ZooLights.... again

My posts are going to be very sporadic for the next several days (as if they weren't already!). Jeff's brother and his family are visiting from Michigan so my computer time will be limited.... although I'm hoping that photo ops will abound so I will have lots to post once I get the chance.

They are currently staying at a hotel but will move to our house tomorrow. Tonight we met them at the zoo to see the ZooLights again.

Since it was out third trip to the zoolights this year.... I decided to play...


I got bored with hearts after a while though and I had no other shapes to play with. :-(

But by that time it was getting really crowded so I couldn't take many photos anyway... I needed to focus on not losing a child! :-)

I did take a few photos of them riding the carousel but none of them really turned out. Of the three of them, none of them chose an outside animal to ride. Alex and his cousin chose a second row animal and Clara chose the innermost row.... sigh.

So here's the best shot I got...
... Alex out in front, Clara right behind him and their cousin is the one behind the tiger. Oh well.

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a wonderful day! The kids started the day by giving me handmade cards. They had a special surprise for me after lunch and then last night we went out to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner and presents! Not a bad day, huh? :-)

Okay... tomorrow is a busy day with a late night so I'm off to bed!

'nite!

the post Christmas post :-)

Wow! Can you believe it's all over already???

Anyway.... here is what our tree looked like around 11pm Christmas Eve...
Notice how none of our packages have bows or labels (names are written directly onto the paper with Sharpies)... we're fancy like that! :-)

Here are the Webkinz, all tucked in...
... or so we thought. Apparently Bella the Bulldog was hiding out in the packages all night.

The kids were not allowed to come and get us until 6:30am... so you guessed it... at 6:30 on the dot, the kids burst into our room. We opened presents and had our traditional yummy breakfast before packing up to head to Michigan. I did take photos but only two.... I got too caught up in the excitement and didn't take any more.

On the 26th, we had our Christmas with Jeff's family. They had a lot of snow and it was warming up.... so it made good packing snow. The kids spent quite a bit of time outside.

So did the dog...
She's getting so grey!!!

Alex built a fort...
for the snowball fight...
he was having with his dad...

Clara was busy making a snowman with her cousin and uncle...

Soon their uncle was involved in the snowball fight as well...
We left the next day to come back home to Chicago. It was an interesting ride with lots of fog at the beginning. We got home in time to change clothes and head out to a party with friends from church.

Yesterday was a nice low key day... the kids and I played with my new Wii Fit and then I went out for a birthday lunch with a friend. Tonight we're going out to dinner for my birthday. Our next hurdle is New Year's and then we can relax for a bit!

Good times!

Okay... off to play with the kiddos!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

word art: Two Peas
Paper: wearestorytellers

december 24th!!

CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!

Man, were the kids wound up today.... as Jeff said, they were like little Christmas elves on Red Bull. Thankfully, they are now in bed.

Alex has started wrapping his own presents this year. Here's the proof that he apparently went to the Larry Graham (that's my dad) school of gift wrapping....
When I told my mom this, her response was "oh, so he uses lots of paper" :-) Why yes.... just a bit.

Here are the cookies we baked today for Santa...
They were absolutely HORRIBLE!!! We apparently skipped an ingredient or two somewhere. Thankfully I had put some cookies in the freezer from our baking day the other day.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to church for the Christmas Eve pageant. Here is what Clara chose to wear...
They both sang in the choirs and did a great job. Afterward, we ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Once home, I got the itch to play...
I had first seen this technique here and got the details here.

I didn't really have too much time to play but here's my other shot...
I used my 50mm 1.8 lens and just shoved the paper into the end of the lens. I had to manually focus which is not something I'm good at. I'll have to play again another time.

A tired Clara girl...
The kids got everything set up for Santa...
Cookies, carrots, milk and letters.

Last week they did some shopping for each other and bought some stocking stuffers...
Oh... and starting last year, they hide their Webkinz Lil' Kinz around the tree with the hope that they'll catch a glimpse of Santa...
We dig them all out of their hiding places, line them up on the chair and tuck them in with a blanket. The kids think this is hilarious.

Okay... it's time to bring the presents up!

Merry Christmas!!

december 21st continued :-)

After the Lincoln Museum, we went back to the hotel so the kids could swim. They are such fish!

They couldn't wait to get in...
and get started on their...

cannonball....
and belly flop....
contest. I can't believe how fearless Clara was with her belly flops! :-)

They had a great time playing for around two hours...
****

Back to today... so far so good. Santa's cookies are in the oven. Ingredients have been purchased for tomorrow's breakfast. The last of the wrapping is getting done. And I think I have outfits picked out for the kids to wear tonight to church. Now to get to the photo taking! :-)

Hope your Christmas Eve is going well! :-)

december 21st

Sunday morning we got up... had breakfast at the hotel and then went back to my mom and dad's room to have our Christmas gift exchange. The kids loved their stuff (Jeff and I did too)... Alex got a huge Lego kit that he finally finished putting together today and Clara got some American Girl stuff (matching nightgowns for her and Kit and a violin).

After the gifts were open, we braved the cold (3 degrees F temps with windchill around -10) to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. With it being so cold and the last weekend before Christmas we practically had the place to ourselves!

It is an amazing museum... we loved everything about it.

Photography was only allowed in the gallery and the play area.

Here are the kids with the Lincoln family...
A young Abraham Lincoln...
The White House....
The Christmas Tree in the gallery....
The play area was called Mrs. Lincoln's Attic.

Clara loved playing with the Lincoln home doll house...
She also loved the rag dolls of Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln (she really wanted the Mary Todd Lincoln doll)...
They also had dress up stuff... here's Honest Abe... I mean Alex.... :-)
I think we spent over four hours there!!! After that it was back to the hotel to swim! My pics from the hotel pool aren't the greatest... I'll have to see if I have anything worth posting later!

Dinner time!

december 20th

Okay.... I missed the 19th and now I'm posting the 20th on the 22nd (and the 21st will probably be posted tomorrow). We have officially hit the point in the holiday season where the whole thing is barreling out of control toward the end of the year and there's nothing I can do to stop it.... I'm just along for the ride and posting when I can! :-)

Saturday afternoon one of the studios Clara dances at had a holiday party and performed their own version of the Nutcracker for the parents.

Here's Clara in her costume for the party scene...
She also danced in the Chinese dance....

I used my external flash for the first and last photos and I'm not very good at it... sorry about that.

After the party we loaded up and drove to Springfield, IL to meet my parents to have our Christmas. Photos of that later (more than likely, it will be tomorrow).

december 18th

** lots of photos again **

Yesterday was one jammed packed day... but in a very good way, on our own terms.

Wednesday, on the way home from dance, the kids asked if they could play in the snow... it was too late that night but I told them they could in the morning. Well... they took me at my word and were suiting up to go outside at 8 am. They were still in their pajamas and hadn't eaten breakfast yet... but they were going out to play. They ended up playing out there until almost 11am!!

They called me out to show me something...

SNOWMAN CAVERN!

They thought it was funny because when you crawled inside it looked like the snowman was eating you.
After that they destroyed Snowman Cavern and started work on an igloo. They got a good start on it but got cold and hungry before they finished it.

They came in for a late breakfast and a hot shower, then we headed out to do a bit of local Christmas shopping. We walked around to a few of our favorite neighborhood stores before heading home.

Then we jumped on a bus to the Lincoln Park Conservatory...
We saw some beautiful orchids as we walked through the conservatory...
... but I didn't have time to take many photos because....
... the kids were in a rush to get to the Show Room to see the Winter Flower and Train Show...
Not only did they have trains but they had replicas of Chicago buildings made out of natural materials.

Here is the Art Institute...
The Shedd Aquarium...
The Water Tower...
The Chicago Theater...
We brought the point and shoot so the kids took a few photos as well...
The poinsettias were gorgeous... I had never seen some of these varieties...

Here I was trying to get a good (I would have settled for decent) photo of the two of them... instead Clara is trying to steal the p&s camera away from Alex... sigh...
We spent quite a bit of time in the Show Room. The security guard came in and talked with us a while, answering Alex's questions about the trains.

Next, we walked over to the zoo to see the ZooLights (on a night they were actually open!)...



That little black blob is Clara, staring longingly at the polar bear display...
We went to the Member's Lounge and the kids did some crafts and had hot cocoa and cider...
And we ended the night with a ride on the carousel...
I guess everyone was afraid of the storm last night because there was almost no one there. They were the only ones on the carousel, the only ones in the members lounge, the only ones at the craft tables in the primate house.... you get the picture. It was really nice.

We finally got home and ordered out Thai food for dinner. It was a really great day... so very tiring, but a really great day!