{a very belated birthday to you}

(our computer is broken so i can't really clean up the photos, thus the red eye)

way back in december my dear friend tiffany had a birthday.  we weren't able to celebrate because she left for idaho for 8 weeks!!!!  she left in december and didn't get back until the end of january.  we finally got around to taking her out.

she picked a really great mexican place called coa.  it was a "trendy" mexican restaurant like my friend kelsey explained located over at bayshore mall.  the food was amazing!!!!  we ordered a ton of it.  i think our waiter was amazed at how much we can put down. 

it was a great night with lots of laughs and of course not so good pictures.  i'm going to blame it on the lighting.  but our pictures have progressively gotten worse since we've been here and that only has one common thing....us.  it is proof that we are getting older and maybe not aging quite as gracefully as we'd hope to.  really i'm just speaking for myself on this one but it's sad when you can't take a good picture.  another good night though.  happy birthday tiffany!

{should i be worried?}

the boys love to play in my closet.  they pretend it's an elevator.  well, they came out yesterday trying to walk around in my shoes.  i've seen girls like to play dress up but not boys.  it was pretty funny to watch luke walk down the entire hallway with my 3 inch heels.  

nolan even asked me if he could wear my shoes to target.  um, i don't think so nolan.  but you're pretty cute boys!!!

{a night to remember}

i still can't believe that the packers won the superbowl!!!!!!  it's so cool that we got to experience it here in packer land.  the fans here are crazy.  everything was about the packers throughout the whole season.  grocery stores were packed the day of games but would become ghost towns as soon as the games started.  everyone would have their packer gear on all week long.  i love the pride that wisconsin has for their packers.  

we had a few people over the the game.  we decided to keep it simple since we have the crazies and not so big of a tv.  we had our friends the fairbourn's and our neighbor joe chang from the cul-de-sac.  when the game started we sent the kids to play in the bedroom.  we didn't want their loud lovely voices interrupting our game.

then us parents got down to business......eating all the delicious food!

we were all so excited to watch our packers do their stuff.

every touchdown we would cheer just like this.

the game was a nail biter.  at times i didn't think they would be able to pull through with all the injuries they had with some of their big players.  when woodson went out of the game i thought we were done for it.  but the team pulled through with a big play by "my" clay mathews that saved the game.  oh i love him!!!  

we celebrated the victory with some bubbly.  you know......... our kind of "bubbly."  then we did some cheers.

and why not throw in some kicks.

we were laughing so hard at how ridiculous these pictures were.  and phil liked to chop our heads off in most of them. (notice my kids laying on the floor as we attempt to look awesome.)

i don't think i could look any more elongated in these photos.  wow!

lukie and jake were stoked about the win!  giving a little cheer.

it was a long night and we let the kids stay up with us.  this is what they looked like at the end of the night.

what a game!!!  we love our packers!!!!!

{shovel}

that seems to be all we do outside is shovel.  the boys love to go and play in the snow, even with freezing cold conditions.  so we take them out daily to try to get some fresh, extremely cold, air and play in the snow.  nolan was a little hard on his toy shovels so jake picked up this beauty.

it's pretty much just like an adult shovel but meant for kids.  nolan is in heaven.  he has it sleep by his bed.  go for rides in the car.  he loves his new shovel.  and now he can move the snow with ease.  don't you just love that little smile from him?  so grown up and as handsome as can be.

{remember this photo.....?}

our first winter out here we had a huge snow storm just like the one a week ago.  we took a picture of nolan sitting on top of it.  he was only 10 months old then.

this was a ton of snow!!!  i remember jake was behind him holding on while i took the picture.  we tried to get nolan to come and do the same picture again but he was doing this.

yes, that's right, having a tantrum.  he had been out in the snow all day long and was so tired and cranky.  he was screaming from the door while i took the picture of luke instead.  so here is the same picture but of luke.

i don't know if it was as high as the one with nolan but still pretty cool to get the same picture.

luke loved sitting on top of the "mountain" of snow.  soon other people came over to take the same picture.  good memories.

{snowed in!!!!!!!}

i think this is the first time that the weatherman got it right.  we have heard for years that we have a "winter storm warning" but nobody has taken them seriously.  i'm glad i went to the store on monday, because we aren't going anywhere.

look at how high the snow is in some spots!!!! it's about 3 feet high in some places.

there was no way for us to get to the car. (not like we would be able to go anywhere)

here are all the cars behind our apartment.  so deep.

nolan was trying to find big clumps of snow to throw.  he was loving the snow!

lukie and his yellow shovel.  he is quite attached to that thing.  

if you can't tell the snow is up to my knees.  luke and i didn't last very long outside because of the wind.  way too cold for our liking.  but nolan is still out there with jake.  nolan is crazy about the snow.  i'm sure jake is secretly loving that about nolan.

now, this picture is of our cul-de-sac.  this is suppose to be a road.  doesn't look much like one right now.  there is no way to get out.  and i'm sure the plows won't be here until late tonight.

the wind started to pick up so the boys hid by the door.  it was pretty cute. 

notice how luke is as tall as the snow!!!!!  can you believe it!  i think this is the most snow we've had in one night living here.  i still don't think it's as much as our first winter here but still so much snow.  

everyone has been snowed in.  we had our friends the barber's over for breakfast because they both couldn't go anywhere.  it's like we are all 10 years old again.  so much fun out here.  hope you all are enjoying yourselves like we are.

{keeping busy}

since jake has been around a lot more lately we have been enjoying ourselves.  

we have done quite a bit of painting.  it is messy but really fun to see the boys get to so in to it.

of course, all the pictures they paint have to be a train, a car, or some sort of truck.

luke is getting much better at painting.  the first time we tried it he was covered from head to toe.

but now he is just covered from head.  and maybe a bit here and there on the carpet.  but it's washable so he is free to do whatever.  

and of course when daddy is home there are always forts to be built.  this last one was pretty cool.  jake used the pack'n'play to make a cave for the boys.  they loved it!  

it has been really nice to have jake around.  he gets to be with the boys and i get to go to the gym.  it works out nicely.

{boys will be boys}

on saturday we had the opportunity to play games with some of our friends.  well, that's what we thought was going to happen but jared started talking about what he had read earlier that day.  he was reading an article about what the average man was.  for example, the average man was 5 ft 9 in and had to pass a physical test.  so the boys thought it would be interesting to make it a competition.  let me just say that it was pure entertainment for everyone.

so let's start with numero uno

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dave barber

.

he gladly volunteered to go first.  so they measured his biceps and then timed how many push ups he could do in a minute.  

the stats for dave: biceps 13 1/4 in, push ups 42

next up.

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jared robertson

jared's stats: biceps 14 1/2 in, push ups 48

next up.

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judd fitzgerald

judd's stats:  biceps 15 1/2 in, push ups 60

and last up.

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jake rabe

jake's stats:  biceps 14 in, push ups 70

boys are so funny when they get together.  it is always a competition.  this was a friendly one, but pretty funny to watch. 

there was much more to be had of the night but this was definitely the highlight.  another good evening with friends.

{studs}

i always want to remember my boys like this.

.

.

nolan is looking so much older lately.  it's killing me how fast time flies with these crazies.  i wish we could freeze time.  (but only when they are good boys)

these pictures make me smile.  i couldn't have been more lucky to have them as my own.