Christmas in Houston

We went to Houston on the 20th for Christmas, we flew stand-by and were so excited to actually get on the flight! Grandma and Grandpa had the whole house decked out and had all kinds of toys for the grandkids, needless to say, Milo was in heaven!

It was great to enjoy the nice weather, we made a few trips to the park. Milo LOVES his grandpa and was always looking for him if he didn't see him!

Milo loved "cooking" with Grandma and liked to hide in her pantry.

Nikki, Nate and Teddy joined us on the 22nd. Here is a special pancake Grandma and Grandpa made.

We checked out the Houston Children's Museum which was a hit! Milo loved grocery shopping.

Teddy crawling up the stairs.

Milo had a fever and was extra cuddly, which I LOVED!

Christmas morning, Milo loved his Thomas the train whistle!

The boys

Milo had so much fun with all of Grandma's Christmas decorations, most lit up or played music!

What a wonderful Christmas!

Weekend with Friends

Our friends from MI came in town last weekend for a visit. It was great to see everyone and GREAT to have enough room to host 4 adults and 4 kids!

Bath time with Kennedy and Owen

Group shot in matching slippers

Who is that cutie in the background?

Beth and Vera

Eric playing with Finn, Finn was hysterically laughing and saying "Say Where's Finn!"

Story time with count 'em, 5 kids on my lap!

Milo, Vera and Popeye

Christmas-y Weekend

We had a full weekend and were able to get into the Christmas spirit, which is my FAVORITE time of year! I look forward to decorating the second I feel the crisp autumn air approaching! It is so much fun to share our Christmas traditions with Milo. Here he is helping us make some cookies.

He was mostly the taste tester!

We had some friends over for a Christmas lunch which was very fun, as it always is with these girls!

Mary's sweet little boy Cole

Later on we went to see the "Christmas train" which our brother-in-law Don has seen many times on his ride into work and said it was a "must see!" We had to rush to get there but it was super fun and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

I wish someone would carry me around on their back!

Lila all bundled up on Don's chest

Waiting for the train to come

After the train we went down to the Christkindel market in Daley Plaza where there is German food and cute little houses selling German glass ornaments. (Eric and I went Thanksgiving weekend too and got Milo an ornament which didn't survive the day!) We bought the kids their yearly ornament and Milo got his replacement train ornament.

On Sunday we babysat for Lucy and Lila while Kim and Don went to the Bears game.

Lila enjoying the game!

We were even brave enough to take all three kids to Legoland, which was really fun. They had a full room of Chicago built in Legos, pretty impressive!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our day started out with the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, as you can see Milo enjoyed it! His favorite part was the performance by the Rockettes, he didn't look away for one second!

Then we headed over to Kim and Don's, who are wonderful hosts!

It's impossible to get a picture where everyone's eyes are open and all children are looking...here's a good effort.

A beautiful table set by Kim

Lila was smiling like crazy, she is such a sweetheart!

Dessert...Milo loved the pumpkin cheesecake, turkey, not so much!

And yes, it's that time of year again matching Christmas PJ's!

What I am thankful for...

a healthy, happy little boy!

Saying Good-bye to 3501 #3

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! We moved on the 30th and have been unpacking, organizing, painting etc. ever since! We LOVE our new house (more to come on that) but had a bit of a difficult time saying good-bye to the condo, Milo's first home! We had so many wonderful memories in that place and Eric and I were a little teary-eyed as we walked through it all empty and "said good-bye."

First some memories (I know I am so cheesy!)

Getting our first dog, Yuki

Bringing Milo home form the hospital

Summer fun on the balcony and window boxes

Christmas decorations

Last days:

Beautiful view of the trees from the third floor

A walk by the school

Watching the construction workers

Goofing around

A walk with Grandpa

So with that we say "So long" to West Wilson Ave. While we will not miss many things about the neighborhood...it was our boy's first home and we filled that home with love and memories!

Happy Halloween from Dino Boy!

I'm gonna get you!