Let it snow!

We woke up to the first snow of the year! The kids got dressed in record time and were out the door for some fun in the snow!

 

The girls and their snowman

Aaron, Isabel, and the neighbor kids build a palace igloo (with a window as according to the plans by Isabel)

Happy Birthday Grace

We took advantage of the Hanschu family visit for Thanksgiving to celebrate Grace's birthday! Happy Birthday big 4 year old girl!

Thanksgiving

We had a great time for Thanksgiving! Shelli's sister and her hubby and Shelli's brother and his family all came over. Shelli and Kristen made an obscene amount of food!

Brian preps the 

turkey

Here we are trying to figure out how to baste the turkey... the boys finally ran to the store to buy a turkey baster

A post meal nap

Deviled eggs... Shelli and Kristen's specialty!

Lauren and Baby Claire!

Halloween

Isabel (to the surprise of many) wanted to be a cow for halloween, Syd was Minnie Mouse.

The whole crew before heading out. Zac was Indiana Jones and Ryan was a power ranger.

Parker Gibbs was the cutest penguin ever!

Mooing like a cow

Just looking cute!

Kristen's Wedding!!!

Well, Kristen's wedding is now over.... and it was sooo much fun! We had a great time with all our family in town. Aaron was the officiant, Shelli the matron of honor, and Isabel and Syd were beautiful flower girls. I was so busy with the ends and outs of the wedding, I wasn't able to take many pictures.... but once again my BFF Emily came through! So to check us to see more pics of the wedding go HERE to see pictures! 

Pics have also been posted by the wedding photographer HERE ! 

Isabel is off to school!!

Isabel's new backpack. Did you really expect anything other than princess?

The big girl waiting for the bus on the first day!

Here she goes... onto the bus! As you can see, she wasn't a bit scared. Mom had a harder time than Isabel! 

Handing out Backpacks

This past Saturday we were able to go downtown to help hand out backpacks through Jireh Sports. There was face painting, crafts, free haircuts, and food! Of course, the girls had to experience it all!

The girls got their faces painted and had a Blast!

The Jireh girls perform a tumbling rountine... they are amazing!

Happy Syd, the cat.

Adios Chichi!

Well, I am back from another FABULOUS trip to Chichicastenango Guatemala! If you have never been to Chichi, trust me, you are missing some serious fun and you should run, not walk, to the nearest airport and book a flight! 

Once again it should come as no suprise to you that I took no photos. That is why I have the bestest friend in the world... Emily (ok, just to be fair, I am friends with her for other reasons besides her great photo abilities and the fact that she packs everything I forget on trips:) )

 Sooooo, if you want to see photos and videos of the trip go to her blog here: EMILY'S BLOG

Trust me, even if I did take pics/videos, it is more interesting to see/read about our trip from Emily!!

Election Video

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Get your polka on!

We went to see Polkaboy on Friday with friends and had a blast! Despite being hotter than the sun out, we had so much fun and can't wait to go see them again in August. As usual, I didn't bring my camera. But, as is also usual, Emily had my back! So... once again if you want to see pics (and a video of Aaron dancing the polka) click here: POLKA BOY PICS

Bridal Shower!

So far behind....

So much has happened in the past month... so much that I haven't had time to blog about any of it. Isabel has started swimming lessons (going well), Aaron 

and I had our 10 year anniversary (get away weekend of hiking and horseback riding and getting totally lost in a huge forrest at a cabin in woods sans kids),

 getting ready for 

Guatemala short term trip in July, planning my sister's bridal shower, the girls had their first vacation bible camp, Grandma and Grandpa Elliott came to town, we all went to a baseball game, and Isabel had a dance recital. I would love to go into detail about all these things but I don't have time. So, here are some pictures I pirated off of a website (www.sidelineposters.com - you can order copies of the pics at this site) from Isabel's dance recital. And a few of my own.

Why re-create the wheel???

So, we had a fun weekend that started off with a SURPRISE party at my sister's house for our 10 year anniversary. We thought we were going to meet at her house to join up with she and Brian for a quiet evening out, and were beyond surprised when a bunch of our friends jumped out to greet us! I honestly have never been so surprised at anything before. Usually I have some inkling of things going on, but was totally clueless in this case! I had actually seen most of the people there earlier in the day and no one let on to the surprise. Either my friends are really good liars or I am highly un-intuitive. Either option sort of sucks, but I prefer to just think my friends are good liars as opposed to admitting my ignorance.

Then on Sunday, we had a wonderful picnic at Holland park for our Hands of Hope adoption ministry at our church. It was a fabulous time of food, good weather, and meeting some great people.

Now, you might be asking "SO, WHERE ARE THE PICTURES???"

Obviously I didn't take any at my SURPRISE party, and forgot the camera at the picnic... However, my good friend Emily can always be counted on to pull through in just about any situation (seriously, if you have ever travelled with her, you know what I am talking about as her motto is "if you pack it, they will come".) And, as the title suggests, why recreate the wheel. So, I will now point you toward her blog to see pictures of the two above-mentioned events. They are under June 1st "Hands of Hope" and "Surprise Elliotts" at the following link

Click here to see pictures!!!!!

Make Micro Loans to Impoverished Women in Guatemala (or about anywhere else!)

Spring!

Crabapple tree

Lilac Bush getting ready to bloom

Phlox

Viburnum

Just some pics of flowers around our house this spring! I love spring!!!

Chicago has more than just the Cubs!

Last weekend we packed up the kids and headed to Chi-town for a 3 day weekend. On Saturday we went to the Chicago Field Museum, the largest museum in the country! The girls enjoyed the dinosaurs and children's interactive play area the most while Aaron and I were intrigued by the famous (now dead and stuffed) man eating lions of Tsavo. We then went back to the hotel (Hyatt McCormicks Place- a 4 star we got on priceline that was superb!) and went swimming in near frigid waters. Brrrr. After warming up, we headed off to Giordano's for some famous Chicago deep dish pizza... yum! The next day we headed off to Navy Pier and the Children's Museum. Isabel has informed us this was her favorite day. The museum was great... tons of interactive stuff for the kids. We swung by the Build-a-Bear shop where Isabel made her new friend, Ianna. After dinner at Bubba Gump's we called it a day and took a taxi back to the hotel (the kids first America public transportation ride). Next morning we got up and went to Shedd's aquarium and watched a dolphin show, saw the sharks and scarred Isabel for life at what appeared to be an innocent 4D showing of Sponge Bob Squarepants (sort of like Soarin at Disney). While Aaron and I thought it was a great time, Isabel started screaming and crying and buried her head in my shoulder the whole time. It was in 3D and then had tons of cool special effects (like how your chair would move, water squirted out at you, air blew on you, smells came out.... etc). Five years and I still don't understand her... I was VERY hesitant to let her ride on the 150ft tall ferris wheel (which she ended up loving!) and had no concerns about the Sponge Bob movie (which I am pretty sure is going to land her in therapy some day). On the way home, we stopped at Fair Oaks Dairy farm for ice cream and a huge trampoline (those two things don't mix well... just keep that tucked away for future use).

Big fish at museum Isabel's new friend.


Well, Isabel did it first... so we all had to!

View from the ferris wheel... kids and dad on the carousel

In the canoe... always a safety girl.   Hugging spider.. Not my kid!

So excited to ride the bus! At Navy Pier


Sydney is testing out new careers. Climbing at the children's museum
Pizza... YUM!

syd the builder!

 

Silly girls posing with the T-rex! Who are you more afraid of?

         

Digging for dinosaurs! Look, I'm as big as a dino footprint!