I'm So Proud of Her

this little girl makes me so proud.

last week she told me she wanted to start her own blog.

i showed her the website 

and....

she put one together

and here it is!

she did all of it on her own

and her entries make me

smile.  

love her.

have a great weekend.  

love, gina

girlfriends are such a gift

Sometimes I get so behind on updating the blog that I don't know where to start, I have several weeks to post about so I decided to post about this past weekend.  I will start with last weekend because it was fabulous!!!!!!

When we left Boston in 2007 we left many wonderful people behind and they are all sadly missed.  There is far too much time between our visits.  Lucky for me, the amazing women that I worked with put together a girls weekend and made it possible for me to join them!  The weekend was glorious from start to finish.  

Starting with this

the airport.

I arrived early for my flight, strolled through the hallways, eating a snack, taking my time.

Then I spotted this....

I quickly texted Steve a photo that I had spotted the "business travelers" working hard.  

(it is a little blurry but I needed to be discreet, they may have thought I was a spy for their wives.)

Then I took a seat on the plane and I did some reading, writing and people watching. 

I loved it.  

When I got off of the plane, I spotted this

and I knew I had reached the promise land.  

After breakfast with a dear friend we took a road trip to New Hampshire where the fun would begin.

We arrived here to meet all of the other ladies.  

Group photo that I made everyone take...sadly not everyone is on it.  

(Thanks for the great t-shirts Stef!)

The weekend was filled with so much fun

we relaxed, we ate great food, we drank adult beverages, we laughed and we cried.  

We also took in the mountain views of New Hampshire....but an even prettier view,

the outlet mall surrounded by mountains.

we shopped and we drank a lot of coffee.  

I have missed my Dunkin Donuts coffee and was happy to be hanging out with people that were used to my GI distress that goes along with "cream served with a splash of coffee."

I have very few photos as I forgot my camera and relied on my phone.  Quite honestly it was more fun just sitting back and taking it all in.  These lovely ladies have been with me through the early days of my relationship with my husband, the birth of 2 of our daughters and the difficulties of living so far away from "home."  I hesitate to call it difficult as we had a close network of friends that stood by our sides through it all.  

For this I am thankful.  

Before leaving town I had a quick visit with this wonderful family.  Sadly I wasn't able to see everyone on my quick weekend visit and I am sorry to everyone that I missed.  

On my way out of town I zipped by this beautiful brownstone.

This is the first place Steve and I rented after we were married. 

 How dare they change things...it is going to be luxury condominiums.  

Amazing how things change.  

Goodbyes were difficult as usual, but I have so many great memories of a wonderful weekend away.  I don't do this often enough or really at all and I thank my dear friends for giving me the nudge that I needed.  You are amazing women, thank you for making me laugh and refreshing all of my great memories.  I love you guys and thank God for all of you.  I look forward to our next "old school" reunion.  Love, Gina "Plaetz"

Family Photo on the 14th (a little or a lot late.)

everyone takes a turn not being pleased with the idea of a family photo... i will let you guess who wasn't pleased this time.

Happy 6th Birthday Tess!

I snapped my fingers and 6 years were gone.  Six years with one of the funniest, sweetest, most loving girls I know.  Miss Tess has brought more joy to our family than I could ever have imagined.  I still remember glancing over at the warmer and seeing those full cheeks and beautiful eyes staring back at me. 8 pounds 14 ounces, 19.5 inches long.  (No wonder I looked like I was going to tip over by the end of my pregnancy!)  We couldn't agree on her name, then Sue doped me up on medication to take away my itching and then I couldn't stop telling her how hot my husband was.  (Proud moment.)  I think Steve told her to give me the medication so that I would get over my obsession with naming her "Vivian."  Well it worked and we agreed on Theresa Vivian.  Little Miss Tess has grown up to be such a wonderful little girl.  I say little but she will soon be taller than me.  She has a heart of gold and a smile that wins us all over.  (She also has a face that keeps strangers repeatedly stopping to ask us, "Has anyone ever told you that she looks like Drew Barrymore as a child?"  Words cannot express how much I love this crazy little girl.  Happy birthday Tesser!!

Love, Gina/Mom

I have the Sundays

Today is my Sunday, by the end of the day I will quite possibly be feeling blue.  Tomorrow is the start of my 36+ hour work weekend.  The day I switch gears from Mom mode to nurse mode.  I have an appreciation for both modes and my heart is in both places but I always feel very sad when my stretch "off" is over.  Steve, I am sure your eyes are rolling in the back of your head by now because you have heard about this scenario for the last 8 years.....maybe a little more with the birth of each child.  The days at home fly by at home with activity and I always laugh to myself when I hear people say they would be "bored" at home.....hasn't happened to me yet!  There is always excitement and good stories to tell when the day is over, I wish I could remember them all.   Wednesday's are always busy for us and yesterday was no different.  As we rushed to get ready for Karate I "encouraged" the girls to go down to the craft room and make thank you cards for their teachers on their last day of faith formation.  I set them all up and then moved on to getting ready to go.  When it was time to leave, Syd diligently came upstairs with her beautifully made cards and there was no sign of Tess.  I ran down to check on her progress because it was time to leave.  There she was sitting with her cards still blank but proudly displayed the foam hearts that she had stuck on her nipples and belly button.  (In my annoyed state I didn't take a picture so I took a photo today of the foam heart example.)  I rushed to help her complete her card and we ran out the door.  The girls jumped in the truck and complained that there was "water" on the leather seat.  I paid no attention and we left.  When I went to get Gabby out of her seat  I realized that she had wet her pants....that was the mysterious "water."  No time to waste, her dress stayed dry so we had to run into Karate.  I dressed Tess in her sparring gear and she went to class.  The instructor praised me, "Tess was the last one here and the first one all dressed in gear, good job Mom."  I smiled and thought to myself, "Would he think good job Mom if he knew that my 3rd born was standing in urine saturated underwear?!"  Nice.  Then we went to faith formation and Tess's class sang songs during a prayer service in front of all of us.  During the songs Tess couldn't resist her urge to play with her foam hearts under her shirt.  (So yes, I was the Mom who had the daughter that wouldn't leave her "nipples" alone during the program.  Puzzling to most but made perfect sense to me.)  Nice.  Now I have procrastinated enough and must get on with my Sunday.  Have a great day!  Love, Gina

Catching up with the Sweet B's

I have been away from the blog for too long, it is a long story but in the end, I ended up with a new hard drive and things are finally back in order.  Now for a little catch up of the last few weeks in random order as I remember them.

This sweet girl had her 1st Communion last weekend.

 She looked beautiful and we were so proud of her.  

She did a great job and did her reading like a champ too.  

When the service was all over I made my usual suggestion of family photos (Let's see if you can guess who wasn't into my idea?  Again, if anything ever happens to me, please see to it that the children have photos taken because Steve will throw my camera away.)

We were blessed to have a few family members in town to celebrate Sydney's special day. 

 

I was excited on Saturday night to be able to relax.  Now we have Tess's friend birthday party on Monday evening and then we are home free for a little while. 

Other events from the past few weeks were:

Miss Sydney got her ears pierced!

(actually she had one of them pierced twice because the next day she came home from school and one of her earrings had fallen out and she had to have it re pierced.)

I asked Tess if she would be getting hers pierced in 2nd grade and she responded, "No way."  I would imagine she would prefer a tattoo.  

Gabby had her first dentist appointment.

 She told the dentist she had a "few loose teeth."  In the days to follow she told everyone, "I went and saw the tooth fairy."  It was very cute.  

My niece Amelia turned 5 so we helped her celebrate!

the girls enjoyed some cousin time and Tess of course enjoyed time playing outside.  (Unfortunately I didn't have my camera along for her trip out to the Plaetz' farm.)

We have also been spending a ton of time at or around Lake Harriet.

Sydney also had a little music program. 

 one of her guests couldn't leave home without her ears.  

 we also visited a friend and

 one little girl was in heaven!

these are just a few of the things we have been up to for the last 2 weeks besides school, work and party planning.  Now we need to buckle up and sit back for quite a ride....our next free weekend is mid June!  I better try to stay on top of the photos this time.  Have a great night.  Love, Gina

We miss you Auntie Joyce

We are thinking of you and enjoyed a treat that reminded us of you.  We will forever miss your laughter, kindness and everything that made you, you.  We love you and miss you.

Family Photo on the 14th

Many attempts on Easter, always a good time but no one fell down (namely me.)

what fun is it if everyone is staring right at the camera, looking perfect....dull!  

Have a great day!  Love, Gina

Easter Weekend Festivities

We had a fun weekend, this year we went to my Mom and Dad's in Lucan and we were all together there for the first time in a while.  Since I worked over Christmas and they came up for the February birthdays it has been far too long since our last visit.  100's of photos later, we are home and well into our week.

A few highlights from the weekend....

Our first stop on the drive to Lucan, drum roll please........

The Redwood Falls American Legion

we caught wind that they were having a shrimp dinner on the final Friday in lent and we knew where we needed to go.

I know you are jealous, when was the last time you had friend shrimp?  It was delicious and my stomach hurt for the majority of the evening after that.  (Precisely why I eat it once a decade.)

Then we needed to do a photo shoot on the tanker truck.  Actually, Steve did the photo shoot, I stayed in the car with my shrimp.

the next day we of course needed to make a trip to the Plaetz farm

always a hit

the cats were nowhere to be found so Tess managed to enjoy some making out with the dog

there were also plenty of other animals to enjoy

Every child should get to look inside a milk bulk tank at least once!

Then it was time for Easter Sunday festivities.....

Still one of the highlights for me as a Mom of 3 daughters is dressing them up for Christmas and Easter.  

(May I forever hold these memories in my heart for when they are teenagers and try to walk out the door inappropriately dressed, snarling at me because I stop them in their tracks.  This must be the perks for when they are dramatic teenagers!)

I will openly admit that it is getting harder to pick things with them that we all like.  But I must say, I thought they looked beautiful.  

The first miracle.....

we all made it to church before it started! I smiled from ear to ear, feeling very happy and blessed. 

 (I may have snarled a few times in between the smiles when Tess and Gabby couldn't resist the urge to fight in church.  Keepin' it real.)

When we returned home it was time for the big Easter egg hunt.

 they were adorable and had a great time

we had a great time watching them

we also tried to take a few family photos....always interesting

And the couple responsible for this crew.

then I thought a mother daughter photo would be "nice."

(it turned out to be entertaining for all.)

someone started out not very pleased

and then she had a mood swing

I was gripping the bark as tightly as I could

then it became a challenge for the older girls

going down....

 are these the 3 people that I carried in my womb for 40 weeks and have devoted my life to?!

Mission accomplished..

the family onlookers sat in silence waiting to see what Mama's response would be, turning away at the awkward sight.  

No photos to prove it but I laughed and then the onlookers knew it was safe to laugh too.  

Steve opted out of the Father/daughter photos after that.  Hmmmm.

We had a wonderful time as a family. 

Love, Gina