Christmas 2013

The most wonderful time of the year!  Christmas 2013 was a success!  I was a bit nervous and wondered if we'd pull it off.  I had everything timed out perfectly but my plans came to a halt when Adeline and Avrie came down with the stomach flu on the Thursday before Christmas and had to miss their school party on Friday and didn't recover until Monday. Fortunately nobody else in the family got sick but I did have to just let some things go this year.  Like cards for example....our Christmas cards have become New Years cards....and I'm mailing them out tomorrow, January 13th. Oh well.   They turned out super cute though! I'm excited for them anyway.

The favorite gift this year were the nutcrackers you see in this picture.  I have to say that they really love their bath robes and their ice skates as well.  We are working on ice skating.  If you look carefully in the picture Avrie has a splint on her left wrist because she fell while ice skating.  She's fine now thankfully.  Next time we'll be sure to wear wrist guards under our gloves.

I think one of my favorite memories this year will be when our family went Christmas Caroling. We visited our neighbors and some older single women from our ward.  Kermit played the guitar and we sang "Good King Wenceslas" and "Away in a Manger."  Both were very cool arrangements and the girls sounded so good!  Hearing their voices never got old and almost made me cry every time!  I loved it! I definitely want to do that again next year. 

Over the break we visited a few museums and watched movies but many days were spent home in our pajamas enjoying whatever each person felt like. Some of our traditions didn't happen this year but we have the good excuse of having a new baby.  I think the thing I really want to concentrate on and set as a personal goal for 2014 is to have the shopping done by October 1st. Fall is such a busy time for our family with birthdays and holidays so I would love to unwind and focus more on service to others in December rather than worrying about if I'm ready with gifts for my own family.  I better get started! =)

Oh,and I have to mention that the girls were in HEAVEN when we got hit with a massive winter storm that dumped tons of snow and left us with crazy low temperatures.  Like  40 below!  It was heaven because school was cancelled for two days and then a third day because the pipes froze at school.  It was the vacation that kept on giving!  Thank you Chicago for the three extra days of Christmas vacation!

A Weekend in December

This little girl had her 2 month check up.  She's perfect and healthy!  What a blessing!  She is in the 95th percentile for height (24.5 inches) and 75 percentile for weight (12 lbs).  She's growing so fast.   All her 0-3 month and some of her 3-6 month clothing went next door to our neighbor who has a baby just a few weeks younger and much smaller.   She started smiling and cooing a few weeks ago and we are loving it!  She has started to prefer keeping her head turned to the left so we are constantly trying to get her to turn right so that she doesn't end up in a helmet like Annaliese did.  She also got shots at this appointment.  She did not like that at all.   Last time she was pretty mellow.  Not so this time.  I finally got her settled down afterwards and she slept for 3 hours but when she woke up....wow! Never have I heard her scream like she did that day.  Thank goodness for Tylenol! I felt so bad.  She was miserable.  Tylenol took the edge off and before long we had our sweet happy baby back.

This weekend we got some awesome snow.  "Sledding Hill" at Oz was full of neighborhood kids- ours included.  Althea and I stayed in the car and watched.  The girls are getting pretty good. I even saw some surf board type sledding from them.  Good times!  Afterwards we went to Avrie's favorite restaurant...Noodles and Co.  Here they are still in their snow clothes waiting for our food. 

And...What would we do if we didn't go see the Joffrey Nutcracker?  Three years in a row now we've taken the girls so that means it is definitely a tradition.  It never seems to get old and we all love it.  Also for the third year in a row we drove through the drive thru at Protillo's for dinner.  Then like every year we had to speed through town to try to get there before we were late.  And for the third year in a row we sat in our seats just as the lights dimmed and the show began.  We've got it down!  Maybe next year I'll get us an early dinner reservation somewhere nice and mix things up a bit! 

We decided the best dances are the Arabian Dancers and the Russian Dancers. Also the girls loved the little ginger bread boy.  We have a couple of different storybooks of the Nutcracker that we read every year.  The girls don't know this but I'm pretty sure that Santa will have 4 giant Nutcrackers for them this year on Christmas morning. I hope they'll love them.  

 On a side note....This year Adeline announced that she would like to take ballet lessons.  She just doesn't want to perform ever and she doesn't want anyone to be in her class.  Hmmm.  Will work on that but I am glad that she is interested in lessons because I think she could be good at it.  Actually I bet all three could be awesome.  Dance lessons are a good thing I think.

And finally, Kermit has been working on a new song/video for Christmas.  Good King Wenceslas.  My girls have the sweetest voices.  It melts me when I hear them sing.

Busy weekend I'd say.  More crazy but fun days ahead as we count down to Christmas.

More of October

What would October be without our visit to Goebert's Farm! I love the picture below. Avrie is holding the zombie's hand! he he. =)

Last but not least, here is the video again. The resolution isn't very good here so click the link here for a better picture.

Halloween 2010 - Sugarbuzz Video

This Halloween was a good one, as expected!

Annaliese was a snow leopard, Adeline was Little Red Riding Hood and Avrie was a Jack -o -lantern.

Me, a witch. Kermit, himself!

Saturday we headed to our church for a fun Halloween party. The pictures above are from the party. (Oh and I must add that I won a little prize for "the most unique" chilli for the cook off. I do love that white chicken chili! The kids were quite impressed that mom could cook something worthy of a prize. To them, good cooking means dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets from the freezer.)

Sunday was Halloween. Trick or Treaters kept coming by the dozens. We thought passing out candy was as much fun as getting it! When we finally ran out of candy we went out for our own turn at trick or treating. Good times! (note to self...buy FOUR Costco bags of candy next year!)

Also, here is Kermit's latest video appropriately entitled "sugarbuzz" with footage from our post trick or treating. Thanks Kermit for putting this together! So cute! Click here to view on Youtube.

Labor Day Weekend 2010

So this last Labor Day weekend we decided to take a road trip with the kids south. All the way down to Bella Vista, Arkansas, home to my grandparents. What a great weekend we had! We broke up the 10 hour drive by stopping in at the half way point both coming and going. I planned ahead and booked a hotel (woohoo for me...no sleeping on the side of the road in a car b/c every hotel along I-55 is full)! We were thrilled beyond thrilled to get a clean and comfy room to stay the night, a free hot breakfast in the morning and...a pool to play around in, all for about $99! We vacation in style! ;) (And did I mention I didn't have to sleep in a car with a wiggly four year old on my lap? Yay!) Truly though, it was a prefect weekend!

On our journey we stopped in St. Louis to show the girls THE arch and ended up randomly running into my old friend Terica and her family. That was so cool ! I love that girl and she has the cutest family ever. She and her family live there now and it had been awhile since I'd been in touch with her. We were both pregnant with our twins at the same time when they lived here in Chi-town. It was so fun to see her there! (Terica, can I get that picture you took so I can insert it here...until then imagine two hot momma's here.)

After our St. Louis adventure we pushed on to AR for the long awaited visit with my grandparents. We had hoped to go down for a visit this summer but Grandpa's health was too poor for us to make the trip. Finally he was feeling better and was up for some company so we jumped at the chance to visit. The girls had been praying all summer for their Great Grandpa W. to get better but they really didn't know who he was. The last time they had seen him they were babies! The girls were so excited to finally be able to see him and Anna. It was great. I was so happy to see him as well. It had been about four years since I last saw him. He hasn't changed a bit and I love it. He is older sure, but he is still Grandpa. When I called to tell him we were almost there I could tell he was just so happy and told me to get over there now. Our visit was short, just a few hours. We sat at his kitchen table and visited for awhile then the kids and Kermit went out back and played. Anna made a delicious lunch for us. We visited some more then we headed out. Short and sweet but oh so worth the effort to be there. I love my Grandpa and Anna. I was so glad I got to take my family to visit.

Memorial Day Weekend + the rest of MAY 2010

Guess where Kermit and I spent Memorial Day weekend!
No kids!


My old stomping ground!

(Um, that would be DC in case you couldn't see the capitol there in the background on the first pic.)

Everywhere we went we kept saying, "the kids would love this....lets bring them back." Guess we'll just have to do that. This place is such a blast to visit and is where Kermit and I spent much time dating those three years....so we'll bring the kids back for SURE!


We visited the American History Museum one day and the National Gallery of Art the other. We could have seen a ton more....except when you sleep until noon....guess we'll just have to go back!

This was my first time back since I left almost 11 years ago. I loved flying in to Reagan Airport looking down at Arlington and all the old familiar places I used to go. It took me back to a time when Kermit and I would fly back and forth just to see each other for a weekend. Here I was doing the same to see my man after not seeing him all week. (He had been there on business and I flew in to join him for the long weekend.) The difference this time is that we got to go home together rather than saying good bye! (And I just realized something....Memorial Day weekend was the weekend we got engaged! That is a post for another day but all the more reason to celebrate!)

I loved my cab ride to the hotel passing all the familiar places and beautiful winding roads. I'd live there again! Oh, how I loved DC!

That weekend there was a huge parade of veterans riding motorcycles through town. Not just a few motorcycles...thousands and thousands! Thanks to all the veterans that have served our country! We love you and appreciate all you have done!

We visited the new World War II memorial. It wasn't there yet when I lived there. We liked it, but felt it was too modern for our taste. We love what it represents. Too bad this wasn't completed sooner when more WWII vets could go see it.




We stayed at a hotel across from the White House. Hay Adams. Very cool! No pics of the hotel but here is the White House anyway.

What a fun trip! Can't wait to go again! And take the family next time!


*****
Then there was the rest of May....


We are getting ready to say good bye to our good friends the Francoms. Boo hoo! Don't leave us!Good luck to you friends!


We played in cotton wood fluff. Aaaaahhhh Chooooo! Where is my zyrtec?


Visited Brookfield Zoo. If you look close there are giraffes back there.



Checking out the animals. This was only our second time at Brookfield. Pleasantly surprised this time! We just may have to go back again soon!



Grandma and Kimmel came to town! Yes, its that time of year when grandma makes her trip back to Massachusetts for the summer and when she stops in Chi town to see us! We love it! This time Uncle Kimmel came too! We visited the Art Institute....


and Millennium Park.

We had a blast with them! We cant wait to see them again soon on their turf!

And last but not least...May brought us many a family bike rides. Loving those bikes! We get lots of smiles as we ride down the street. Dad takes the lead with the three girls behind. I ride in back to push along any slow pokes.

GREAT TIMES in May 2010~

April 2010

Let's see.... a few pictures from my phone to share. It was a beautiful April. Easter was a warm day here which NEVER happens. I loved that we had General Conference on Easter. I wish it could be like that every year. I loved staying home with the girls hunting for eggs. I loved hearing wonderful messages and talks! It truly was a day centered around family and the peace that comes with Easter. A perfect day!

(I think I have some other pics taken with our good camera...stay tuned...they may turn up yet!)

Catch Up Post - December 2009 Adventures!

Before I can post spring pictures....let me post these winter ones! One of these days I'll be better at keeping this blog up to date....for now it's me playing catch-up! Enjoy our flashbacks!

Every year for December we have a little wooden advent calendar with little doors that count down to Christmas. Behind each door of the calender is a note inside that reveals a special something that we get to do as a family. Sometimes the advent calender will send us somewhere exciting like Navy Pier Winter Wonderland, other days we get to decorate candy houses. Sometimes we get a new Christmas book to read. Every day is exciting as the kids pull out the note that tells them what fun thing they get to do for the day. Here are some pictures we took from some of advent calendar outings. Good times!

I took the kids and hopped on the EL train. Three stops later we were at Kermit's NEW office building! We met up with dad and had a lunch date to remember! 42nd floor!

December would just not be complete without a visit to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland. Loving the little Ferris Wheel!

We went to see CSO's Welcome Yule! Fun! The girls primary teacher sings professionally and is a member of the CSO choir. It was fun to get dressed up all fancy and to see their teacher perform. (Fun extra tidbit...during intermission a youth orchestra was performing in one of the ball room lobby areas. Addie started to dance and twirl to the music totally uninhibited. Soon the other two joined in as well and they all just stole the show! It was too cute! Oh how I wish I had video! I knew then that I needed to get them signed up for a dance class!)

We visited the Botanic Gardens. You'd think that there wouldn't be much to see or do in the winter....but what a fun place any time of year. They have an elaborate indoor exhibit of little trains traveling all throughout villages made of tree bark and all kinds of woodland plants. So cute! They also had a variety of fun activities for the kids to do as well. Love that place!

Can't forget Rain forest Cafe!

Took the girlies to the Art Institute. They did pretty good. (Lost Addie for a good five minutes! Now that was the worst feeling ever! Luckily she was wearing bright pink and was easily spotted clear across the other side of the museum. Whew!)

PUMP IT UP!

Guess who was the star of the kindergarten class play? Great performance Annaliese!

That's about it for now! Next we'll be skipping to February. Come back soon!

New video: Jingle Girls

Click here to view our Christmas video

Merry Christmas to One and All

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

These past few weeks....wow! They have been full! Full of activities, service, shopping, stress, pink eye, fun, excitement, sadness, love, repeat....(except the pink eye part).

We've been busy with school programs and parties, church service and festive family outings. I don't remember a Christmas ever being as full as this year. I'm finally finished with our church giving tree project. Also our family has been busy supporting a family from church who tragically lost their son last week. We've recovered from a house full of runny noses and goopy eyes. Add to that some of our family traditions such as Zoo Lights, Wonderland Express and CSO Welcome Yule...there you have a FULL December. Christmas cards may or may not make it out this year, but I did get some cute pics of the kids in case they do. Whew...Christmas is in two days...what should I get Kermit? Any suggestions? =)

Guess who's coming to dinner!

Byron and Co...that's who! My brother Byron drove his family up from Texas to spend THanksgiving with us! We had such a fun time! THANKS FOR MAKING THE TRIP! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!



Above is all of us sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. Pie would come later...and it was then that we realized my pumpkin pies from Costco needed to be refridgerated. Oops, ours had been on the counter for a few days. Tammy and I whipped up 2 pies from scratch in 20 minutes. They turned out awesome! Our apple pie was great too! Tammy, we are dangerous together!


Above: All the kids lined up in fromt of Portillo's.

We spent one of our days at the Museum of Science and Industry. We loved seeing the German Uboat and the model trains. I love this time of year when they have the hall of Christams Trees from around the world.
Below: The Links, what a great family they are~


Below: Here we are. (This picture is our only family shot in months. I better get on the stick or this picture will be our only option for Christmas cards....I mean New Years Cards by the time we get them out.)


Below: THE German Uboat

Below: Greyson towering over Chicago


We spent one of the days at the Field Museum. You can't come to visit us without seeing dinosaur bones! Good Times!
All of us in front of Sue the T-Rex.

Field Museum. View from 2nd level

Above: Dino bones

Above: Brynna

Above: Avrie

Above: After the museum we went to Starfruit for some frozen keiffer. Note, if you ever go there I recommend getting a berry smoothie b/c it tastes like a berry smoothie. =)

I couldn't resist this picture of Maggie. Her face says it all. Turns out that frozen keifer wasn't a huge hit. My favorite comment was from Caden who said, "I don't think mine is vanilla." At least the toppings were good! =) (Kieffer is sour...and for some vanilla and sour don't mix well I guess.)

The entire time they were here the kids just played and played the entire time! Every now and then they'd come away from their play for food or something. =) Our "playcave" was in use constantly. The older boys loved playing fooseball....we also had some nailbiter rounds of Chinese Checkers. Greyson has some good moves!
above: Greyson and Caden

above: Brynna and Annaliese

above: Addie and Maggie

Below: Annaliese saying goodbye to cousins! We love you all!

We can't wait to see you again! We loved having you here! Let's do it again real soon! WE LOVE YOU GUYS! xoxox