Christmas memories 2011

-Tree: We put up a real tree and Claire got to put up a small artificial one in her room.

-Ornaments: Claire and Maddie love the musical ornaments. Allie loves to look and point at the tree and lights and say "ball" since there are many ball shaped ornaments.

-The Elf on the Shelf tradition begins! Claire names him Fred.

-Claire loves the tiny precious moments manager set. She especially likes to see baby Jesus and is very careful with the figures.

-Claire becomes a little too obsessed with her chocolate advent calender. She has trouble understanding the concept of just having 1 chocolate!

-There was NO snow! What a weird winter so far!

Christmas Day in Mt. P

We drove straight from Belleville to Mt. P to continue the Christmas celebration! We arrived early, so the girls napped and we relaxed until the Welkes and Zielke's came over!

Boys!
Girls! I look weird without a babe!
Maddie collected all of the candy canes that were on the tree!
Allie enjoying Grammie's expanding fridge magnet collection!
More matching PJ's. At this point in the night, the kids were DONE!

Christmas in Belleville!

We headed to Belleville on December 23rd and had a couple of fun days with the family! These pics are from Christmas eve at the GG's house.

Here are the GG's with their grandkids!
Clairey loves her William!
Kids being silly in matching PJ's


We had to say hello to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma!

Gymboree open play!

Since Kristie is off of work for Christmas break, we are fortunate to do some fun activities with the Welkes!

Maddie had a ball!
Allie climbing up the slide (we were the only ones there for a while)!
Dane played with the balls the majority of the time. He is Mr. Sporty!

This is what happens when you don't nap and run around all afternoon! Claire was resting on her own accord!

Pictures from Rapunzel dinner

At first, Claire wouldn't take a picture with Rapunzel because she said that she was frightened, but she got over it!

My goofy daughter

Claire and Maddie went to Nibble's Cafe to have dinner with Rapunzel. After they finished eating, they did a little dance. The video cracks me up because Claire is the smallest one AND she has her coat on. She didn't want to take it off the entire time that we were there, so she looks hilarious. What contrast to Maddie, who is wearing the entire Rapunzel outfit, braid and all!

Happy Birthday Papo!

For Papo's Birthday, Claire and Maddie went to see Seussical at the Marriott with Uncle Matt, Aunt Kristie, Grammie and Papo (I was watching the babes, Matt was in China). After, we all enjoyed some good food at Bob Chinn's followed by cake and presents at Grammie and Papo's house.

Yum...cake!
Tea party!
Love both of my kids faces! They sure love food!

Make a Messterpiece!

Claire and Allie had a lot of fun, though Allie was still not quite old enough to take part in any of the "messy" activities.

This cracked me up, the kids were watching Allie play for such a long time, she was the main attraction for a while!

Claire enjoying her creation that she made in the kitchen!
Claire's "cooking" activity. She looks so grown up here!
Playing for a bit and looking quite determined!
Making progress!

Brunch with Santa

We had a lovely Christmas brunch at Hawthorne Woods Country Club with the family. Claire, William and Allie were not afraid of Santa this time! They all were little angels!

After brunch, we headed to Pamma and Grandpa's house where Claire and William had a blast playing with the new train that Grandpa got for them! Lucky ducks!

Happy 3rd Birthday Maddie!

We love you so much Miss Maddie! You are such a smart, energetic and fun loving little girl! (Yet another breakfast recording!)

Allie 1 year stats

Weight: 20# 3 oz (50th %tile)
Length: 20.5" (90th %tile) EXACTLY the same as Claire at 1 year!
Head circ: 45.5 cm (>50th)

She was a really good girl. Claire was her little helper and tried to soothe her when she cried after her shots. It was really sweet!

Pictures!

I took the girls to get their pics taken and the place was insane! We waited for an hour before we started, but the girls were remarkable! I was so proud of them for being such good little ones! These aren't the photos that I ordered, but they are all pretty cute considering our morning!

Happy Birthday Dadda!

November birthday buddies! Matt with Allie at Tsu Kasa.


Matt celebrated his 31st Birthday on the 30th. The girls and I met up with him at his favorite restaurant, TsuKasa! Pamma, Uncle Chris, Aunt Luz and William were there too! Claire was frightened by the fire, so spend the majority of the meal on Pamma's lap!

We love you so much!

Here comes the joy!

Pamma and Grandpa brought the girls their giant stocking to start off the holiday season! It coinsided with the last of Allie's birthday celebrations!

Helper girl Claire

Silly little piggy!

Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo

On opening night, we ventured to Zoo Light. It was so busy, just like being in Disney! It is pretty cool though and it was a lovely evening.


It is hard to find Allie, but she is next to Claire in her fleece body suit!

Red!

I love this! I always want her to know how much everyone loves her hair! On a side note, I always seem to video tape when she is eating breakfast! Never mind the PJ's and bed head!

Allie eating cake

Allie enjoyed her 1st Birthday cake! Thanks again Lyssie and Granby!

GG teaching Claire an important lesson!

Claire could not get enough of this at our Thanksgiving celebration!

Thanksgiving celebrations!

We celebrated on the 23rd in Long Grove. The GG's and Kayla were there to celebrate as well! We had a lovely meal followed by an impressive dessert spread! Claire loved hanging out with her GG Laverne!

On Thanksgiving, we had a nice meal with the help of Granby and Gramps and were thankful to spend the day with Uncle Chris, Uncle Greg, Uncle Cayle, Uncle Cooper, Aunt Luz, Aunt Lyssie, Aunt Jill, Grammie and Papo.

Allie's adorable cake designed by Granby and Lyssie! It takes so much work to create their delicious and beautiful cakes!

Happy Birthday to Allie! She got to destroy the entire top cake layer!

Lyssie was so happy to see her William!


Claire ate her meal in the booster chair on the floor in the dining room! It allowed Matt and me to eat with everyone else!



Greg and Gramps going for seconds!
Major loving on William!
Cousin Cuties!
Claire and her GG in Long Grove
Matching envelopes from the fam!