End of the Year

 On Wednesday, we took the train downtown and spent the night in the city!  As always, the kids had a lot of fun....I didn't take too many pics, but here are a few!

On the train...

Checking in at the hotel...LOVE this. Shane is being a stinker, Caleb is trying to get him in line, and Meredith is being, well, Meredith.

 The view from our hotel window....if you know the story, you'll get it.

 Quick snap of these sillies before letting them jump from bed to bed, which might actually be their favorite hotel activity!

 Walking the Mag Mile....it was COLD.

 Candy shop!

 

 Back at the hotel...watching Odd Squad in the hotel is for sure more exciting than watching it at home! ;)

Sleepy boy.

 Pool!

They love the Jacuzzi!

 Drying her hair.  Love these pics.

Dinner at Rock Bottom...

Checking out the brewing machines.

Meredith beating Daddy at a game while waiting for dinner...

Nike Store...

I woke up much earlier than everyone else (they've all been sleeping in which has been AWESOME)...so I walked to the nearest Starbucks for some coffee.  It was COLD and windy!

Make-Your-Own waffles at the hotel...

 

Last night, some friends came over for NYE...the kids played and the adults even managed to get a game in.   So fun, as always!

Kris & John popping open the champagne.

Missing some kiddos...there were a total of 19 (I think?)

After the final guests left around 11, Shane fell asleep almost immediately while we cleaned up and watched the Chicago countdown at midnight. 

Happy New Year!

NYE 2014

 Our NYE was a lot of fun!  This year we decided to change things up a bit...my typically-content-to-stay-at-home-in-jammies self has been extra eager lately to go out and do stuff.  So, we went with some friends to Funway for their Family Skate event.  The kids had fun eating pizza (and drinking lemonade/Sprite - a big treat!), rollerskating, playing games, and celebrating the new year with hats, noisemakers, and a balloon drop at 9:00.   Oh, and as an added bonus...I won the women's ages 18+ race, haha!

**Sorry for the blurry cell pictures!**

Ready for a fun night!

So excited!

This girl was a star, despite the evening not holding too much toddler-sized fun!

My teeny yet determined little girl ready to race with the big kids! She didn't win.  And wasn't too pleased.

Taking a break!

This boy has pretty much become a "skatemate" pro...

My skating partner...

Mer and her BFF

2 of the sweetest girls I know!

The gang.  Minus baby A.

Happy New Year!

The kids have been asking to have a sleepover in the basement, and we figured that NYE was as good a time as any.  So, after we returned from roller skating, we got in our comfies, dragged blankets and pillows downstairs and settled in to eat popcorn and watch Rio2 (great movie, by the way!)...we were shocked that the kids (minus Norah who we put to bed 1/2 way through the movie) made it all the way until midnight.  We toasted with our sparkling juice at 12 am, and then it was lights out (although only after explaining to Shane that no, we aren't going to eat toast...)

We are headed downtown chi-town later today for some more last-minute fun, so stay tuned for some pictures of that soon.  Happy New Year to you!

Our New Year's Eve

We spent the last day of 2011 (and the first day and a half of 2012) in Roscoe. 

While the kids didn't completely understand the whole it's-the-end-of-the-year-and-tomorrow-starts-a-new-year thing, they did enjoy playing with the noisemakers they made and wearing their homemade hats.

The noisemakers were made from painted paper plates (we used small ones), and strips of tissue paper we glued to the back of the plates...

After the paint and glue dried, we folder the plates in half, filled them with rice (beans would work better, but we didn't have any), and stapled the edges.

 

Shake, shake, shake!

A lot of Kinect games were played over the last couple of days.

Grandpa and Caleb white-water rafting...

Caleb "stopping the leaks"...

Bowling...

Golf...

Not able to get in on the Kinect action, but he had fun anyway...

 

We went out to dinner while G&G stayed with the kids.  I didn't get a picture from dinner, but here's one of us trying hard to stay up until midnight...

 Other favorite activities at Grandma & Grandpa's: 

playing with Grandpa on his iPad...

...and playing on the pool table!

Happy New Year!