forty-six

The day was filled with lots of happiness… a coffee date that included a huge latte, a day of shopping, a flower delivery sent from Jake, a Fitbit and a new cruiser bike, dinner out at the Melting Pot, and my favorite cake from Woullet's Bakery.

It's going to be a good year!

A Birthday Weekend

Tyler and Drew are exactly 6 years and 1 day apart in age and so come November we get to do a lot of celebrating.

Tyler turned 23 on Thursday! We did presents and donuts for breakfast and then for dinner I made his requested meal of Tortellini with Tomato Alfredo sauce.

We were so happy that Maria was able to join us for dinner. :)

Friday was a day of school and Drew's 17th birthday! He wanted Micky Mouse waffles for breakfast and then he was out the rest of the day with friends.

I made his favorite cake; a Cannoli Torte. (This is seriously one of the best cakes and one I always requested my mom to make for my birthday!) {recipe here}

Drew chose one of his favorites for his birthday dinner: Spicy Pulled Pork. Mackenzie joined us for dinner and cake; which made for a full table two nights in a row! My favorite! :)

Saturday night we had dinner reservations at Mediterranean Cruise Cafe which was a fun place to continue celebrating the birthdays.

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Sunday was spent getting the yard ready for the big winter storm that they are saying is coming on Monday (I am hoping they are wrong) and was a perfect day to make a big pot of {spaghetti and meatballs}.

Weekends are always good.

Halloween Weekend

Our Halloween weekend… started with a long walk outside enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

Pumpkin shape pizzas and pumpkin beer.

Only 25 trick-or-treaters for us this year.

A game of Clue.

Jake texting us a picture from the Chicago Bulls game seeing LeBron James play from the Cavaliers.

Enjoying a pumpkin spice latte in the red holiday cup

and devouring the Sunday paper.

Our weekend ended with another long walk

before the early sunset.

Another Football Weekend

This past weekend we headed to Notre Dame for another football weekend, our second of the season. The fall colors were just starting to pop which made for a pretty drive.

We left on Thursday after Drew was done with school with the plans to drive to Chicago and spend the night there and then Friday morning we would drive the remaining 2 hours to Notre Dame. This would give us most of Friday to enjoy on campus and take in some more of the game weekend festivities.

We were even lucky enough to have Tyler join us on this trip. Jake had really wanted Tyler to come to ND so he could show him his school and show him what all a football weekend is about. Tyler agreed and his only request was a stop at Gene & Jude's, our favorite hot dog place in Chicago.

We were packed to the brim not knowing exactly what the weather was going to be and knowing that we would be outside for most of the weekend….And Jake had wanted us to bring his goalie hockey bag too. :)

We arrived at Notre Dame around noon on Friday

and met up with Jake.

We walked around campus so Jake could give Jake the tour.

We have never been here this early on a game weekend so we took advantage of some events going on around campus. We walked over to the stadium and did the Tunnel Tour which is open to the public on Friday's of game weekends.

It was pretty cool to be right down on the field level.

Walking out of the tunnel you see 'Touchdown Jesus' in the background.

The student entrance that Jake goes into the stadium on game days.

We walked to the other side of St. Mary's Lake to see a great view of campus.

We stopped at the grotto.

The fountain that the students celebrate in after a big football game win, which apparently happened last weekend. :)

We went over to the Main Building to see 'Trumpets Under the Dome' where the ND trumpet section plays Notre Dame Our Mother and the Notre Dame Victory March under the golden dome.

We regrouped back at Jake's dorm for a bit before heading out to dinner

at Main Street Grille in Mishawaka, where we enjoyed a great dinner!

Saturday morning we were up and back at campus for a day of football festivities.

We started with some tailgating at some of our friends 'cabin' and then met back up with Jake to tailgate  with him.

Jake and friends.

Such a great group with so much humor and positive energy!

It was a perfect fall day for a football game.

Notre Dame with the win! Undefeated so far this season!

'Touchdown Jesus' lit up green for mental health awareness week.

We parted ways with Jake after the game and headed back to the 'cabin' for a bit and then over to Parisi's for dinner- because it seems a trip to South Bend isn't complete without a stop here. :)

Sunday morning was a quick breakfast at Perkins and a good-bye to Jake.

Notre Dame football weekend are always a blast but this one was special because the whole family was there!