Chicago

Sorry grandparents, no pics of our kids in this one, but there is a baby so you can get a fix just the same. Last week I went to Chicago to visit my dear friend Suz who recently gave birth to Maggie Grace. As you can see below she was the star of the show while we were there, full of personality, such a sweetie.


These pics, uploaded small for some reason, I'm not savvy enough to fix them, but you can still get an idea of what we did. Chi is a great city, would love to go back when it's not covered in snow!
123456
7

1- Tina (my trusty traveling partner) in front of the snow & ice covered lake at Navy Pier.
2-We had breakfast at Toast, yummy stuffed french toast!
3- Met up with some Ravencresters that we hadn't seen in forever, one of them my old roomie!
4- Chicago Style Pizza
5- Excited about Chicago style pizza
6- We went to Marshall Fields to buy Frango Mint Chocolates, they had chocolate shampoo!
7- T, Me & Suz...a great time, with dear ones.


We took sampling Oberwiess Ice Cream very seriously, Chocolate Almond Shake, extra thick, enough said.


The happy little fam and our gracious hosts.

*photos by tina (except for what she's in of course:)

little bit of snow

So I must confess that a few weeks ago I entered a few posts without actually publishing them, and this one is definitely outdated. For one, it's starts out by saying...."last Saturday" which of course isn't true anymore; two, we have gotten so much more snow since then, it's still on the ground and more of a thick layer of ice now. But last weekend the kids did get to play in the real snow with their cousins as well as go for snowmobiling rides with daddy. You may desire to see pictures of these events, but I wasn't there to record the memories. I was in Chicago visiting dear friends with a dear friend. Perhaps I'll share pics of that trip next time. For now enjoy this "older" entry.

Last Saturday we had a little bit of snow (but most thus far) and the kids were excited to go out and play in it. They had grand plans of snowmen, snowball fights, and snow forts. So we bundled up went outside and maybe five minutes later were back inside for hot chocolate. I think they ended up being more excited about getting cozy with a cup of hot cocoa than anything else. My kids for sure!

Mirror Fun

imagine if there were two!

a ballerina takes pause

Friends passed down a leotard with attached tutu to E the last time we were at their house for dinner. It has been the outfit of choice ever since. One morning when we just didn't make it to the gym, we did some ballet together. When we were done, E was kind enough to allow me to photograph her in a resting state. She loosened up at the end as you can see. By the way the bow on her head is an accessory that she added herself.

hanging out

It's been fun lately to see J & E play with one another more. Yes there is still the provoked scream or two between them, but overall they really seem to enjoy each other's company.

I have discovered her like this a couple times. She sneaks out of bed to put on some ballerina or princess dress up clothes and then falls asleep. If she doesn't do this before she goes to sleep, it is often that she gets gussied up before coming downstairs from her nap.

We have the pleasure of cousin Ella hanging out with us at least a couple days a week. Today her and E were playing and Ella decided she was going to "take a bath" in this can (that we normally keep the balls in) and E was the baby in her seat. They love to be silly girls.

Holiday Time Part 3 (finally)

I know that posting Christmas pictures is so last year ;), but there were a few that I never got around to sharing. These are the last of them.




Naughty Aunt Kathy letting E dip her finger into the whip cream.





One of the best parts of our trip was that my all my cousins (minus two and a spouse, and a fiance') along with aunts and uncles came down to btown to visit us. They came on different days, which was nice because I felt like I was able to have some quality time with each of them. Traci was snoozing and E decided to have a snuggle.





Our little man (random side story, today I gave the kids some strawberries with their lunch, and J must have noticed that I gave him the last of them, because I was walking away and he said "here mommy, you can have this strawberry." Twas very sweet, as strawberries are a precious commodity)







A highlight for the kids is helping grandpa feed the dogs and sometimes the birds.




Tried to capture this view and bring it back with me.

Holiday Time Part 2

Christmas morning brought lots of goodies for the kiddies.

J got this train from my dad. He was thrilled!

E loved her baby carrier, a princess one at that!

I think my brother's favorite gift had to be this muscle shirt and fanny pack from me!!


Watching the train with Great Grandma Lee.


Grandma & E playing a duet.


We had classic Btown, CA Christmas weather, sunny and beautiful.
We even had Christmas lambs in the fields.

Holiday Time part 1

I had this vision of an enormous blog with a million pictures, alas I'll be splitting it in 2 parts (possibly more). There are so many pics I want to share with you but it seems I can only do so many at a time.

As the kids get older, Christmas becomes more and more fun. It reminds me of when my mom and I took them to Disneyland a couple summers ago. I don't remember the last time I went before that, but taking the kids made me see Dland in a way that I had forgotten. We didn't do any fast rides nor go at the speed of light in order to get in as much as possible. Instead we took our time and did things that I don't know if I ever did or even noticed before, and seeing it through my children's eyes made the experience so precious. Having our kids had made me look at Christmas in a way that I haven't in a long time.

Our holiday season started with a visit from my brother and his wife for Thanksgiving. It was such a treat as we had not seen them in a couple of years. They had served in Japan for around 4 yrs and are now in FL. Hopefully we can see more of each other while we are on the same side of the country. The bad news is I hardly took any pictures :( But the kids love their aunt and uncle and seeing them at christmas was great too.


The kids were in the Christmas program at church. J a shepherd boy that held a cross and E and angel who held a Bible and a heart. They were both so cute. E really surprised me with her amazing stage presence as well as her effort to enunciate the words to the songs, and to keep mouthing the words even when she didn't know them.

The Saturday before we left for CA we had Christmas with Dennis' family. The cousins love playing together. That was an important part of growing up for both D & I and we are grateful that our kids can have that as well.


Dennis has a friend who's dad is really into trains. He has a mini train that goes around his property. This year they held a train ride that took you through a (small) lights display. It was freezing, and a super long line, so out of sensitivity to the people behind us (we waited for almost an hour) we four crammed into a roughly 2 1/2 by 3 ft. box car. It was a moment I had to capture.

The Thursday night before Christmas we headed out to CA to be with my family. The kids were fairly good on the plane. It definitely gets easier as they get older. While we were there took the time to relax and catch up on a variety of things, such as...........

Reading,

baking,

lounging in front of a TV with more than 2 clear channels,

and some arts and crafts (gingerbread house).

Christmas eve was filled with the traditions of ......

going to the candle light Christmas Eve service.

singing happy birthday to Jesus (actually this was new, but someone always gives my dad the christmas tree cake)

and Christmas pj's!!

more to come..........

"Cinderella is nice"

The title of this entry is something that E says randomly as if to spark a conversation about the varied personalities of the well known princesses. E turned three this month. I know I took forever to post the pics, but you should be used to this by now. The party was a success. My mom was in for a quick trip to help and enjoy in the festivities. The Cinderella princess party was well received by all that attended.

Everyone had their picture taken in front of the castle. She didn't want to wear the sleeves on the dress because they "tickled".


This was the princess cake. I envisioned it a little different, perhaps if the frosting wasn't white....anyway, it still tasted yummy!


The knights made shields and the princesses made necklaces (shown on E below).


My mom bought necklaces for the girls that turned out to be lockets with purple lip gloss inside. I suppose a princess must look her best. I was told later that a cousin was found with a completely purple face.


The next morning there was a tea party to recooperate from the previous evenings affairs.

overdue..........

At J's school they did not have a halloween party, they had a storybook character day. J chose to be templeton the rat from Charlotte's Web. I read this to him this summer. It was so fun to see how he got into the story and really feel for the characters. When we finished the book there wasn't much reaction at first. Later, however, he came to me with teary eyes and said, "Mommy, I don't want Charlotte to die." I was of course touched with his compassion for the eight legged heroine, and I was also realizing that the future only holds more tough questions from the mouths of my babes. I pray that I will pray when they do so I can pass on God's wisdom, and not my own. Here's a pic of J as the rat. It was also a "Donuts for Dads" day, so D was able to go down and see J in action. He got there and J did not want to wear his costume. Even though he was excited about it when we made it, I knew this would happen. So I had prewarned D and told him to make him wear it for at least one picture. As you can see I have a husband who loved me enough to take a picture of a grumpy boy.

E's bday party is on Friday so i will try to post pics soon after that.

Field Trip

Earlier this month J had his first kindergarten field trip. It was to a apple orchard, and it involved a tour guided hay ride (big bummer for my allergies).

Everyone was allowed to pick an apple off of a tree, play in a straw bale maze and sample some excellent apple cider.


It was so much fun to see him in his school mode as well as talk to his teacher a bit (who is a believer :).