Christmas Card Photo Shoot

This year we had a chance to score a sweet deal on Christmas cards thanks to some mommy blogs I follow, but that meant we needed to get them ordered before we left Chicago. We really wanted them by a pretty Christmas tree, but Grammie's tree wasn't up yet. We traveled near and far to find a good one...and we did! Can you guess where?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cecilia's 2nd Birthday Chicago Style

For the second year in a row, we have made the trek up to Chicago for Thanksgiving, which also means the celebration of Cecilia's birthday, since it is just a few days later. We had a blast at Thanksgiving, and an even better time at Cecilia's party with quite a bit of the Thomas clan in attendance. Thanks to everyone that came and made it a fun time!

The kids table....AJ, Adam, and Cecilia

It was so much fun to bang on the table...what a band!

Opening presents at the birthday party!

Baby Emmie!

Lots of colorful paper

WOW! A Tag Jr. Thanks Auntie Amy and Uncle Jerry!

Princess Shoes! Thanks Grammie and Grampy

NEMO! Thanks Auntie Laura, Lou, and Ge Ge

Momma and Cecilia being silly

The monkey cake (made and decorated by Momma)

Cecilia having some cake...so yummy!

The big entertainment of course was Miriam's bath. Who knew?

Indianapolis Children's Museum

When we were in Chicago for Thanksgiving, we took time the next day to drive to Indianapolis to visit with some of Matt's family. His brother, Stephen, sister Katherine, sister-in-law Cathy and niece, Sarah met us at the HUGE children's museum there. It was so good to see them! We had a great time!

The awesome glass sculpture in the middle of the stairwell.

Stephen, Katherine and Sarah

Crazy ladies in a crazy mirror!

Cecilia and Uncle Stephen playing in the water.

Cecilia and Mommy!

Auntie K and Cecilia....ROAR!

It took Cecilia 30 seconds to find the bead maze.

Playing in the toddler area. This part was great! We spent a long time there.

Everything was just the right size for Cecilia.

Papa and Momma with Mir!

Cheese!

Thomas train tables! Cousins in Chicago would love this!

Up the climbing wall!

Smiley fries with ketchup!

Oh the treats we get when we are on the road!

Uncle Stephen and Cecilia at the water table. It was so much fun....and wet!

Mir chillin.

Papa and his Mimi.

Auntie K driving a cool scooping truck!

This cool ball thing...can't really explain it, but Cecilia thought it was awesome!

Video of the cool ball thing in action!

How Cecilia loves the water!

Crazy smiles!

Cecilia and Uncle Stephen in the under water viewing area at the fish tank.

Good thing Uncle Stephen came....Cecilia loved playing with him!

Wave to the camera!

Tunnels!

And, let's not forget to wash our hands!

Hula hoopin with Auntie K

Who is that little girl in the mirror?

And at the end of the day...Cecilia was asleep before we were even out of the parking garage!

Thanks for taking the time to come guys! We had so much fun!

And Mir, very close to sleep herself, all bundled up.

Chicago Thanksgiving fun!

We're up in Chicago now, visiting the Thomas clan for Thanksgiving....as you can tell we are sporting the sweatsuits Auntie Steph got for us! Thanks Steph! Mir loves her saucer at home, but in Chicago we have fancy fairytale exersaucer with so many toys! She loves it just as much and it is a great way to keep her occupied while preparing food/eating!

Lovin that sauce!

So happy!

Miriam with Ge Ge, her maternal Great Grandma!

I think Ge Ge was trying to get her to look at the camera.

We love you Ge Ge!

Ge Ge with all her great-grandchildren!

What a good lookin bunch!

This was a job-trying to get all the toddlers to look, smile, and sit still.

Talk about multi-tasking.

A few more takes....notice each child's personality shining through...

Ge Ge and the "little one".

Fire is amusing at all ages.

The boys....

Auntie Steph with Kissy Cheeks!

Ge Ge with her grandkids...how quickly time flies.

How could we forget Matt?!?!