you haven't checked out her blog (www.bakerella.com) please do so! There is a link on the left side of this page also. She had a post with these and since I was planning on making some pops for Ryan's family for our vacation I decided to give Hello Kitty a whirl. I think it turned out great! Here are the step by step photos!

Aside from a cake mix and a can of frosting (I used chocolate cake for these) here are the decorating ingredients. I ended up not using the mini m&m's, but used the heart sprinkles and round sprinkles from the variety of sprinkles in the container in the picture. Note the food coloring markers in the back!

I ground up the cake in a food processor and mixed in about a half of can of frosting (this is only half of a cake-if you use a whole cake you need about a whole can of frosting). Then instead of rolling them just into balls, squish the balls to make flattish ovals. Freeze these for about 10-15 minutes.

I chopped up some of the White Bark Coating and melted it in the microwave. I start with 1 minute, stir it (because it won't lose it's form when melted until stirred), and use 30 second intervals if it needs more. If it's too thick you can add shortening or vegetable oil-don't add water!

All melted! I took the faces out of the freezer and dipped the sticks into this and then into the cake part. I stuck them in a styrofoam block to set them. This way they won't fall off the stick when they are dipped.

Now since Hello Kitty has ears, I used white chocolate chips for the ears. I melted some of the chips in a ziploc baggie in the microwave (45 seconds) cut of the tip and used it to squeeze onto the chocolate chips-like glue. These went back to the freezer for 10-15 more minutes to harden them up for the big dip!

I melted some more white bark coating to fill up the bowl and dunked the kitties one by one. I had no trouble with the ears falling off at all! You can tap your wrist while holding one to get off excess coating.

Now comes the part that requires much patience! I used a paintbrush (that I only use for cakepops) to "paint" on some melted coating.

I placed two heart sprinkles, points toward each other, on the melted coating I painted on the head.

I placed another dab of coating on the hearts and attached a round sprinkle. Bakerella used mini m&m's and red hearts for the classic red bow. I didn't have any red bows, or any any bows that matched the m&m's, so I improvised with what I did have on hand. Then I used food coloring markers to paint on the face. Tip: keep the markers pointed down the whole time, otherwise you don't get dark lines.

Ta-Da! Too stinkin' cute :-)

This venture took a few hours from start to complete (well the cake was baked yesterday). It takes patience, but I love how they make people smile! Not to mention they're D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Please visit Bakerellas blog to check out her instructions and ideas about cakepops, but you can ask me if you have any questions too! :-) Happy Cakepopping!

Rainy Riversongs

2009-06-15T15:08:00.009-04:00

Today marks my first official day of Summer vacation (or so I have dubbed it). I figure last week I still worked and this is the first week I'm not working-hence my vacation has begun. This means there might be an influx of posts and lots of reading for me.

We had a great weekend! Ryan had Friday off (from working 4-10's) so we went for a run, lazed around, went to Fulton Farms in Troy, OH and got the MOST DELICIOUS strawberries. They seriously tasted like candy and there wasn't even any added sugar on them! We bought two quarts. I made a strawberry pie (trying to recreate the one from the Strawberry Festival) with one quart and we ate the other quart :-). On Friday evening we went to the Sidney Civic Band concert downtown. We took our chairs and strawberries and walked there. It was a good time and the conductor recognized me (from my palm sunday gig I played) and I had to go up and draw a winner for a contest. Ryan forgot to take pics of this part though. At the end of the concert the horns recognized me (I played with 2 of them for the palm sunday thing) and got my name and number so I can sub in the band. THEN-one of these horns (who plays in the Troy Civic Band also) asks me if I would play in the Troy band on Sunday. Turns out one of the horns I didn't know is the conductor of the Troy band. So I said sure and bought a red shirt and played in the concert...more on that in a bit.

Sidney Civic Band Concert-we were definitely the youngest couple in the audience

yummy, fresh strawberries-tastes like candy!

Saturday we travelled down to Cincinnati to visit with Adam, Louise, and Abigail. We had a great time just hanging out at their house and playing with Abbey. It's so fun to see her personality evolve and she is now interacting so much! We played with water balloons and her little car. She just the balloons carries them around, but every time Ryan would throw one and break it she would very deliberately, in perfect gibberish, say something to him. It was so cute and hilarious-it seemed as though she was scolding him for breaking the balloon. She did it every time! See the video below!

Abigail and me!

Ryan and Abigail :-)

we were sitting on the step and she climbed up to sit with us-so cute!

She can also swing on a big kid swing (very low and slow) and drink out of a cup with out a lid! While she was swinging Ryan told her to smile so he could take a picture and she kept shutting her eyes really tight while she smiled. Here is a video of that also!

We had a great time and look forward to another visit with them! Thanks for having us Louise and Adam!

Now for Sunday! Shwew! We went for a walk, grocery shopped, and then headed to Troy for me to sight read a concert. We got there at 5:30 (we had to rehearse with the Ohio Valley British Brass Band, as we had a few pieces to play together) and the weather was beautiful! We ran through the couple of combined pieces and then at 7 we started the concert. Halfway through American Riversongs it started to rain pretty hard. We finished the piece and ran off the stage for a rain delay. It stopped after about 15 minutes and we carried on! OH! I was SO psyched to see "Brant Karrick" at the top right corner of one of the pieces we were playing. It was "Songs from Old Kentucky". I thought this was so funny and was excited to play it, although it would have been better playing it with him! :-) Here are some pics (don't mind the frumpy shirt) from the event! (I even got paid!)

watching the british brass band-disregard the awful shirt and bad hair (from rain!)

We had a pretty busy weekend and did some things we've never done around here before! Hopefully playing yesterday will bring some more horn subbing jobs for the civic bands in the area. Ryan and I will be proud new owners of iPhones come Friday evening and are spending the week looking forward to this. Hope you have a wonderful week! :-) Enjoy the Summer!

comments=mad love :-)

iPhone Countdown: 9 Days

2009-06-10T13:38:00.005-04:00

So it's official...we are getting iPhones next Friday! WAHOO!!! I'm psyched! I think I'll be able to blog from the phone and upload pics AND VIDEOS I take with it! Get excited...hopefully my blogging will become more frequent with the iPhone.

This past weekend we headed to Norwalk to celebrate Ryan's birthday with our parents. My mom and dad came to Norwalk for the occassion. Ryan grilled some brats and we had a nice picnic. We went swimming and then headed back to the Hanke's for some delicious cheesecake. I really think I like the the cheesecake as good-if not better-than (dare I say it) Cheesecake Factory. Now I just need to experiment with adding things to make the fancy ones. Anyways-we had a great time and Ryan got a really cool grill utensil set and money towards iPhones/service. Here are a couple of pictures from the day-

not excited that i'm taking pictures

my dad and i :-)

surprised by the grill untensils

a recreation of the vintage pic from my last blog

This week has been quite uneventful. I am still teaching summer school in the mornings-although tomorrow is the last day until August. Still no news about my job. That won't come up until after the levy vote in early August. We plan to visit Adam, Louise, and Abigail on Saturday in Cincinnati. That should be lots of fun! :-) Hope you're having a great week and I'll leave you with this quote from a book I'm reading, A Devil to Play, by Jasper Rees. He is a middle aged man who decides to pick up playing horn after 22 years of not playing.

"The horn is, incomparably, the horn. In the right hands, it is the most beautiful instrument in the orchestra. In the wrong hands, it's still better than the trumpet."

comments=smiles :-)

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

2009-06-04T14:19:00.004-04:00

I would like to wish my wonderful husband a very happy 25th birthday today! He is now as old as me :) We are planning to go out to dinner and I made a homemade cheesecake yesterday for him. It's not perfect, a little brown on the top, but the batter was yummy so the cake should be pretty yummy. I plan to top it off with fresh strawberry sauce and real whipped cream-whipped by me! Hopefully it all turns out! I don't have pictures from when Ryan was little, but here are some pics from our time together :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!!!!!

I found an old one-he's number 1!

our graduation

our wedding

paris-notre dame

uncle ryan to three lovely ladies (abbey is not pictured here) :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

love you. :)

Where Has the Time Gone?

2009-05-26T15:32:00.006-04:00

Well, it's the day after Memorial Day and I can't believe it! Only 2 more days of school for me! I seriously do not understand where the time goes, but it clearly has gotten away from me: preventing regular blogging. Sad excuse, I know. The past few weeks have been a bit busy, not too bad though. My previous post was in remembrance of a friend I've known since Girl Scouts in first grade. Even though we may have lost touch over the years, our moms still get together to play Bunco. Jenny was a "Bunco Babe" daughter and she will be greatly missed. She is in a much better place after a long, tough battle with cancer. I was able to attend her funeral last Monday. Amidst the sadness, time keeps moving on and allows for celebrations!

Last weekend (May 16-17) we celebrated Steve's 23rd birthday (May 16) and Jessi's (a fellow FFF/cousin) 18th birthday. It was a good time and I can't believe the little girl that threw up straight into my mouth is 18 and graduating high school! AH! Again...where'd the time go? Here are some pictures from the fun.

The little Cupcakies I made for the occasion (of course there were some cakepops there too!)

These have the same cakepop center and are coated in chocolate. I think they were a hit.

We forgot to bring candles so we used Uncle Chip's. There weren't 23, but there were 12 and then the two 1's. 12 + 11=23 :)

Steve got an iPod Touch!

Jessi with a snow globe from her dad

After Jenny's funeral on Monday of last week my family drove me to Findlay so Ryan could pick me up and bring me back to Sidney. We made it to Anna (only 7 miles North of our exit on I-75) when Ryan's car began to shake and reak of burning rubber. We pulled over and sure enough-flat tire. We were right at the beginning of an off-ramp where there was a gas station. I couldn't see any holes or gashes in the tire so I suggested pumping it up with the compressor and getting it to the gas station so we could change the tire. We made it to the gas station (later we realize that we were way lucky the tire didn't explode after pumping it back up) and began the process. I have to admit that I was pretty excited to change a tire! "I know how to do this!" I kept thinking. We got out the spare, loosened the nuts, jacked 'er up, took off the nuts, and KICKED until the cows came home. That tire did NOT move. We grabbed the tired and yanked, only to feel 2 ENORMOUS bulges in the back. Ryan kicked some more. A friendly passerby banged, kicked, and pulled. NOTHING. I was pretty perturbed that we couldn't accomplish this, somewhat simple, task on our own. I called AAA and waited 45 minutes. The tow truck pulled up around 9:00 pm. The driver had his kids in the back of the tow truck. These girls go to the Y and the older one goes to the school I work at. Small world. Their very kind dad got his SLEDGE HAMMER and slammed that tired until it finally popped off. He said he's never seen one so stubborn. We got 2 new tires the next day and are back in business. I'm still upset that I couldn't do it by myself. Ryan says we just need to carry a sledge hammer in the trunk. I also would like to give him a shout out for staying unusually calm and laughing about it with me, rather than becoming quite angry.

Over this past holiday weekend Ryan and my Dad worked hard to get a cornhole set done for Nick's mom's birthday. Erin and I worked on the bags and I'm proud to say I didn't wrestle with the sewing machine too much. It wasn't painted, but they got it done in just 2 days! Great job, guys! We went to family friends for a delicious and fun cookout on Sunday with my family and just relaxed yesterday.

So there is where the time has gone! I look forward to finishing a good school year and teaching summer school! I was VERY excited they hired me for that. The more I get my foot in the door, the more people get to know me. Despite the current, sad situation the schools are in I am determined to keep on teaching in whatever way I can; even if it's just subbing in the afternoons and summer school. Summer school will be next week and the week after, Monday-Thursday 8:30-11:30 AM. I will do the same in August. Just 8 days per session and only 11 kids. We'll be working on reading, which I love.

I hope I haven't bored you and I hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. I will leave you with this video of the best fish at the Toledo Zoo. I took it a while back, but forgot to share it.

COMMENTS = SMILES :)

Jenny

2009-05-12T12:58:00.002-04:00

Jenny, Amy, Myself, Heather
We miss you, Jenny!

Jenny,
I am in awe of your strength and determination. You fought so hard and never gave up. I am thankful for the time you had here on Earth and am certain that you are now pain free and smiling down on us all. Your caring nature, undying determination, and smile will never be forgotten. I am so glad to have known you and am at peace with the fact that you are no longer suffering. You will be greatly missed!

My Apologies

2009-04-28T12:39:00.004-04:00

So it's been an awful long time since I have posted. I was very busy with a high school musical, another orchestra performance, and finishing up online classes. Things have settled down last week and this week so now I'll post! We haven't been up to much since I last posted. We did have an awesome day with Matt and Karen when they came to visit! :) Too bad they couldn't stay longer! :( It was nice to see them and other friends. We celebrated Karen's birthday at Red Robin and some cake pops (yum!) On Easter weekend we celebrated Connie's (Ryan's mom) and my mom's birthdays. We went to the zoo, Pizzapaplis, and ate some yummy gob cake (thanks, Dad!). It was a nice day and I'm glad we could all be together. The Easter bunny made a stop at my mom and dad's and left some goodies.

cake pops!

roommates reunite

steve and a hoodlum at the zoo

Dad at the zoo

these were the only candles in the pantry-it makes no sense, but it worked

happy birthday mom and connie :)

Last Thursday was Earth Day! What are you doing to help our planet? We use resusable bags at the grocery store, a water filter (instead of bottled water), and reusable cups for Starbucks. I decided to make some cake pops that day and came up with these! Aren't they cute?! I think I have some strange addiction to making them.

earth pops!

This past weekend Adam, Louise, and Abbey came to visit Sidney on Saturday. We went to the park (boy was it warm!), ate some yummy Chilly Jilly's, and ordered Chinese for dinner. We had a great time and it was so fun to watch Abbey run around. She says some words (she likes to say "baby") and we were working on her animal sounds. I love it when she says "oof" for dog and "kack" for duck. So cute :) Thanks for visiting! :)

she's got the whole world...in her mouth :)

The end of the school year for me in fast approaching. The last day is May 28! Only 4 more weeks after this week. Kind of hard to believe. I will hopefully have my job next year, but nothing is certain. If the emergency levy doesn't pass next week then who knows! Either way I've enjoyed my time at Central and hope to be there again next year! I won't be teaching (as there are NO openings), but atleast my foot is getting stuck in that door!

Hope you are having a wonderful week and remember that comments=happy!

April Showers

2009-04-03T08:15:00.002-04:00

I apologize for not posting in a couple of weeks. Last weekend we headed north (surprise) and hung out with my family and got to spend time with Nick and Erin :). It was a good weekend, but ended early so I could get back for 2 rehearsals on Sunday. Sunday evening began tech week for Wizard of Oz. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had rehearsal from 6-10pm (sometimes 9:30). Last night was the first show, there's one tonight, and two tomorrow! CRAZINESS! Needless to say I've been busy. I subbed one afternoon and worked after school the other days. I haven't had much time for anything. When I had free time I worked to finish up two of my classes. Now I only have one more to go!

Last weekend I partook in an adventure I'm pretty proud of. Shutterlove, our wedding photographer, needed "models" for boudoir sessions. I, hesitantly, decided I should give it a try. Check out Shutter Love Blog to see a couple of my pics. There is no nudity, so don't worry. I wouldn't send you to the site to see if it did. I had a great time and Carli made me feel very comfortable. Love me some Shutterlove Studio!

Sorry I have no pictures to post (beside the link above). Maybe I'll take some this weekend. My mom and dad are coming to see the show tomorrow afternoon, which will be fun. Hope you had a wonderful week and have a fun weekend!

Comments = love.

Good Morning, Batlimore!

2009-03-26T08:54:00.004-04:00

This past weekend Ryan and I flew (out of Dayton) to Baltimore to visit Kim, Mark, Ella, and Lucia. We had a great time! We got there Friday evening and were greeted with a sick Ella. When we got to their house from being picked up at the airport she spewed on the floor, I caught some, but not all of it. Saturday the girls were a bit snotty, but seemed to feel a little better. I went with Ella to ballet. She wanted me to come watch, it was so cute! She said that Ryan couldn't come. I'm so proud of her and can't believe how grown up she seems. We ate lunch and then went to the zoo. It was their baby elephants birthday, but he wasn't out so we couldn't see Samson. We did see giraffes, polar bears, lions, cheetahs, and chimpanzees. We weren't there too long, as the girlies were not feeling well and it was quite chilly. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out. Thanks to Ryan and Mark for getting us yummy pizza!

Sunday we went to church and then to DC. It was much warmer out and the weather was beautiful. We scrapped a plan to go to the National Museum of American History to walk around. We saw the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, The White House, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building. It was a ton of fun, but quite exhausting. We were all sleepy on the way home. Even Ella asked, "Is it nap time yet?" Of course we said yes, and she slept until the next morning.

Before heading to DC we ate lunch at P.F. Chang's-yummy!

Classic self-shot

At the Lincoln Memorial

It was such a nice day!

Ryan and his girls-I love this picture :-)

The castle Ryan and Ella built-she was so proud :)

Luci was more interested in the box the blocks came in :)

Ella wanted a little photoshoot

Sisters :)

We were very sad to leave and were happy to spend Monday morning playing with the girls why Kim and Mark ran together. Ryan and Ella built a castle while I distracted Luci, as not to destroy their creation. We had a dance party , ate lunch and we were on our way back to the airport. When we told Ella we were leaving to go home she said, "Awww, but I need you guys." :( We miss you Ella and Luci and lots of fun playing!

This weekend were back to the Toledo for a few things. Sunday starts tech week for Wizard of Oz, which means Sunday-Wednesday 6pm-10pm rehearsals for me. The show starts Thursday and runs through Saturday of next week. I'll be busy! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and comments=mad love.

Home, Home on the Range

2009-03-10T14:08:00.001-04:00

This past weekend we stayed in Sidney. I know, you can't believe it. On Friday night we went for a walk at the nearby park and then had Chinese for dinner (hence the walk) :) It was definitely yummy! We attempted to stay up late, but passed out around 10 pm, our weekday bed time. Ah well. Saturday we traveled to Cincinnati to meet up with some family. It was 72 degrees down there, and sunny! We went to Adam's art show and Louise's pottery show. Very neat stuff in both shows, especially the Hanke pieces! :) After that we went to a really neat park and played with Abbey on the playground. I think she enjoyed watching all of the other kids more that actually playing, but she smiled the whole time! We enjoyed a dinner at LaRosa's and then traveled back here to Sidney. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Abigail is standing and walking all over!

This was a piece at the pottery show. Can you believe this turtle?! It was for sale, if you have $7400!

Abbey loved this turtle-not only did it look real, but it was right at her level :)

Please Uncle Ryan, will you buy this for me? :-)

Sunday we slept in, walked at the park, cleaned around the apartment, and caught up on our DVRed shows. I also had a rehearsal for a Palm Sunday concert at a local church. I got the gig from a trombone player that was at Wizard of Oz rehearsal (rehearsals started last week). It seems like it will be a really neat piece. It is for a choir and orchestra. We'll see how it goes. Wizard of Oz has been fun. I've only had two rehearsals, but it's so nice to have something other than work to do. The horn book is nuts! Lots of playing and HUGE range, but I've been practicing.

Thanks for reading my ramblings of our boring life. This weekend we will head to my home to hang out and next weekend we're going to visit Kim, Mark, Ella, and Luci! :) Hope you are having a wonderful week and comments=love.

In Like A Lion

2009-03-02T14:20:00.002-05:00

I sincerely apologize for my lack of blog posting. It's quite sad, really. Technically I have most afternoons off, which would lend itself to blogging time. This time, however, has been monopolized by the 3 online courses which I am taking in order to renew my teaching license. I thought they wouldn't be too bad, being 1 credit hour a piece. Boy was wrong. They aren't necessarily difficult, but rather extremely time consuming. I enjoy creating the activities and lessons required by the courses, but they just take forever to do.

Since I've last posted we have not been up to much exciting. Valentine's Day was nice and relaxing, as we stayed in Sidney that weekend. We went to Dayton to see He's Just Not That Into You and then ate at The Cheesecake Factory (YUM!). We didn't eat the cheesecake there, but ate it two days later. It was still really yummy! The weekend after that (as you can tell we live our lives by weekends) we went to my parents. I was sick, but I spent the Sunday of that weekend sewing pillow covers and curtains. We bought the fabric forever ago at IKEA. I'm just lazy and don't know how to sew. Thanks to my dad for showing me how to use a sewing machine. Just 5 hours, two boxes of tissues (for the horrible cold I had), and many choice words spoken in my head and you can get this:

I know they're boring, but when you have big purple couches khaki works well

The 4 pillow cases I made (we got the throw pillows at IKEA)

They are "envelope" cases. This is so we can change them whenever we want to (although that would constitute more sewing...)

Here's the "envelope" opening. I used online instruction. The seam isn't too awful (alteast I don't think!)

This past weekend we (thanks to Erin) played at the double header men's and women's basketball games at UT. It was alumni varsity band and we had a blast (minus wearing khakis on a saturday, blech). Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Springfield highschool to see my cousin Shelby perform with her winter guard. We stayed for all of the guards and I thought it was really neat! Shelby and her team did a GREAT job! I'm so proud of her for getting involved and working hard.

Currently we are dealing with a broke down car. It broke down on the way out of the University after the games on Saturday. Thank goodness for WONDEFUL, AWESOME friends (Nick & Erin) who stopped for us, helped us push it out of the way, called AAA, and waited with us for the tow truck to come. The news isn't good on it, but we'll see what happens. For the time being my mom and dad offered the Neon back to me while we need it. I quickly reconnected with my old friend and think I remember all of its special quirks :). Cars...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Here's to hoping March quickly turns into a lamb. Single digit wind chills on March 2 are not cool, and indeed embody lionesque weather. Please lambs, hurry up! Hope you're staying warm and have a wonderful week. I truly appreciate your comments, keep it up!

Abigail is 1!

2009-02-03T14:40:00.004-05:00

This weekend was Abbey's First Birthday! She did a wonderful job, and put up with the chaos wonderfully! We went down Friday night, partied all Saturday, and stopped at IKEA (for pillows and dish brushes) on the way back. We had such a fun time! I actually have some pictures from the event to share!

Playing with MawMaw before lunch

Even Uncle Ryan likes to play!

The birthday girl and me!

Eating yummy cupcakes is tiring-and messy!

She got blocks from her mommy and daddy, Ryan thought they were lots of fun!

Out of a series of identical pictures, this is the only one I liked myself in-go figure!

We got her a GAP sweatshirt, book, and little stuffed animal. Now she matches Ella!

Vogue!

I think this might be a full week of work for me, which is tiring just too think about. The snow has spoiled me. I must be off to my after-school gig at another elementary. Hope you are having a wonderful week and remember-comments=love. :-)