Christmas and Chicago

It has been a busy, but very fun, few days!

Christmas:



We celebrated Christmas, and the days surrounding it, in Roscoe. It was a full house at my parents'. Kirsten and Jon are in town from Arizona...and, it has been great to spend time with them.....though Caleb does not get to see them all that often, he quickly warmed up to them and has loved being with them both.

We had a wonderful Christmas.....it was great to be with family, and to relax. We decorated the tree together on Christmas Eve and had our traditional egg strata and monkey bread on Christmas morning. We had lots of cozy fires, ate (way too much) good food, and as always, had a great time just being with family. We are very blessed and are thankful for all that God has provided for us.

Although these past days have been wonderful, we have missed Kris's parents and siblings. Heidi went to visit Mom and Dad Johnson in Florida, and Kyle is in Idaho. We miss them, and hope to see them soon.

Here are "a few" photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning....if you would like to see the slideshow in a larger format, click on it and it will be enlarged for you. **Note to self...next time we have a family get together, we have to take some photos so that my dad can actually end up in some of the pictures!



Chicago - Happy 30th Birthday, Jon!



Yesterday (the 27th) was Jon's 30th birthday...we celebrated by spending the night downtown Chicago. Caleb took his first Metra ride, as well as his first cab ride! We had a great dinner at Sullivan's, and of course, played a game of Celebrity. It was fun to be able to be with Jon on his special day!

Snow Day!

Grandma and Grandpa took Caleb for a walk today after all of the snow had fallen. He had a great time being pulled on the sled!

Look at all this snow! We got about 10 inches out here...

Faster, Grandma!

Grandpa's Turn...

Close Up...

This is so much fun!

Next time, can we please go down some hills?

Kris's 31st Birthday

Yesterday (12/12) was Kris's birthday....I am very thankful for him...he is a wonderful husband and a wonderful father, and I am looking forward to another year of doing life with him!

"What's With All the White Stuff?"

I have been wanting to take Caleb out in the snow, but was waiting for a sunny day...and, today was beautiful!

It was an interesting experience. It took about 15 minutes for me to get all of his "gear" on....more time than we probably spent outside! That's okay.....my goal was to get him used to walking in his boots, wearing his mittens, and just being in the snow.

He did have a bit of trouble walking (think of Ralphie in The Christmas Story) and was frustrated about the limitations his mittens placed on his fingers!

I wouldn't say that he is ready to go snowboarding, but, I am confident that the next time we go out to play (hopefully a sled will be involved) he'll be a little more sure of himself and all of the white stuff surrounding him!

"relearning" how to walk in the big boots...


checking out the white stuff on his mittens...



the honest truth about this picture?
he fell, and couldn't get back up.
yes, of course, i helped him...


"warming up" to this whole idea...