OONI PIZZA NIGHT!
Category Archives: Friends
Anna and I might have done this tonight.
I legit can’t remember the last time I did a straight Patrón shot—let alone one with my mom across the room.
Also? Great memories using the Royal Caribbean shot glasses from our last cruise…but they’re HUUUGE.
Middle school band competition!
Typically this would be in person but Zoom is still the way of life for a lot of events. So we were all on the stage in the Cafe watching while the kids played in front of the judges on a huge screen!
Grandma and grandpa and the Chang-Yens were able to be there so Owen was excited about that!
It’s ribs for dinner!
We were having friends over for dinner so Tom decided to do ribs. It smelled so good all day!
Some Honey and Pepper love.
I went to Anna’s today to watch our show together and I got me some loves from Honey and Pepper.
Maggie’s second family got to say their goodbyes tonight.
We see Anna and David and the kids a lot. But tonight was the night they all came over to say their goodbyes. They all love Maggie as much as we do. She got soooo many pets and scritches…and Anna finally got the calm Maggie cuddle she’s always wanted.
Little did we know Owen was just the start…
I was sick (mostly recovered but still exhausted).
Tom was still pretty sick in bed.
And oh yeah, I forgot, Anna and David are both sick. Anna had actually been dehydrated and ended up in urgent care. And then David succumbed. And then Evan started to feel sick.
Luckily, Katie was still fine.
SuperBowl Feast
We love our local Hawaiian food truck so much that we splurged and got their SuperBowl Platter (meant for 6-8 people) even though we are just 4 people. (Oh darn, we’ll have leftovers.)
So tonight was hush puppies with remoulade, coconut shrimp with orange mustard marmalade, poke nachos, mochiko chicken, and Asian slaw and spam musabi (not pictured). It was all DIVINE.
And if that wasn’t enough, Anna had decided to make Doubles, a traditional Trinidadian sandwich that David hadn’t had in years. (It’s curried chickpeas and cucumber chutney on fried bread.) Those were yummy, too!
And then it was off to the couch to finish watching the big game (or, rather, the commercials). The dogs enjoyed it, too.
It was a school night so we headed home early, totally stuffed but already looking forward to Hawaiian leftovers!
Honey and Tom: A Love Story
Watching TV over at Anna and David’s…and this happens. Honey loves her Mr. Tom.
Seriously though, look at that TONGUE!
Ummm so until further notice I’m kinda stuck.
This is how we take Maggie places.
She loves to be with us so we take her whenever we go to Anna and David’s. She lives being wrapped in a cozy blanket.
We both have teenagers.
Cheers! Celebrating at Owen’s birthday dinner!
The Rat Pack is back!
We got free tickets to see The Rat Pack is Back in Milwaukee (courtesy of VetTix) so it was date night! Of course we had dinner first (at Doc’s Smokehouse)…
And then off to the Pabst Theater where we actually had really good seats this time —but unfortunately we didn’t love it so we left at intermission. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.
Anna is my person.
Snuggly otters!
Brunch—breakfast pizza and Bloody Marys
We’re still loving the pizza oven!
My typical day.
Hear Tom get up early to make sure the kids get off to school. Roll over and wake up a bit later and work my SeneGence biz from bed until Tom gives me crap about being a lazy butt. Get out of bed making old person grunting sounds. Text BFF off and on all day. Take a shower. Do my skincare and makeup and take photos for future posts. Take kid to appointment. Do random house things—pick up, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, water plants, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, feed Maggie, organize office, do laundry, let Maggie out/let Maggie in/let Maggie out/let Maggie in, give Maggie her meds, clean kitchen, wonder aloud who left six glasses on the kitchen table/who left candy wrappers on the couch/why there are dirty socks everywhere, walk by the kids’ bathroom and lament how disgusting kids are, let Maggie out/let Maggie in, pop into the office to work for a bit. Spend some cuddle time with Maggie on the couch while working my biz. Run errands. Get nails done. Jump in the hot tub with hubby. Watch a TV show with hubby. Try to make the kids do chores when they come home from school. Make dinner for/with friends. Watch a TV show with friends/Tom/kids. Remove my makeup, wash my face, apply nighttime skincare. Take more photos. Go to bed and work my biz from bed.
I kinda love it all and wouldn’t change a thing (minus the old person grunting sounds, the messy kids, and the geriatric dog that goes in and out 28x a day).
Celebratory date night—Dinner & Dueling Pianos
We celebrated Tom’s new job with dinner at our favorite restaurant with our best friends…with an after-dinner dueling piano show downstairs in the VIP room, courtesy of the owner giving away free tickets on a local Facebook group!
Things started off innocently enough—and we ran into other friends there—
…but the bartender was making strong drinks and then the owner gave our group a few free drinks…
So then this happened at the end of the night after way too many drinks had been consumed…
I was the designated driver so we all got home safely—and Anna and David ended up staying the night. It was…interesting.
But we all had fun and I was happiest that Anna enjoyed it because she started the night assuming she was going to hate it.
Great Wolf Lodge Surprises
Did you know that all Great Wolf Lodge waterparks are not the same?! I didn’t until this week.
Anna got a steal of a deal on a weekday suite so we took the kids for an overnight surprise before school starts again.
As broken-bodied adults, we were excited about the hot tub (and, to a lesser extent, the lazy river).
Until.
We learned that this particular GWL does not have a hot tub!! WHAAAAAT?! I know, right? Fail. Big BIG fail. Ughhhh.
And then we learned that the lazy river (among other things) wasn’t open because they were short-staffed.
GAHHHHHHHH!!!!! 0 for 2 does not make for a happy mom.
But the kids didn’t care. And they ended up opening the lazy river later in the day so Anna and I got to be floating blobs for two hours.
But the water wasn’t warm enough for me and the air temp felt too cold, too. I think maybe I’m too old for this.
After checkout, Anna and I managed to find a somewhat secluded couch to relax while the kids are back in the waterpark. We can actually stay until close (!) but I’m thinking we’ll just stay until lunch!
Maggie report!
Anna and David are watching Maggie for us and these are the pics we got tonight. She’s not loved at all.
First snow of the season!
Today we got our first significant snow of the season. Katie was at her friend Caden’s house and his mom sent pics!
Merry Christmas 2021
The kids got us up at 7am on the dot—it would be earlier but we let them have their devices precisely so they let us sleep in until 7! I didn’t take any pics because I wanted to stay in the moment. The kids were both happy.
Then Tom and I enjoyed a morning dip in the hot tub!
Maggie enjoyed her spot on the couch.
Then we went to Anna and David’s for dinner and a movie.
The best part about Christmas Eve?
Friends, an amazing pizza (from leftover fish tacos that that boys gave me grief about but IT was freaking delicious!), and our first dip in the hot tub! Merry Christmas!
This pic makes the hot tub look soooo much bigger than it really is. It would be a stretch to have three adults in it at the same time—four would have everyone’s knees touching for sure!
And then we did the Saran wrap ball for the kids! We had about $60 worth of stuff in it!
And it was great fun…
Until two kids weren’t getting anything.
Don’t worry, they all ended up with stuff—and some trading was done. But it definitely wasn’t perfect.
And then I tried to get a Santa hat picture but Katie wasn’t really being cooperative. Oh well—it just makes memories!
How can I work with this?
Honey loves to do this when you’re sitting at the table—eating or not. She’s so dang cute.
The world is a little darker today, friends.
Hug those you love. Tell them you love them. Take photos. Take videos so you have their voice.
Our dear friend Nancy passed away unexpectedly today. She was an absolutely amazing person and we are SHOOK and our hearts are breaking—but even more so for her fiancé David (they just got engaged this fall).
She was legit THE nicest person you could ever meet. Every minute with her was enjoyable. Tom loved her so much after meeting her that he declared she would be wife #2 if anything ever happened to me and it was the running joke for many years (until she met David)!
She will be missed by many, far and wide. Our world will never be the same without her.
David loving on Maggie
This is what kids “playing together” looks like.
When friends discover messenger effects.
Owen & Honey
Owen was at a sleepover and Anna sent us this pic.
An early Christmas present!
So we got an early Christmas present for us…an Ooni pizza oven (we’d casually talked about it before but then after talking with Jim and Beth over Thanksgiving, our interest was renewed).
Tonight was the inaugural dinner with David and Anna (and kids) as guinea pigs. Initial setup was on the deck but torrential rain moved it to the garage.
And it was absolutely amazing! I foresee a lot of pizza in our future…