Gingerbread houses!

Here's a couple pictures of the kids making gingerbread houses with their friends. I think they licked more frosting and ate more candy than what actually made it on the houses... but at least they had fun doing it!

Then Madison made this huge gingerbread house at a friend's birthday party that made her original house look so small.

Mom and Dad's night out!

Doesn't happen very often so i thought I should post a picture!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Last night we went to the kids' school where Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to meet the children. Austin wasn't as excited as Madison was (starting to doubt the whole Santa deal)... but Madison hopped right up on the big guy's lap and told him she really wanted a Baby Alive for Christmas this year. Austin finally smiled for a picture when i told him he wouldn't get any cookies afterwards if he didn't smile nice. (bribery never hurts when you want a good picture) Then the kids shopped at Secret Santa's Shop to buy each other a gift and one for mom and dad. By the time we left the school the snow was really starting to come down. It was so beautiful and sparkly coming down. The first snow is always fun and gorgeous. Believe me by February I won't be describing the snow with those words anymore. The kids had a ball playing in the snow after school with their friends

This is Austin trying to explain to Santa what "Tech Deck" is since that is what he wants for Christmas. By the way... if anyone knows what that is, please fill me in...

The kids are very excited that we actually have a fireplace for Santa to come down on Christmas Eve. It's our first year "our stockings were hung by the chimney with care"

Here is our Beautiful Christmas Tree... notice the snow on the tree outside the window. I love it!!!

Poker/Potluck

This month's Poker party was also our Christmas party with our friends, so we made it Potluck and Poker. Can't get any better than that. After we stuffed our faces with delicious food and devoured Kristi's yummy Eclair Cake, all 15 of us chose cards to see what table we would play at. 4 long hours later there was a winner! I wasn't planning on posting a blog and/or photo from every poker night, but since Brian won this time and the picture was hilarious I couldn't resist.

The champion gets the Trophy, jacket and a gold star next to his name on our poster. Hey look Tony got a star next to his name too. Oh wait... that was a blue star for "first out" Better luck next time.

Mike Ditka

Brian was so excited when I told him that Mike Ditka was going to be at our local grocery store signing autographs on his wine and salsa bottles today. He took Austin and a friend of Austin's with him. They arrived at 5:20 PM and luckily didn't have to wait outside. Ditka didn't start signing autographs until 6pm and there was quite a line, so they didn't actually get to meet him until almost 8:30. We have a nice Chicago Bears Super Bowl Championship mug that Brian actually inherited from his Uncle Bruce that died a few years ago.

Any of you who know Brian well can imagine how excited he was to meet Mike Ditka... NFL Legend who coached the Bears to win the Super Bowl in 1985.

When they got up there, Brian asked the lady if she would take a picture of them with Mike Ditka. As he was signing the mug, Brian and the boys got behind the table to get the picture when out of nowhere Ditka yelled "keep it moving we have people in line here" Brian doesn't exaggerate much and he said it was really loud. Actually I asked Austin and his friend what they thought of Mike Ditka and all they could say was he yelled really loud.

When Brian came home and I asked him how it felt meeting Mike Ditka he told me his heart was still beating really fast. I said , "that cool, huh?" He said No... he yelled at me and it scared me.

He doesn't look very nice in his picture either. Oh well, at least it allows for a good story.

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with their families. Brian's mom and dad drove here from Florida for the week to spend the holiday with us. They were coming in town the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and unfortunately Madison came down with the flu which later turned to scarlet strep. So we weren't able to do a whole lot together the first part of the week since she was so sick. We kept our fingers crossed that she would be better by the time her cousins were in town so she could be around them. Luckily by Wednesday she had no more fever or rash. Sheila, my sister, and her husband and three girls came to our house to hang out for awhile and we later went out to dinner. We love taking pictures of all the cousins together. Even though the girls bicker every once in awhile... they always have so much fun together.

The day after Thanksgiving I woke up at 5am and ran out to a few stores with my mom for my annual black friday shopping spree. I didn't stay that long though because we all decided to go up to The Museum of Science and Industry hoping it wouldn't be very busy since most people are out shopping that day. (By the way, we were really wrong about that) Brian's mom and dad and cousin were able to come with us to the museum and we had a good time.

Carolyn, Samantha, me, Madi, Austin and Brian in front of a huge Christmas tree on display.

Yes, this is my daughter picking the nose of a statue on the train at the museum.

Austin would hardly let me take his picture when we were at the museum until we got to the car exhibits, then he started posing in front of every car with a big smile on his face telling me to take a picture.

Austin and Madison with Grandma and Grandpa from Florida. Miss you guys!!!!

Poker Night

So once a month we play Texas Hold Em with some friends. There are about 10 of us that are regulars, but sometimes others join us and there can be as many as 15. I never thought I would like poker so much that I would actually look forward to it. There even is a traveling trophy now that the champion gets to keep for the month that they won. You may laugh... but we even have a poster with all of our names on it and you get a star sticker next to your name if you were 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. (even first person out gets a "special" sticker too)

Henry is my archrival in poker, so it's taking a lot for me to post the picture of him holding the trophy. Hope you enjoy it, Henry, because it won't be happening again anytime soon.

Finished Living Room

I'm so excited that we finally got our living room & entryway painted. The whole house needs a paint job bad, but we decided to start with the living room area since we just bought new furniture for that room. We love how it turned out! Thanks Melinda for helping me pick out the colors! Now if we can just get something for the walls....

Bunny, Bear or Dog?? You be the judge!

When Madison was born her Aunt Sheila made her a "bunny" blanket. She was pretty attached to it like any child's blankie the first few years. (when I say pretty attached I mean REALLY attached around the age of 3. I considered breaking into the church when we left it in the nursery one Sunday night.) Even though she can live without it now, she still does cuddle with it when she's sick or because she has to go to her room for a punishment. Well she has been cuddling with it the past 24 hours because she caught that flu bug going around. We started looking at the so called bunnies closer and wondered if they were really bunnies after all. I can't imagine after almost 7 years that the beloved "bunny blankie' doesn't really have bunnies on it. What do you think??

Piano and Basketball

Madison started taking piano lessons two weeks ago. She seems to love it so far so we hope she sticks with it. Here she is with her teacher Miss Sarah.

Austin and his teammates celebrating their first win. 24-11. This season should be pretty exciting.


Number 11 is the cutest one on the team.