-20 vs. 80+

So I keep hearing these remarks on how cold it is here versus where everyone else is and I can't keep quite any longer. Yes, we are very well aware that it is sunny and warm where you all are at and it is down right COLD here. You should just all cry us a river... but while you are crying for us realize that one of the reasons we moved here was BECAUSE of the weather. Maybe some of you love 80 degree weather all year around and that is fine. But to some people snow and coldness don't stop them from living their lives. It was -19 this morning and I STILL took the kids to the grocery store and to the mall. I still cleaned my house and I still ran. Life doesn't stop because we get some cold weather. And the cold weather WILL NEVER be a reason for us to move back to Cali. Sure there is a handful of days where we wish we were somewhere else, but you all have those handful of days if not more when you are sitting in traffic and standing in your long lines at the grocery store, or spending half your summer in a marine layer. Winter isn't supposed to be pleasant, but it is still fun. We get to go sledding and build snow men and make snow angels. And the best part about winter is that it ENDS... and when it's over our SPRING and our SUMMER and most definitely our FALL are absolutely incomparable to yours. So while we freeze our bums off 2-3 months out of the year, know that the other 9-10 months we are in utter paradise while you are all still out in the DESERT. word.

New Year's End

Christmas has already come and gone and Matthew is already making his Christmas list for next year!! (be fore-warned) Although quiet Christmas was good and definitely very white. Thankfully we had lots of rain shortly after which melted much of the snow. There still is snow, but now we can now at least find our mailbox. :) We are still planning to come out to Cali in a couple of months, still havent heard any dates from Jon's work, but even if CVS decides not to send him, we will at least take a short vacate there. Don't forget to have your local comic book stores order Jersey Gods!! Comes out February 4th and I expect you all to pick up a copy. As the year ends, we definitely take a moment to look back and think of all the great times we had. This year has been full of adventure and lots of memories with loved ones and we are definitely looking forward to next year!! Oh and I painted the studio! Happy New Year!!!

HALLOWEEN

Fall is finally upon us. It is amazing how quickly time goes by. The leaves have all turned and are pretty much gone and we have even had our first flurries last week. It has been a while, again, since our last post, so I will sum up the last couple months. In september, I ran another half-marathon. My time was 2hr 17 minutes and 18 seconds. Far better than my first half marathon, and under completely different conditions. It rained 10 inches that weekend in Chicago and it never stopped once during the race. It was truly an experience I will never forget. For Halloween Matthew was a fireman, and Raeden was batman. Next year he will be able to pick out his own costume because he was terrified of the batman costume. Anyways, the kids had a blast trick or treating in our neighborhood. It was the most adorable thing to watch Matthew making sure his brother got a piece of candy too. Thats all for now!!

Our Summer

Summer here has come and is pretty much gone. Today was down right cold. Im not sure if it even hit 70. :( It definitely has not been much of a summer in terms of weather. We have had very little rain and temperatures were rather mild. However despite the weather our summer has been filled to the brim with excitement. We have toured Chicago by taxi, subway and El train... visitied my bro in Kansas city, MO and have had many many visitors. So Im just going to let the pictures do the talking this time. Enjoy!

July 4th!

July 4th in Wisconsin has got to be one of the better holidays... between all the parades and fireworks, you cannot go wrong. Plus the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. We went to the Milton Parade like we did last year, only this time we were prepared with food, chairs and lots of sunscreen! It was a blast. Later we cooked out some ribs and had our own fireworks display in the backyard since much of downtown Janesville is still underwater. :( There were also plenty of fireworks going off in the sky that we could view from the comfort of our own home and away from all the nasty mosquitos!

Busy Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts. Things have been absolutely crazy. If moving to a new house wasn't enough I have been prepping for Wizard World Chicago and coloring comics. It is almost over though. The house is coming along nicely. We have some grass in the backyard, and every room is painted and completely livable. Other than that Jon fishes every night and is continuing to stock up our freezer with trout only he will eat. The kids enjoy rolling around in the grass and picking up rocks and I run on a daily basis... its my drug of choice to keep myself sane from all the stress from work. :) Oh and if you want to see the comic I just finished coloring you can view it on my website or buy the next volume of POPGUN which comes out on July 25th!!
Here are some pics of the kids playing and at the zoo and wonder woman which is one of the prints I will be selling at the con.