Great Grandma Ruiz

We decided to pop in and see Great Grandma today and all of us were able to take some cooking lessons from her and learn a little Spanish along the way. Lily was her primary student as we learned how to cook Great Grandma's famous taquitos. She had to wash the chicken and add all of the spices. She then had to shred some of it and then wrap each taquito by hand. This is when Max jumped in and even I took a few turns rolling them nice and tight. Of course in the end we all got to eat way too many of them along with some of Great Grandma's other amazing dishes. My personal favorite was the rice and beans, and after almost three plates full there was just no more room to put anything. Somehow we all managed to find room in our dessert tummies for homemade pineapple upside down cake, apple pie, and ice cream!

A February of Maxwell

Valentine's Day

We have officially passed the torch to Maxwell when it comes to Valentine's, and he has proudly taken on the challenge. This year's Valentine...Milk & Cookies! He worked so hard and signed his name 20 times impressing all of us considering we've never really asked him to write his name all by himself before. He was so proud of himself and could barely contain his excitement this morning because he knew today was his party. To make things even better, it was pajama and bring a stuffy day too! He proudly showed Mom the bag he had made a drop-off for all of his goodies, and couldn't wait to get home to open them all! A lot of "oh my goodness" and "I've never seen that before" came out as he opened each one. Pure joy over a few pencils, a lollipop, watercolors, and some homemade cutout hearts...to be three again! Happy Valentine's Day!

National Marquette Day

It was National Marquette Day today so we all broke out our blue and gold and headed to the Fiserv Forum to watch Marquette take on Butler. It was a great game, and Marquette won which made it even more exciting. Maxwell's only concern was if there would be popcorn at the arena, and Dad delivered getting him a giant bucket of popcorn so he was entertained for the entire game!

Company Lock-In

Tonight was Lily's lock-in at the dance studio. She and Eva (her big sister for the third year in a row) donned matching jerseys this year. Fun was had by all as usual and now it is time for competition season to begin!

Dad's Birthday

Dad completed another trip around the sun and was able to be home to celebrate with some French Silk Pie...yum!

Garage Guest

We had a furry guest take up residency in our garage so Mom had to call in the professionals. Say hi to Mr. Oppossum. 

A January of Maxwell

January with Max - the silliness continues!

Snow Day with Pop Pops

Gigi and Pop Pops spent the weekend at our house because Dad had to have another surgery on his elbow. Friday night we got around seven inches of heavy wet snow which meant a not so good drive home for Mom and Dad (took over 5 hours to get home from Chicago), but a spectacular Saturday morning for us! Pop Pops even joined us outside as we dug tunnels, built a snowman, and built a ramp on our sledding hill. We are loving all of this snow!