Reindeer Dust

Sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make it sparkle bright.
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam,
This will guide them to your home.

Georgia and Brody made sure that the reindeer would not miss the landing strip they made in Aunt Zannah and Uncle Matt's backyard.

Sugar Cookies

The kids made sugar cookies with Honey and had a good time smearing frosting and sprinkling sugar. Georgia definitely had the hang of it, although more frosting was being tasted by Brody than what was going on his cookies.

First Snowman

Here is our first snowman since moving here. Last winter, no one really wanted to make one with me, so we didn't have one. Mother Nature dumped about 8 inches on our house last night, and then saw to it to drift it into 12 inch banks in strategic locations. I loved snow as a kid, but then I never had to shovel it. Oh well, I don't have to feel guilty about not going to Body Pump today, my arms are burning! So anyway, after Chris came out to relieve me from shoveling duties, I decided to make a snowman. I was really tired and no one helped (again!), so he is a shorty--maybe 3o inches tall.

Mommy Martini Night..oh, an Ornament Exchange

The group of mommies that I hang out with had our 2nd annual holiday party/ornament exchange. tonight. It may sound boring, but it is an excuse to eat, get in the spirit, drink a few (or more) spirits, gossip, and talk about things that we can't around our kids. With this mix of fifteen or so gals, the conversation is always good, usually takes a turn towards the strange, and is definitely not G-rated. I have a ton of fun around these chicks and am very happy that I stumbled upon this group upon our move to Illinois.



Nancy, this year's hostess, made some awesome White Chocolate Peppermint Martinis. Of course, they had another name, but I don't remember it because I had several. It was the kind of drink that is so smooth going down, it doesn't hit you until after the second or third one.

Nancy's Peppermint Martinis

1 oz Schmirnoff vanilla vodka
1/2 oz peppermint schnapps
1/2 oz Godiva white chocolate liqueur

Combine all with ice in a martini shaker, strain and pour into glass. Garnish with a peppermint stick.

Of course the weather blew in tons of snow that had not really come all day as predicted. So at 1am, we trooped out in our high heels (some of us dummies--including yours truly) to scrape off /dig out our cars. What a buzz kill!

Dori, Amy and Trish.
Snow Pit Crew

Nutcracker Workshop

Georgia and I went to her school for some quality, creative time together at the Kindergarten Nutcracker Workshop. They provided the Pringles can and a few decorations and we raided my craft closet at home for all the special touches. As you can see, no ordinary looking nutcracker would do...we made Princess Snowflake. She was covered in jewels, large snowflake sequins, and even had a iridescent skirt (leftovers from Halloween). She is also sporting some very curly hair, thanks to a donation from Georgia's friend, Marina, who also bucked tradition and made a very pretty ballerina. It was a really good time, despite a few hot glue burns for Mom.

It's Christmas. Give a Garmin.

I love the Christmas season, but dread hearing Christmas music, now that I have kids. They don't like the traditional standards, so no White Christmas or I'll Be Home For Christmas or Silent Night. They opt instead for Frosty, Rudolph, Jingle Bells, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. And we must hear them over and over and over for maximum enjoyment. The only compromise is Brody's favorite again this year, which is Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys. It's catchy, but not something you would expect a kid to pick with all the annoying seasonal songs out there.
Which brings me to my point. Brody is learning to sing and Georgia often helps him fill in the gaps when he forgets words. But the words are often not the correct ones which makes for some semi-silent parental snickering in the front seat. Today, I distinctly heard Georgia continually humming Carol of the Bells, which I personally do not like because of a junior high band instructor and the chimes, but that is a different story. As she hummed on, she kept garbling some words in the middle instead of saying the actual lyrics of merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. I asked her what she was singing and so she sang "Give a, give a, give a, give a Garmin." It didn't register for a while, until I realized she had seen the commercial for the Garmin GPS. Christmas commercialism at its best.

Breakfast With Santa

The kids had a good time at the club for Breakfast With Santa. This was the first year, Georgia has ever approached Santa to sit on his lap. They took a picture of her for an ornament, but I forgot to snap one myself. I will try to scan it in. Brody stood in line, but chickened out at the last minute.

Georgia ran around endlessly with her friend, Marina, with Brody close behind.

Santa's elves did magic tricks, juggled, rode unicycles, and told jokes, much to the delight of all the kids.

Gingerbread Houses

My friend Darci hosted a gingerbread house making party for the kids. What a wonderful way to get rid of that excess Halloween candy! Here is Georgia's creation. You can tell she was sampling it during mid-construction by the tell-tale icing on her face.

Seasons Greetings

Here are some pictures that we took today in our quest for a decent Christmas card photo.

I truly love trying to get three other people to cooperate with you for pictures (including one grumpy husband). Add cold and tons of rain, and lots of other people getting pictures made.... Now that is a recipe for one fine afternoon! Oh well, the kids took some cute pictures.

Lollipop. Lollipop. Oh, lolli, lolli, lolli....... Lollipop!

Just a few pictures of the kids really enjoying some big lollipops that I brought home. It was hard not to take a picture of them trying to stuff the whole thing in their mouths. Too funny.

Candy Land Ball

Chris and Georgia attended the Daddy Daughter Dance that my Junior League chapter put on as part of the Festival of Trees Fundraiser. A picture of them together will be coming soon. I was working the event and left the house early and despite carrying a camera all night and taking pictures of other people, I could not get one of Georgia with her Daddy. She had a fabulous time and Chris was a trouper. It was basically about 150 girls all dressed up and running around playing with each other, not really dancing with their daddies. The big draws are the raffle boxes for some of the kid-themed trees: Webkinz, Hannah Montana, Barbie, etc... and the live auction for the bigger ticket items. I think Georgia would have had the American Girl package easily, if she had stayed with Chris instead of running off and playing. She hooked up with her new friend, Lexi, and that was that.

Turkey Music

Georgia participated in her first live performance tonight. The kindergarten and first grades at her new school put on a Fall/Thanksgiving music festival for their parents. It was very cute with lots of kids singing and dancing and lots of kids in varying stages of attentiveness on stage. There were many songs about fat turkeys, turkeys not wanting to be eaten, turkeys dancing, etc... She did well playing the wood block during her feature song. I had forgotten to tell Chris that she was doing this, so he was very surprised and very proud.























I was just glad that there weren't any of those recorders (the flute kind, not the recording kind) in the program. She told me that they had been practicing with them in music class. I am sorry, but those things make the worst noise. My dad thought that he would be funny and buy Georgia one when she was two years old. I thought that I would go insane. Somehow, we unfortunately lost it in the move. Sorry, Dad.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was trying to take pictures around the two men who kept moving about with their video cameras. I had intended to record it, but that just didn't happen. Hopefully, will get my act together before her play next week!

The Usual Suspects

Just a couple of pics of Brody and his MMO crew the day before Halloween and posing with his "Mr. Pumpkin Head" creation.

Dino Roars and My "Goof"

The dinos are back. I turned around from working on the computer and saw that Brody had lined them all up. I even got a 'roar demonstration' for each one. I guess they got bored of hiding in my cookware. That is my little one. He is in such a funny phase and learning such oddball words. Whenever he does something really silly I call him 'Goof', which he thinks is hilarious. He is now calling everyone in the house 'Goof', but it is Momma Goof, Daddy Goof, and JoJo Goof. I also got the feeling that we eat out too much when he went from saying 'more milk' to 'refill please.' I am worried that the next time I am making dinner he will say something like 'I would like to start with the bruschetta.'

Trickey Treat its Halloween!

The kids had a great time trick or treating this year. The weather was perfect, for once. In the past, we seem to have had the extremes of sweat-drenched saunas or freezing rain. As you can see, we had a Cinderella and a Spiderman. Georgia tried to have him be her prince in keeping with the matching tradition we started two years ago, but Brody would have none of it. Let me tell you, if I could have found a store bought Spidey in his size, I would have bought the thing. Sewing a black yarn web onto tiny sweatsuit arms is not exactly the most fun that I have had. Oh well, he was warm, loved the thing and looked adorable. You can't ask for more than that!
Brody was really into it this year, so it was fun watching him get so excited. He started out the night saying "trickey treat" but that eventually evolved into yelling "candy time" near the end. I guess he was overcome with thinking of devouring the large bag of sugar he was carrying. We tried to lessen the mountain of candy, but taking out all the ones that nobody wants (you know, the modern day equivalents of Chick o' Sticks and Bit of Honeys that we used to toss), but they each have a gallon size ziploc bag of candy. I tried to offer to buy some back at ten for $1, but so far there have been no takers. I guess Mom and Dad are going to have to resort to stealing our favorites when they aren't looking.

Pumpkin Carving

Georgia and Brody helped carve their pumpkin by scooping out the seeds. Georgia declared the pulp to be its brains and had fun teaching her little brother how to squish it between his fingers. They (which means Georgia) decided that we would have a scary face jack o' lantern. She chooses this every year--it always has to have an evil smile with pointy teeth for some reason. She made the face with her face, but I didn't catch it on camera. No happy, sweet pumpkins for us. I am beginning to wonder what they will look like in the future.

Brody in the Park

Got these pictures of Brody at the park. He had a wonderful time running around and squirrel watching. They were out in full force and were not shy at all. They even ended up sharing our grapes.

Survivor

My mom and I decided that we would take the Refinery Survivor Challenge at my gym while she was here visiting. Basically, you have to participate in five workout classes in a week to get a free t-shirt. I love a free t-shirt so why not? Let's just say that four of the five classes can be pretty intense and judging from my mom's fitness monitor that she wears while working out, you can burn upwards of 900 calories. Yeah, I like to have my mom come for a visit and WORK HER TO DEATH!!! She tried Body Pump, my regular class, and liked it. We both felt the zen calmness of Body Flow. Body Jam is a dance class that is fun, but this track moved too fast, so we looked more like epileptics than club dancers. We almost died in Body Step, which to me, was a torturous step class. I know some people like it, but it kicked my butt! The other class was Body Combat. It is kind of like the Karate Kid meets self-defense class--on steroids. It was super fun, especially when your instructor is very enthusiastic about stomping on someone's head, chopping them in the neck, or splitting their head open with your elbows. I will definitely take that class again. Not because I am a sociopath, but because it is a fun way to get your aggression out. If you have ever tried to referee your kids fighting to the death over a crayon, you understand. Anyway, got our t-shirts.

Cars and G.P.

Just some pictures of Brody and G.P. playing race cars.

Chicago with Honey..part two

As part of our visit to the Windy City, we went out to the 'burbs through Downer's Grove and Naperville. I love little towns like this with their quaint downtown areas and cool little stores. We found a candy store that probably had every kind of candy imaginable all stuffed in a 10 ft by 25 ft area. Both of these towns have some residents that go all out for Halloween. I would go back at this time of year just to see them. Even some of the restaurants were dripping with the spooky and macabre, so much that Brody kept staring at the ghoul in the corner instead of eating his dinner.

We checked out the Magnificent Mile on Saturday. I had promised Georgia that we would take her to the American Girl Store for a new outfit for her doll, so Honey got to see all three stories of doll bliss. We at least got some pre-Christmas shopping done....on the sly without her knowing. After stuffing ourselves with stuffed Chinese dumplings, we checked out the Legoland store, which has some very cool statues made entirely of Legos.

Brody would not pose with anything, so all the pictures are of Georgia. Oh well.....two year olds. Too bad we only really looked at kid places and my mom didn't get to do any real shopping. We finished off the day with some good old southern shrimp and grits at the little Canjun place that we found this summer. Yum!

Sunday, we did the aquarium where the dolphins were a big hit. By then mom and Honey were wiped out and ready to go home.

Chicago with Honey..part one

My mom and I took the kids to Chicago for the weekend and had a great time. The weather was cool and perfect, except the last day when it rained. We checked out the Star Wars exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum which was so cool. If you even remotely liked the movies, you will find this pretty interesting. I am a dork who loved the movies, so this was really my thing. I only wish Chris could have gone, because he would have been in there for hours. Georgia and I each drove a hover craft for a few seconds, played with robots and learned how magnetic levitation works. The neatest thing was getting to ride in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and experience the "jump to light speed."

The kids got to watch their own spinning tops being made step by step and packaged in the toy factory. They also fought over who was going to fly a plane and checked out the submarine exhibit. We spent the rest of our time in the "train room" where my little boy could spend days watching the choo-choos. That place is so huge, you will never get through it in a day. I am so glad we bought a membership.