Spring is Here!

Spring is here and we couldn't be more excited!! John continues to keep us on our toes and our pace of life hasn't slowed down over the last few months!

The end of January we placed our house on the market and had lots of activity and showings in the beginning, but as the market picked up in other areas, it slowed down here in Waconia. Much to our dismay, slowly the showings stopped and we realized that by having an agent working for us, we were no longer able to lower the price of our house to be competitive. We were saddened to decide to pull our house from the market last week, and along with it release our contingency and agreement on the new house we had designed to build, but knew that our house was not going to move as things were going. However, we did decide to place signs out and continue to try and sell it ourselves, since we didn't feel it would hurt to at least try. We had an open house last weekend when our neighbors also did and had some activity, so who knows what will happen! We are still optimistic and know that God has a plan for us!

Here are a few pictures of some late winter/early spring adventures!
John's first snow adventures!
Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

John found the fire chief hat in his room and became obsessed with it - appropriately when he was wearing his firefighter pajamas!

and then decided to scoot himself across the floor to get his toys, rather than walk to them!

Because our house has been on the market, we have been cleaning constantly and picking things up every night and every morning because of a potential showing while we were at work. John quickly picked up on the routine and now loves to vacuum and dust. Here he is wiping off all the handles....

and doors....

the front of the stove....

and even the front of the refrigerator!! Too cute!

On St. Patrick's Day, we took some pictures in the same spot we did last year. John has changed just a bit!!! What a big boy!

Last year...
This year!

John loves to play with his trucks and cars every morning before we head to
work/Grandma and Grandpas!

Over the last 2 weeks, Phil and I had spring break. During our time off, we were able be at home with John over the first week and travel to Chicago for Easter and then attended the National Catholic Educator's Conference in Minneapolis last week. We enjoyed time off together and had a taste of what summer will be like in 41 days (but who's counting?!) We spent some time at the MN Zoo and John loved all the animals! We had lots of "roar"ing as we saw all the animals!

Daddy and John...priceless!

We traveled to Chicago over Easter and loved every moment we were able to spend with Mike and Jeanna. John loved his Uncle Mike and Aunt Jeanna time and now when we look at pictures, he is quick to blow kisses to them! He is so precious! We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo during our visit and saw many animals we don't have here at the MN Zoo. It was a wonderful afternoon and weekend! Look, Uncle Mike! It's the lions!

Let's go over here, Uncle Mike!

So bright!

Look at the giraffe!! He's my favorite!

Precious smiles!!

John loved riding on Uncle Mike's shoulders! Best view in the house!

On Easter, John enjoyed "finding" his Easter basket (which was on the coffee table) and seeing the goodies the Easter bunny had left for him! Mike and Jeanna gave him a bunny, which he loved playing with, as well as a set of Peter Rabbit books. John paged through each book meticulously and "wow" was muttered as he read through each book!

Look at my bunny, Aunt Jeanna!

Other fun pictures.... John was on a nap strike this weekend, but don't worry, he doesn't seem tired at all, does he?? :-)

Riding around in my automobile!
Over the last few weeks, John has started to talk more and has been able to identify letters and sounds, along with animals and their sounds. He loves to play outside and throw around his football or basketball. We have all enjoyed taking walks daily as the weather has been nice. It's hard to believe that he's so big already! John continues to be artistic and thoroughly enjoys coloring and drawing. When one of us writes a note, John has to do the same! He is definitely in the monkey-see, monkey-do phase!

As we look toward enjoying the spring and summer, we are thrilled that the warm weather is upon us and family time can now occur outside as well. We hope the spring is treating you well!

Winter Whirlwind!

It is hard to believe that Christmas was already 3.5 weeks ago and we are now looking toward the end of January! Over the last month, our house has been full of chaos, but also full of fun, laughter and love. What else can we ask for?

Christmas this year brought new-found excitement as John understood more about opening presents. He was thrilled by the paper and the ripping sound it made! Prior to Christmas, Phil and I decided to take all of John's toys out of the packaging and put them together so he could play with them right away. Great idea, but then John was so involved in playing with the first present, he didn't want to open any others! He was able to expand the Christmas fun into both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning!

So big!

Grandpa and John after Mass on Christmas Eve

John opening his first present on Christmas Eve. Check out the Elmo pajamas!

Trying out the new vacuum! Now I can help Mommy and Daddy clean!

More presents! It's an Alphabet Train!

This year, we all stayed at my mom and dad's on Christmas Eve. It was great to be able to get up Christmas morning and have that time all together as a family before we all went our separate ways to see the other sides of our families. Santa brought John the Racin' Ramps Garage and he was thrilled to see how fast he could zoom his cars down it!

On the afternoon of Christmas Day, Phil's family came over to our house. We had a great time relaxing with them as well! Papa Bob and John had to get a picture in their matching flannel shirts/jackets!

Grandma Joan and Papa Bob gave John a basketball hoop and baseball set for Christmas! He was so excited to dunk the ball in the basket! He figured out he could throw it too! Uh, oh!!!

Phil HAD to show him how it was done, right? hahaha!

Smiles all around!

Our Christmas Tree

A few days after Christmas, I was gone for the day and John had Daddy time. They were putting away the decoys Phil received for Christmas and John was helping him unpack them.
I'm sure that's all this was.... pay no attention to the outfit Phil also put John in for "daddy day"....I'm SURE it's not a camouflage onesie and brown pants.....

Over New Year's, we headed up north with Phil's family. John enjoyed making muffins with Mom and Grandma Joan! He was mad when we had to stop stirring them and put them in the oven!

While we were there, Phil and I both commented on how glad we were to have taken the extra car space to bring John's toys, since all he wanted to do up north was vacuum and play with Grandma's pots and pans....

Spoons and bowls...

and don't forget the Rice Krispies!

Watch me pour!

We had an incredible time at home with John over our Christmas and New Year's break, but like all good things in life, it ended too quickly! However, we really didn't help ourselves have a completely relaxing break, since we decided to put our house on the market now, rather than this summer as we had originally planned! Since Jan. 3, we have packed up, organized, cleaned and touched-up our house in hopes that someone will walk into it after it goes on the market next Monday (the 25th) and fall in love with it just as we did! We love Waconia and will continue to live in the area, but are looking for more space and all bedrooms on one level. No, we are not expanding our family just yet, but would prefer to not have the chaos of moving when we do down the road! With not knowing how fast our house will sell, we decided to go ahead with it now when the market is positive for both buying and selling. We're saying some prayers that this will be an easy transition for us and one that is relatively stress-free!

John continues to be active and full of energy, but a great helper as we have been busy around the house the last two weeks. He has helped us pack some of our things, as well as unpack them the moment we have completed the box! Life with a one year old is interesting! He continues to become more independent and intrigued with things, especially when he knows mom and dad are busy. For instance, when the Realtor was at our house last week to sign papers to put our house on the market, John decided to investigate the toilet. He had never paid attention to the toilet before, but since this seemed like a great time, he lifted the lid and proceeded to play in the water! We had to laugh (but not in front of him, of course!). Thankfully, he hasn't investigated it again since! Bedtime lately has been a bit of a challenge as John is now smart enough to realize that when he cries, eventually one of us will go and check on him. He has been waking during the night as well, which means some sleepless nights for all of us. We are working on changing that pattern and are hoping teeth are not going to throw us off again!

We are looking forward to warmer weather and can't wait to see what the spring holds for us!