January in Pictures

January started and ended pretty much the same way...

 

Cold and snowy!

 

Which caused more than a few bad  hair days.

 

But also allowed for some fun adventures...

 

And some fantastic family time!

 

As you can see... the snow didn't keep us from having fun! Kevin and I got to go to a Bulls game!

And he and the girls spent a lot of time playing in the igloo they helped to build!

 

But it was still redonkulously cold...

 

And snowy!

 

 But that's OK. At least the birth of my niece Nori brought us a few more rays of sunshine!!!

My girls are totally in love with her! They keep asking when I'm gonna make them one!

I think Kevin might be a little in love with her as well :)

 

Yup! January was cold and snowy... but also quite WONDERFUL!

Cold can't stop THIS party!

January brought us a polar vortex and the coldest, longest, snowy-est winter Chicago has on record! There was so much snow that Kevin and the girls were able to help build, not one, but TWO igloos in my sisters backyard! AND despite the bitter cold, we were still able to party like it was 1999!!

And THIS girl wouldn't have it any other way. Especially since January also brought about her 6th birthday!

She asked for a RAINBOW themed party, which I was VERY grateful for since it only required some construction paper and food coloring! Also, I would be lying if I said I wasn't relieved that she didn't choose a "Frozen" party theme like most little girls her age. I might have died if I had to listen to "Let it Go" a  kazillion times in one day!

Anyway, I had fun making the cupcakes and decorations, but was especially pleased with the leftover-wrapping-paper-table-cloth that we put out for the kids to color! (Kevin's idea!)

The kids loved coloring on the table and it kept them busy while we cooked frozen pizza and set out their lunch. And by the way, this little guy just happens to be Brooklyn's big Kindergarten crush!

Look at all their hard work! We have some real artists on our hands.

After coloring and pizza eating, it was time for games! First off was a trek through our "laser beam" obstacle coarse to find the magical unicorn horn suckers! (Suckers that look like unicorn horns, not creatures who walk around sucking on unicorn horns...in case you were wondering.)

Then the kids had to protect a magical dragon egg (balloon) from touching the hot lava ground that only THEY could touch because of the magic shoes they were wearing. This was by far their favorite game and they played it forever!

Last, but not least, was the tried and true Red Light, Green Light game! Amazing how a game that involves nothing more than stopping and going never gets old :)

After games the kids each took turns sharing a wonderful gift with Brooklyn! She was given so much art stuff, I won't have to entertain her until her next birthday! Yay me!

In the end, we sang a lovely rendition of the Birthday Song and then stuffed our faces with some very yummy confetti cupcakes!

It was so much fun that we hardly remembered good old Chicago was under a deep freeze! Amazing what a little fun can do for you!

A Very Happy December!

December 2013 brought us SNOW! Lots and lots of snow with blisteringly cold temperatures. But that didn't stop us from getting outside to have a little fun...

 

Except when it did!

But those moments were filled with tree decorating, watching movies with friends, sewing and crafting presents, riding bikes through slush and ice, going to the theater to see HOBBIT: The Desolation of Smaug, playing at the Children's Museum, feeding early morning seminary students, caroling, and babysitting Monte (my sister's dog)!

And occasionally we spend our indoor time decorating for CHRISTMAS!!!

Later in the month we were able to get out to the ward Christmas Party! It was so fun to see the little kids sing, and eat and chat with so many of our friends.

We even got to see Santa Clause, which left the girls giddy for weeks! Yes, weeks...long after he was gone...

When Christmas came around, we spent Christmas Eve having dinner with our good friends, the Booths. We ate a delicious meal, played some games, opened a few presents, and had a fantastic time together. So much fun, in fact, that we forgot to take ANY pictures...which incidentally happened the week before when we celebrated an early Christmas with my sister Becca and her family as well!

The picture forgetting continued on Christmas morning while we were opening presents and enjoying a yummy breakfast, but Kevin remembered to pull out the camera again when he went on his annual Christmas Design run. Can you tell what it is?

When all was said and done, I did remember to snap a few pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses. I had to laugh when I pulled the pictures up on the computer and noticed that Lily looks drunk in almost all of them!

Oh well! At least I got one decent shot!

After all the celebrations were over, we set up a gigantic tent in our living room so we could watch our new movies together and play with our toys. It was all fun and games until midnight when Lily vomited all over the pallet on the floor. Her puking continued on throughout the week, spread to the rest of us, and brought us all into January a few pounds lighter! Count your many blessings...right?!

Anyway, we DID have a fantastic December and a beautiful and memorable Christmas, despite the bug that followed :) And now, I leave you with the outtake video of our Facebook Christmas Video. We had asked the girls to tell the story of Christmas, and apparently, they got a little carried away!

HOLY NOVEMBER BATMAN!

November 2013 came and went in a FLASH! Kevin had been in Alaska on business the whole week before and returned home on November 1st, just on time to see Brooklyn receive the Scholarship Award at her school!

The award was given to one student in each class for exceptional academic work. When the principal asked each student why they thought they were given the award, many of them were confused. But when Brooklyn gave her answer, the entire gym audibly sighed in adoration. It was pretty cute!


After the awards assembly, Kevin packed up the girls and went to sleep over at the Booth's house with Rob and his little girls while Tiffany and I spent the weekend celebrating our early birthdays at my house! We treated ourselves to shopping, sushi, and manicures, ate lots of goodies, watched Legally Blonde, and relaxed like champs! It. Was. AWESOME!

The following week consisted of teaching Sunday School, lots of hula, a trebuchet launching, dinners with the Sweetwood and Aiono families, Parent Teacher Conference, a temple trip, laser tag,  my friend Tiffany's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" inspired 30th birthday party, a jewelry party, and then my BIRTHDAY!

And for my birthday I was rewarded for living another year with an extra special visit from Kevin's parents! And they, of course, brought with them lots of fun, rainbows, sunshine, and happiness for everyone!

Some of that sunshine included cookie making, flashlight games, visiting a TANK museum, puzzle time with grandma, and reading time with grandpa!

For me, it meant dinner at the most amazing Italian restaurant with the BEST butternut squash ravioli I have EVER eaten, a new pair of boots and a sweet magnetic Nativity from mom and dad, and 2 more nativities from Jennie and Kevin, plus a set of beautiful wooden deer that I've had me eyes on for the last few years from Kevin. YAY ME!

Unfortunately, I only managed to get a picture of the deer and nothing else... I'm cool like that these days!

After Dell and Colleen left, we filled the void with lots of Dr. appointments, meetings, craft groups, baptisms, and more teaching... and of course... Kevin took a little time to drive to Indiana for the BYU vs Notre Dame game!

He even got to do a little sight seeing while he was there!

While at the game, Kevin actually ran into the Fjeldsted family who he grew up with, so on the Sunday after the game, our family drove back to Indiana to hang out at their hotel for a little while! Kevin's friend Isaac has 3 little girls close in age with ours and our girls had a blast hanging out with them!

After our adventures in Indiana were through, we packed our bags and headed over to Geneva to spend Thanksgiving with my sister Becca and her crew! We had so much fun stuffing our faces, playing games, running races, and watching movies while we were there!

As it turns out, spending time with more family was the perfect way to wind down the month. I even got a free makeover out of it! :)

The End

Halloween 2013

Halloween this year consisted of two parts for us: One part without children, and the other part without Kevin...

Our first Halloween celebrations took place on the 25th at my sister Becca's house. Every year she throws an EPIC Halloween costume party, and this year we were invited!

I worked super hard turning Kevin's bicycle helmet into a velociraptor head for my costume in hopes of winning one of the 4 coveted prizes for best costume!

It turned out to be a bust (we came in 5th...perhaps because everyone thought we were the Crocodile Hunter and his crocodile...) but that's OK. I still had a blast playing around with Kevin, who came as Muldoon! We played lots of Minute-to-Win-it games, ate lots of great food, and had a wonderful evening without the kids under foot.

The second part of Halloween for us was on the actual day of Halloween. Kevin got called out to work in Alaska last minute, so he wasn't able to enjoy the festivities with us, but we made do.

Anyway, when I wasn't working on my velociraptor costume during the month, I was working on Lily's Cheshire Cat costume. She was so happy to put all her kitty skills to good use, especially since she got candy for it!

Brooklyn got lucky and was given  this fantastic dress from someone in our ward. It was perfect for her Queen of Hearts costume.

The first festivity of the day was a costume parade at Brooklyn's school. She was the first one out and led the whole school up and down the halls for parents to see.

And as you can see, she really enjoyed playing the part of the queen :)

After school, we drove over to the Booth's house for food, fun, and trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, it was raining really hard all day long, so we didn't make it very far.

Brooklyn and her prince charming got pretty quick maneuvering between houses.

Even Lily started picking up the pace when she realized her fur was melting off!

But alas, when we finished, she looked like a drown cat rather than the Cheshire cat!

Brooklyn, on the other hand, wised up and used her powers as the queen to command the aid of someone else's daddy to walk her through the rain without too much drippage on her person.

Even though we really missed Kevin on Halloween, we had a great time with our friends and were very glad to have so many great people in our lives to share the experience with!