Singing Time

Blizzard 2011

We woke up this morning to about 2 feet of snow!! This is the 3rd biggest storm Chicago has ever had. Luckily, Motorola closed half day yesterday and all day today, so Ryan has been home. Cole has a cold and 2 teeth coming in, so he hasn't been his usual bubbly self, but other than that it has been a great day!!
We've been lazy and lounged in pajamas, snacking on poppyseed bread most of the day.

We built a fort and played pirates,

took a few rides on a train,

and made silly egg carton masks.

We all got in a nap (which we needed because both kids were up pretty much all night!!). Ryan and Hayden went out to play in the snow. We enjoyed laughing at multiple neighbors trying to dig a path out of their driveways. We had some family Wii time, and had homemade pizza for dinner. It really has been the perfect day! I love snow days!!

Maybe the plows wont get to us tonight, and we can do this all over tomorrow. Here's hoping :)

Snow Day

On Martin Luther King Day, we had some good snow and Ryan had the day off. So, we had to go out and play. We got the kids all bundled up and headed out.

Cole wasn't sure what to think at first... He didn't even dare move.

Then Ryan whisked him away on the sled, while Hayden tried out her snow angel skills.

Cole's final decision was that he did not want to be in the snow. So, we headed inside.

Hayden on the other hand, was in Heaven! She and Ryan stayed out to play a while longer.
This is her "enough with the pictures" face.

We did go sledding for preschool last week and Cole changed his mind about the snow. I'd take him down on the sled and he would climb back up the hill and immediately sit back on the sled to go again. I had a blast, too! We definitely will have to do a family sledding day soon!
We had preschool at our house a couple weeks ago, and the kids played with snow buckets. Hayden loved it so much we had to do it again.

Also, as you can see, Hayden got a hair cut! She got quite a bit cut off. We just took her to Great Clips. The lady asked how I wanted it cut. I told her and she said, "No, that's too drastic. Let's do something else." I politely asked her to cut it the way I had told her to. It turned out so cute. It makes her look older and so super adorable, if I say so my self, and I do ;)

In other breaking news, Cole loves lego blocks. In the last few weeks, he has really taken to building. He usually just builds with the single blocks but can get it pretty tall. It's fun to watch his little mind working.

For Christmas, I got Ryan Blackhawks tickets. We went to the game a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it took us for.ev.er to get there. It should have taken about 1 1/2 hours and ended up taking 3 hours. It took us 1 hour to go the last 10 miles because the road was so icy. It was miserable, and we missed the whole 1st period and 1/2 of the 2nd period. Luckily, they went into overtime and a shoot out. It was an awesome game and we ended up winning! This was our second Blackhawks game and we love going to see them play!

Museum of Science and Industry

Ryan had the Monday after New Years off and the Museum of Science and Industry was free that day. So, we had to check it out. It is a HUGE museum.

They had their special Christmas trees from around the world exhibit. We also went to the special Jim Henson exhibit but no pictures were allowed.

Ryan thought this car was pretty cool. The display talked about the Salt Flats, too.

We tried out the car racing...

Rock climbing....

(Cole had to have a turn, too)

The human hamster wheel.....

Enjoyed some snacks....
and tested out electricity.

This is only a very small portion of what we did. It's multiple levels with many exhibits on each level. We went through everything quickly because both kids happened to be kind of tired and ornery. After a few hours, we were all exhausted.

I don't know if it was because of the busy holiday weekend or what, but when we got home we just wanted to crash. We put the kids to bed at 5:45 and we were asleep by 7. We all slept until 7 the next morning. We must have really needed some rest! I'm glad we got it ;)

Merry Christmas!!

I've had so much fun this holiday season planning and doing holiday projects with Hayden and teaching her about the birth of Christ. Our Christmas day turned out to be pretty wonderful, too.
We woke up and opened stockings first. Hayden was excited about her sleeping beauty barbie and wand. Then we ate breakfast and moved on to the presents.

Cole wasn't too interested in opening the presents, but was excited to see them once they were open. Hayden kept saying "WOW! Look at that", whenever anyone opened anything. Her excitement was contagious!

Hayden's favorite present was her playdoh from Grammy and Grampa. She also got Beauty and the Beast, blocks, candy land, Don't Spill the Beans, and a few other little things. We played Candy Land 3 times before noon :)

Cole's favorite was the Weebles Tree House from Grandma and Grandpa Woodland. Hayden loves it, too. He also got Toy Story 3, books, a musical caterpillar (which he opened and was dancing to a week before Christmas) new trucks, a tool bench, and other things. After opening his books, he kept giving them kisses. It was so sweet.

Ryan got Blackhawks tickets, aWii game, and a new dress shirt. I got a hair straightener, boots, and an apple corer (which I've used every day since). We also got food storage money and Bloxus, which is so fun. We were all very, very spoiled!!

I know, I'm brave to post this picture. I showered soon after, I promise. We had fun playing playdoh all throughout the day! We spent the day lounging at home, enjoying our new toys. We used the web cam with both sets of grandparents. Since we had the big ham dinner the night before, we had "Cafe Rio" pork burritos, complete with the rice, beans and dressing. They are heavenly!! I think they're my favorite meal these days. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. Let me know if you want the recipe, they're AWESOME!!

The next day, we headed off to church. The kids donned their fancy duds and Hayden even let me curl her hair.

We had such a fantastic Christmas Season and we are so thankful for our blessings and know we have so much to be thankful for, especially the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we woke up to some light snow falling. It snowed before and it is so cold it sticks and turns to ice quickly. Hayden has been asking to play in the snow but I kept telling her it was to icy and we needed to wait for fresh, soft snow. So, when she woke up and saw the new snow, she was ready to go.

I have to admit, I was excited, too. Cole was napping and Ryan was working on the van. So, it was girl time!

We had so much fun together. We tried to make a snow man but the snow in our "yard" was too icy. We did manage to hit daddy with a few snow balls. Hayden thought that was hilarious. Then we tried to sled down our little hill. It was a little too little and we didn't make it far. But Hayden liked spinning around on the sled instead. When we were done we headed inside for hot chocolate with marshmallows. We'll definitely have to head out again. I'm sure there will be plenty of snow in the next couple months.

That night we headed over to the Goates house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Every year we have this dinner with a bunch of the families in our ward who don't have family near by. Last year we had it at the church because there were so many families. So many people have been moving away recently that we were down to just three families this year, Us, the Goates, and the Dejas. The missionaries came, too. It was still so fun and we're sad the Goates will be moving in a few weeks.

The kids table was a little rowdy and not much eating happened there ;) Hayden ended up eating half a roll. Too much excitement, I guess.
Cole got to sit at the adult table and scarfed down plenty of food. I love that smile and the ever present drool ring on his shirt!! After the big ham dinner, the kids acted out the nativity while Steve told the story. Then we sang some Christmas songs and headed home!

While we were gone, the elves dropped off our new pajamas. Hayden ran up the stairs and freaked out. She was so excited. I wish I would have caught it on video...

Cole was too busy eating even more to care about his new duds.

After our jammas were on the kids headed off to bed, dreaming of sugar plums, or something like that ;)

6 Years

On the 18th we celebrated our 6th anniversary. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time flies. There is a great family in the ward that was offering free babysitting for all of the families in the ward on the night before our anniversary. So, we took advantage of that and went out a night early. We decided to forego presents this year and go somewhere fun for dinner. Off to the Melting Pot we went. We've been wanting to go there for years. The food wasn't our favorite and I don't think we would go back there again, but we had a great time. It was a fun "experience" type restaurant, and as you can see the dessert was delicious! I was brave and tried duck. Yuck! I couldn't even swallow the one bite I took. We had a great night of laughing and just enjoying each other. It was a great anniversary. Here's to many many more!!!