Sweet home Wisconsin!

I am back home and I had a fantastic time visiting with my family! The BFTC tournament was a blast, as always. This year the kids had their own little tournament and it was hilarious to watch them all get involved. Thank you, Ryan and Kim for a great day!

Brian and Hannah left on Sunday afternoon and I stayed until Thursday morning. It was sooooo good to stay in my old room and spend time with my family. Mom and I had a blast shopping (of course). On Monday, after shopping, we met Michelle (my sister) and my grandma and went to dinner and a movie (The Women). On Tuesday, mom was able to free up her schedule and we took the train into Chicago for a quick lunch with all my girls from VVM (my old firm). That was a blast and it was SO good to see them all again! I miss them so much! On Wednesday, my mom, dad and I went to watch Lauren's gymnastics and then out to dinner with the Lang family.

I had such a good time and I miss my family already! I love you all so much!!!!

Ryan and Alivia.

Reid and Carter...Drew catching up in the background!

The two BFFs....Hannah and Lauren thinking up a strategy.

Daddy helping out...

Keith and Rich.

Curtis and Kelly.

The Lang's new addition, Sawyer!!

Michelle, Sawyer and Alivia (who loooooved Sawyer!!).
Kim, Alivia and Mom. (Mom, you know you want one...)
Mommy (Kim) and Daughter (Alivia).
Daddy (Ryan) and Son (Jack).

Jack the smurf!
Home sweet Wisconsin...
The pond.
I love driving up this driveway. *sigh*

Dad and his new toybox!!
The pictures don't do it justice...it's HUGE!
I love these...

Watching Lauren's gymnastics.


Saying goodbye to the Langs (minus Carter)...



I miss you all already!

It's that time to be a doting father and brag about Hannah and her performance at school. We had our first parent-teacher meeting last night and of course we're very proud of the little monkey. She was evaluated in 24 categories on a scale of 1-3. 3=meeting expectations, 2=developing, 1=needs improvement. She received twenty-two 3's and two 2's! Her teacher says she is an absolute joy and she is so happy to have Hannah in her class!

It was quite surreal sitting in the classroom last night. It really threw me back into my elementary days. There was the calendar months on the wall with the relevant pictures associated with that month. For example, October had the jack o lanterns, November had turkeys and pilgrims, and December of course had the snowmen. We had those in my classes, anyone else?(I know you did JW since we were in the same class!). Then of course you had all the different activity stations, the numbers and letters on the walls, and their art projects hanging on the walls. All the desks were lined up in rows with the little chairs. I can't believe I used to be able to fit in those things!

Ahhh, the good ole days.

It's a dog eat dog world...and I'm wearing milk-bone underwear!

Hi all. Oliver here. I took some time and read my, umm, 'brother's' post below. I have to admit, at first it got under my [silky, soft] coat. But I'm feeling better now. That cat has no idea what he's talking about... It is I that can barely put up with HIM. After all, I was here first. In fact, I was the man of the house until this Brian character showed up. Yeah, yeah...he's ok for a dad, but I'm not accepting this whole step-brother thing too well.

In fact, the whole Brady bunch thing drove me to drink the other night...

I ended up getting so drunk that I dressed up like a Christmas tree and danced around the apartment...

I was so hungover the next day, I didn't move from the couch once...

I have learned my lesson and realize that I can't turn to alcohol every time that hairball Sinjin body slams me from across the room. I'm slowly learning to ignore him. Sooner or later he'll realize I'm not a pet pony my mom bought for him and he'll quit trying to jump on my back. Until then, I'm gonna suck up to my new dad big time and lure him over to the canine side. That lion-wannabe step-brother of mine will learn his place in the family chain soon enough...

When the people are away, the cat will play...or sleep.

I must admit, I am so tired of that flea-bag Oliver! Why is it he gets to go outside and I'm stuck inside this condo?!?!? He pee's and poop's outside and gets to go on long walks...I'm always stuck indoors. And now this past weekend, they leave for Cat knows where since I don't understand what they say to me except, "Sinjin". They just leave me alone...for 2 days!!! I don't have anyone to play with and I still haven't figured out how to turn the TV on! I do know how to work the camera, I set the timer on it and here are some pics of my boring weekend alone...

I decided to run the dishwaher...

I slept...

Made the bed...

Pretended to bathe like a human, notice no water, I hate water...

Attempted to go out with the ladies but couldn't find the keys...

I slept...

Tried to pack things away from the move...

Layed around, a lot!

OH MY CAT! I was so bored!!! I chewed a few wires, hopefully they won't see which ones. I guess when the computers don't turn on they'll figure it out.

Then finally, what felt like a week, Brian, Hannah, and the flea-bag came home. I wasn't to excited to see the overweight pug...I've been hearing this phrase a lot lately on the TV..."you can put lipstick on a pig..." Well that's how I feel about Oliver. I'll never forget how he 'asserted his dominance' on me for the first few weeks. I am so bitter, I will never let go of that!

Anyhow, I really missed Brian, so I've had to make up for some lost time...but he sure looks bad, tired? Geez, he needs some Sinjin love!



Well that's all for now, I'm gonna go chase things on the TV then jump on Oliver and wake him up! He loves that!

Meow!

Say "cheese." We're off to Wisconsin...

This past weekend we headed to the cheese state to visit Jen's family and ultimately to Bartlett, IL for the 7th annual BFTC (see following post). I'm watching the Eagles/Cowboys game right now which reminds me, we visited Jen's sister in Burlington, WI...home of Tony Romo.

Hannah and Oliver...awake.

Hannah keeping me from falling asleep...


Hannah and Oliver...asleep.

Hannah and Lauren...

The kids preparing for their tag team race after the BFTC...


Hannah, Lauren, & Reid shootin' hoops while Drew avoids being hit in the head by the basketball...

Hannah shooting the ball and wondering when it's coming down...

This looks like Lauren threw the ball at Reid, looks like it's gonna hurt...

Posers...


The Golden Boy preparing the Basketball Pinata...

Hannah taking a swing, she was the first to get candy out of that pinata with her Babe Ruthian like swing...

The Golden Boy with Alivia...

Curtis, preparing for fantasy football or some other fantasy we don't know about...


Jen is still at her parents 'til Thursday. She has more pics to add upon her return.