What Time Is It?: Happy Holidays!

Missing in Action?

Hell no!

Missing the action is what you be!

So, um, it's been four months since we posted. Sorry. Life is bizzay. We have not fallen off the face of the earth. We do want to stay in touch with everybody. It's just hard, but please, email us, call us, send us mail. We do exist and we will talk.

Anyway, Katie is going to write this update so away she goes: (I'll do the pics. Sorry the photos are out of order, computer issues.)

Since it has been sooooo incredibly long, we will go month by month for a quick update.

Here we GO!

August
Brian and I celebrated our 4-year Anniversary by going to Las Vegas for a nice relaxing drinking, eating, gambling and sleeping fiesta. We went with our friends Nick and Jess and had a blast. The weather was great as well as the entertainment.
Oh what fun to be able to sit down and eat an entire HOT meal without any distractions!! Another thing that sounds so simple taking a shower.....Oh it was pure bliss to take a shower without any kiddos coming in and asking "Hey mom are you taking a shower?" or wondering what kind of mischief they are getting into as you take your 2 minute shower. After indulging Italian Gelato and sleeping in, it was quickly back to reality.

Brian and I both had birthdays.
We attended our friend Tony's vows, which were celebrated in a beautiful Catholic church (Church of St. Thomas Moore), and we continue to pray for him as he continues his journey in becoming a Jesuit priest.

September
The entire Vnak Family went on a road trip to Chicago and then South Bend for ND vs San Diego. The boys are good travelers. I think they pointed out every bus, car transporter, and semi-truck from here to there. We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle in Chicago Thursday night and had a great time. Tom, Joe, and Peter love to visit their Uncle Ric, Auntie Neigh Neigh, cousin Julie and Olivia. It was so cute...we were getting T and J ready for bed that night when they said, "Uncle Ric made this bed up just for us." "Isn't that sooo nice?"
The next morning we were up and off to South Bend. On the ride down, T and J had to listen to the Marching Band over and over again. After talking months about going to ND, we were finally there. Tom is sitting in the back of the van...as soon as Brian parks....Tom yells out "THIS IS THIS THE NOTRE DAME!" It is a moment Brian and I will never forget.
After unloading the Quad stroller, I was off to the bookstore and Brian was off to give the boys a tour of campus. When I caught up with them, T and J were giving me the tour. "There is the golden gnome, and that is the dorm daddy lived in, and that is where mommy and daddy got married." We walked to band practice and T, J, and Peter had a fun time listening to the band and pointing out all the instruments. It is there that we caught up with Marie, her sister, and little Sean. We had a nice and shall we say chaotic dinner with them and then it was off to Michigan for a quick night of sleep.
Saturday we were up bright and early and headed to Mothballs tailgate. It was so wonderful to see all of our friends. The boys had a blast too, playing catch with the football, skipping around campus and watching the band march to the stadium.
While everyone else headed to the game we headed out of town back to Chicago to spend the night with Nick and Jess. It was there that we watched the game and after getting the boys to sleep we learned from the masters how to play guitar hero!
Sunday was a very long day of driving home!

The rest of Septembers seems like a Blur. The boys had fun playing outside in the leaves and helping grandpa and daddy rake up all the leaves.

October
Brian and I were able to get away again to go to ND vs Stanford. We left Thursday and stayed with our friends Beth and Angelo and then drove down with them to ND for the weekend. It was also very relaxing and nice to get away and do adult activities.

Halloween! Tom and Joe dressed up as fire fighters. Their auntie neigh neigh and uncle Ric surprised them with fire fighter raincoats, hats and rubber boots when we came to visit. So you are thinking well, what was Peter? What else, but their cute Dalmatian. They had fun going to their great aunt and uncle's houses, going to grandmas for dinner and then trick or treating to a few houses. What they enjoyed the most was handing out candy at the door. Our neighborhood is full of kids some small and some large. (Large as in college students dressed up as marijuana leaves)
Brian's mom came over so we could go out to my cousins Halloween party! It was very fun! Brian dressed up as an investment banker on Wall Street. (Cardboard sign will work for food or coke) I on the other hand was Nancy Pelosi. Good times.

November
Man, I don’t even remembered what happened. I started taking Tom and Joe to the library on Thursday mornings for story time, while Grandpa Vnak came over to play with Peter. T and J seem to enjoy seeing other kids and learning new songs and listening to stories.

The boys also enjoy going to their favorite stores…Target and Home Depot! Even at home, they play downstairs with their mini-coops (big cars) and pretend they are going to the store. They have their coupons and shopping list in the back compartments. “I have to go to the store now. I need to get what is on my list. Now, let me see…. what’s on my list…oh yeah, I need toilet paper.”

I wonder where they get that?

We had a good Thanksgiving. Both my sister and I had to work Evening shift that day, so we celebrated on Friday. We are extremely grateful for our health, happiness and for our jobs these days.

December
December was a very busy month, filled with lots of friends and family and we loved every bit of it.
We celebrated Peter’s 1St Birthday Party on Saturday December 13th. Snowman was the theme and Peter enjoyed eating his snowman cake with a fork to our surprise. The other kids at the party, Tom, Joe, Braden and their friend Michael had a lot of fun helping Peter open his gifts. He received some real fun toys and books. Auntie Meredith got him a frog tent and put it together that night. The kids had blast!!! Thank you Auntie Meredith!

I ended working a bit more than I had anticipated before Christmas this year. We had on-line learning, meetings and classes to attend for new monitors and equipment we will be getting in the hospital. So I ended up working 4 eves in a row the weekend before Christmas. It made it hard to get shopping and wrapping done as well as baking.

Brian and I hosted Christmas for my side of the family on Christmas Eve. Brian made a fabulous dinner, which consisted of sweet potato and ham soup, wild rice medley, green beans, and a crown pork roast. For dessert, we had apple crisp and plenty of cookies.

It was a special time, because my grandma was able to be with us and see and enjoy all 6 of her GREAT grandkids.

Tom, Joe, and Braden were more into opening gifts this year than last. Thomas was more concerned about picking up all the wrapping paper and ribbon and putting it in the garbage bag than his presents.

My parents, sisters and their families, grandma, aunt and uncle along with my cousins came as well as Brian’s parents. Good times!!

Christmas day we went to church after the boys opened their gifts from Santa. They got a play kitchen and new VACCUUMS!! For the last 2 months, Tom and Joe would say, “I want Santa to bring me a new vacuum.” Our boys are clean freaks…just the way I like them. HA!

We then went to my parent’s house for breakfast then home to take a nap followed up by going to Brian’s parents house for Christmas dinner and gift opening. Grandpa Vnak got them a remote control car, which they love to play with.

After Christmas, we were able to get together with our friend Tony who was on break from his studies at Loyola. It is always a great time with him. Brian made some great tasting ribs for us. We were then able to get together with another high school friend. A night out on the town was so enjoyable. We went to a quaint restaurant called the 112-eatery downtown Minneapolis.

January
To bring in the New Year….this is exciting folks……hold on….I worked and Brian stayed home alone. Told you it was exciting.

Lately we have been trying to recover from all the Holiday festivities. The boys have had colds on and off and Peter has had a double ear infection. This week I will take him in for his one-year check up.

Prince Peter is walking all over the place now and crawling up on furniture and fireplaces. He shakes his head no, says go, go, go, momma and dada, and Joe. He signs for more and points to EVERYTHING! He loves to eat!!

Tom is our little helper. He likes to help with cooking and cleaning. He loves to play with his trains, blocks, and legos. He also enjoys playing outside with grandpa and Joe. He loves to watch imagination movers and Thomas the train.

Joe is our free spirit. The kid wants to stay in his pj’s all day and likes to go bare foot in the middle of winter. He also enjoys playing with his cars, trucks, legos and such. He likes to sit next to Tom and watch their morning cartoons together. Joe’s new word ridiculous comes out “This is pediculous”.

Brian got a new acoustic guitar for Christmas from Santa, which he is enjoying. Look out everyone the new Dave Matthews is on his way.

So here it is another blog posting. Can you believe it? I won’t say when we will write again, because you never know with the Vnaks. It is always on my list of things to do, but sleeping usually beats writing the blog posting. Sorry!

Peter sipping a beer with his God Parents

Sometimes playing outside is way too exhausting

Christmas Joy!

Snowman with the first snowfall

Halloween

His Royal Cuteness

The Real Joe the Plumber

Summer fun in the backyard

Tom and Joe with Tree Pre-Decoration

Vegas Crew. We went on our first vacation in over two years to Vegas without the Kids. Good times were had.

Vegas Lovers!

Petee's first swim!

Blue Steel

Manly Pushups. Can you do 25 pushups with an unbalanced 100 pounds on your back? Probably.

ND Band. WE took the fam to ND for a game. The goys were enamored with the band. All is right in the world.

Pete being cute on the roadtrip in the car. Except for the last three hours of the roadtrip where he proceeded to cry almost the entire time and we had to stop every 20 minutes.

Petee in backyard with Vnak smile

Men's Club in the pool

Pete first crawling

So, we are in the middle of remodeling one of our bathrooms. Problem is, said bathroom is in between both boys bedrooms. So my time to work is very limited. One night I was measuring something and fell asleep sitting on the edge of the bathtub. Katie caught it. Blast!