Christmas '08

The day that my parents arrived from Seattle, 12/23, we had another bout of snow...lots of snow. There were even times during the day were we had white out conditions and freeways being closed down due to poor visibility.

My parent's flight was delayed 4 hours in Seattle and when they finally got to Chicago they had to wait on the plane an additional hour before there was an available terminal. But...they still got here!

On Christmas Eve Jim and I had to work but once we got off it was time for the festivities to begin. Mom and I made spritz cookies...with some assistance from Jim. Jim has the magic touch when it comes to the spritz cookie press.

After cookie making it was time for the holiday movie extravaganza to begin. The first move...Miracle on 34th Street...my favorite Christmas movie of all times. For Christmas Eve dinner we had take out Chinese food...what could be better?

On Christmas morning we still had snow. This is the 3rd Christmas that my parents have come to Chicago but it is the first white Christmas we have had here. Christmas also brought us a lot of great presents...

The hand-dad-made baby bassinet...

The animals got some presents too..


The rest of Christmas we relaxed and continued the movie extravaganza with The Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation. For Christmas dinner Jim made us a DELICIOUS turkey and we had fun with our traditional holiday crackers with the paper crowns...

Unfortunately, I had to work on Friday but Jim and my parents went to explore Wheaton, a local town. In Wheaton they have a Dupage County Historical Museum that my dad was interested in exploring. A lot of my dad's relatives grew up in Dupage county including his parent's and grandparents and he was hoping to find some information out about them there but...no such luck.

On Friday night we went to Quigley's for dinner. A nice night of Irish food and libations...

On Saturday the weather took a crazy turn and the high of the day was 63 degrees and it was raining cats and dogs all day. This caused almost all the snow to melt and we had some flooding. Unfortunately, Saturday was the day that we had decided to tour Aurora with cousin Joanne. Aurora is the town where my dad, my grandparents, and many other relatives were born. Since the weather was so awful we did the driving tour where we saw all the old houses where my relatives lived and we even went to the cemetery were my great-grand-parents are buried. The highlight of Saturday was visiting my dad's Aunt Kay. Kay is 92 but is as quick witted as anyone you would meet.

On Sunday morning my parent's and I got up and headed to the city. Our first stop was the holiday windows at Macy's. I had not been to the downtown Macy's and it is an amazing building!

The holiday windows were a lot of fun. They were full of mechanics and whimsy. The theme throughout all the windows was to believe.

The next stop on Sunday was the Sears Tower...the tallest building in the United States.
When we first got into line to go up to the sky deck we heard that the wait was about an hour well...NOT TRUE. We were in line for a good 2 hours but once we got to the top the views were almost worth the wait...

We were hoping to also get to the Art Institute of Chicago but we ran out of time...next time.

After the Sears Tower there was only enough time to grab a quick lunch and then head off to the airport.

It was great having my parents in for another great Christmas and we look forward to seeing them soon when Abby comes.

Birthday

This years birthday was a bit frustrating. I am under the opinion that you should NOT have to go to work on your birthday...you shouldn't have to take a vacation day it should be a personal holiday. This year was a perfect example of why.

Jim and I got up a little early and he took me to coffee. Once our local Starbucks found out it was my birthday they game me my americano for free...nice start for the day!

The day unfortunately went down hill from there... for one, I had to go to work and then...it started to snow...a lot and fast. My commute is usually about an hour to or from work but my trip home was 4 HOURS! Jim had suggested going out to dinner but by the time I got home I was not about to get back in the car.

The night did redeem itself a bit. Jim made me some delicious home made pizza.

Jim and I will go out this weekend to continue the celebration...or start the celebration as the case my be.

Every other birthday that we have been here Jim and I have gone into the city to Greek Town. This year...the Greek Town trip will need to be a bit delayed. One of the reasons why I love Greek food is because of the feta cheese well...with being pregnant...I am not supposed to have feta because many times it is unpasteurized. Unfortunately, with out being able to eat feta there is not much a point in me going to Greek Town. Once our dear Abby is born we will have to to make a belated trip for Greek food!

Christmas Tree Hunt and Game NIght

Last weekend we went and picked out our Christmas Tree. We went to the same small Christmas tree farm that we went to last year. In no time flat we found the PERFECT tree.

Jim always said I was a tree hugger...

After we found the tree Jim cut it down...

...and tied it to the car.

Saturday was a very windy day and as we were leaving the tree farm the tree almost fell off the top of the car. We had to pull over and throw the tree in the back of the car. Don't worry...we got it home.

Once we got the tree it was time to decorate the tree and the house....

(please ignore the doggy towels)

Saturday night we had our monthly game night with Frank and Manuela and as always we had a great time!

The best part of this game night...besides the company...was that after almost a year of game nights I finally won a game! I have come in 2nd once and last plenty of times but this was my very first winning night!

Jim and I look forward to our monthly game nights with the Weber's and we look forward to many more nights of finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th!

Coffee, Baby Shower, Birthdays, and more

Last Friday I left for a quick trip to Seattle...and when I say quick I mean it! I left Chicago Friday afternoon and I was back to Chicago on Sunday night.

I arrived in Seattle on Friday night and after visiting with the folks on the drive home it was right to bed.

On Saturday morning what was the first thing we needed to do? Well go to coffee of course. We headed to our favorite Redmond coffee shop Victor's for a cup of joe and a pastry...YUM!

After coffee it was straight home because My mom, Jackie, and Remy were throwing me a baby shower at my parents house. There were about 23 people at the shower and we had a great time! There was an adorable cake (made my Miss Jackie), fun games, great friends, and plenty of nice presents. Here are a few of the fun pictures...

Jackie honestly makes the best looking cakes EVER! AShe has quite a tallent...

Cousin Reagan, with her daughter Marley, Cousin Elaina, with her daughter Scarlette, and Aunt Ellen...

All my bridesmaids back together again...

After the shower there was a few minutes to relax and then it was off to another party. This time the Party was at My Uncles' for our dear friend Trevor. Not only is Trevor's birthday coming up but so are the birthdays of his 2 brother birthdays as well. It was a fabulous party with a DELICIOUS dinner prepared by a friend of my uncles Daren who owns The Bay Cafe on Lopez Island.

Man of honor...

I hate to leave a party at my uncles' place but by 9:30 it was time for me to head home....I was exhausted.

On Sunday morning what was the first thing we needed to do? Well go to coffee of course but this time we headed into Seattle to go to Vivace's. This is one of my favorite Seattle coffee shops and since we were going into the city to have breakfast with the uncles it seemed like a logical first stop!

Vivace has recently changes their location due to some development work being done on Capital Hill. Even though they have done a great job renovating their new location it was still a bit sad. It will never have the charm of the old spot.

After coffee it was off to breakfast. It was wonderful to spend some more time with Animal and Bennett!

After breakfast I said goodbye to my parents and Joe and Remy came to pick me up. It was great to see them! The plan was to go out for Thai food and then they were going to drop me off at the airport. The problem was that every Thia restaurant that we tried were either not open on Sundays OR did not open until dinner...oh well. Corinne met up with us and we ended up going to Dukes on Alki and having the planet's best chowder. On their menu the made the statement that is was the planet's best chowder. Was it good chowder, definitely! Planet's best chowder, well...I am going to have to trust them on that one.

One of the things that I have missed the most about the Northwest are the mountains. Even though Sunday was raining off

After lunch it was a mad rush to the airport. I got back home around midnight. It was a crazy busy, exhausting, quick trip but worth ever min of lost sleep!!

Chewy Discovered My Belly

Turkey Day Weekend

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Jim's parents arrived. It was great to see them in our neck of the woods! They had not been here since the first October we were here, before we were married.

On Turkey Day morning we woke up bright and early to do the Naperville Turkey Trot. This is the 3rd year that we have participated in this 5k and it is a great way to start off Thanksgiving because you get your exercise in first thing and then you don't feel so guilty about stuffing yourself later. This year, instead of calling it the Turkey Trot, I have renamed the event Turkey Waddle. Being almost 8 months pregnant I think the new name fits. We walked the 3.12 miles but I was amazed by our time...the 4 of us did the walk in under 49 minutes Here are a few pictures of the fun...

This was Gwen and Regis' first 5k and they have expressed an interest to do more.

After the Turkey Waddle we ran home to put in the turkey. This was the first time that Jim and I have hosted Thanksgiving and I think it was a huge success! We had 9 people for the feast, me, Jim, Gwen, Regis, the Trelo's (John, Karen, Jack, and Mark), and cousin Joanne. Jack was the only Trelo that I was going to allow into the house because of what he was wearing...

...but I decided to let everyone in anyways. Jim and I provided the bird, the mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and the pies, but then everyone else contributed. It was delicious!!

On Friday evening we went to The Naperville Christmas parade and lighting ceremony. This has become a tradition for us along with the Turkey Trot. There is a cute hometown parade and then, once Santa has made his way through the parade route he flips the switch and all of Naperville's lights turn on at once.

One thing that was a bit odd about the parade is that there were 2 Santas...

This was quite confusing to the kids around us. The parade should only have 1 Santa! Hopefully they will not make this same mistake next year. Oh well...the reindeer and the dancing girls made up for it...

Lights of Naperville...

Freezing Floridians...

The rest of the weekend we relaxed and visited. Hopefully, fun was had by all. On Sunday we had our first real season. Gwen and Regis had not seen snow snow since they moved to Florida, about 5 years ago, so it was a treat for them to see. But the the happiest person of all about the snow was Chewy...

Next...off to Seattle for the weekend.