Mitten Project

A few days ago, we did a fun mitten garland craft. It is a great craft to do for a range of ages; it's easy to set up; and not expensive. All 3 enjoyed doing it. In fact, it's the first time all three kids were able to do the same craft together. Fun times ahead!

Poop

Caroline and Clayton were sitting quietly and nicely coloring at the table. Then Clayton looks over at me and smirks "Look Mama, I just drew some poop." Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Caroline draws a little more and chimes in "and look - a toilet with poop in it!". Lovely. Ah, the innocence of childhood...?

Go Bears!

NFC Championships - Bears - Packers. GO BEARS!
'

Chicago Bears Coloring pages

Gearing up for the big game?
Here are some free football and Chicago Bears coloring pages.
Looking for some Green Packer pages too? Sorry - look somewhere else. This is BEAR country!

Chicago Bears
http://freekidscoloringpages.net/chicago-bears-free-coloring-pages.php
http://www.colormegood.com/colormegoodPDFthumbnails/sports/football/teams/chicago-bears-coloring-page.pdf

What else have we been up to?

Playing in the snow

Caroline is learning to read - not just reciting the memorized words, but wounding out the letters and reading!

Here she is reading to little brother Austin.

Making "snowman" bagels for preschool snack

Playing dress up almost every day

Making snowflakes

For the first time, Caroline and Clayton actually were able to actually cut the paper themselves to make their own snowflakes.

Clayton is still obsessed with his cords. They are routinely strung around the house plugged in and wrapped around everything imagineable.

New favorite thing...

My new favorite thing is this hot glue gun. Thanks Mom! It is awesome!

Making felt chore charts for the older two. (We'll see if they help them with their daily tasks).

Made flower hair clips as favors for Caroline's upcoming birthday party (picture later), and trying to figure out how to make a Chicago Bears blue-and-orange ribbon hair clip.

Now, I seriously am LOOKING for ways I can use it. It is addicting!

A day away!

Thanks to an EXTREMELY generous Christmas gift from my parents, Kevin and I got to spend a whole day and night downtown while the kids took up residence at BB and Papa's house .
It was SO MUCH FUN! We had a leisurely lunch at That Little Mexican Cafe in Evanston, then went to the Art Institute to see some unbelievable art, including the newly returned Chagall windows.


After that, we got to relax at our suite at the Union League Club before getting ready for dinner. When is the last time I spent 6:00 pm in bed? It was gloriously relaxing!

We had a fantastic dinner at Henri on Michigan Avenue. The food and the wine were out of this world! Loved the ambience, the staff, truly everytihng about it.

After a full night sleep without any monitors in the room (yeah!), we got to enjoy a nice brunch and then church at Covenant where we got married.

We ended the day with a quick trip to Sweet Mandy B's to pick up some cupcakes on our way out of the city.

It was a perfect day!

pet store

Feeling cooped up and ready to get out of the house, I bundled up the kids and took them to a pet shop to see some animals. (We live at least an hour from the zoo, and it is too cold to go to any outdoor animal spots, so we had to be a little creative).
The kids loved seeing all the fish, turtles, frogs, guinea pigs, mice, birds, and cats. They grew quite attached to a little tabby cat...

Walking in Daddy's Shoes

January projects

Making ice sculptures...

The kids thought it was really cool that it started out as a tin of water with stuff floating in it, to a frozen ice disk with all the stuff frozen inside.

Making cinnamon sugar pretzel bites.

New Year's Eve!

We had our own little party at home for New Year's Eve. We had a dance party, a balloon drop, and a bubble-wrap stomp with our New Year's countdown at about 7:15 pm. Eventhough each kid took turns being a little crabby, we all had a really good time. The kids went to bed at their regular bedtime so Kevin and I could have a quiet candlelight dinner. It was wonderful...(not including the interruption in the middle of dinner - a cry from upstairs "I have to go poop" from Clayton.)

Happy New Year to YOU!

Balloon drop

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for our great Christmas presents! We love you!