thankful

Posted on November 26, 2015 by tandem in love

happy thanksgiving y’all!

i am thankful for so much. my heart is full because i am truly blessed and grateful for all the goodness that surrounds me.

i am thankful for…

my health. my family’s health. the same for our siblings and our parents who mean the world to us.

for my hubby charming who is patient, kind, loving, sweet, understanding, and a person who definitely puts up with my crap. and i like to shovel a lot in his direction. hahahaha! this life of ours would not be without his generosity, graciousness, and dedication to our marriage and our family life. he is the best partner i could ever ask for. life without him would never be complete.

for olive. the gift that keeps on giving. she is amazing, smart, funny, joyful, quirky, hilarious, stubborn, bossy, delightful, beautiful, loving, sweet, affectionate…and so many more of everything good in this world. she is the light of our lives and i never imagined such joy until she came into it. her mere presence melts my heart, my soul, my being. i am so utterly grateful to be blessed with this beautiful little girl.

for my family. through thick and thin, we will always stand by each other. life can bring many ups and downs but family always stays together, supports one another, and loves each other no matter what, my dad taught me that. he’s always been a strong force in how we should treat each other. he taught me that my mom, dad, and my siblings will always stand by my side when i feel most alone.

for my house, our beautiful shelter that we call home. we’ve created a wonderful environment that is cozy, comfy, and a sweet place where we create so many fabulous memories. i am grateful that we have a place to call home for miss olive, a place where she’s going to grow up in and have so many fun, fond stories to share with her own kids.

i am so thankful for sooooo many joyful things in my life. i appreciate the little things in life. like olive’s giggles and hugs. coming home to my hc and olive. having days where we can just hang out and relax. eating a delicious meal together. my glass is always half full and i couldn’t see it any other way.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

xoxo

hi freshie

Posted on November 25, 2015 by tandem in love

so, i was able to visit baby asher in the hospital a few days after he was born and then again a few weeks later! that’s what’s so great about maternity leave, i can pretty much visit jodi any time for the three months that she is at home!

we were running so behind. i can’t even remember what it was that caused us to fall so far away from our scheduled departure time but anyhoozle, we finally hit the road! ugh, we were running 45 minutes late! eep.

when we arrived, jett greeted us at the door and we walked inside to jodi sitting on the couch with asher and jett jumping up and down, all excited! olive was scared! she clung onto me for dear life. oh she’s so funny, sweet, and shy. it took quite a few minutes for her to warm up.

we asked jett to bring out a few toys so it would spark olive’s interest and she would start to play with jett. he was so cute! he ran into his room and brought out the most random things, like a card. then a small figurine. and then something else that they couldn’t really share. jodi and i were laughing! we said to jett that he needed to bring out something that they could both play with! so, he finally did and it worked…olive slid off my lap and walked over to the toys jett had brought out!

after jodi fed asher, we all sat down for lunch. jett and olive were too cute together! he was boisterous and fun and olive was stoic and shy. jett ate for two seconds and ran away to play while olive so patiently sat in her chair and ate and ate. she’s an eater. she loves to eat and won’t give up any food that’s offered to her!

[aren’t they just the cutest?]

[she was so into this go fish game!]

[sleeping cutie]

after we ate and cleaned up, we sat on the couch for a bit and chatted. jodi told me that matt was still home, time extended from his paternity leave and i thought that was awesome! how amazing is that? your husband is home for almost all of your maternity leave…such great help! although, jodi jokingly disagreed and rolled her eyes and said matt needs to go back to work! hahaha! she’s so funny!

well, after an hour or so of us being there, matt arrived home {out from doing some errands}. we all then migrated downstairs to the basement to play. oh the kids had a blast. they built blocks, played with little cars, pulled wagons, ran around, drove big cars, and watched t.v. olive was super happy. there were so many fun things to play with and it kept them both busy…although teaching two little toddlers on how to share was a whole ‘nother story!

[oh! love this little cutie pie]

[love these peeps]

[so fuzzy and out of focus but it will do. their hugs goodbye]

after several hours of us hanging out, we finally, reluctantly, decided to leave. we didn’t want to. i was having a great time hanging out with matt and jodi and jett and olive were having fun together. plus, matt is so stinkin’ cute with the kids. he’s so good with them. it was so sweet to see.

we finally gathered our things together and said our goodbyes. we had such a great time hanging out with this beautiful family. oh we love them to bits! it’s so sweet to know this lovely family of four.

xoxo

a great afternoon

Posted on November 23, 2015 by tandem in love

it started out as a gloomy, super super windy morning. like howling, screaming wind. it appeared very ominous but i was not worried. we were set to head on over to kim’s house for a lunch play date. as the hour passed in the morning, the day seemed to get brighter and the wind started to die down. yay! like i said, no worries!

we {per usual} were running behind. i just don’t know what it is anymore. well, OK, really it’s a combo of everything. i don’t plan accordingly, manage my time, and olive is always full of surprises that lead into the minutes then the hours being sucked up into a black hole!

well, we got there in no time and the weather had perked up so much! we said our hello’s and began our gab fest. it’s always so nice to hang out at kim’s. it’s comfy cozy and olive loves to explore all of brady’s toys!

[love these two gals!]

[awww, are they being camera shy?]

brady and olive are so funny together. they won’t directly interact with one another but will definitely eye each other from afar. brady loves to run around and scream and olive will just curiously watch him with her stoic expressions. hahaha! the only time they ever ‘play’ with each other is when olive drags the dog pull toy around the house and brady loves to follow her. it’s the cutest thing to watch! soooooo sweet.

of course, there is little brooklyn who just minds her own business! oh i love this baby! she is such a chunker. that is an understatement. she is a brick house. the baby rolls are endless and amazing. oh what a babe!

after visiting for a bit, we sat down for lunch. olive throughly enjoyed eating her meal of cheese, hotdogs, goldfishes, and pears. she loves, loves to eat fruit. of course, us moms just snacked and ate what we could in-between running around after these babes.

[they are so cute! olive loved pulling the toy and brady loved following!]

[eating in unison]

[hey brady! take a selfie with me!]

[my girls in grey!]

[hugs goodbye]

as usual, the hours passed so quickly and it was getting so close to rush hour. i am always saying, ok we are going to leave, we are going to leave and kim and i will keep on chatting! i love it. it’s so us to gab and gab. ten minutes, twenty minutes, or a half hour or so will go by and i am still gathering our things to leave! haha!

well, we finally did get our stuff together and said our sweet goodbyes. i love seeing this lady and her beautiful babes! it’s always a great time when we are together!

xoxo

sunday chili

Posted on November 20, 2015 by tandem in love

we invited olivia and aaron over for some football chili. we debated on the idea of going to their place in the city but decided to invite them over to our abode.

the morning started out slow, haha, well at least for me! hc was already busting his hump getting the meal ready for lunch. we bustled around cleaning, getting ready, and just tying up loose ends before our guests arrived. noon rolled around and we were set. the food was almost done, the house was clean, the odds and ends were competed, we were dressed and ready to go!

arron and olivia arrived only fifteen minutes late! not bad…especially when olivia is involved. this lady is infamously late, always. hahaha! once they settled, hc and aaron went on a beer run while olivia and i chitchatted until they came back and i made sure the cornbread was done. once drinks were in hand, hc and i prepared the final touches to the meal and we were set!

hc whipped together a chili and cornbread meal for our lunch. it was sooooo flippin’ delicious! sooooo yummy! i could have eaten the cornbread in dozens. we had avocado, green peppers, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and oyster crackers as our toppings. mmmmmmm. everybody had seconds and the food was almost gone! a good sign of a great meal!

olivia and i sat in the kitchen while the boys sat in the living room to eat and watch football. no matter. i love my time with olivia. we talked about all sorts of good stuff. life, friends, family, kids, and everything in-between. i love this sweet girl, she is such a dear friend. we always have a blast whenever we are together. it’s so funny when the four of us do get together…hc and aaron get all guy and bromantic and olivia and i get all girly and gossipy. and not the bad, wicked, mean gossipy…we just love talking and talking and talking. it’s more about life’s happenings versus demeaning, catty talk. ya know what i mean? i hope y’all do.

[my girl…don’t mind the under remodel kitchen]

[toppings]

[these peeps…]

[oh my goodness. so yummy]

[love this babe]

anyhoo, after a few hours together, olivia and aaron decided to hit the road. it was fun, as usual. we love hanging out with these two. such good people, they always say to surround yourself with the great people and keep the good ones close, right?!

xoxo

hb dan!

Posted on November 18, 2015 by tandem in love

we all got together to celebrate my brother dan’s birthday! my little brother dan is super sweet. like the sweetest guy ever. he’s quiet, calm, loving, thoughtful, polite, and just a wonderful human being. he was always the baby of the family…the last of the kids and the one we always watched after. i love him bunches.

my sisters decided to get together for his birthday and coordinated a little dinner get-together. they chose to go to a place called pizza barra. hc and i were one of the last ones to arrive. the fam had already ordered some apps and started with one order of pizza. we all settled in, ordered drinks and perused the menu to order some more garb to eat. we ended up getting plenty of apps, a pan pizza and a thin crust pizza to go around. yum. their calamari there was deeeeeeelish! nom nom!

[nice smile reagan!]

[why do i look so surprised?!]

as usual, olive was bit grumpy when she first got there. she’s always so cautious and shy when she’s in a new environment, even she knows the peeps! of course, cousin reagan is just the sweetest to her. he always takes care of her, dotes on her, and does his best to make her happy. oh he is just the cutest with her! i love watching them together, it just melts my heart.

our food arrived and away we ate. i love that about life. i love the simple things in it. i really do. i love my family. i love getting together with them and eating. i love the time we can spend together. i really do cherish simple, sweet moments like this together. my dad has always taught me that family is number one. sometimes it might not seem like it in the moment, but in the end…they will always be there for you and that is the truth.

[addicted]

[ma pere, mere, & soeur]

[my brother and brother in law]

[yummy]

[best pic we could get with olive]

well, happy birthday dan! you are the such a sweet, awesome brother! we love you and we hope your birthday and every day is just as amazing as you!

xoxo

friday night

Posted on November 16, 2015 by tandem in love

so months ago, during dana and scott’s engagement party…we made plans to get together with irina, patrick, dana, and scott. fast forward a couple months, we finally make it happen!

our plan was to get to au cheval early and hopefully nab a table {we were crossing our fingers…}, they don’t take reservations! dana, hc, and i have eaten there before but the rest have not and we all wanted to eat there together, it’s soooooo yummy!

per usual, hc and i were running so late! ugh…like very late. traffic on a friday night is horrific, so we were a bit anxious to get going. we hit the road and of course it was baaaad. well, we finally saw why it was so bad, there was an accident on the ike. yuck! we surpassed it and started cruising. the good news was {well, not really good news}, dana and irina were running behind as well! phew! so, we weren’t far behind! yay!

irina’s husband, patrick, arrived at au cheval early, before six o’clock, to put our name down for a table. um, they told him it would be a four hour wait. wtf?! a four hour wait?????? are you kidding me?! no thank you! that was such a bummer. oh, we so wanted to eat there but there was no way we waiting for a midnight supper.

so, patrick moseyed across the street to the haymarket pub and nabbed us a table. i was super annoyed at it all. i, first, didn’t want to spend my friday night in the city at the haymarket pub but hey, whatcha gonna do? there was no way we were eating at au cheval. well, no matter, what was most important was spending my time with everyone. i was super excited to catch up and have some fun!

[my girls]

[cheers to being out!]

the conversation flowed non-stop. we have a bunch of talkers in this group! we shared, switched, and started multiple conversations between us all. it was so much fun. i love this group of peeps. patrick cracks me up, irina and her sarcasm, dana is a little bit of both, and hc and scott are just good sweet guys.

we ordered plenty of libations and delicious bites to fill our bellies. after a few hours {we did feel a bit old…or is it because we have kids?} we decided to call it quits. no, we weren’t going to party all night and yes it was still early but it was friday night, where everyone worked and of course, everyone is a bit tired from the week.

[love these two!]

[these two are the best!]

[having a blast]

we wrapped up our bill, nibbled on the last bits of food, and took the last swigs of our drinks before we hit the road. we had such a great time with everyone and we can’t wait to do this again! drinks, food, and friends are the best combo!

xoxo

trick or treat

Posted on November 5, 2015 by tandem in love

i was super excited for olive to go trick or treating this year! last year she was eleven months old and didn’t have a clue what was happening. this year, she was much more aware and i couldn’t wait to see her reactions.

we started off our morning with some pumpkin carving! hc cleared out the garage and set up a table for us to do our carving. olive wasn’t quite sure what we were up to and she was a bit upset we were inside when it was raining outside only because she loves to jump in puddles. that silly girl.

once we started carving, she was so perplexed. she thought it was a bit gross when she saw the pumpkin guts and was confused on why we were chopping up the pumpkin. she kept on saying,”pumpkin?” and pointing to it as we carved. we set her up with some markers, her white pumpkin, and she was a happy clam drawing away.

[her favorite thing at the moment, the pumpkin pez dispenser in her hand from her sitter mary]

[getting her draw on!]

[pumpkin carving complete! yay!]

***

after our pumpkin carving fun, we relaxed a bit inside, and then got ready to head on over to my parent’s house for some trick or treating. i didn’t try the costume on olive for i knew it was going to work! duh! i put her in and i was in loooooove! it was so darn cute! like soooo cute! i was dying. oh how i love her and want to squeeze her all the time! everything was so on point!

after a mini photo sesh, we drove {one minute travel time} over to my parent’s house to hand candy out to the trick or treaters and to take olive out on stroll later. we waited for the rain to stop and got olive ready for her trick or treat jaunt. oh how i loved this costume! it was sooooo flippin’ cute on her. we walked outside and debated on which direction to head…we decided to go left because we definitely wanted to hit the kagann’s house to say hi to laurie {carol’s mom}. we only wanted to hit a few houses because she’s only a toddler!

[her amazing princess leia costume! so in love with it!]

[thaaaaaat face! i die]

[this face. oh how i love her]

[we were like, “which way? which way should we go?”]

[she’s too much.]

[she was storing about 6 cashews in her cheeks. not lying]

we strolled from house to house, saying hello to the neighbors and making small talk. everyone just loved her costume! it was so fun! we got to the kagann’s and laurie pulled out a stuffed animal. olive was smitten. she saw the bear and immediately grunted for it! she knew what it was! we chit chatted with laurie for a few minutes and then went along our merry way. by that time, olive got the hang of what we were doing. she was probably thinking…hmmmm, you knock on people’s doors and they give you candy? heck yeah. so she asked if she could walk. i pulled her out of the wagon and she happily walked up to people’s door, knocked, and shyly said, “twick tweet”. it was soooooo cute! she would then say, “dank you” and “bye, see ya!”. oh how i love this girl!

[loving the stuffed animal bear from mrs. kagann]

[independent and on her own!]

[olive’s work of art is the scribbled on white pumpkin!]

it was a blast taking olive out. i loooooved seeing her become so independent. what a sweetie. her costume was awesome, the trick or treating was fun, and she for sure ate waaaaaaayyyyy too much candy! eep! she definitely loved trick or treating and i can’t wait to see her really love it next year!

xoxo

huy + tashina

Posted on November 4, 2015 by tandem in love

so yay for my brother huy and his fiancé tashina visiting us here in the chi. they had come into town {from l.a.} the days prior and attended a friend’s wedding, so this night, we had them over for dinner and fun!

please don’t mind the kitchen under construction. that’s a whole ‘nother chapter. anyhoo, everyone came over and we hemmed and hawed over what food to order. in the mean time, i had my two little nephews running around, my brothers, tashina, and my mother in law hanging out in the kitchen, deciding on food, and then olive just waking up {crying} in her crib. all of a sudden i was in the middle of trying to place an order for food, consoling miss olive, and appeasing everyone else. it started to get a wee bit crazy for me! olive was grumpy but everyone wanted her attention {huy wanted to play, reagan wanted to play} and this only caused her to cry even more! i couldn’t place the food order because i was trying to console olive, then hc calls me on the phone trying to talk to me, and the boys kept asking me if they could eat ramen noodles with sriracha because they didn’t want to eat chinese food! hahahah!

ohmygawd. it was only until after the food arrived did the craziness seem to settle down! the boys didn’t mind eating hot dogs and chips {my speciality}, so it saved me from making an easy meal to making an easier meal! woo! we all actually sat down to eat, relax, and converse. it was great. we had such a wonderful time talking, eating, and enjoying each other’s company. it was so nice. in-between us ordering food and eating, tashina helped us out by sewing olive’s halloween costume. i was so ready to do it myself but with her coming into town, i thought, why not ask? she made olive’s baptism gown, so why not another white gown for miss olive?! yay!

[setting up the sewing machine]

[watching the action going down]

[being curious]

[bestie cousins eating together]

[chillin’ and having a really good time]

[someone is wiped out and someone isn’t. haha]

we had a wonderful time together as a family. slowly, everyone trickled out. dan left, jane went to bed, and then huy and tashina said their good nights. i had the boys until my sister came home from her event that evening. it was too cute. R + B fell asleep while olive stayed w i d e awake! she is such a nigh owl!

it was a great evening with family, those are always the best moments in life.

xoxo

arboretum squared

Posted on November 2, 2015 by tandem in love

we headed out to the arboretum on a cool autumn day. my brother huy and tashina were in town and we wanted to snap some pics {ya gotta take advantage of your photographer brother when he’s in // huyfoto}.

it was a perfect day. total sweater weather. not too cold and not too warm. a wonderful fall day. i previously mentioned to the hubs about getting a membership to the arboretum because i heard from others, that it is so cheap and going there twice pretty much pays for your membership.

we pulled up and yessssss, it was quite pricey to get in. we asked how much a membership would be for four people and gasped at the fact that it would be down right stupid not to get one!

huy and tashina had just arrived right before us and huy wanted to drive around to explore and find a good spot to snap some photos. we drove around and found a beautiful {well everything at the arboretum is gorgeous} little spot. we continued to cruise around and found another little nook that was beautiful to capture in the photos. after our escapade, we decided to head back to the children’s area so olive could play around a bit. we walked into the building and hc signed us up for a membership, we grabbed coffee, and a little bite to eat. after our snack, we headed out to the children’s garden.

we had to so much fun walking around, exploring, and watching little olive’s curiosity. the first area we went into was the maze. it was fun to walk around and decide which direction we should head to and wonder where it would take you and where you would end up! they also had an amazing tree fort that we explored. olive had fun running around in circles with me chasing her!

after the maze, we explored the garden area. it’s pretty cool to watch her have so much fun with the same thing, over and over again. she loved the spinning wheels, the leaves, the fun interactive activities all around the area. we probably could have been there all day.

[coming out of the maze]

[look at those fall colors!!!]

[such a gorgeous day]

[she loved putting the little balls into the noise maker]

after a bit, huy and tashina needed to get some stuff done before they headed out to a wedding that evening. we stayed a bit longer, soaking in the goodness around us. as we were leaving, they totally get you with the smell of popcorn…it was a sweet and delicious aroma. we caved in, bought a bag and popped a squat to enjoy our treats. yummy!

once we spent some time eating, enjoying the perfect weather, and absorbing the amazing environment, we decided to head out. it was a truly lovely morning. we had a really great time with everyone. i love spending time with my family and getting out to do fun stuff like this really is my jam.

happy day everyone! enjoy every moment and be thankful for your health, your family, their health, and the little things in life. be kind and love one another. peace.

xoxo

happy halloweeeeeen!

Posted on October 31, 2015 by tandem in love

oh! i love halloween! it’s always the kick start to the holiday season but i love halloween for all the cute kiddie goodness. i love that it’s such a kid holiday to me. i enjoyed it soooo much as a kid and now, i love that my daughter will love it too!

i’m into the cute kiddy, spooky, fun part of it. not the gory, scary, bloody part of it. nope. not that at all. i love charlie brown’s pumpkin patch, i love all the kid’s shows that display a halloween theme, i love hocus pocus, i love fun pumpkins, yummy candy, cute little costumes, and spooky fun decorations.

halloween has always been a holiday of imagination and eery haunts. so, every year i look forward most to the trick or treaters! oh, it’s so much fun for me to give out candy to the little ones. i love seeing all their costumes and the giddy looks on their faces when they get a big handful of candy!

when i was younger, my most favorite thing to do was to decorate our house {mainly our front door} with fun, festive decor. i would play spooky music on a radio {hidden in the garage} and look forward to every ring of the doorbell! i would sometimes go so far and make dozen of treat bags. yes i did. a total sign of my overzealous, crafty nature. i would buy fun little halloween treat bags; fill each bag with candy, festive stickers, spider rings, trinkets, and anything i considered fun halloween items a kid would love!

as a kid, i loved running home to see what was in my bag of goodies and going through all the fun stuff that was given to me. my most favorite items were always the unique treats. whether it’d be a coloring book, or a fun pack of goodies, or something different that you didn’t see every day. of course, my most favorite candies were reese’s peanut butter cups, heath, bit o honey, and sweet tarts. yum.

i really do hope olive grows up to love halloween just as much as i do or any holiday for that matter. i hope that her imagination is vivid and inspiring to create some halloween memories and magic of her own!

happy halloweeeeeen everyone!

xoxo

tandem in love

{life is truly beautiful and it should be celebrated + shared.}

Category Archives: c’est la vie

thankful

hi freshie

a great afternoon

sunday chili

hb dan!

friday night

trick or treat

huy + tashina

arboretum squared

happy halloweeeeeen!