Christmas concert video

Celebrations!

What a great start to the holidays! On Friday, we went to Ben's school to listen to his Christmas concert...you can tell he is in Catholic School now as all the songs were about Advent and Jesus (J-E-S-U-S - sung to the tune of BINGO)! It was very cute though and he was very excited to have us there for it! Here he is with his class and his teacher...

On Saturday morning, we went to Airtastic Play Place to celebrate Cousin Caroline's 5th birthday! Here is Aunt Theresa going down the slide with Juliette...she wasn't quite sure about it for a while...

We have a very similar picture of Abbey in this helmut from last year...so cute!

Now Caroline helps Juliette down the slide...

Towards the end of the party, Juliette warmed up and discovered she really did enjoy bouncing...
Ben was fearless on the slides...
Abbey and Caroline had fun going down together...
Yeah, I think he had fun...
Now she's into it...
Happy 5th Birthday Caroline!
Then we went back to Aunt Domi's house and played with Caroline's new presents...

For Phil......

This is the company I am going to work for....It is just easier to say Sirius.

Breakfast with Santa!

Our Church had a breakfast with Santa before mass this weekend and we thought that sounded like fun, especially since they were serving pancakes, which the kids LOVE and we don't make very often. So we got all dressed up in Christmas colors to be festive. Here is Daddy with his 3 little elves...

The kids in front of the tree...Ben and Abbey are holding Juliette's hands because she wouldn't stand by the tree. As soon as I got on my knees to take the picture she would run over to me. But I was able to snap this quick picture before she broke free and ran to me...

And at last, our picture with Santa. Juliette is crying and trying desperately to get Daddy to take her off Santa's lap, Abbey also wanted no part of Santa and would only stand in front of him as long as she kept her eye on him the whole time to make sure he didn't get any closer to her, and Ben was the big boy who took it all in stride. Oh well, it's a keeper of a picture anyway as it captures the chaos of the kids meeting Santa!

Snow Day

Well, winter is officially upon us now that we have had our first snowfall. We accumulated a few inches - just enough to play around in. Luckily, the weather finally warmed up enough to get out and enjoy it! So, we got everyone dressed up in their snow gear and ventured out. Juliette had a good time just walking around, although she did get pretty frustrated when she fell over because she found it incredibly difficult to get herself back up again!

Then it was time to build a snowman. Daddy and Ben went off to make a smaller snowball for the head, but Abbey thought hers was the perfect size...

The final product!

Then Ben showed Abbey how to make snow angels...
After the fun was done, it was time to get to work...

Ben and Abbey were so helpful in getting the driveway cleared...
Juliette decided to take this opportunity to get the car out of the garage...after all, we only had 2 snow shovels and they were both taken, so someone might as well have some fun!
But before long, Juliette was done with being outside.
A fun time was had by all - I am sure we will have several more opportunities to play in the snow throughout this winter!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well it was finally time to get out the tree and decorate the house for Christmas. The most exciting part, the train, was set up earlier and has been going almost non-stop since then. Luckily, the kids took a break from the train to help decorate the tree. Everyone did a great job this year and spaced out the decorations very well. In years past, we ended up with most of the kids' decorations all hanging on the same branch! Here is Abbey hanging an ornament...

Ben doing his part to help...

Abbey really enjoyed decorating the tree...

Even Juliette got into it, with Daddy's help!

I don't have a picture of it, but Ben did help Daddy put the angel up on top of the tree. He told me it had to go last and I agreed saying, "It is the most important ornament...because what is Christmas truly about?" Without any hesitation, Ben responded "Presents!!". So I thought we were in trouble in teaching Ben the true meaning of Christmas, but the next day, he was looking at the nativity scene with me and I was asking him who all the people were. He pointed out Mary and Baby Jesus. When I pointed to Joseph and asked who that was, he responded "Jesus' Daddy. His name is God." Tough to argue that one!

Moving Jobs!

So I just wanted to let everyone know that I am moving jobs.
Everyone get rid of their Motorola phones and sign up for Satellite Radio now! :)

I have really enjoyed my time at Motorola. I wish nothing but the best for all my former coworkers.

Kurby Fun

We had Uncle Phil, Aunt Sandy, Joey and Jillian over this weekend for some crazy fun. I don't know why, but I never seem to get out the camera until the kids are all in their PJ's (probably because that's when they get the craziest). Here the kids are on Daddy's and Uncle Phil's laps playing how the lady and gentlement ride...

And this is how the cowboys ride...

Meanwhile, Jillian has fun with the baby dolls...

As usual, good times were had by all!

Blog Update

For those of you who wanted to see the Turkey Trot race pictures, I believe I have fixed the problem and you should be able to see the pictures now, although it is no longer on the main page so you will have to go back to older posts to see it. Thanks for letting me know there was a problem!

Polar Express

You may remember from last year that we went on a Polar Express ride in TN last Christmas and had a fantastic time. So, when I saw that they were having a Polar Express ride from the train station in Arlington Heights, I immediately signed us up. This one was not nearly as cool as the one we did in TN, but it was fun. We left in the morning and the train went downtown, where we had an hour to explore (we chose to eat breakfast during that time) and then take the train back home. They sang songs, read the story, had a scavenger hunt which was pretty fun, and then we met Santa. It was a great time, but it was lacking a lot of the very special aspects that last year's train ride had, such as having hot chocolate or wearing their PJ's or seeing the houses where Rudolph, Santa, and the grinch lived. But, if we had never had the experience last year, we probably would have raved about this one.

Anyway, here is the gang waiting at the train station...

On the train...

Somebody sure enjoyed her candy cane...

They had a beautiful tree decorated in the train station downtown.

Then we got to meet Santa. Abbey cried at first and wouldn't sit next to him, but then had no problem telling him what both her and Juliette wanted for Christmas as long as I was holding her.

Overall, a great morning was had by all.

Juliette's 15 months

Well, Juliette went in for her 15 month appointment this week and is doing very well. She weighed in at 20 lbs, 8 oz and was 30 inches long. She only gained 8 ounces since her 12 month appointment and her weight percentile dropped down to the 20th percent, but the doctor didn't seem concerned. It is probably due to her not walking yet back at her 12 month appointment and being all over the place now. Unfortunately, she acted the same way Abbey did at this age at the doctor...as soon as I put her down on the table she started shaking and screaming. She cried the entire time she was getting measured and weighed and all during the doctor's exam. Then she had to have 2 shots - poor thing! (Abbey though has recently gotten better at the doctor, so maybe she is growing out of it).

As for development, Juliette is talking a ton now. Her newest phrase is "Hold me"...I wonder where she has heard that before...(for those of you who don't know, Abbey's favorite phrase is "Can you hold me?"). Also, her new favorite word is "Mine!", which is an important word when you have two older siblings constantly trying to steal your toys. Some of her recent new words include Chien, No No Chien, Juliette, and belly button. She can point out most of the items on a face and of course, her belly button. She knows most of the farm animal noises (her favorite to say is "baaa" for sheep). The biggest thing though is that she is starting to sing songs. You can tell when she is singing "Rock a bye baby" as she cradles her doll, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider and her ABC's (I have heard her get through the letter k so far, but Theresa said she heard her sing through p). She is talking so much every day and I love hearing the new words she says.

As for naps, she is down to one nap a day most days. About once or twice a week I will put her down for a morning nap, but the other days she is up and playful all morning. She is really interacting a lot with her siblings. She is walking everywhere and almost getting up to a run sometimes (probably when she is being chased by her siblings). She goes up and down stairs and just has fun picking up toys and walking around holding them. She is very into baby dolls too.

She is still very laid back and happy. Sometimes I stop and think about what a shock it was to find out I was pregnant with her so soon after Abbey was born, but I can't imagine our family being complete without her. She is such a joy and a blessing - thank you God for this amazing surprise!!

Backyard Fun

The day after Thanksgiving, we went down to Theresa's house to spend the rest of the weekend in Naperville/Aurora. On Saturday, we went over to Aunt Domi's house and the kids had a great time in the backyard with Daddy pulling them around by a rope. The kids could have done this all day they were having so much fun, but Daddy said it was pretty tiring. So here are Ben and Caroline helping him out to pull Abbey along.

Look at how much fun he is having!

I would say Caroline thought it was pretty fun too!

Abbey got a big kick out of it as well. Fun times!