Maya Grace is Two

Maya Grace turned two years old yesterday. It is amazing how time flies by. She is coming into her own and definitely has her own personality. You can tell that she has an older brother and goes to daycare with all boys because she is a tough little cookie and doesnt mind getting dirty or rough housing. Ethan and her run through the house every night. She loves her big brother Ethan and as soon as he calls her name she screams out "Ethan Im coming!!" she is also definitely a little girl. she loves to look pretty and put on dress up clothes. She shows Eric her outfits every morning. She also loves to dance and sing, her favorite songs include Frosty the Snowman and Katy Perry's Firework (interesting combo I know!). She talks a mile a minute and even falls asleep talking to herself. Maya also loves babies, she feeds her babies, changes them, and tries to dress them. I caught her the other day getting out all of her diaper stuff and changing the daddy doll from her doll house with no help from anybody! She has such a kind little heart and beautiful smile we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful little girl in our lives.

Maya's Birthday Party

We had Maya's Birthday at our house this year. we had some friends and family come over to help her celebrate her day. Of course, it had to be a Dora themed birthday party, Maya loves everything to do with Dora. Grandma and Papa Langel, Staci, and Tera were able to make it out for her party. we started the day off by taking Ethan to ski lessons which he has now perfected going up the ski ropes himself and made it down the hill multiple times. Its amazing the differences between this week and four weeks afo. Then Ethan had another birthday party to go to while I got the house ready to go. maya wasn't quite sure what her birthday meant but she sure loved all of the attention and the presents. She got a ton of stuff. Kate Jim and Will gave her dress up clothes and by the end of the night Ethan was dressing her in all of the clothes and Will was joining in on the fun! It was a lot of fun and Maya is such a lucky girl to have such good family and friends in her life.

Making Cupcakes

While Ethan and Eric were outside shoveling snow Maya and I were making cupcakes to take to the babysitters to celebrate her birthday. Maya decided she wanted to help so I let her put on the sprinkles.

Snow Day!

Last Wednesday morning we woke up to a quite the snow storm. It was more snow than I have seen in a long time. We had school off on Wednesday and Thursday. Eric didnt have work on wednesday. Ethan was a big help outside shoveling. Maya and I went outside for a little bit but she didnt like the snow blowing in her face so we came back inside. Here are a couple pics of the kids outside.

Ski Lessons

For the past three weeks Ethan has been taking Skiing Lessons. This is the first day that I remembered to take a camera. He has improved quite a bit from the first lesson. On the first day they had all the four year olds in one section and the instructor asked if any of the kids had taken lessons before. Ethan raises his hand straight in the air that he had lessons before (he hasn't). We had to tell the instructor that he hadnt any lessons and when I asked him later why he had put his hand in the air he said that he had taken swim lessons! It took the kids half the time to get their skis on and they barely made it down the hill. They also needed lots of help getting to the top of the hill. By the end of the lesson today the kids were going down the hill themselves and Ethan even tried going up the tow rope himself. He got part of the way up and then fell, but he tried. They were also able to go through an obstacle course which was a lot of fun.

Langel Christmas

Two days after Christmas we headed to Iowa to have Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Langel. After the eight hour trip there the kids were ecstatic to find more christmas presents under the tree.

Christmas Morning

This year we stayed at my parents Christmas Eve, which was easier than going back and forth from our house. The kids loved it and with the snow that evening it worked out much better. Christmas morning Ethan ran downstairs but, Maya was still sleeping so he had to wait for her to wake up. When she woke up they both ran to where the presents were and started ripping them open. Maya's favorite was her new dollhouse and Ethan said he loved everything and didnt have a favorite. Later that evening family friends came over for Christmas dinner and played wii games. When we got home to our house Ethan saw that Santa had stopped at our house with a couple more gifts!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Church and then headed back to my parents house for dinner. Ethan couldn't contain himself so he was able to open one present before dinner. After dinner we all opened presents. While Ethan opened and looked at each present Maya was a maniac and was crawling under the tree trying to find more presents for herself. She opened all of her presents and mine and Papas. It was a fun evening and Ethan was excited to put out the Christmas cookies on the fire place.

Christmas Snow

On Christmas Eve we went to my parents house. It was the perfect weather to be playing outside. It was warm but there was plenty of snow. The snow was not very good for making snowmen but, the kids had a great time. We had to drag Maya inside!

Cookies and Presents

These are the first christmas presents of the season for Ethan and Maya as you can see they were quite happy with the gifts. Molly and Jack came over for lunch and presents. Maya has been putting the baby in her seat and feeding everyday! Unfortunately I didnt get any pics of maya and Ethan with Jack. That night we made some sugar cookies and frosted them. Ethan was in charge of frosting and Maya helped put on the sprinkles.

Santa's Breakfast

The week before christmas we went to Santa's Breakfast at my dad's club. We ate so much food, ethan was especially excited about the chocolate fountain. Ethan was nervous to sit on Santa's lap but, he wanted to tell him what he wanted for christmas. Maya wasn't sure what was going on but since Ethan went on his lap Maya did as well, however she said nothing when Santa asked her what she wanted.

Gingerbread Houses

It has been an annual event to go to my dad country club to decorate Gingerbread houses. Every year it has been one of Ethan's favorite thing to do during the holiday season, and this year Maya got to join in for the first time. this year we met my parents and aunt Erika there. Ethan was very patient about waiting to decorate the gingerbread houses and eating dinner first. they make the whole event kid friendly they have every type of kids food possible that you could want in a buffet along with food for the adults and then they have a station for the kids to make sundaes. finally the kids are able to decorate their gingerbread house at the table. they provide a huge bowl of candy and then Ethan and Maya dug in. I wasnt sure if Maya would like doing it but, she sat for quite a while putting up candy. she did lck quite a few fo the candies before they want on the house. Ethan put every last piece of candy up on the house.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

You will notice there are only two pictures of the Langel family putting up the Christmas tree this year. This was the calm before the storm. This was Maya's first year of really being able to take part in the festivities and boy did she ever try to take part. Immediately following the two picture there were ornaments being thrown across the room paper flying everywhere and Ethan screaming that Maya was going to break everything. Meanwhile Maya had a huge smile on her face while she was singing about Christmas. Maybe we will have more pics next year!

Building a snowman

On Saturday we woke up to Ethan flying through our door screaming that there was snow outside and asking if we could go and play out in it. Me being the ultimate procrastinator had not gotten any boots yet, so off we went at 8 am to get snow boots for the kids. When we were finally able to make the snowman Ethan, Eric and Amani our neighbor made a pretty good snowman. maya was sleeping so she will have to join in next time. Ethan was pretty proud of his snowman, we were even able to use the snowman kit that I had when I was little.

Happy Halloween!

Last night was Halloween and we lucked out there was not rain and the sun was shining. It got a little chilly as the night went on but it didn't stop Ethan and Maya! Ethan went a Wolverine, which he has been wearing the costume all week and has been known to sport it to the grocery store a few times. Maya had the choice between a couple of costumes and she ended up wanting to wear the witch costume, she has been very particular about what she wears recently, and so I assume her pickiness has started!! I was able to get one pic of her with her hat on but that was it. The night before we carved pumpkins which Ethan picked out a spider and Eric did the rest of the work. On Halloween we went out trick or treating and I wasnt sure how Maya would do. Ethan convinced Uncle Mark to come out with us. Maya was very timid in the beginning and made us hold her but, once she found out that she got to put a piece of candy in her bucket every time there was no holding her back. She would push her way to the front of the line and then would say a sweet little thank you. We were able to stay out for about an hour and half and then Ethan said he was done and ready to eat some candy so we went home, warmed up and had some chili.

Lion King

On Saturday night we were able to take Ethan to go and see "The Lion King" in the city. We went with my mom and my sister. I had Ethan take a late nap so that he would be able to stay up for the show which was at 8:00pm. I think Ethan's favorite part of the whole trip was the car ride down. Ethan and my mom were talking about the different bridges and roads the whole way down, a future engineer right there! When we got out of the car he yelled yes, we are in the city, it was so cute. We ate at a corner bakery near by the theater and then we were able to enjoy the show. We ended up having first row seats so Ethan could see the people and animals close up. One of the Giraffe heads even ended up in Eric's lap! I wsa so proud of how Ethan acted that late at night he was a very big boy. The show was great and Ethan woke up asking when we could go to the city again!

Picking Pumpkins

Grandma and Grandpa Langel came last weekend with Tera and Kevin. They were able to go to Ethan's soccer game and we also went picking pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch that Sara and Chrissy had told me about. We didn't get there until about an hour before it closed which was perfect because nobody was really around. The kids were able to pick out the pumpkins that they wanted and to run around in the pumpkin patch, needless to say when we got home we were very dusty and dirty and the kids were put in the tub immediately

Jumping in the Leaves

The other day we went over to my mom's house to play in the leaves since they have huge trees that drop tons of leaves, we only get about 10 leaves in our yard. Ethan's friend Matt came and played with the kids as well. Ethan ended up having more fun raking the leaves and Maya really couldn't have been bothered by the leaves she wanted to go out in the front and play on the bike, oh well maybe next year.

Maya and Will

Kate, Jim, and Will were able to come over a couple of weekends ago just to hang and watch the blackhawks game and have some pizza. It was fun to see the kids play together because they are so close in age, only a week apart and we were able to catch up a little bit before kate and Jim's lives get even crazier with two little ones!

Frank's 30th Birthday

My friend Frank Gogliotti turned thirty this summer and his wife, Gail decided to throw him a suprise party at a white sox game. We don't get to see them to often so Eric and I thought it would be a perfect time to see them. We met up with Molly and Brendan and Jim and Kate. Unfortunately it rained and the game got delayed but we were able to go to the bar in the stadium and watched the hawkeyes game. We had a great time and it was good to catch up with people we dont get to see. The night ended in langel style Eric got kicked out!!! yep, but it was time to leave anyways and it was a good laugh!

Soccer

This fall I signed Ethan up for soccer. Every saturday morning he has had practice and the last two weeks we had a game. The weather has been interesting on the first day it stormed and was cold the next weekend it was 85 degrees and this past weekend it got cancelled again due to rain. Ethan had a rocky start to soccer. he was so pumped putting on his shin guards but when he found out he had their team had to wear pink he was pretty bummed. He finally got over the pink shirt and enjoyed playing the game. Maya has gone to every practice with her folding chair to cheer on her brother. We still aren't sure if he is cut out for soccer, he still tries to tackle the kids as he is playing and after he scored a goal he thought the game was over and was laying down in the sidelines. He had a crowd cheering for him, grandma slick, erika, grandma and papa langel and tera and all came to cheer him on.

Iowa vs Iowa State

Eric and I try to get to at least one Iowa game every year, this year we made it to the Iowa vs. Iowa State game. The kids didn't make the trip this time but maybe next year. We were able to meet up with Staci, JJ, James, Tera, Brea, Brandon, and Katie. We went tailgating on the "hill" which Eric and I had trouble finding even though I went to school there go figure, me not knowing where to go!! As soon as we got to the tailgate Eric shot gunned a beer and I was playing flippy cup, needless to say it was a good thing we didnt bring the kids. We were able to watch the game at a bar and I even made it going out later that night. To top the night off I had a Marc's grilled cheese in the ped mall at 1:30 in the morning!

Its Football Season!

The college season is well on its way but, on the first day of the season we were all in our Iowa gear so I thought I would take a couple of pics of the kids especially since Maya's cheerleading outfit just fits. Eric is an Iowa state fan so notice the flag that the kids are sitting on, we are a split household but, I think we all know who number one is, Go Hawks!!

Ethan's First Day of School

Ethan started his second year of pre school this year. He is going four days a week in the afternoon. His new teacher is Miss Meg. Ethan was excited to start his first day of school but, as you can see in the picture with his new teacher he was a little nervous. He came home after the first day talking about the new friends he had in his class and he was ready to go back the next day. He will be reviewing upper and lowercase letters this year and moving on to sight words and hopefully reading a little, thats my reading teacher wishful thinking... He will also start learning simple adding and subtracting. Hopefully he takes after his father in the math department!

Oops where has the time gone...

Well I have not posted anything on my blog since July. I have been taking a lot of pictures but, since work has started back up i just haven't had the time to post anything. But, I know I have to start again so here it goes. Instead of back logging all of the summer pics I am just going to show a slide show of some of the pictures I took at the end of the summer enjoy!

Lake Okoboji

The week of the fourth of July we went with Eric's parents, Staci, and Tera to Lake Okoboji. We were able to stay in Eric's aunt and uncle's cabin which is about 50 feet from the lake. We had wonderful weather and a great time. Right behind the house was a small creek where Ethan would take his fishing pole and net and try to catch some fish in the morning. Maya enjoyed this as well but, she constantly was trying to jump in the water. We were also able to take the Eric's Uncle's boat out everyday. Ethan had a blast in the boat and he even got a chance to go tubing. He went tubing with every one of us and he only fell off the tube once but, he had his life jacket on so he popped right back up. Maya did fairly well on the boat as long as I was holding her. She wouldn't let anyone else hold her and she was especially upset when I went out on the tube with Ethan! Every night Papa Langel made a bonfire in the yard and we had smores. It was a great small getaway that we will have to do more often.

4th of July

Over the fourth we were in LeMars, Iowa. Ethan remembers exactly what we did last year for the fourth so he made sure everything was the same. We took two trucks out to the fair grounds earlier in the evening to get a good spot and then around 9:30 everybody walked to the fairgrounds. Almost everybody from Eric's family was able to make it back for the 4th which was really special for Ethan. Maya even made the trip to see the fireworks, however she was up into the wee hours of the night reinacting the firework noises for Eric and I!!! She may have to wait a couple more years until she sees them again. We had to make sure that we brought lemonade with us as well as popcorn and we couldn't forget the gummy worms. The fireworks were just as good as last year. Ethan kept screaming which ones were his favorite ones and he especially enjoyed the sparklers after the fireworks!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! We had a pretty busy day, this morning we went to a the family fun center in Yorkville which has bumper boats, go carts and mini golf, this is something Ethan picked out to do since he saw it one day when we passed it by one the road. He did everything there that you could possibly do including a water balloon launch which I got more wet then he did, then we went and had hot dogs and ice cream at a nearby hot dog stand. After the kids naps we went to grandma and papa Slick's house for a steak dinner and hung out until it was time for bed.

Batter Up!

Ethan was able to play t-ball this year. It was only everyday for one week but, he really seemed to enjoy it. Since, it was all four year olds they didn't play too much actually t-ball but they learned all about running the bases, fielding a ball, throwing, and hitting. On the final day of t-ball they got to do a small scrimmage against another team. Every night Ethan would ask when we were going to t-ball. He did a really good job with the hitting and knew how to run the bases but, he is still working on fielding the ball. When they were playing against another team and in the field Ethan tried to be the first to get the ball each time, he even tackled another player to do so, Eric had to talk to him in the dug out to go over the rules again. When he was running the bases the helmets were to big and it drove him crazy so he would run around the bases with his hands covering his ears so the hat wouldn't fall off, it was hilarious! Here's some pics of his baseball debut!

Hospital Hill 10K Run

This past weekend Eric and I traveled down to Kansas City to meet his family. Over the weekend Eric and many members of his family ran in the hospital hill run (I had the stomach flu so I watched!!). On the T-shirts that you get it says "I conquered the hill" and did they ever. Who knew that Kansas City was so hilly. There were five hills that went straight up, looked pretty tough as I was sitting on the sideline watching, but everyone made it through the race! Afterwards it was time to go to Eric's cousin Tanya's house for a 30th birthday party and a few cocktails. They even had a full pig roast, which I heard was delicious but I passed.