April 2015

April 2015

The month of April went by very quickly, which is mainly due to celebrating both of our girl’s birthdays in April.  Combine these events with the weather improving and allowing us to go outside more and a trip for Deb and me to the Bahamas, we have plenty to write about this month! 

The first weekend of the month, Randy and Anna came to celebrate Sarah’s birthday along with Easter.  During the week, Deb and I went to the daycare to decorate Easter eggs with the girls and enjoyed some time with Rosie and Zoey Foulke.  That weekend, we spent Saturday morning attending the neighborhood Easter egg hunt and went to Allison’s basketball game.  Sarah’s birthday party was on Saturday afternoon and we enjoyed having everyone over for some pizza, cupcakes and presents for Sarah.  She enjoyed all of her gifts and was much more social this year as she is more familiar with the friendly faces and had fun interacting with everyone.  On Sunday, the Easter bunny gave us a visit and hid some eggs in the sunroom along with some Easter baskets.  We hosted the 4 of us, Randy and Anna, my mom along with Beth and Matt for an Easter brunch. On Sarah’s actual birthday (April 6^th), Randy, Anna and Deb took the girls to the Children’s Museum. 

Later in the month, Randy and Anna came a few days early in advance of Allison’s birthday weekend to allow Deb and me to head to the Sandals resort in the Bahamas for a quick 3 night stay.  We have visited this resort before and really enjoyed how easy it was to get to.  We flew out at 7AM and were having lunch at the resort with a drink in hand by 12:30.  We enjoyed some great weather, food and drinks.  We hope to continue doing weekend trips without the kids at least annually, but we know it won’t always be possible!  We came home on Saturday evening to celebrate Allison’s birthday on Sunday.   

The Sunday we got home, we were fortunate enough to have some friends of ours stop by on their way through town.  The Rago’s stopped by for lunch and we enjoyed meeting their son and watching their daughter and our girls playing together while we had a quick chance to catch up.  Shortly after they left, we had Allison’s birthday party and it was great.  We had about 10 kids and 20 adults come to the party and we enjoyed pizza and cupcakes again.  Allison loved celebrating her birthday with her friends!  On Allison’s actual birthday, (April 27^th), Randy, Anna and Deb took the girls to the Children’s Museum since it was too cold for the zoo!  We celebrated having cupcakes at Allison’s daycare and she requested that Deb and I attend to help pass out the treats.   

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah had a 2 good doctor appointments this month.  The first one was her usual 2 year check-up and she is doing very well.  She has transitioned to her new room at daycare and she is a little upset when we drop her off but she is adapting pretty well.  Her other appointment was related to her eye.  We learned that her stint to open up her tear duct that was inserted last June fell out, so hopefully that means that her tear duct is permanently open and we hopefully won’t have any more issues with it! 

Allison’s Things of the Month

            Allison has finished playing basketball on Saturday mornings and received a trophy.  Laura, Pete, Claire, Randy, Anna and my Mom were able to attend this month on different Saturdays and I think they were all entertained by what they saw.  I enjoyed coaching her and we hope to maybe get her involved again next year.  Allison also had a good 4 year check-up and will hopefully be transitioning to a booster seat soon. 

A few more items from this month:

• Deb and I went to the 10^th Annual MSMC Brady Awards for her clinic.  The guest speaker was Lou Holtz and we found it very interesting to listen to him. 
• The Vandervaarts came to visit in the middle of April and we had a great visit with them.  All of the kids are playing together pretty well.  We enjoyed playing in the morning along with some good times at dinner over at mom’s condo. 
• We went over to the Bassett’s on Easter (utilizing Randy and Anna to watch the girls) and had some drinks with them, Lawton and some of their neighbors. 

March 2015

March 2015

The month of March went well for us.  As you will see below, I was gone for a week traveling for work, Allison is trying out a new sport and we have had our hands full with the 2 girls who can go from acting like best friends to enemies very quickly…but I assume that is the start of the rest of their relationship! 

 

I went to Asti, Italy during the 3^rd week of March.  This is the same location I’ve been to a few times and by now, I’m pretty comfortable with my surroundings and adjust pretty easily to the time difference.  I was traveling with 2 people I hadn’t travelled with before, so that made it a little interesting, especially when you consider that you are spending most hours together in a conference room, eating meals or travelling.  The day before we left to come home, we learned our flight from New Jersey to Indy was cancelled so we got new flights with a stop in Detroit.  By the time we arrived in New Jersey, everything was delayed due to weather and we weren’t going to catch our flight home in Detroit.  It was at that time that we decided our options were to drive 10 hours from New Jersey or spend the night and come home the next day.  We left and I got home at 2:30 in the morning.  So, we flew 9 hours to only end up driving 10 to get home.  Not the best way to end the trip, but I was glad to make it home late Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon.  Deb said the girls behaved well while I was gone and that it was getting “easier” when I have my rare trips for work.  Thankfully, Aunt Beth came by one evening with pizza and helped out with the girls. 

 

This month marked 4 years since my dad has passed and although each year that day comes and goes with a little more ease, the thoughts or memories when I’m by myself are still frequent and difficult.  As my dad’s son, there were really only 2 things that I ever really wanted (and I got frequently).  I wanted to laugh with him and I wanted to know he was proud of me.  Now that I’m a dad and trying to figure it out as I go, it sure would be great to hear his laugh after a long week or just to know that he is proud of how I’m doing. 

 

Sarah’s Things of the Month

            Sarah has been waking up early most days.  She is waking up between 6 and 6:30 most mornings and will talk to herself for about 20 minutes before yelling out for one of us.  Since we are used to both girls sleeping until we get them up for school, this has made our ability to get ready for work a little more difficult.  The good news is that she is starting to communicate more, so we can talk with her as we get ready for work and if she happens to wake up Allison, then they can interact and entertain each other.  

 

Allison’s Things of the Month

            Allison has started playing basketball Saturday mornings at the YMCA.  We were motivated to do this by a neighbor who Allison loves to play with, so the two of them are on the same team.  Along with that, his dad and I are the coaches of the team.  We are coaching 3-4 year-olds and it is quite entertaining to attempt to teach them about offense, defense, rebounds and not fouling.  We have 30 minutes of practice followed by a 30 minute game.  The game starts with the national anthem and then we play a few quarters of basketball.  I have a great time with it, but it sure is a test of patience when you have all these kids running around!   

 

A few more items from this month:

• I went to a Board of Director’s dinner at Amalfi’s.  Each March our company has our annual shareholder meeting and the night before the management team usually accompanies the Board to dinner. 
• We were fortunate enough to meet up with Brad and Jenn out in Plainfield in mid-march.  It was great to catch-up with them and see how their transition to Chicago from San Francisco has been going. 
• Deb had a girls night at Amy Pigman’s and it was their first one of the year with that crew.  Their theme was “Canadian” foods, so I think Deb brought some Labatt Blue! 
• Matt invited me to a Pacer game toward the end of the month vs. the Mavericks.  It was good to catch up with him and meet some of the people he works with. 
• For lent this year, we decided to institute a policy that we put our phones on the kitchen counter when we are at home.  We hoped this would allow us to spend more time with the girls and not be as distracted, but I don’t know if that occurred or if we were more concerned about what we were missing!