Christmas Day 2010

The X-mas tree before the opening madness began

Shovels from Santa to help Dad outside!

This was Chase's favorite present. He wore this most of the day,

including in the car. It makes Darth Vader type noises and it

gives quotes from the movie...such a boy!

Excited about his robot shirt

I love the expression on his face here

One of their favorite gifts were the lightsabers from Grandma Barb.

Not only do they light up but they also make a sword-like noise when they swing!

Luke's version of "I'm a Little Snowflake". He honestly is so musical

and loves his new Toy Story guitar!

The cousins singing "Frosty"...check out the boys'

new shirts, Chase's Lego Star Wars & Luke has a guitar shirt

Christmas morning...

Christmas this year was what you imagine your Christmas is going to be like when you're married with kids. The boys were so excited about the magic of Santa...Chase was literally 2 inches from my face while I'm sleeping and he shouts "Santa came...he left me a present in my room!" Santa left both boys books on their beds this year, I think he's going to do that every year from now on.

It was so much fun rushing down the stairs to see what was under the tree and in our stockings. We took our time opening gifts from Santa, each other and other family. They were fascinated with a gift until it was time to open the next one. The clothes were tossed aside without a second glance but they were excited to wear their new clothes so at least that was a win :) Chase's favorites were the Darth Vader helmet and Star Wars/Super Hero guys. Luke loves his guitar and dinosaurs. Blake was thrilled with his Blackhawks tickets and I love date night/dance lessons every Thursday in January!!

After our gift frenzy we headed over to Aunt Dana's to have Christmas breakfast. It was fun to see the kids and enjoy a delicious breakfast. The boys got a truckload of clothes and these fun remote control cars. We then headed home and had dinner with my mom and Dom. My mom made us a great meal and I didn't have to do any work! The boys got scooters & these awesome books that have my mom and Dom's voices recorded on them, something that we'll always treasure. It was a GREAT holiday!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Milk & cookies for Santa

Carrots & reindeer food got set out before we left for

my aunt & uncle's house

Our family

My cousin Heather, baby Savannah & Nick

My cousin Robyn & Brian

Me & my cousins

Christmas Eve turned out to be very low key and enjoyable. Since it was snowing all day, we decided to head out to the sled hill in our neighborhood. It was Luke's first time sledding on a true hill and my first time out in awhile. We had a great time even though one of our sleds broke. Our neighbors, the Geers, came out and joined us and a fun time was had by all.

For Christmas Eve, we went over to my aunt & uncles house. We had a nice dinner and even had time to play a game! Of course the kids did not fall asleep on the way home, Chase was especially jazzed up about Santa coming.

Chase's holiday party

Daddy, Chase & Mommy

Chase & Anthony

Playing the tambourine

Singing Frosty

Chase's last day of preschool before winter break he had a holiday party that Blake and I were both lucky enough to go to. We got to eat some delicious snacks and then were entertained by a lively group of 4 year-olds. Chase was very excited that we were there and we were so proud of him!

Rosenberg Ice Rink!

Connecting the boards

The rink's frame

Filling the pond after a snow fall

Daddy & Chase out for the first skate of the winter

So excited & proud of himself to be skating on his own

Luke's 1st time out on the ice

I love this picture...

Cleaning the ice with the "home-boni" that he made,

it's not perfect but it does help some



Luke trying to stand up in skates

Chase practicing

We are so excited that our ice rink is finally up and running. Although the idea for the rink came when we bought the house, actually getting it to work has been somewhat of a challenge. Blake did a lot of research on how to build the most useful & practical backyard rink so after several trips to Home Depot the building of the boards began. Once the frame was done, shortly after Thanksgiving, we laid down the first piece of plastic that you actually fill the water up in. Our neighbors were great with pitching in to make the process easier and more enjoyable, we love our neighborhood!!

Unfortunately, our plastic had a tear in it somewhere and our entire backyard was basically a huge sheet of ice for a while because the water had spilled out. After purchasing another piece of plastic, Blake had to break out all of the frozen water from the first attempt in order to lay the second piece down, it was quite a project. Then, since our backyard isn't level, Blake had to go back out and build more to the original frame because one side of the rink was about to overflow with the water and the other side didn't even have water in it. Needless to say, all of the work was totally worth it. Although we've only been out on the ice once so far, it was a lot of fun to have an outdoor winter activity to do besides play in the snow. Our neighbors, the Geers, came over and the boys and dads skated together. I'm fairly sure that this will be the first of many years the rink is built. I'm hoping it makes great childhood memories for the kids and adult memories for us!

Larsen X-mas Lights

So last year Chase was the ring-bearer in my cousin Robyn's wedding and he walked down the aisle with two adorable flower girls. The house pictured above is their home. It is in Elburn which is a little bit of a hike but definitely worth it. The house even had its own radio station that explained how many lights are on the house and how long it takes to decorate. We waited in a line of cars to get close enough to really enjoy the show and it was amazing. Each song was choreographed with the lights to make an amazing show. We'll go back next year for sure!

Polar Express 2010

Our tickets

We continued our yearly traditioin of riding on the Polar Express again this year. The "big kids" now remember what it's all about and look forward to drinking the hot chocolate & eating the cookies. The biggest event though is definitely the visit from Santa. The video is cute because you can hear Chase ask for a Star Wars although he wasn't asked what he wanted...he did correct Santa though. He told him he wanted the Star Wars guys, not the movie!

Santa Visit

Chase & Grandma

Making a gingerbread ornament for the tree

My mom invited us to her library for a "Christmas Around the World" theme. It was set up very cute with crafts for the kids to do, a Christmas tree decorated for every country, a holiday puppet show, a jazz band that the boys loved, and the unexpected visit from Santa. We really lucked out, we ended up being 3rd in line to see the jolly man and I was so grateful that I had my camera. Chase was totally excited and marched right up to Santa, told him his name and said "I want a Star Wars for Christmas." Immediately after Chase, Luke went up with no hesitation and said the exact same thing. It was so cute and I was so proud of them for being brave! After that we had some punch and cookies. I think this trip will become a new tradition!

First Snow 2010

The snow fort from Grandma & Grandpa Dom

Action shot

The awesome snowfort that Allison built

There is something about the first snow of the season that is so exciting! The boys were thrilled when they saw the snow falling and couldn't wait to get out in it. Our neighbors turned their deck stairs into a pretty awesome sled hill for the kids. Luke went on it once and that was it, he was done. Chase however, absolutely loved it and was outside for probably about 5-6 hours with a few little breaks here and there. All of the kids had a great time, some of us adults got in on the fun too. Nothing like a fresh snow fall to bring out the kid in everyone. It was great!

Message from Santa

Santa Claus has heard how hard the boys have been working to behave since Santa is coming soon. He left them both a message to keep them motivated!

Chase's message:
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/c3ZfhnvaE89fm4vinOHng

Luke's message:
http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/SjFWXuevnh6zm6OPRz_7Ew

A great day

Today I took a half day off of work and spent the morning in Chase's classroom. I've been so curious and excited to see what a 4 year-old preschool classroom does and let me tell you, they do a lot! It happened to be "J" week so I was Chase's letter J, his Jessica. He was so thrilled that I was there with him and he could show me certain things that I didn't know about his school.

His teachers are so wonderful, they make his first school experience so rewarding, I can't believe how lucky Chase is to have them. They are so down to Earth and truly funny, although the kids don't "get" much of their humor. I was so proud of Chase's behavior. He was a great listener, respectful friend and a great help at clean-up time.

I also started our Christmas sing-a-longs class with Luke tonight. Taking the class with just the 2 of us is great. He is such a musical kid, he loves all things music, including singing, playing with sticks, bells or any instrument really! He keeps telling us that he wants Santa to bring him a guitar...I tell him only if he makes the "nice" list and some days that is questionable!

Overall, it was a day with my kids, I'm so grateful for them!

Family Pictures

Although this one is really bright, I love Chase's eyes and smile, a real one!!

The sneaky grin that I know so well!

Being silly

I'm really late in posting these pictures since they were taken in October. I don't really love any of them except for the one of Chase. I'm glad that we took them but I'm not sure any of them are display pictures!

Fall stuff

The raking lasted for all of about 1 minute and then it was onto something else!

Chase really was a good "raker". Can you see his weapon sticking out

of his coat? That is our vacuum attachment that he carries in his

back pocket everywhere with him. He even took it to school

once without Blake knowing...the only parents that have to search their

son before school for vacuum attachments!

Mid jump






This is Chase's Thanksgiving Feast at school. They always sing their Sunny Days Preschool song before snack each day and today was no exception. A lot of times Chase wants us to sing it with him before we eat dinner, so cute!

Grand Bear Lodge

So excited!

On the carousel at the indoor amusement park

Luke being "brave" on the toddler water slide

The kids playing in the wave pool

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we packed up the kids, the cousins, & my sister-in-law and headed down to Starved Rock to the Grand Bear Lodge. It was a mini-vacation for all of us. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and waves were a huge hit! Luke was pretty much done with the pool after the first night so we spent some time in the arcade and at the indoor amusement park. We might just make this event a tradition before Thanksgiving every year. The water park was virtually empty so we didn't have to fight any crowds at the pool and since it's only an hour away, we were able to make it to Blake's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Luke ended up sleeping in a big-boy bed while we were there and although he got out a lot the first night, I do think he's ready to move up to a new bed. We've been talking to him about that a lot lately so he's excited to get a new bed and start being a big boy by going on the potty...we'll see about that since he has virtually no interest at all. We're going to try over winter break with both changes, hopefully it will go well.