5:30 am Texts

 Just another Thursday, nothing to see here.  

 Maeve is HERE!!!  And Auntie and Uncle Adam too of course.  And they are here to stay!  They moved in just 10 minutes up the road and we are all pretty excited about it.  Evie and Maeve have been spending their days together while they get settled and having way too much fun together. 

 Too cold to go outside?  We will give it a try anyhow. Well, for a little bit anyways. 

 We've been baking, and playing games, and building forts, and baking, and watching movies, and painting, and baking, and writing valentines, and cleaning, and playing video games, and baking....we've had 2 days of school out of 10...2 out of 10 people!  And when schools been out, the entire city has shut down.  No museums, no gymnastics, even the mall was closed!  And before that we already had two hour delays and more days off.  So we haven't had a full school week since Christmas.  One week we had the entire week off.  I'm sorry, I love a good snow day.  But the hot chocolate is running low and my mind is not taking all this very well.  Get these kids in school! 

 Evie decided to keep her snow mask on even after they came in and undressed. I don't know why but I couldn't stop laughing at her. She left it on for a long time and I just found it to be hysterical.  My mind people, it's going.

 

 Over the weekend we made a trip out to Grandma and Grandpa Brang's house.  It's always fun to see the family!

 So, last Thursday, I got the dreaded 5:30 am text that school was out...AGAIN. I looked over at Patrick in desperation and asked him if there was any way that he could take off work. He was up on his phone moving things around and we decided right then to make spur of the moment day trip to Chicago!  (honestly I was going with or without him but I'm so glad he came too)  The kids woke up and we told them to hop in the car.  We still had our family pass to Shedd Aquarium from last year and we were excited to get to use it again.  Our last minute trip did not disappoint.  We love that place, and we couldn't believe how much more interested Evie was in everything.  Completely different than 10 months ago.  It was such a fun day.  We stopped at one of our favorite breweries for dinner on the way home and then did some late night grocery shopping before heading home just in time for bed.  We found out that we actually had lost power at our house all day that same day, lucky for us it had come back on by the time we pulled up.  It felt so good to get out of the house and out of this ice land for a day! 

 Lake Michigan looked so cold.  There were these glacier ice patches all over the surface.  And the moved with the waves.  It was kind of creepy even. 

 It took Laney about 15 minutes and 45 tries to touch a starfish.  She was so determined though, she just couldn't walk away.  The worker was just laughing and laughing at her.  Then, once she finally touched one, she couldn't stop.  We had to practically drag her and her wet arms out of that place. 

 Chicago, we will be back again soon!  We didn't have time to stop for pizza because we don't mess around with Chicago rush hour, but we will next time!

 This weekend Laney and Patrick went to their first Daddy Daughter Dance!  My Mom was supposed to braid Laney's hair but the roads were bad and it didn't seem like it was in the cards.  So our 9th grade neighbor, Madison, came over and did her hair for her, which made Laney just light right up!  This girl loves any excuse to get all dressed up. 

 After I took a pic of Laney all dressed up, Evie ran right over to the fireplace asking for her picture to be taken.  She doesn't miss a beat!

 Patrick brought Laney flowers and Evie was very disturbed that she did not get any.  You'll get your turn little lady! 

 Even Carson was a little jealous.  He just wanted to go to watch them dance.  Why can't we just do that Mom?

 Upon Carson's request, I took these two cuties to Leo's Coney for a fun dinner of our own while the fancies went out dancing.

 Carson made a Plus Plus block crown for Evie. 

 When Laney came home I asked her how the dance was and she said, "It was the best night of my life."  Patrick said she held his hand everywhere they went and she never left his side.  They danced the night away!  Patrick and Laney can't wait for this night to role around again next year. 

 

  I got some shots and a video of Laney during her basketball game.  Her team is really coming along and Laney took several shots and even scored this week!  

To top off the weekend, I took the kids + 1, which equals 4, to our schools Family Fun Night.  I don't have pictures because I was flying solo but believe me when I say we had ALL THE FUN.  This Mom is whooped and ready for a FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL!  Please oh please a full week of school. 

Everson did the cake walk at Family Fun Night about 13 times.  She never won a cake and I don't think she even knew that was the objective. She was so happy with herself that she was walking around those numbers with the BIG kids.  You can see her confidence and pride in the video below.