circle of friends

there is a sort of comfort that comes with being surrounded by good friends. knowing that you can drop your bags in an empty guest room and proceed to take over their house with loads of books, little people, sippy cups, bibs, and mismatched socks warms my heart.

this year's annual superbowl soiree was held in west bend. it was our first official road trip with a potty-trained two year old. frightening, you say? perhaps. but somehow we escaped the four hour trek with just two stops. one in a restaurant and the other on the side of the road...in sub-zero temps...at 10:30pm. a mad-dash to the nearest rinky-dink county road, some yellow snow, and a 10-minute detour to go back to scrape Super Why! off of the icy road later...we were on the home stretch to casa de bansemar.

his newest fake smile face - love it!

we spent the better part of saturday morning venturing to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in milwaukee and meeting up with the maio family. the kids had a blast! henry was in a "I-have-a-fever" funk (more on that later), but managed to eek out a smile or two.

the wheels on the bus...

pretty little alana

one of the few smiles from henry-bug that day. curses molars, curses!

trying to figure out the conveyor belt

ethan: future foreman

you might want to count your change...I'm just sayin'

harms family morning show

an all bread sandwich for GG and an all meat treat for ethan

my little momma's boy

good to see that he's already taking time to read the labels

henry and the guys

we wrapped up our little field trip with lunch at the maio's. a special thank you to matt and sarah for the classy dining experience. seeing as though you were days away from moving to a new house, we'll let it slide this time.

the maios joined us in the WB on saturday and sunday nights and all six of the little kidlets amazingly got along and there were few (if any) tears over who was playing with whose toys. just give that a few more months, right?

"you're FUNNY uncle matt!"

every kid loves the tiny dvd player

super ethan [cape compliments of pip and bean]

nice, matt.

story time with uncle shawn...who'da thunk?

the "big kids" - ethan, miles, and genevieve

we woke up to a fresh dusting of snow on sunday, so we hauled the babies outside for a sled ride. don't alana and addison totally remind you of ralphie from a christmas story? so cute!

mush, miles...mush!

game night was in a class by itself...at least for mr. maio. to quote chanandler bong, "could he BE any more excited?" and, although humerous, we had all seen enough of the "championship belt" dance to last a lifetime. in case you're wondering, our family owns little (if any) MN Vikings gear so you can bet that we did not bust out any green and gold for the pack. we were, however, good sports and tried to be as supportive as possible...for the fans' sake!

bellied up to the bar...my favorite spot as well!

go vik...er...I mean, go packers!

a toddler's attention span to sit and watch football is far shorter than an attention span for signing time

the black eyed peas will be ringing geeg for a backup dancer gig any day now

this circle of friends we have made is strong. despite the hundreds of miles that separates us, we can always count on one another to be there for the highs and lows of life. our circle has grown and that makes me smile. so far the adult to child ratio {4:3} is still in favor of the grown-ups, but I'm certain we will be out-numbered shortly.

addison (16 mo), miles (2 3/4 yrs), geeg (a.k.a. genevieve - 2 1/2 yrs), alana (16 mo), henry (12 mo), ethan (3 yrs)