Pictures from Christmas morning

Here are quite a few pictures from Christmas morning. We wish you guys were here to experience it with us. AJ & Ashleigh had a blast opening their gifts. Thank you guys for everything. The kids absolutely loved the gifts. You guys always know just what they like.

Even Diamond enjoyed her Christmas present. We hope everyone had a great day! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! We wish were together celebrating with everyone! Hope everyone has a great day!

We love you guys!

Fun in the Snow

It has been snowing here for the last couple of days. I am not sure how much we have actually gotten, but my guess would be at least 14 - 18 inches of snow. I know I have never seen anything like this and neither have the kids. AJ and Ashleigh have been so excited about being able to go outside in the snow. But as I have said before, I am a little hestitant because everytime they went out in the snow last year, they ended up getting sick. But this morning, we could not say no to them playing outside. What could be better than it being Christmas Eve and having so much snow on the ground. They had a blast and of course, Diamond was right out there with them. Here are some pictures from this morning.

The front of our house

Trying to build a fort while Daddy shovels

Enjoying the snow

The snow tastes good

Eating the snow

White wash

Trying to build a snowman

Having fun in the snow

AJ & Diamond sledding

The side of our house

Wish you guys could be here to see this! It's amazing!

We also let AJ and Ashleigh each open one present this morning. They have been dying to see what the presents are under the tree. We put all of the presents sent to us by Grandma, Grandpa, Missy, Nicki, Uncle Joey and Aunt Sue under the tree. Each day, AJ and Ashleigh would ask if "ALL" of those presents were really for them. It was really cute to see their faces as they realized that just because we are here does not mean that they don't get presents from our family. Here are a few pictures after they opened open their present.

Thanks Aunt Missy! I love it!

Thanks Aunt Nicki! I already started to watch it!

We will post more pictures tomorrow! We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! We love you!

Unbelievable

Today it was unbelievably cold here! The high temperature today was -2 degrees and the wind chill was -34 today. I don't think I have ever seen anything like the weather today. We even debated this morning on whether or not to go to church this morning because of the cold. The wind is blowing so hard that it is causing blizzard like conditions as it blows the snow all over the place. We have snow drifts around our front door probably 3 to 4 feet deep. We even had a hard time getting out the front door because of the snow drifts. AJ and Ashleigh wanted to play outside in the snow, but it is way too cold to be out for even a few minutes. Rick and I shovelled the driveway this evening and almost froze to death. When we came in, I was making fun of how red Rick's face was and he was making fun of me. It looked like we got a really bad summer burn on our faces. We also realized how truly cold it is outside, when Rick got a soda from the garage and it was almost frozen solid.

Every Sunday, AJ likes to say "hi" to the priest from his school if he is presiding over mass. So this morning, when AJ was talking to him, he asked us if we would like to light the fourth candle of the advent wreath during the mass. AJ was very excited about being able to do this. So, right after the mass began, the priest called us up onto the altar to light the advent candle. AJ was so proud when we finished. Ashleigh was a little bit scared about going up onto the altar, but then when she realized everyone was going up, she was okay. She is probably the only little kid I know who jumps (not softly either) off the altar when we finished. He understands a lot about what happens during the mass and is very excited about receiving his First Communion later this school year.

Here are some pictures of the snow today. Although, I really don't think in these pictures you can really tell how deep the snow drifts are.

Pray for a safe, smooth and not long commute for me in the morning. I will let you know how it turns out. Hope everyone has a good week.

Brrr.......it's freezing here

Last year, I know I said this quite a few times, but it's freezing here in the winter time. Yesterday, the temperature was 50 degrees, but it rained all day long and melted all of the snow on the ground. However, over night, the temperatures plummeted and we had freezing rain. This morning, when we woke up, the temperature was 7 degrees and the wind chill was -10 degrees. Yes, that's right MINUS 10 degrees. This cold weather is definitely not for us. As everyone who knows me, knows I hate wearing a winter jacket, gloves, scarves and hats. This morning, no matter how many layers we put on, it was still freezing! The kids were all bundled up, but were still cold as well. I normally warm the car up before I leave, however, this morning the layer of ice was so thick that Rick had to scrape the windshield for me as well. You know it's cold when the windshield wiper fluid freezes as you are driving down the highway. The temperature did not get above 15 degrees today and tomorrow the forecast is for snow. At least, if it's going to be cold, I would rather see snow.

AJ is very excited because this is his last week of school before the Christmas vacation. He just can't wait. I am not sure if he is more excited about being out of school or the fact that Santa is going to be here in less than 10 days. I love to listen to him talk about Santa. I am pretty sure he still believes in Santa, but he knows enough to know that the Santa in the mall is not real. He thinks it's one of Santa's elves. He told me this is how Santa can be at the North Pole making toys and still know what everyone wants for Christmas. I will be very sad the day that he no longer believes in Santa. I really hope this is not the last year he believes.

Ashleigh, on the other hand, still believes in everything about Santa. She was very excited today, because Santa came to her school and she got a present and a candy cane from him. I just hope that when AJ stops believing in Santa, he does not ruin it for her. That will be a very sad for us when she does not believe!

I will post some pictures later this week! Hope everyone has a good week!

Christmas Program

Last night, AJ had his Christmas Program at his school. He was so excited about going and participating in it. For those who have been to his school programs before, you will not believe it, but he actually sung the songs. Rick and I could not believe it. In fact, before I got home from work last night, Rick was teasing AJ that if he did not sing Rick the songs, we would not be going to the program. He really just wanted to see if AJ would sing for him. At first, AJ kept saying he did not know the songs, but after a few minutes he started singing. This, of course, surprised Rick because AJ never sings for these programs. The entire school participated in the program, so it was a bit long and of course, Ashleigh and Rick lost interested after a while. I am not sure who was acting more like a kid last night, Rick or Ashleigh. :) The two of them are like two peas in a pod! We are so proud of AJ! He did a great job!

Here are some pictures from last night!

Here is a video of his class singing last night. They sang the song "Christmas Don't Be Late". The song is from the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks!". You know AJ really enjoyed singing the song. You will probably need to turn the volume up a bit because the kids were not using microphones throughout the songs.

Hope you enjoyed the song as much as we did!

You know its cold when....

I have forgotten how bitter cold it gets here in Chicago. I can truly understand why they call it the "Windy City". I hate having to get the kids all bundled up just to go from the car to school. They end up wanting to shed their hat, gloves and scarves as soon as they get in the car. Rick and I were laughing too about signs you know its getting cold in Chicago:

1. There are icicles hanging from you car.
2. The car wash water freezes as you enter the car wash (it happened to us today)
3. The 5 gallon water bottles stored in the garage are frozen solid
4. The only cars out on the road first thing in the morning are snow plows
5. You are still cold outside even if you are bundled in layers and have a hat, gloves and scarf
6. The windshield wiper fluid freezes as you spray it

I hope this winter is we have a little less snow than last year. Although, I guess the forecasters are saying it is supposed to be a very cold winter. I just hope they are wrong. Otherwise, it is going to be a long winter for us.

We did not end up doing much today because of the cold. We went to church and Wal-Mart and then spent the rest of the day nice and warm inside.

Hope everyone has a nice week. AJ has his Christmas Program at school on Wednesday. We are really looking forward to seeing him sing.

Snow days are here again.....

Over the last couple of days, we have gotten about 4 to 5 inches of snow. Last night, it snowed most of the night, the kids were so excited about the idea of being able to play in the snow again. Not only are AJ and Ashleigh excited about the snow, but Diamond goes crazy in it also. She is like a lunatic out in it. She dives, eats and throws snow all around. This morning, Rick and I went out to shovel the driveway and we let AJ, Ashleigh and, of course, Diamond come out with us. Here are some pictures from this morning. Look at how much fun they had.

Nobody wanted to come inside but everyone was starting to get really cold. And we know from experience that the kids would stay out all day if they could.

Yesterday, I had my Christmas party at work. We generally have an afternoon party and it always a surprise to the employees where we are going. Yesterday, our Christmas party was at Chicago Indoor Racing Company (http://www.chicagoindoorracing.com/). The entire staff went go karting. We were split into 7 teams and we raced against each other. We have a pit crew and everything. We had to dress up in the racing suits, head sock, helmet and neck brace. It was awesome. Everyone had a great time. Although my team did not win, we still have fun racing. Everyone enjoyed themselves! When I got home, I told Rick this was definitely a place to go back too, especially for him. They even have a junior area for kids 7 - 17 years old which is great for AJ. If I can get some pictures from other people at work, I will post them.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! We are getting ready to go out Christmas shopping!

When it rains, it pours (literally)

I have said this before and I will probably say it several more times over the years, when it rains, it pours in this house. It is always something with us. The last couple of mornings, Ashleigh has decided to sleep in and this morning was no different. So, I took AJ to school and Rick stayed home to wait for Ashleigh to wake up. Rick was planning on going to medical, anyway, because he has been having problems with his neck and migraines again. So, Rick finally woke Ashleigh up at 7:00 am (which is actually very late for our house). Of course, this morning, she decided she wanted not one, but two bowls of cereal which took her forever to eat. Rick finally dropped her off at school and headed to medical. Once he got there, he realized he had forgotten his medical record at home, so he turned around to go home and get it. On the way back to medical, he was driving the van and it started to make a funny noise and did not seem to be driving right. So he pulled over and realized that he had a flat tire. Luckily, it was not one of the tires we just replaced in the front when I got a flat tire. Rick was able to change the tire and then get to the dealership. Originally, the guys at the dealership said they thought they could patch the tire, however, after further examination, it was not repairable because the tire had a 2 inch gash in it. So, now we have two brand new tires on the van. Just another thing that goes on in our house that is totally unplanned.

However, the story does not end there. After working a little later today, I get home and we notice the sky light in our living room is leaking. So we called the housing place and they came out tonight to take a look and of course, they could not really do anything because we got 3 inches of snow this afternoon. They are going to come back out tomorrow and see if they can figure out where the leak is Can you believe that?

It is always something.........

Just pray for a nice quiet rest of the week for us. I will let you know how it turns out.

Who can resist?

Whenever I pick Ashleigh up from school, her teachers always comment on how she is always smiling and so happy to see us at the end of the day. They even talk about how AJ is always smiling and seems to be in a good mood. AJ and Ashleigh always find a way to brighten our day. I mean who can resist these kind of smiles at the end of a long workday????

Thought I would share these smiles with you to brighten your week. Hope it works! :)

The First Snowfall

Last night, we got our first snowfall of the season. I think the first snowfall is beautiful! I love seeing everything covered in white. After a couple of days, I would be okay if it all melted and did not snow again! The kids are excited about being able to go out and play in it. Although, I am not sure they are going to be able to do that tonight because it is very wet outside right now. Yesterday, it rainied all day and then changed to snow late last night. I know AJ and Ashleigh will be disappointed, but I don't want to see them get sick. Seems like each time they went out in the snow last year, someone was always sick the next day or so. I am not looking forward to that again this year. I must say that the roads were not too bad this morning. Hopefully, the commute will continue to be good. Here are some pictures from this morning. As you can see it was still snowing when I took these pictures this morning.

Hope everyone has a good week!