wedding showers and more

the kids and I took off to green bay during the middle of last week. thanks to laura who drove us from rochester to a halfway point where we switched all of the gear (for just 5 days I need to pack as if we are gone for a month!) and people to my dad’s vehicle who thankfully finished the drive to green bay.

my parent’s lower level is a wonderful play space for the kids. they have a little play gym with a slide and claire was determined to climb up the slide versus go down. she could actually make it up by herself by hooking her fingers in the little holes and pulling herself up!

almost there!

getting frustrated while ellie looks on.

the girls had a blast on this gym. the only challenge is when charlie was flying through it and they wanted to join it. it was crucial to have 2 adults around for safety.

eleanore was determined to pull herself up by this bar. I have no idea where she was trying to get to, but she kept on trying.

happy to have auntie suz home!

charlie had a special spot that was blocked by some furniture just for car playing. It prevented the sisters from instantly getting into his stuff and he had fun in his little car world.

more badger fun.

claire pushing ellie. and ellie loving it.

some adorable pictures of auntie suz with her God daughter Eleanore.

so sweet!

the best we could do with both of them.

me and my sweet boy.

here is a sequence of claire the beaver…

“claire – don’t chew on that book”

“what mom?!?”

“is this what you are talking about?”

her reaction when I took the book away. this is her “snorty” look.

what was ellie doing you ask? just heavy breathing through the duplo characters. she lovdat!

my dad and I took charlie and the girls to the railroad museum for a quick outing and it was great. I forgot my camera, but here are a couple iphone photos.

ellie, taking a break from being held, was trying to push claire in the stroller. it was pretty cold and I had not packed outdoor gear, but the kids did great.

charlie and g.pops in “big boy”. the world’s largest steam locomotive type. it is huge.

the real reason we went to green bay is that my mom, sister and I threw a wedding shower for my future sister-in-law meg. a lot of presents had arrived from out of town family and they were being stored in the laundry room. but a gift for charlie was also being stored there…he spotted it and was so cute.  he kept pointing out the different vehicles in a sweet voice and asking when he could open his gift. my mom and dad had planned on giving it to him early so they let him open it (with my encouragement because I thought he would play with it a lot).

happy to be learning he could open it.

think he is excited? this boy is loving gifties. my prayer is that someday he will be a happy giver too.

his new parking garage in action!

the girls slept well at nana and g. pop’s house. so well that I had to wake them up a few times (it could have been because they were sleeping in the dark walk in closet). so before I woke them up I took a few pictures because it is so sweet to see a sleeping baby. claire crashed out.

eleanore out – even with her leg up.

late friday night, meg and dan arrived in from chicago and bill arrived around midnight so we were ready for the weekend. saturday morning was fun catching up and sipping coffee and then the craziness began. we (I mean my mom) quickly cleaned up and put the final touches on the shower details. check out the delicious spread!

we had mimosas and different flavored waters. everything looked so pretty. my mom is an incredible hostess.

dan and meg looking snazzy. aren’t they a beautiful couple! don’t worry the boys left for lunch right before the shower.

charlie is in love with meg. he thinks she is the coolest and prettiest girl and gets super shy around her (which actual frustrates me). he wanted a picture with meg and dan and then got all weird acting when we set it up. lets hope he grows out of this soon.

the 4 ladies before the shower.

do you think these ladies are related? ha! they are meg, her mom and her sister – kate.

doing a great job being in the spotlight.

suz and kate fulfilling bridesmaid duties.

ellie told me that it was about time for her to have a pair of tory burch ballet flats.

some of the butz fam – kristy, aunt mary, aunt debbie & aunt barb.

claire was having herself a blast with the gift and ribbon.

ellie was happy watching the gift opening and chowing on goldfish.

saturday night we attended a couples shower given my a group of my parent’s friends. it was a wonderful party and so much fun to be at. I forgot my camera again so I don’t have any pictures, but it was a great time.

sunday it was already time to head home. with daylight savings time we decided to leave in the early evening instead of noon, which was great because we were able to enjoy an unseasonable warm day. since suzanne, dan and meg were home we blew out some candles for me, charlie, ellie and claire. this is one half of the table. guess we forgot to take a picture of the other half. whoops – sorry dad, mom, meg and suz.

charlie getting ready to blow out his candles….

get ready for it – spit. good thing I caught it.

so fired up about lightening mcqueen!

then it was my turn to blow out my candles and I decided to let him do it  (he asked so sweetly!).

ah! it happened again – more spit! we really have to work on that before his birthday party.

when the honey badgers woke up from their naps it was their turn.

suz giving the girls colored jeggings. thanks auntie suz!

go for it girls! and they both just sat there and when their fingers touched it they stopped and assessed the frosting while squishing it in their fingers.

they were not sure what to think, but after we put some in their mouths they were a bit more interested. definitely not going crazy though. I only could handle the mess for about 3 minutes and then I whisked them upstairs to take baths, get pjs on and prepare to head home.

ellie not to sure about what I just stuck in her mouth.