The Florida Keys

I am a bit delinquent with my post, but none the less we had great trip to the Florida Keys last week. We were graciously hosted by our GR friends, Brad & Bradi in Marathon Key and also had the pleasure of Steve & Stacy's company. We enjoyed a stress & kid free long weekend in the warmth (well, not as warm as we had hoped, but still way warmer then at home so that was all that mattered). It was a our first time in the Keys and got to experience two evenings down in Key West, which also was quite an adventure and not necessarily G rated for the blogging friends! :-)

Its funny how when you are away from your kids you somehow forget to take pictures of other experiences in your life. So, these three are about the best of the few I did remember to take.

Mark & Steve's catch of the day for supper

the ladies









the boys and their foo foo drinks...

Thanks again Kreiders for having us, we can't wait to repeat the trip!!

Da Boyz'

My Boys... they are Daddy's boys through and through. Most mornings, first thing Zach says when he comes down, "where's Dad?" First thing Cam says when I walk into his room, "Dada, Dada!"

Whats a Mom to do?
I think its wonderful that they think their Dad is the greatest, as I see it a testament to what a great father Mark is. He has much, much, much more patience then me and is also much better at playing cars, trains, transformers, and superheros. I guess if this is going to be a house of boys & testosterone, there has to be some advantage, right? I love it that they are 'daddy's boys!'

Last few weeks of 2008

We have been pretty busy over break so I have been slacking with blogging lately, so here's a brief summary of what we have been up to during the final two weeks of 2008.
We had Christmas in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with Mark's family, which included both of his brothers. We also managed to do some fun things with friends during Christmas break from school.
Order of pictures are from a weeks ago till most recent

Christmas 2008, Grandkids with Nana & Grandpa Leys

Finally Christmas morning!! Cousins Emily, Charlie and Zach loving the presentsMark & his brothers, Paul & Chuck, Charlie and Zachary sledding in Wisconsin. Perfect weather for a family photo op on the beach at Lake Michigan Much, much snow in Wisconsin. Charlie, Zach & Camers sitting on a huge snow pileWe took a trip down to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland with book club girls and their kids. We had intended to get a group photo of the kids but of course that never happened. This is the only picture I got of some of the kids playing in a 'ball room', where they could throw balls at each other.

Zach, Cam, Max, Lauren & Chloe. We had a great time and I hope we have started a new tradition. Sledding with Max & Sara. Here are the Snow Angels, Max & Zach Sara & Max having fun going down the hill together.

This picture of Sara makes me laugh so I had to add it. They had a hoot going down the hill together.

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