Snow Day!

With January here and snow making an appearance, it was time to bust out the cute winter hats and gloves from Meemee and Papa Bernie. Ryan wore these to school one day.




When the weekend came, we bundled him up in snow gear and headed to the backyard to do some sledding and snowman building.

I thought I'd be polite and pull him up the hill while he sat in the sled. The hill in our backyard was just big enough to entertain Ryan to go down without scaring him, but it was also just enough to exhaust me after about 5 times making the trip - Ryan had to hike it up after that!

I think I can, I think I can . . .

Ahh, success!

4 seconds later the victory ride is over. So starts the trudge back up the mountain, I mean hill.

Check out our snowboy. Ryan named him Frosty. Gizmo later dined on his carrot nose.

Love Fest

When it comes to parenting, Dean and I are doing our best to make sure our sons become proud, responsible, happy members of society. I'm sure that other adjectives will come into play as they grow older too. I can't predict the future, but based on what I know I can say that Ryan will be a sensitive and loving soul. Patrick, well, you be the judge . . .


Ahh, showing love for Daddy. Don't let that sweet little face fool you!


Brotherly love, holding hands and singing songs.

Ryan sharing his knowledge of the world with Patrick.

And the love fest continues.

Now mom gets some love from her littlest man.

Or does she????

He loves me . . .

He loves me not!!! The little monster has a fistful of my hair, and Gizmo just looks on. So much for being my protector!

Cuddle time with Papa Bernie

Dean and I on our way to see the Sinatra show, " Come Fly With Me" it was fantastic!

More love for daddy

My boys!

Christmas 2011

Oooh, it did it to me again. I don't know what I did differently from my last post where I could type before my picture appeared, but I must not have done it this time. Ugh! For the past several years, Dean and I have gotten together with some of my high school friends on Christmas Eve. This year we all had babies within 2 weeks of each other. Kate (in the green vest) is the wife of my friend, Kevin. Their daughter, Annie, was born on June 23. My friend, Kelly (who has been my friend since I was 4), had Hannah on June 24. Her other daughter, Brittlyn (in the green shirt), was born 5 months before Ryan. Then I had Patrick on July 6. This was the first time all three babies got together. You can see by the way they are holding hands that they like each other!



After opening the first round of gifts on Christmas morning, my mom prepared a scrumptious brunch. Here's Mama Katie holding Patrick.

Daddy couldn't resist either. . .

We spent a good portion of Christmas at Uncle Doug and Aunt Julie's house. Ryan sat still long enough to pose with Mama Pat and Papa Joe.

We drove back to our house on the 26th to see if Santa stopped by while we were gone. We had our doubts, but St. Nick surprised us and left several things for Ryan and even a few for Patrick.

Patrick, happy as always. Doesn't seem bothered by the scratch mommy gave him while trying to wipe his nose.

Santa even brought Daddy a jersey of former Packer great, the late Reggie White.

As promised, here are the pictures from our visit to Santa. Ryan wasn't quite ready to sit with Santa on his own. Patrick, on the other hand, was none the wiser.

And this is the first photo since coming home from the hospital with Patrick of all 4 of us. Bass Pro Shop allows dogs, we should've brought Gizmo to make our family photo complete. Hopefully we can get one of all 5 of us before next Christmas!

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. The Stoeber Family certainly did. Wishing you love and laughter in 2012!

We haven't been up to much, other than spreading and sharing germs amongst ourselves! After Dean's had 2 colds, Ryan a flu and a cold, me a migraine & a little cold, & Patrick a cold/cough I think we're all safe. The only one immune in the family was Gizmo. Maybe we need to eat what she does - yeah right!


So when it came to make a trip to visit Santa, better late than never, right? Again we went to Bass Pro Shop at Gurnee Mills Mall. It was well worth the wait. The Santa there is truly magical and awe inspiring. I will try to scan and post those pictures soon. In the meantime here's Patrick waiting to see the Big Man.
Ryan waiting by the reindeer.

After we made our visit, we passed by the carousel. Ryan's never ridden, but we know how much he loved the merry-go-round at John Dixon Park in Dixon, so we figured we'd give it a go. HE LOVED IT!!!

We had a Groupon to use by the end of the year at the local bounce house place, so we invited our friends, the Bleims to join us. Here are 6 year old twins, Ryan and Ben, going down a slide.

Their big sisters, Beth and Katie went down another slide.

The two Ryans with the Crazy Coupe.

And here is the entire troop!

Thanksgiving Break

Turkey time has come and gone, as we have polished off the rest of the leftovers, I have finally gotten around to updating our blog! Ryan was off the entire week of Thanksgiving and he (along w/ Dean, Patrick, Gizmo, and I) got to spend some time with Dean's parents as they visited us for the week.

This first picture was taken the night before Dale and Cheryl went home. In it, only Patrick and Precious (Dale & Cheryl's dog) were 100% healthy.

What may have been cause for the illness was a day to Milwaukee Zoo. It was a sunny, but brisk 40 degree day. Many animals were removed for the winter months, but we still saw several in both indoor and outdoor exhibits. This monkey (yep, he's real!) reminded me of the one in the Lion King.

These peacocks walked about freely throughout the zoo. This one is just 2 feet away from Ryan and I as we walked. Their feathers were beautifully colored.

These camels appeared to be huge, even laying down!

I tried to capture a shot of these lion cubs playing, they were born a couple of weeks after Patrick.

We saw many more animals and I took several more pictures, but these came out the clearest.

Dean and I attended Ryan's parent/teacher conference on day. Nana and Papa Dale were on babysitting duty. I wonder how many times this book ("Curious George and the Pizza Party") was read this week by one of us?

Nana doing Patrick's favorite thing - holding him.

Lately it's been a challenge to take Ryan to a restaurant. The crowds/noise/potential for the birthday song to be sung are all stressful to him. Fortunately we can visit one of our favorite places without worry. Johnny's Chophouse is low-key, plays Sinatra music which Ryan loves, they have Popcorn Chicken on the menu, and there's no worry of any birthday songs getting sung here. We had a fabulous meal (Patrick is still eating in this picture) and dessert is about to be served. Of the 3 choices, Ryan loved Nana's Lava Cake. Thanks for sharing!

Because we won't get together at Christmas, we did our gift exchange this week. Here's Nana opening her Chico's giftcards.

Dean's not the only happy Packer fan in the family.

The foil pan I bought to cook our turkey in cracked on Thursday as it was cooking, leaking Turkey water into our oven, creating a ton of smoke and delaying dinner time by 2 hours. Santa found it appropriate to leave me a roasting pan, so this won't happen again. My friend, and former co-worker, Joanne, joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. She was a real trooper to wait out until dinner time through the smoke-filled house! In the end, everything was delicious.

Here's Dean opening his pyramid clock.

Now we can physically show Ryan where Las Vegas is in relation to Illinois thanks to this magnetic USA puzzle he got.

Papa Dale watches on as Daddy helps Patrick open up his coin series.

Patrick hopes all of you had a good Thanksgiving. He's thankful that he didn't get sick, and hopes Nana and Papa Dale are feeling better!

Patrick's First Cereal Meal

It's been a long time waiting, but now that he's 4 months old, Patrick has been given the green light on cereal! We attempted it the first time this weekend, here's a photo story of how it went.




Wahhhhh, I'm hungry! Why did these people put me in this seat? I eat either sitting on the black couch or in the rocking chair. Wahhhhhhh, feed me! Feed me NOW!!!




Oooh, what was that they gave me? It was kind of tasty. I would like some more please.

This is some goooood stuff. It sure beats that milky stuff I've been eating that last 4 months. I'll definitely open wide for this!

Ugggh. I am stuffed. A meal fit for a king. That was delicious, I hope I get it again sometime soon.