John and Dana

Birthday, Painting Day and Fathers Day

danarork86 — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:41:34 +0000

Well I turned 25 on May 31st. Cue the *whomp whomp whomp* sound. I don’t know why I took 25 harder than I took 24 or 23. Just seeing my family grow up before my eyes has been hard enough, I guess being reminded of my own birthday didn’t help. I’m fine now lol. Got over my issue.

My rockin’ family bought me pizza and a cake and they sang to me

You know what. I can FINALLY see which genes are more dominant in my kids. Cathony anyone??Eesh. Hopefully they get the Rork height!

What a weasel. This photo is one of a few that truely shows you how much of a menace G is. He was chasing after his brother with chocolate hands/face. Sigh. Many more years of this to come right??

Well last week I came down with a horrible awful no good very bad case of the stomach flu. John took off almost the whole week, my brother came over one morning, and my mom took the kids for a morning as well. My dad brought over gatorade with a ten foot pole and threw it into the kitchen (just assuming…didn’t see who brought the gatorade or chicken soup over). So one morning John decided to get the kids finger painting. It was kind of a rainy day so he went with it. I despise finger paints, play dough, bubbles and all kid-friendly, mom-clean up the mess types of fun. I am truly the unfun mom. I’ll bake cookies, I’ll let them watercolor and craft so no worries. My kids aren’t missing out. Plus, they have loads of craft times at school. But I digress…LOOK AT THE CUTE PICTURES!

Dirty little monkey. With no pants on. Lol.

E LOVED painting. (and Kae is a pro at finger painting so she just kept going while the boys needed their hands cleaned)

Having fun getting dirty

On Father’s Day this year, we headed out to my Babcia and Dziadzia’s to relax and eat linner (lunch/dinner). My awesome dad headed out to Des Moines to help my bro fix his car. Talk about taking father’s day seriously. He fulfilled his fatherly duties that weekend. We then headed over to John’s parents house for dinner and drinks. It was all in all a really relaxing day for everyone!

K on one of the many bikes Dziadzia pulls out of the garage for the kids. Oh. And Lucy the cat. Grumble.

I was just checking out my grandparents garden. They grow some really great stuff every year. Dziadzia was giving me a few pointers. I first need to get my manure pile growing…Thankfully we don’t have any backyard neighbors anymore!

Playing with the school house. I wanna say it’s from the early 80′s. And they have most of the pieces that go with it. The boys LOVE this toy!

Gavin decided to join Katie on the lounger. He loves hanging with her and Katie is super tolerant to his antics (K and Ian HATE when Gavin wants to ‘share’ his seat with someone else lol). Here they are ‘sleeping’. I believe G was snoring at some point. Goofball.

Plenty of practice and Ian headed the ball! Dziadzia was loving it too.

And there you have it. Been taking the kids to camp and running errands this week. Hopefully we have a nice weekend and can head to Brookfield Zoo.

4 Years and Counting…

danarork86 — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:10:26 +0000

I can still remember the jitters I felt when I turned the corner with my dad, getting into our line position for the walk down the aisle to meet my soon to be husband. The flowers looked amazing, the church was full with loving friends and family, and the music was strong yet not overpowering the moment. John looked calm and happy with his best friends by his side. My awesome bridesmaids looked stunning in their dresses and nobody fell into the baptismal fountain (we thought we would just jump over it ). As I heard the wedding march begin, I grasped my dad’s arm a bit tighter and looked at him holding Kaelyn. Everything was as it should be. The ceremony went by quickly and effortlessly. No ugly Oprah crying from anyone, me included. Success!

The rest of the night was smooth sailing and one of the best nights ever! The music, the atmosphere, the people. It rocked. We were so thankful for everyone who came and knew a few guests were looking down on us from heaven. I don’t think we could have had a better day.

Happy 4 years! It’s been lots of fun!

This Never Stops Being Fun

danarork86 — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:44:28 +0000

So when Kaelyn was born and the following 2.5 years we lived with my super awesome parents while John and I went to ECC. Our days were often split, Kae would come with me some days and she’d go to daycare at ECC, and other days she would spend time with John depending on our work and school schedules. We loved to play outside at Maga and Baga’s and there was loads of room for her to run and play. The one thing she loved to do the most is probably still one of her favorite things to do when we head out to play there. The stone wall around my parents patio island has been around as long as I can remember (they had all landscaping/stonework done right after they built the house). I even remember walking and walking and walking in circles on those stones! So here she was circa August/September 2006:

and May 2011:

I love the ‘Dad…stop taking photos’ face. Priceless. And I LOVE how compact and round she was in 06. She’s going to be a lean mean fighting machine, probably towering over me in a few short years. Wow. Just wow. Where has that time gone?!

Come Back Summer!!

danarork86 — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:33:00 +0000

Oh my goodness, the past few days when we had 80 temps were just glorious. We played outside ALL day, grilled our meals and just enjoyed it. Well…now this rain/wind/cold snap has gotten my hopes crushed. I was just getting used to wearing shorts and t-shirts, and so were the kids honestly. And the cats! Yes they were loving it too. Here are a few shots from when we actually had warm weather. Sigh…this too shall pass.

Such a sweaty hammy.

She had to be in her castle with the bubbles. I loved her braids, she told me she liked them too. So we kept them in for a long time.

“Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles” is all John and I could say the rest of the day. *Finding Nemo reference…what would we do without Pixar???*

This weekend it’s supposed to clear up thankfully. I need the sunshine. I’m afraid my white shorts are going to have to wait a few weeks otherwise I’ll look like I’m not wearing anything at all. Ghost Mommy.

He’s All Grown Up Now

danarork86 — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:07:11 +0000

Well when I entered the family Patrick was a youngin. So being invited to go to his graduation was super special. John, Meg, Al, Kim, Mark and Nana Rork made the trip to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in St. Charles to see the Class of 2011 from St. Edward’s Central Catholic High School graduate. The ceremony was very nice (short, considering my graduating class at DCHS had 500+)and Bishop Doran came in from Rockford to hand out diplomas to the graduating class.

Walking in!

PJR

Diploma!! Yay!!

TOTALLY ignoring our waving arms. I probably would have too.

All the guys he went to elementary school with.

Pat, Meg and John. Amazing how Pat now towers over John. I remember him being shorter than Meg.

The whole Rork family. Sidenote: IT WAS SO DARN COLD AND WINDY LAST NIGHT. Thank god it was in the church and not outside.

Pat and Mary Gale

We then headed home to change and went out for dinner to end the night!

Also: My dearest cousin Collette (she’s like a sister though) graduated from Harper with her Associates Degree! So her fiance threw her a surprise party on Sunday after graduation!

Surprise!!

John was being ridiculous with the camera at this point. Definitely sounded like paparazzi.

Oh you know, cause you are supposed to STAND on the bags set. Ooof.

And climb on it. He was totally cheating here.

So it was a fun and busy few days! My brother is home for a couple days (he had a few days off from his job in Des Moines) and then we’ve got a few birthdays coming up. Uncle Al on Sunday (28??), Me on Tuesday (25), and Pat on Friday (18). Fun fun times…

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

danarork86 — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:00:48 +0000

Well it was such a fun day, we all needed a day to recover from all the eating! Of course, since we were having a Very Hungry Party, we made sure to have lots of yummy foods for Gavin’s 2nd birthday! He is in love with bugs and will lay down on the driveway just to watch them. So when I pulled out The Very Hungry Caterpillar G instantly loved it and became quite attached to his BUG book. And of course, Ian loved it because he could sorta read along when we read it out loud daily. My parents took on hosting this time and it worked out perfectly. The weather was supposed to be rainy but the day turned out to be beautiful! Ok enough of me yapping….Here are the pics!

Our Very Hungry Cake! The woman who made our wedding cake and grooms cake made this fantastic AND delicious cake! She is so talented!

Butterflies that Ian helped me make. He was very proud of them.

and…

More Cookies.

The kids goodie buckets with our favorite book!

Our happy little birthday boy.

Kiki hanging outside on the patio in the sunshine! Yay sunshine!!

Ian-man was was snacking with Dziadzia on the patio. I’m so glad we had the opportunity to hang outside! I’m totally ready for summer!

Jen and Jonathan brought over their bounce house for the kiddies to play in! It was a total hit!

Oh man. Birthday boy was a bit frazzled that he had to share. It was totally Jacksons turn but Gavin would not have it. Jack was a total trooper and let Gavin push him!

See!! All better!!

Cameron making a face?? Stinker!

Brayden was a total trooper too! He was totally mellow and he had plenty of hands to hold him so his mom and dad could get a break! Who DOESN’T love holding a baby!!??

Auntie Katie sure didn’t mind hanging with Brayden!

Gavin decided to take off running with his new truck and all the kids followed.

Oh boy, they are all going to be trouble!

Mr. Landon had a great time partying too! Yet again, lots of hands=let mommy relax a bit! Cutie!

Ian and Cam were having a blast at the end of the night. They just dug right in, no pun intended

More pictures to come from dinner to cake!! Woo! Thank you to everyone who came out to have fun with us yesterday! It was definitely a memorable party!

Pre Party Prep

danarork86 — Sat, 21 May 2011 18:16:11 +0000

Now say that 3 times fast…

Well yesterday after going back and forth on what I really wanted to make for Gavins party, I decided to officially make fun cookies. With the help of a few friends with the right sized cookie cutter and cutely shaped rolling pin, I got started when the boys went down for their ~~non~~ nap.

So I used my favorite cookie mix to make sugar cookies and made an icing/glaze out of food coloring, water and powdered sugar. The results?? Here ya go!

My “paint”

My flock of butterflies in the process of getting their glaze.

My model butterfly.

Ta DA! And oof, my legs definitely got a work out from all the bending over and standing up!

And of course, I couldn’t leave out the main character The best thing is that I didn’t have a bug shaped cookie cutter but I did have a carrot! I just molded his head til it was round. Eat that Martha.

And here is proof that I did all the work myself:

I believe this was taken at 5:30 on Friday night. I then ate dinner and went to bed at 8. It’s been a long week, can’t wait to par-tay today!

New Photos!

danarork86 — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:43:38 +0000

John has always loved photography/cameras/technology and with his job now gets to take photos for the school district for their websites! What a sweet deal right?? So to figure out how the camera works, he’s been taking some pretty cool photos of our kids and other objects! So here are a few really beautiful shots from Wednesday and Thursday!

My Mother’s Day Orchids from John

My Fatty Catty

My OTHER Fatty Catty

This guy has mastered “The Pout”

Smiling for the camera. She said it was like a photo shoot!

John asked them to show him their teeth. What cheezies.

Our rocking new park at South End! Should be ready in time for summer break!!

Can’t you just smell them through your computer screen??

I think at some point the boys asked John to KEEP GOING. I believe his response was NO with a foot stomp.

They finally made it to Maiden Lane park.

Can you believe these are all just practice shots?! I can’t wait to see what other practice photography comes out of this! Good job John!!

The New Mr. and Mrs. Lamb

danarork86 — Tue, 17 May 2011 22:56:51 +0000

While the world was busy getting ready to watch a Royal Wedding, we were getting ready to watch our OWN royal wedding. John and I had the pleasure of being attendants in our close friends wedding and Kaelyn was a flower girl! The whole wedding was amazing. Unfortuantely, we didn’t bring our camera due to a whole bunch of other things we needed to worry about. So here is what we’ve got so far:

Backstory: Katie and John were first friends in early high school and then I leached on and became close to Katie in 2004. She became one of my closest and well trusted friends and I don’t know what I would do with out her in my life. She is also Kaelyn’s godmother so Kaelyn was totally pumped to be flower girl! It was an honor to have Katie stand up in our wedding and I was equally honored to get to stand up in her wedding. Steve and Katie are such wonderful people and I can’t wait to see what marriage brings to their relationship! Congratulations Katie and Steve!

How Old Are You? NOT TWO

danarork86 — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:46:47 +0000

Oh yes. Gavin turned 2 and he doesn’t want to believe it! Any time we prompt him he says “not 2″. Sigh. Such is life.

He doesn’t like smiling at the camera anymore. So this is the best we got.

He’s a big little man now! I can’t believe how quickly 2 years flew by and we have enjoyed those years with him so very much. He’s learning how to say a lot of words, and loving that he can now communicate and we understand what he’s saying!

We’ve been busy the past week prepping for his party and Ian (and Mac) have been a HUGE helper(s) when it comes to making decorations. The theme for Gavin’s party is all about the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The kid LOVES bugs.

Water colors are FUN, MOM! (Buddy man got his head shaved because he’s a general sweatbox in the summer)

The kid loves brown.

Ok. So I had a dream that I would get all creative and “Martha-like” in one day. So….. that dream bit my ass yesterday. I was going to make a caterpillar out of big poofy tissue paper poofs. Yeah. I threw it on the floor after about 3 seconds. Mac however LOVED it. Dude couldn’t get enough of the poof. As for the caterpillar, balloons will have to do And I’m OK with that. I can cook. I can clean. I can plant a garden. I CAN NOT CRAFT. Acceptance is the first step right?

I’m now going to have to go back in time for a few posts just to get caught up with all the busy things going on in our lives this past month or so!