Church Christmas Musical

Last Sunday all 3 kids participated in the Christmas musical at our church. I loved it! Maddie did great with all the singing and hand motions. A lot of the time Ryan just stood there looking around. Tori sang and danced and had a great time. When it was over the lady next to us said that watching Tori was the highlight of the show.

Tori's Christmas Program

Here are some pictures from the Christmas program at Tori's school. They sang songs about the various holidays and performed several dances. One of the pictures where Tori is bending down is when a boy was "winding" her up so she could come to life and dance to the Nutcracker. After the program Santa came to visit and had a gift for each child.

Tori's 4th Birthday

Tori had her 4th birthday party at our house. We had a pinata, played "pin the sticker on Dora", had a prize walk and freeze dance. We made crafts and decorated our own cupcakes with frosting, candy and sprinkles.

Hot Chocolate 5k

Last weekend I ran in the Chicago Hot Chocolate 5k with several of my neighbors. We drove into the city Friday night and stayed in my friend's inlaw's condo on Michigan Avenue. Michigan Avenue is the main shopping drag in Chicago, also known as the "Magnificent Mile." The picture of the lake is one of the views from the window in the condo on the 56th floor. We ran in the race Saturday morning. The temperatures were in the 20's. We walked a mile and 1/2 to Grant Park to the start line and ran the race around the Museum Campus and along the lakeshore. Afterwards we had hot chocolate and fondue and walked back to the condo. We ate lunch at Ditka's and went shopping at the American Girl Store. After taking naps we went out for Tapas for dinner and then went to several downtown bars. We were able to walk everywhere and had a great girls' weekend.

Halloween

Halloween was a blast this year. It was our first Halloween in Illinois and I found out the day before that in Aurora there are set times for trick or treating. Our times were 4-7:30. I asked the neighbors if people really went trick or treating in the daylight and they said yes, because after dark it's too cold! At 4pm I looked out the window and the street was crawling with trick or treaters. So we joined in and were finished by 5:30. After 7:30 not a single person rang our doorbell. So nice. Ryan had to stop halfway through trick or treating because his stitches started to hurt and Mike carried him home. But he still got a lot of candy. Maddie and Tori were both ladybugs and Ryan was spiderman. (yes, again.)

Ryan's surgery

Ryan had surgery earlier in the week for an undescended testicle and fluid in the other one. The surgery took and hour and a half. All went well. The pictures show him before and after. The blue hat was before he went in, the next 2 pictures were after. If you look closely at the last one, his smile is really forced, poor guy. He has stayed home from school all week and has kept busy playing Wii. He got several new games courtesy of Mike and Uncle John and Aunt Crystal. He seems to be healing well but will have to take it easy for the next month. That means no p.e. or recess.

Ryan's gymnastics

We got back in town from Minnesota with 10 minutes to spare before Ryan's parent day at Gymnastics. He loves gymnastics and is getting stronger by the week.

Minnesota Trip

We went to Minnesota this past weekend for Jake's going away party. He leaves for Air Force boot camp next month. In addition to Jake's party, the kids and I spent the afternoon at the Mall of America with Sam and Bella. They enjoyed riding the rides at Nick World and taking turns holding baby Bella. In case you're wondering why there aren't any pictures of Jake, the memory card popped out of my camera so I lost a bunch of pictures.

Maddie's Daisy Induction

Tonight Maddie was inducted into her Daisy troop, which is a part of the Girl Scouts. She received a special pin and was welcomed into the troop by the rest of the girls who started Daisies in kindergarten. Congratulations Maddie!

Ryan's 7th Birthday

Ryan had his birthday party at Airtastic, a bounce house place. He invited all the boys in his class, plus 2 neighbors for a total of 17 kids. He had a really good time and Mike and I have a newfound respect for his teacher, who has to handle his class every day. :) He had a Star Wars lego cake and he made the lego ships on the cake himself. The majority of his gifts were Star Wars legos with a few other boy things thrown in. Mike's favorite is the 2 nerf dartguns. I never know when one of those darts is going to randomly hit me as I'm watching tv or relaxing on the couch. We gave him a lego train station which he put together in 2 days and has been playing with daily.He's a great kid, my little Ryan, 7 years old.

Maddie's 7th Birthday Party

We had Maddie's party at Build a Bear Workshop. There were some last minute adjustments as Tori ended up being sick and had to stay home with Daddy. Luckily my neighbor volunteered to help me with the party. I had to stay at the store with the girls while she set up a table in the food court with the cake and ordered the pizza. The girls (and Ryan) had a great time picking out their bears and outfits at the party. I thought it was really fun. Then we ate pizza and cake and opened presents. It was a really busy weekend. Maddie and some of her friends went to party the night before, then had hers Sat. morning, another one Sat. afternoon and another one Sunday. So Maddie had a LOT of pizza and cake that weekend. Her present from us was "Julie" an American Girl doll from "way back in the 1970's." We are reading a book about Julie each night before bed and it amazes me everything I am learning about the decade I was born in! We sure have come a long way. Happy Birthday my beautiful Maddie!

Labor Day

Meme and Poppa made their first visit here Labor Day week. They drove from San Antonio which was quite a long trip. The kids were thrilled to play with them and show off their new neighborhood. We went to brunch at downtown Naperville at our favorite Cajun restaurant "Heaven on Seven." Mike and I also took Meme to check out the casino in Aurora. Poppa got to visit some flea markets. After several days they left to drive on to Kentucky to Meme's high school reunion.

1st Day of School

All 3 of the kids started school the last week in August. Tori goes to preschool 3 days a week. Maddie and Ryan are in separate classes in the first grade. They all like it so far. Maddie's favorite subject is art. Ryan's is science and math. Tori takes dance and gymnastics. Maddie is doing ballet, tap and Daisies (girl scouts.) Ryan is doing gymnastics and Cub Scouts. Their main focus all month has been planning for their birthday parties. This is the first year Maddie and Ryan will have separate parties. Maddie is having a girls only party at Build a Bear Workshop. Ryan is having a boys only party at Airtastic which is a bounce house place.

The Cousins (part 2)

The remainder of the cousins trip involved more trips into Chicago, the pool, downtown Naperville and Six Flags. We went on the Architecture River Cruise, played in the fountains at Millenium Park and went to the Field Museum to see the dinosaurs. We rode paddleboats in downtown Naperville. The kids' favorite was Six Flags Great America. It was a perfect vacation and we can't wait to see them again. Look closely at the 2nd picture with the guy waving from the top of a building. That's Mike waving to us from the roof of his office building while we are down below on the river Architecture cruise. Pretty cool!