Thanksgiving

We had a busy but fun Thanksgiving this year. We spent Wednesday & Thursday in Michigan, visiting my sister & her family, as well as our friends Brad & Bradi. The kids had a great time playing together, which included Kiera & Cameron playing dress up.























Friday night we were back in town and headed downtown Naperville for their annual Lights Parade which includes a Santa & Mrs. Claus float.








We froze our buns off with the Wiegers' family, but I think the biggest complainers were the adults. The kids didn't seem to mind the cold.





My parents treated us with tickets to see The Lion King downtown Chicago on Saturday. We had kept this as a surprise for Zachary as Cameron was a bit too young to go. He was so excited when we got in the car to head downtown & told him.


He was then even more surprised when he ran into his cousins at the bathroom at the theater. He had no idea they were coming down for the show and surprised Zach with their presence.

The show was absolutely amazing! I would highly recommend it to anybody who is a fan of the movie. The costumes were outstanding and the best part was that several times during the show some of the characters came up the aisle where we were sitting.









After the show we took a taxi over to Ed Debevic's which always produces some good laughs.

9 months

Sitting... almost at least. And its about time! Come on, girl, you are 9 months old!

I think she has finally gotten the hang of it, although she still topples over frequently & needs some support to sit for a long time. I am proud of her though, as she has come a long way this past month. She also is starting to show signs of crawling by wiggling her way forward. We have been participating in weekly physical therapy, which I think is helping her with her core strength, increasing her muscle tone, and getting her moving.
I am very much enjoying this new phase, as she just seems happier to be up and able to see the world at a new height. Long may it continue!

She also is starting to eat some 'table foods', which makes her seem so grown up. Knock on wood, she's my best eater yet.

R E S P E C T

Zachary was picked for his 1st grade to be a Longwood (name of his school) Leader. This past month they worked on the character trait of respect. Zach had earned the opportunity to be a leader last year, but for the character trait of cooperation and I was as equally as proud.

But as he gets older, wiser, mouth-ier, test-ier, sass-ier, etc. with us at home... I was wondering if he would earn such an accomplishment two years in a row at school.
Parenting is a challenge from day one and sometimes after a having some difficult times at home with dis-respectfulness, its nice to be reassured he is making us proud at school.
This was truly another proud moment and of course, and I must toot my own horn for a milla-second, as it must be a true reflection of our parenting! :-) Just kidding!
Congrats Zachary, your Mom & Dad couldn't be more proud of you!








Zachary and his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Swieter, who is as sweet as can be. He is really enjoying his year with her.