Night at the Zoo

Last week I took the kids to Cosley Zoo at night so we could see their Festival of Lights. Cosley Zoo is one of our favorite places to go and hang out. It is a little zoo that is owned and run by the Wheaton Park District. It is free and they have a lot of animals that are found in Illinois.
We know the animals by name. :)We usually go when the weather is warm, so it was a very different experience with all of the snow!! (look at Caroline's bare little legs sticking out! kids just don't seem to mind the cold!!)They had hot cocoa for us. Jake rated it the best hot cocoa he had ever tasted. Caroline sure liked it, too.Luke had fun on all the snow piles.Here are a few of the animals. Most of them are in the barn for the winter. I love going in that barn . . . I grew up on a farm and the smell of hay brings me back. ;)

We had a blast. . . snowball fight anyone?!

Christmas with John's Family

We were so happy that we got to see John's brother, Mike, and his sweet family in Michigan this Christmas. They live in Arizona, so we do not see them very often. :( Daria, who is almost 4, is growing up so fast!


We also got to see John's Grandma Race. She was so happy to have her two boys together.
John's mom was also glad to have her boys. :)
Aunt Carole was there, too! :) Luke had fun playing with her.The cousins sure love Aunt Carole!!!We had a fun time opening gifts.

Grandma and her gang

Mike and Lori

What a blessing it was to see everyone!

It's a Date!

Today, John took me to the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert for a birthday/Christmas present. It was so much fun to be alone for a little while. (thanks, Mom and Dad, for watching the crew!!) The concert was . . . interesting. Just think of Metallica playing Christmas Carols. A memory we will never forget. :)

Time together is a blessing.

Special Delivery

Wow!! Look what we got delivered to our door after dinner tonight!!

My friend, Stacy, sent them for the kids. What a blessing!! Thanks, Stace!! We LOVE the cookies and we LOVE you!! :)

Sledding Fun

Last weekend, we had the perfect weather for SLEDDING! We went to the "windmill hill" in Batavia, which is now my favorite sledding spot. It has a pavillion with a fireplace (and a fire!!) and an outhouse (very important at a sledding hill!). It is right on the Fox River, so there is a pretty view as well.

Jake's bud, Jacob Kainer joined in on the fun.
Luke was so excited to try his new "Snow Raider". By the end of the hill, he was always going down backwards.
Caroline likes to go down standing up.

Superdad
sled train!

my guy

The hot cocoa we put in a Thermos was too hot for us to drink, so we figured out a way to cool it off a little. (the kids wanted to put snow IN the hot cocoa, but after seeing all of the yellow spots from passing dogs, we decided we better not)

Our day of sledding was a blessing to me. It warmed my heart.

Simple Reminder

This Christmas, I am finding myself a little stressed with all of the shopping, Christmas cards, shopping, baking, shopping, activities, shopping, well - you get the picture . . . I truly thought I would be on top of things this Christmas so I could enjoy the coziness of the season. Every year I think I am going to "conquer" Christmas early, but I never do. I always try to "keep it simple", but that never happens either. Today when I was shopping (again!) I ran into one of my neighbors and we began to vent to each other about how stressed we were. Why does this happen?? This ornament is hanging in a position on our tree so that I can see it from the kitchen and every time I look at it, I am reminded to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the Gift that we were so graciously given on a cold night in Bethlehem so long ago. This is what I want my children to remember about Christmas, not all the fun toys or yummy cookies. (or me being stressed!!)

Lord, please help me to slow down and remember that YOU are the greatest gift of all. YOU are why we celebrate Christmas.

Oh Christmas Tree!

This year, we decided to cut our own tree. The kids thought we should get this tree and call it our Charlie Brown tree. :)
It took us awhile to find the "perfect" tree. The place seemed pretty picked over and I was kind of sad that they didn't have Frasier Firs (my favorite), but I decided that whatever tree we got was going to be perfect because we picked it out and cut it down together. :)

Here is our tree before we sawed it down. Luke was camera shy.

Jake sawed.Luke sawed. And Caroline sawed. Bungee cord?

Ready to go home and decorate the tree!! I think it was the perfect tree after all. :)