Friday, January 14, 2011

My Little Ham

While chasing down Cole to take pictures is currently a challenge, Mia is happy to pose for my camera.  Here are 2 pictures of my little ham. :)


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Girl and Her Cat, take 2

After posting this on my new 365 blog, I found Mia and Zip all snuggled up together in bed last night.   I love how his tail is wrapped around her leg.  :)

Monday, January 10, 2011

Eye Contact!

It is always a challenge to get my Cole train to slow down long enough to snap a picture with actual eye contact.  So I was thrilled when I was able to get one the other day (even with the Thomas shirt! :)  ).  Isn't he getting big??

 And I know I have posted a similar picture in the past, but he just LOVES playing with his trains and will play for HOURS with them. 

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Polar Express

Last year we suprised my mom by taking her for a ride on the Polar Express with the two oldest grandkids-Mia and Noah.  We decided to go again this year with Cole and Claire as well.  Once again, it did not disappoint.  The kids had a great time and meeting Santa was a highlight.  It is so fun to have new traditions as a family. :) 


Santa Mia on the Polar Express
Mommy and Mia
ColeTrain on the train :)
Noah
And Claire
Santa Cole
Mia visiting with a princess and an elf
Mom and Jen
We were surprised to bump into our neighbors on the train-Cole and Conner were enjoying one another's company
SANTA!!!
Mia was so excited to see him and ask for a Rapunzel doll
Cole was a little more indifferent, but at least didn't freak out when meeting Santa like last year :)
So cute!
Cole giving Santa knuckles
Family Picture
We had a busy weekend and Cole was pretty worn out
But he perked back up when he got a balloon animal (which quickly lost its shape!)
Love this of Cole looking out the train
Grammy and Mia
Cort, Cole and Grammy

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

New Year, New Blog

I know what you are thinking, new blog?  She can hardly keep up with the one she has! :)  That may be true, but I am going to give it a try.  Head over HERE to check out my new picture-a-day blog.  The purpose of the new blog is to document our day-to-day life with a just one picture a day. I am not always the best at updating this blog since it tends to be more time consuming to upload multiple pictures and narrate the text that goes along with it. My 365 blog will be much simpler and will challenge me to post a picture a day of our every day life that alone tells the story. And yes, I will still be updating this blog as well, this will just be the more long-winded one. :)

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!  Of course, new year, new resolutions!  Hopefully one of those will be keeping up with my blog!  More on that in another post.  :)

This year we were lucky to spend New Years Eve with some of my oldest friends-Venessa, Marina, and Lisa, as well as their families.  Each New Years I am reminded how much my life has changed when we trade in fancy hotel parties, for kiddie countdowns at 8pm.  :)  However, I wouldn't change it for the world! 

Here's the recap....

We started off the evening with a "pizza picnic" aka, the only way to seat all the kids
The girls had fun playing together
We settled in for a bit to watch Mia and Erica in their debut tv performance on Bolingbrook public access TV

Then we decided to get in the New Years spirit
Love this of the 3 girls
 (thanks to Auntie Cathy for Mia's dress up outfit, it is one of her faves!)
Then we got the kids ready for their countdown as well as sparkling grape juice toast
(ignore the annoying tivo on the screen in the background!)
Sparkling grape juice toast!


Mia was not a fan-she said it was burning her mouth :)
Then we got the kids in their pjs and let them watch a quick show to settle down before bed
The girls again
Cole and me
Mia and me
 Once we put the kids to bed, the grownups decided to have some fun
 Venessa and Jimmy
 Me and Cort
 Lisa and Bob
 We broke out an oldie but goodie-Catch Phrase
 All of us (minus Corey who took over photo duties)

 Finally, we toasted the new year at midnight

Cort and I are so lucky to have spent the weekend with such wonderful friends who have been in my life since junior high! Happy New Years to you all!

And to finish off, here is a quick video clip of the kids counting down and toasting at midnight.  It makes me laugh hearing how many times a grown-up is calling out "two hands" as the kids get ahold of their juice. :)