Bears Game-they actually won!

Several weekends ago we went with Mary and Dino to see the Bears play the Rams. The Bears surprisingly won the game! We had so much fun tailgating-there is nothing liking drinking beer and eating brats at 9:00 AM. We even found one Rams fan there all decked out in his mullet, so we had to pose for a picture with him. Despite this horrific Bears season we managed to have a great time!

Below you can see our handmade "bean bags" for the corn hole game. The looked a little questionable to say the least.

Cookie Exchanges

Part of the fun of the holidays has to be all the cookie exchanges! We went to one at Kristin's house which was really fun. Kristin and Eric made a nice lunch and had great drinks and of course Mandy and Mary made the best cookies (Kristin too).

Two weekends ago I went to Melissa's house for a cookie exchange with some friends. The girls have been doing this for several years in a row now, but since I have been in Baltimore I haven't been able to participate. I was happy to be a part of the annual tradition and can't wait for next years.

Mary came dressed to impressed in her fancy Christmas sweater!!

Cindy has the cutes pregnancy bump!

Megan, James (Chi's son), and Mary

How Many Christmas Cookies Can One LIttle Girl Make?

Christkindlmarket and the Christmas El

Don has been so excited to show the kids the Christmas El. Essentially it the regular El train that is decked out in Christmas decorations. So we timed a trip downtown so we could take the El. Don was so nervous that we were going to miss it since the Christmas El only stops in Oak Park 4 days out of the season. But we made it, although I think it was more fun for us then the kids. After the Christmas El we went to the Christkindlmarket downtown at the Daley Center. We picked out the girls' yearly ornaments and had some glug and pretzels. It was fun to see all the German hand crafted items and to pose for pictures by the Daley Center Christmas tree. Lila pretty much slept the whole time all bundled up in the Bjorn. She did open her eyes a little bit to check out the Christmas El!

When the Christmas El arrived we were so excited to see it all lite up. There was even a Santa on it, which is how we discovered that Lucy is still terrified of Santa. Here we were trying to plan a fun family memory and Lucy is screaming her head off, "santa it too scary to me!"

Baking with Toddlers

So last weekend we made cookies with the Runyans. Baking with toddlers sure is an adventure. Eric pretty much did all the work because he was the only one who could focus on the task at hand with all the activity going on. Lucy enjoyed frosting the cookies, or I should say eating the frosting. Eleanor was scared of the loud mixer and only wanted to decorate the cookies if she could sit in the booster seat far away from all the noise. It was a fun memory!

Lucy's nest

Lucy is at such a fun age for Christmas this year. She has really gotten into decorating, cookie making, and singing Jingle Bells and Silent Night. One funny thing is that she is very focused on dismantling my sugarplum centerpiece. I couldn't figure out where all the sugarplums went that are supposed to be arranged around a candle centerpiece. Then I looked in the tree and saw her nest (see picture below). She methodically and meticulously placed each sugar plum so it wouldn't fall off the branches. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I am putting ornaments in my Christmas tree." I think we will leave her little nest up!

Decorating the Christmas Trees!!

I always LOVE when it is time to put up the Christmas tree! This year we had decorating parties at both my house and Kristin's house. Lucy really got into it this year. In fact she has been totally fascinated by the Christmas tree and keeps singing songs to the Christmas tree all day long! For example, "A, B, C, D, Christmas Tree, E, F, G, Christmas tree..." She calls it "her Christmas tree!" It is so fun that she can actually get into the whole Christmas experience this year! We are so glad to be near family so that we can experience these simple moments together, like tree decorating.

Lila was so tuckered out after all the decorating, so she took a little snooze on Grammy and Uncle Eric.

We also had a little decorating party at Kristin and Eric's new house. Lucy really got into the decorating and loved hanging ornaments on the tree. Poor little Lila, she pooped through her outfit and Uncle Eric dressed her in this crazy get up of Milo's. Doesn't she look traumatized? Thanks for the shorts in the middle of winter Eric!