A visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

How lucky we are that my parents were able to be with us last week!  We had a lot happen and I'm so glad they could be here for those special occasions.  They flew in on Friday and I picked them up from the airport in time to go straight to pick up the girls from school.  The girls loved having their grandparents pick them up from school.  That evening we received word that Uncle Kimmel had decided last minute to jump on a plane and was headed into town!  Kermit went and picked him up late that night. We had a full house!

The next day was the twins baptism day.  We spent the day getting ready.  It was a very special day.  That night we ate out at the twins favorite restaurant "Noodles and Company." The next day was also a special day because Althea received her baby blessing during sacrament meeting.   It was so great to have my parents and Kimmel there to support us on this special weekend.  Kimmel had to head back home on Sunday but my parents were able to stay through until after Thanksgiving.

The kids had school for a few days before Thanksgiving.  My mom was so helpful getting the girls through their homework and piano practice.  I wish she could be here all the time to help me every week like that!  We spent the week getting ready for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Again, what would I have done without my mom!  Her years of experience hosting Thanksgiving was so great to help pull this year off.  We shared her amazing meal with some friends from church (Rockwoods, Olsons, Kotelly).

We were able to go out to dinner a few times.  We went to the new restaurant in the neighborhood called Summerhouse.  That was fun because a friend from schools father is one of the main chefs there. He came out and talked with us and gave us a few appetizers for us to try that were amazing and different than anything I ever would have tried on my own.  We also went out and got a Christmas tree from Home Depot the night before they had to leave.   A memorable week to have them here.  I love them and  I hope they know how glad I was to have them here.

Halloween 2009

Kermit's friend from work stopped by. Had to snap this photo! It's not every day you get a giant bottle of Windex at your door.


Halloween is such a great holiday! The kids have been just so excited. All month they've been singing and singing their little hearts out every Halloween song they know. They have been going back and forth on what they want to dress up as. Every night before bed they would ask how many days until Halloween. Serious stuff here. Very VERY excited. We finally decided after much debate on their costumes. Avrie, a unicorn. Addie, a walking strawberry. Annaliese, a witch. I had a lot of fun making them their costumes. My sister kept me company late in the evening working on these gems...we visited via Skype. (I love Skype! What a great invention!) I have decided that a glue gun is a very handy tool and one that I have under utilized in the past. I went through many a glue sticks on these costumes and even dusted off my sewing machine. I really loved it and look forward to next years costume challenge. The most rewarding part though is how proud the girls were to wear my creations. They were so happy and so proud to be wearing such nifty duds.
We went to our church party on Friday night and had a great time. We were having car trouble so we took a cab to and from the party....and that was a highlight in and of itself. We were late as usual, but it was a great party I'd say. One of the better I've seen in my day here in Chicagoland. Kudos to those who planned it!
Saturday, which was the actual holiday...Kermit and I spent the entire day cleaning out the basement. Now that was spooky! We had fun working together and were able to get rid of so much stuff. Seriously, it was long overdue and we did it! I love clean basements! In fact I dream about someday having a basement so clean and organized that I could take guests down to our storage room and just show it off. Exciting I know. But I seriously do hope to be able to show off my basement someday and I know you all can't wait.
Saturday night we invited a couple of families over to eat pizza with us and trick or treat in our neighborhood. It was a fun and casual evening. Kids ran wild, pizza inhaled and good time had by all I think. Halloween 2009 a success!

Twicker Tweak 2008

Here are some highlights from our "Twicker Tweaking" (as Addie calls it). The weather this year was just perfect! Oh how I love a balmy fall day topped off with a balmy Halloween night!
Annaliese's class at school had a Halloween party. The twins always love the chance to visit her at school. School got out early so we had Alli and Ruby over for lunch and a play date for the afternoon. No Naps for the twins....I did try. They weren't going to need one anyway with all the sugar that would soon come. =)

At Annaliese's school party.

Alli the Pirate and Ruby the Princess with an elf hat and sunglasses!

The trick-or- treaters love our street because street traffic is blocked off for the night. The crowds are always huge but this year...WOW. We kept plenty busy just trying to keep track of our three. I think we only went missing one of them a few times, not bad. (Just a little stressful.) There were just SO MANY KIDS!

The girls were thrilled with their candy haul and thrilled even more that Michele and Daniel spent the evening with us. Michele's costume was so great! She got lots of attention. Some stray kids even tried to "solve the puzzle" - Um... please don't touch. It was so cool to be able to walk down the street with a Rubiks Cube! Thanks Michele & Daniel for coming! We had such fun with you!


I just loved this costume of Galinda the Good Witch...so I took a quick picture. She looked great from the front too! Her costume was also very popular! =) he he!

Happy Haunting Everyone!

Tonight Kermit & I and the girls gathered around the kitchen counter to carve pumpkins. All were fascinated and excited as they watched. Kermit brought the three completed jack-o-lanterns upstairs to the girls rooms to light their bedrooms for the evening. Very cool indeed. Going to bed is fun again. =)

I also showed the girls their costumes for the first time tonight. Huge hit! A few months back I asked Annaliese what she wanted to be. She said she wanted to be a bumble bee again this year. I decided to have the twins be bugs too, one a butterfly and one a ladybug. Looks like they approved my choice. The costumes were immediately put on for a few hours of dancing fun before bed. Getting them to take these lovlies off for sleep was quite the challenge. I have a feeling these costumes are going to be worn every day until at least Thanksgiving.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

Remember to watch out for Chocolate Coins- They've been recalled! Check out the link below.
http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/coins.asp

The most wonderful time of the year

I do love fall. LOVE it, love it, love it! Fall has finally arrived. The air is cool and crisp. The tree lined streets are glowing with fall colors (or will be soon). Sweater weather, hot cocoa, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, candy corns, honeycrisp apples, country drives, walks through fallen crunchy leaves....these are all things that I just love about fall and what make it my favorite season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year to me and puts me in the best mood. (Okay it ties with Christmas. )

I have found yet another reason to love fall even more than I already do. Pumpkin Farms! Today we took the kids to Goebberts Farm in South Barrington. What a perfect day! The girls had so much fun rolling pumpkins all around, touching all the different types of gourds, climbing on hay bales, getting a CAMEL ride and a PONY ride, going to see all the different baby animals, running through the cornfield maze, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on. Lets just say - great time. We'll be going back again next year for sure. We saw Annaliese's teacher there with her niece and nephew which was also fun. We forgot our camera but Miss Trieu had hers. Here are some pics that she took for us. (I'm hoping to figure out how to download pics from our cell phone too.)

Meet "Pumpkiny"

A couple of nights ago Annaliese got to stay up a little later than normal to carve a pumpkin with her dad. You don't have to ask her she'll just tell you that "I'm daddy's girl." Yes, she is daddy's girl...but mommy is crazy about her too!

The last few nights at bed time Kermit has taken "Pumkiny" up to Annaliese's room and they've watched the pumpkin glow as they read stories and fall asleep. Too precious for words.

The Bee Team

This was my favorite Halloween of all time! These little girls just loved"beeing" bees! Annaliese LOVED her tutu bee costume. I've never seen her bounce and dance around so much! The twins were just old enough to somewhat get it and be excited about it! They loved filling their bags with candy and were always very gracious to say "Daydoo"...translation..."thank you". So cute. Lots of people had their dogs out - so the girls were in heaven with costumes, candy, kids and a chance to pet every dog on the block!

The girls loved "buzzing" and tickling each other! They were just beaming with happiness all afternoon and on into the evening. The twins went to bed regular time 7:30 but at 8:15 I still heard them up there talking and giggling away.....Happy Bees! Annaliese has been sick but was well enough to enjoy the evening too....she loved passing out candy at our door almost as much as she liked trick or treating! Love that girl! Love all my baby bee's and the bee keeper is a keeper! Fun day!

That last picture is from the Halloween party at the church last Friday night. Again, the kids loved dressing up! Unfortunately we got there a little late but we still had fun. It's always fun to see what other people come up with! There were some very fun and creative costumes! We won a little prize for our family costume which was fun for us! I've never placed in a costume contest before! Cool! =)

PUMPKIN PATCH!!!!

The Grove

2 weekends ago we loaded up the family and headed for "the grove" in Glenview. Why I had never heard of this place before remains to be answered! We all had a really fun time wandering the trails taking while in all kinds of nature. We saw deer, ducks, turkeys, fish, Teepee's...what more could you ask for on a nature walk! Inside the visitors center there was a fun display of all kinds of critters both alive and stuffed. The live turtle pool was a huge hit as were the snakes...yikes.

The girls had a blast exploring everywhere, collecting treasures along the way. Here are some highlight photos from the day.....I only took about a million that day so here are my favorites. (I could tell that even Annaliese was annoyed with all my picture taking!)