Thanksgiving

The kids were soooo excited when their cousins James, Isla, and Rosie arrived from Minnesota. We started off the day with a trip to Uncle Mike's bakery, home of the world's best kringle. We tried two different kinds and they were huge and delicious. Aunt Stephanie arrived later that night and it was so fun to have a full house of family!

We made a trip to the children's museum and the kids had a blast. The kids put on a talent show that night and there was lots of Thanksgiving food prep. Ben attempted his first pie crust with instructions from the pro (my dad).

On Thanksgiving some of us started the day with a 5k run. It was raining but it was the warmest day of the week with a high of 40. Elsa was my running buddy and did an awesome job. She loves to talk while running. She and I are at about the same running pace these days. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner followed by lots of delicious pies. It was so nice just to spend the day with family.

 Simon passed out in the middle of a tantrum after we got home.

My dad gave some of us a tour of his new office building the next morning. Lots of interesting looking labs and equipment. It was fun to get a glimpse of the cheese making process.

 The taste test booths.

Cheese publications!

Zoo + Neville Museum

We bundled up and visited the zoo one afternoon. We pretty much had the entire zoo to ourselves and saw lots of animals, including some very noisy lions. We also visited the Neville Museum one day. They had some fun retro Christmas exhibits.

Lambeau Field out of legos!

Watching the iPad.

Road Trip!

We drove to Green Bay for Thanksgiving. We decided to do the whole drive in one day and the kids were so great. We left at 4 a.m. and the kids were so excited they chatted for about an hour before falling back asleep.  The 15 hour drive took us about 18 hours, which was pretty good considering we were slowed down by at least an hour when we had to drive right through a huge snow storm in Chicago. Some areas received a foot of snow! The kids loved getting out at a rest stop and playing in the snow for a few minutes, especially Simon.

sleepy simon

Simon falls asleep like this most nights. He loves to read in bed.

Oliver turns 5!

Oliver could not wait for his birthday. He had been asking daily for MONTHS if it was his birthday yet. He was so excited to turn 5, and probably most excited to open presents.  Ben was going to be out of town on Oliver's birthday so we celebrated a few days early with cake and presents. He requested a chocolate cake with white frosting. Ben ended up coming home early from his work trip so we took Oliver to Marbles on his actual birthday and he was in heaven. If it were up to him, we would go to Marbles every day.

Celebrating his birthday at preschool.

Opening more gifts from family on his actual birthday.