Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

We had our first snow day today. We had a lot of fun sledding around the yard. Tomorrow we will be heading for the sledding hill, which I think will be a big hit. I also think Cam would love it, but need to remind myself that 19 months might be a bit too young to go flying down the hill. Despite the fact that he does do a pretty good job keeping up with his big brother.

Getting in the Christmas spirit

Despite the lack of a Christmas tree in our house yet, we did some Christmas Festivities over the weekend to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Saturday night we bundled ourselves up, by bundling up I mean that we all had on about 4 layers, as it was a balmy 20 degrees outside, and decided it was the perfect night to head to Brookfield Zoo for their Holiday Magic event with our friends, Megan & Nick and their daughter, Hailey. There was lots to do including, singing to the animals, seeing Santa & costumed characters, a laser light show. I highly recommend it to anybody in the Chicago area. Its every weekend till New Years.

Sunday morning (yes, I know we skipped church) and took a ride on the Santa Train which goes from Naperville to downtown Chicago and back. The boys had fun, as you can see in the pictures. The train ride includes Christmas Caroling, posing with Santa and lots of his helpers. The highlight for Zach was definitely expressing his wish list in great detail to Santa.... which we will see about all that!

Zach hanging with the Penguin at Brookfield Zoo.

Posing by the "Talking Christmas Tree,' which Cameron was afraid of. This was the best picture we got.

At the zoo, taking a ride in the train with the boys

All the boys with Santa

Zach telling Santa his "wish list, ", which by the way seems to be growing and changing by the day.

Zach hanging with 'Scrooge'

So thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are having a quiet, but hopefully productive (I am always trying to chip away at our never ending 'to do' list, even during holidays, despite Mark's disapproval), thanksgiving break at home this year. Both of our parents are away and it just didn't work out to get together with any of our siblings. So, I think, for the first time in our married life (8 wonderful years), we are home by ourselves and will be enjoying a mini turkey breast this afternoon. I am quite looking forward to a long weekend at home with just the 4 of us.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have great jobs, our home, our health, wonderful family & friends. We will hopefully pause for a minute today and be reminded of our all of our blessings and truly give thanks. I hope you all have a wonderful day too with your family & friends.

LOVE IT!!

Our basement is done and we absolutely love it! The boys of course think its the best and spent many hours running in circles down there before we put the furniture back in. I, of course, think its the best too, as all the toys are gradually making there way downstairs. We definitely will be spending a lot of time down there this winter, especially since its now the warmest spot in the house. Looking at the before & after pictures its hard to believe that its the same space.

BEFORE

AFTER

fall getaway

our fall getaway

We had another great trip to Phoenix! I just love going down there to visit my parents and for the most part the weather is always perfect.

Per a recommendation of one of Mark's co-workers, we decided to check out this Safari, 'Out of Africa', about an hour and a half north of Phoenix, that was absolutely amazing. Not to mention that is a gorgeous drive up there with breathtaking views of the mountains.
The park includes a bus ride to feed the giraffes, an opportunity to feed & touch the snakes, a fabulous tiger show also with a chance to feed the them. I would highly recommend it to anybody that has some time in Phoenix and has an animal lover like we do. Zach thought it was the best.

We also enjoyed many hours at the pool, where both the boys turned into fishes on a daily basis.
It was a nice break from our daily routine and not to mention I was able to be gone during a big chunk of the construction in the basement. Which is coming a long beautifully and hopefully, fingers crossed, will be done by Thanksgiving. Thanks for having us Mom & Dad. Hopefully you have recovered from our visit!

2nd Day of Halloween

Last night we hosted the 'day after Halloween' party. I figured might as well use their costumes twice, right?

I had high hopes of getting a group picture of all the kids in their costumes, but, as I should know better by now, it didn't happen. However, I did manage to capture 3 little monkeys running a muck! (Zach with Chloe & Lauren)

Oh, and the kicker of Halloween, our NEW camera malfunctioned, aka BROKE, while we were trick or treating Friday night... some treat!
It has now been shipped off for repairs, which included ALL of our Halloween pictures that had yet to be downloaded. I can only hope that if & when the camera is returned to us, the pictures are still on there.