It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We had a wonderful time celebrating all that we have to be thankful for with our families this year.

With Thanksgiving 2014 in the books we moved right into Christmas. Friday morning arrived and we were busy setting up the tree, stockings and other decorations.

We are looking forward to a fun month beginning with Emily's birthday celebrations!

Baby 2 update

We were planning on waiting to tell the family all about baby 2 until Thanksgiving but we couldn't wait. According to the ultrasound tech baby has very long legs.  Not that we're surprised with the heights of Patrick and Emily but I found it funny that she could see that already. That aside, baby 2 is very active and healthy, we couldn't ask for  more!

And next spring we will be welcoming a new baby...

GIRL!

We are thrilled with the news and Emily is excited to have someone to be the Anna to her Elsa, or vice versa depending on the day.

Looking ahead to the three day week!

Thankful time of year

We are very thankful to have great friends and be able to share a wonderful meal that Patrick prepares every year.  It was delicious, as always.

We're also thankful for family willing to have sleepovers with Emily so we can enjoy some adult time :)

First snow

The first snow fall that was supposed to produce epic depths only left us with 1-2 inches at most but that didn't curb the enthusiasm that Emily had for it!

Windy City Adventures

This year over MEA we went to visit our Chicago family again. We broke up the drive down with a night in Wisconsin Dells to play in the water. Emily was a little more hesitant with the water slides than she was last year but she was much more interested in exploring the whole water park. We had a great night and will plan on making the stop every year!

The view from our hotel room

Friday morning we were on the road to Chicago. The entire drive was uneventful and we were there by midday. We spent some time visiting and letting the little ones play. For dinner we splurged on Chicago style pizza and it was delicious!  We also celebrated William's 2nd birthday.  He's getting so big and changing every time we see him!

Thankfully we had indoor plans on Saturday because it was a windy, rainy day. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry. There was plenty to keep the kids interested and lots of intriguing exhibits for the adults. We spent all morning there before heading back to put the kids down for naps. The rest of the day (which was not much since the kids napped until 5:00!) was spent hanging out, visiting, playing and enjoying a delicious dinner prepared by Marcus!

Mirror Maze!

Sunday morning came quickly and after waking up, snapping a few pictures of the kids together and grabbing some leftovers for road snacks, we were on our way back to Minneapolis.

We are looking forward to the holidays when we get to see them all again!

Halloween v.2014

This year Emily finally understood the concept of Halloween. With us and preschool building it up she was ready to dress up and collect candy!

We went to Como Zoo's ZooBoo the week before. The weather was amazing, the temp hit 70 and it was sunny!

Halloween day was a little cooler with a high of 40 but that wasn't going to stop us! Emily did some trick or treating at preschool at a few local businesses and then they hopped on a bus to go sing fall/Halloween songs at a senior residence before heading back to have their class party.

Singing for the seniors!

We went trick or treating with a couple of neighbors that evening. Emily had tons of fun, running from house to house yelling "trick or treat!" and collecting the treats. Our neighborhood is always packed with little ghouls and goblins and it was a fun night out.