Obsession with the Masked Singer

 We discovered the Masked Singer a few weeks - It started with Avery and I watching and now Hung and Tay have joined us and we are getting into Season 5. Tay has become TRULY obsessed with it. He is now watching seasons 1-4 on YouTube, has memorized who everyone is in Seasons 1 and 2 and also the order they were eliminated (backwards and forwards) and LOVES to talk about it. 

When we went to Rockford, he made it into a game and was picking out random objects, making them into Masked Singer characters (hair tye, candle, wrecking ball = small cat toy, pikachu to name a few), would then have them all perform and drop some clues, then we all had to vote someone off and chant "TAKE IT OFF!! TAKE IT OFF!!" and he would then reveal who it was. It was always a mix of someone in the family, one of his friends or a former masker singer contestant like T-Pain or Latoya Jackson. And there were rounds and rounds and rounds of this - Am grateful to my family for playing along! It was SUPER cute and creative and cracked us up.

He had been counting down the days to the next new episode of the Masked Singer - Literally asked me every day how many were left...And then we finally get to Wednesday and the poor kid fell asleep 2 performers in. He woke up the next morning in a panic. We told him we had waited to watch with him to make him feel better. I told him if he got ready fast we could watch some before school - You have never seen a kid get dressed and teeth brushed so fast!

Like most things, am sure this phase will pass but it's crazy adorable and had to capture it so we don't forget!

 Falling asleep watching Masked Singer :)

Weekend with Family

 Now that everyone has some vaccine in them, we all traveled to Rockford to spend a weekend at Grandma T and Grandpas with Nate, Debbie, Maddie and Eddie + Cousin Billy. It was SUCH a fun time. We arrived late on Thursday night and visited a bit before heading to bed. Friday we all had to do some work and eLearning while also fitting in Maddie's final dress fitting and donut tasting (which was AMAZING). We also went to visit Juno with Grandma T and Avery even got to ride a little which she loved since she hasn't been able to ride all winter. Grandma T said she looked great up there and was truly a natural. We had pizza for dinner, celebrated Maddie and Teri's b-days and stayed up way too late talking and playing cards. 

On Saturday the guys (minus Nate who needed extra sleep!) went golfing and the rest of us visited the downtown Rockford (oh and Aunt Debbie gave Avery a super cute braid). The cheese shop, candy store and toy store were adorable!! We then decorated Easter Eggs with a new tool this year and they turned out AMAZING. Billy came over and we grilled and had dinner, watched bball and visited. The time always goes way too fast but it was just wonderful to be together!

Thank You SCIENCE for coming up with a vaccine so that we can visit safely.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Avery loves herself a good holiday and always gets into the spirit of the season. She built a really creative Leprechaun Trap that looks like a hat but the top had a rainbow with cotton balls at the end where the leprechaun would fall in. She also helped our neighbor Nora build a rainbow themed trap. She put it out last night in hopes of FINALLY catching him - Sadly, he escaped again and took the "gold" bait but left the kids some Lucky Charms and a note. They were excited to check on the trap this morning.

G got the kids some awesome gear and they dressed up for the day as they were told they should come in green and gold to school to celebrate St. Patty's. They looked adorable!!

Weekend with the Mahrt's

Jill, Josh, Derek and Molly came to visit us last weekend and it was JUST what I needed to lift my spirits!! Tay and Derek were hardcore into playing Mario on the Switch and ultimately "beat the game", lots of time was spent in the bounce house and we also played a lot of games. The girls did some crafting, put on some singing performances and we went to get nails done. The kids played SO well all weekend, the adults got time to chat, watch a movie and play some games, too. It was a BLAST and we love them all so much!

 

Bingo's Obsession

 Bingo saw something in the neighbor's yard about a week ago - We have no idea what it was but he is obsessed. Every night now when it gets dark he begs to go outside and whines at the door, once out he dashes to the side yard to look for whatever was there but is no longer. He starts to bark like crazy sometimes so we can't always let him out. He is such a lovable goofball!

This is a week later...

No Fun Surgery

 I had to have surgery to clean up my endometriosis - And then it became a bit more complex when the doctor found that my right ovary was filled with non-cancerous tumors and had to also be removed. What was supposed to be a quick 1 hour procedure with one incision turned into a 3 hour one with 4 incisions. It was not a fun day.....But I was surrounded by so much love that it made me appreciate all the amazing people in our lives.

• Rebecca sent me Carrot Cake and Rebecca and Linde checked on me about 10 times a day
• Poonam and Jill also checked in all the time!
• Jayme and Stu brought me flowers and had the kids over for a movie night on Friday so we could have a quiet house
• Chuckee brought breakfast and dinner several times
• Maddie sent me ice cream, smoothies and a Cameo from Phil Martelli and also checked on me about 10 times a day
• Teri and Dad sent us pizza
• Cullen and KJ came by to check on me on Friday and then took the kids over night on Saturday
• Grayson's family had Tay over for a playdate
• G and Hung never left my side all weekend

I am finally feeling like myself again - Still not ready to workout but feeling SO much better both physically and emotionally.  When times get hard it's so comforting to see all the people in your corner!