The Pinewood Derby

January is an exciting time for young boys, because of their favorite scouting activity ever! This year was no exception! The boys have such a blast participating in the annual pinewood derby!

Jaxon even made his own car, pretty much all by himself, and was allowed to race, even though he isn't an official scout yet! They had a really great time, and all the kids were really great sports! These kids are pretty awesome, and I have actually began to love being the den leader~ who'd have thought that would happen??? :)

Our pack. Traeden ended up getting 3rd place over-all. Jaxon's car raced well and won a few times, but he didn't place. I'm sure next year will be better, when dad gives him a little more help!

more Christmas pics and memories!

A few more pictures of our Christmas - hey it's only February, never too late!!!

Making Christmas cookies! I love how they really get into this!

Traeden's gingerbread house

Jaxon's gingerbread house - I don't think he left anything off!!!

Christmas morning - yes, Santa came, and brought way more presents than could fit under our tree!

Araleigh won the biggest present award - Santa brought her a wonderful dollhouse!

Traeden's skateboard!

Just what Jaxon wanted, a DS!!!

Traeden got one too!!!

Jaxon's present for mom and dad, a poetry book, written by him!!!

Random Christmas Pictures...

Some fun pre-Christmas pictures that I enjoy looking at:



At "Winter Wonderland" at Navy Pier - the kids were pretty ticked that I made them pose - they just wanted to go ride the rides (it's a big, indoor carnival)



Putting up the Christmas tree! Every year I swear I am going to just go get a pre-lit tree, but what fun would that be? My kids love sorting the color-coded branches and putting up the tree themselves! Just like I did as a kid. All we were missing was that hilarious "12 days of Christmas" tape that I am determined to get a copy of some day...



This picture makes me laugh because they look like they are being forced to work or something! Really, they were having fun, I swear!!



Finally done, time to pose!



And then mob dad to look at the picture before texting it to the grandparents!!!

Back in December...

I wanted to post some pics of some of my friends here in Chicago and the fun Christmas party we had! I am so lucky to have such awesome friends here, and we always have such a great time! And since I talk about them a lot, now everyone can finally put a face with the name!

The girls - me, Sarah, Nicole, and Danica. Yes, I am a total baby hog. I admit it. But I really love this little girl, and I think she loves me back!!!

Yes, Delaney is still mine!!! :) Look at how cute she is!!! And Nicole looks gorgeous, as always! I have very pretty friends!

The guys - Joe, Scott, Kevin, and of course Dave in back. It is so great that our husbands like eachother as much as we do! It's always a bummer when couples don't mesh, you know?

I can't believe I don't have any pictures of the kids, they were having so much fun playing that we hardly saw them, which makes for a great party!!

him + me + 10 years = perfect!

This past month Dave and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary!!! It was such a perfect day! We had an amazing date night too - I met him downtown for dinner at a local sushi restaurant, which was the best sushi I have ever had (and the coolest location!) It was perfect! Then we walked down to attend a concert for our favorite singer ever, Linda Eder!!! She just happened to be in Chicago on our anniversary. How perfect is that??? And our seats were incredibly close - we could reach out and touch the stage (but we didn't because the people in front of us would probably not have liked it too much) This is the only picture I took that night. I am not good at remembering to take pics when the kids are not involved, unfortunately!

But, anyway, she was fantastic!!!! It was a great show! Afterward, we hopped in a cab and headed to our hotel, the PERFECT Allerton Hotel on Michigan Ave. It is a great place, an older hotel with a lot of character and history! I love it! Our room was beautiful! Dave pulled a few strings and got us upgraded a few times to a gorgeous suite on the 23rd floor with a beautiful view. It was such a perfect evening!

1st Snow of the Season

So I am totally playing catch-up, as usual, so this is a quick one :) This was back in Nov, the first morning of snow, and Araleigh just had to play in it!

Well, ok, mostly she just ate it...

And dusted it off of the raspberry plants! But it was fun and magical :)

Ugly Sweaters and Roller Skating!

My friend, Sarah, turned 30 and had an awesome 80s ugly sweater roller skating party!!! What a blast! It really took me back to the good ol' days of Classic Skating :) We had so much fun!

I did not go to the trouble to find an ugly sweater for the party, but I was so lucky, I was one of the winners to get one as a door prize!!! Yes!!! (I can't prove it, but I think Sarah rigged the "drawing"...)

We had to get a train going when we heard the "Locomotion"!!! It got to be pretty big, but this is the only picture of it I have!

The kids had a great time as well! Traeden fell down about every 10 seconds but he would not give up! Araleigh and Jax took it nice and slow, and they had fun! They are all begging to go back! I am thinking that's a great idea!!!