Santa Came!

Surely a Christmas miracle, our little family of three got to sleep in Christmas morning.  Starting some of our own traditions this year, we spent the day at home opening a few gifts, lounging around watching Christmas movies and eating many sweet treats.  Grandma and Bapa stopped by for a visit and to drop off Erik's new garage storage system and we ended our day with a fabulous pasta dinner (that even Elsa couldn't get enough of).  After Elsa's bedtime, we treated ourselves to Gin and tonics (It's the perfect holiday drink - it's like drinking a Christmas tree but also very refreshing so it's also the perfect summertime drink...).  We had a wonderful Christmas!

Santa brought a play table for Elsa!

On her very own phone

getting into unwrapping presents

loving on her Ophelie from the Rudolphs

Overall, we could not have asked for a better holiday season.  We were surrounded by family and friends that made each celebration extra special and fun-filled.  It was definitely Merry and Bright!

Family Christmas(es)

We spent all day Christmas Eve in Dwight with the Flott family - starting with a lovely breakfast, followed by lots of gift-opening, playing with gifts, Mass, more food, and lots of memories.  

Checking out Elsa's new toy box made by her Grandpa

A very common sight lately - Elsa "on" the phone

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Goodnight!

We spent the weekend after Christmas celebrating with the Golden family in Hollowayville.  Inspite of being a bit under the weather, Elsa had a lot of fun playing with her cousins - especially loving on her little cousin Quinn.  With the entire family under one roof, no one seems to get much sleep (except Erik - go figure...), but we sure do have a lot of laughs and good times!

again, stealing someone's phone...

Loves her vacuum - just like her momma!

 

Christmas, Part I

The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated with the Flott family at my Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob's home in Hoffman Estates.  We always have a great time with this bunch (and we always eat too much)! 

Time for Presents!

A Princess is born!

Sweet Sisters playing with Clara's make-up kit

Trying out Uncle Bob's new 3D TV

Counting Down to Christmas

In this family, we celebrate early, and often...to get in the Christmas spirit and in order to get our shopping done, we spent a weekend at the Embassy Suites near Oakbrook.  Elsa loved the swimming pool, I loved the proximity to great shopping, and Erik loved the free happy hour at the hotel.  We decided we would definitely do it again next year!

Taking a break from shopping

We also made a quick stop on our way to visit these good Samaritans who were ringing the bell for the Salvation Army! 

Someone is excited for Christmas!

Elsa Reads

Baking/Brewing Day 2014

Another successful baking/brewing day is in the books (and in various tupperware containers)! The day was filled with lots of cookies (7 kinds), a great pizza lunch, one batch of beer ready to ferment, lots of ornaments made by sweet girls, and a Barbie ginger-bread house! 

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Between our Thanksgiving weekends, we were busy decorating for Christmas - Erik tackled the outside lights while Elsa and I decked the halls inside (well, I would decorate and Elsa would re-arrange).  After spending much time debating how to make our tree Elsa-safe and worrying that she would pull it down, she has surprised us by having very little interest in it at all! It was a few days before she realized she could touch the ornaments, and she really prefers "reading" everyone's holiday cards all over the house...now we just have to see what she does when we add in all the wrapped presents!

Taking a break from decorating in her favorite spot - the fridge!

These decorations are tons of fun!

Helping dad with the new snowman for the yard.

Thanksgiving(s)

We like Thanksgiving so much we celebrated for a week and half this year - at the Golden's in Hollowayville on the actual day, and at the Flott's this past weekend.  Elsa had a great time with all her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents and decided the pie was her favorite part!

 We started Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Flott's house for breakfast and then continued on to the Illinois Valley for a late lunch and dinner.

We continued to feed our faces the first weekend in December...so much so, we forgot to take many pictures!

As always, we are thankful for our families!