Gobble Gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! It is hard for me to believe we are almost in December. Our Thanksgiving was crazy busy - but that's how all the holidays are! We had a great feast on Thursday at Dave's aunts home. Friday, we had his family over for dinner and Saturday we had my family over (24 people!!).

Here are the highlights...

The girls are just wonderful and so go-with-the-flow. They just love parties so all of the hectic activities went over very well on them!

Both Erin & Ev had a wonderful time at Auntie Suzie's house. They seem to have a crush on Dave's cousins husband, Chris. Watching them play with him was so sweet. Not many young guys are all that into toddlers. But, he treats them so well and they just love him back.

It was so nice to have Dave home from work for 4 days. I was sad he had to go back to the office today.

I learned how to make a great lasagna and a tasty flan! Those were my 2 food experiments and they were both big hits!!

Our tree is up (we always do it the day after Thanksgiving). Now we need to decorate it and get out the rest of our decorations - yikes!!!

Again - Happy Thanksgiving!!

Smash and Grab Bummer

On Wednesday I got a call at work from my company's security office. They asked me if I had a red Acura and I told them yes. They told me I had better come down to the security office. At first I thought I was in trouble. Did I part in a handicapped space or was I blocking a driveway? When I got there everyone seemed rather uncomfortable and as it turns out it was because they had bad news for me.

Someone had scoped out the company's parking lot and decided my car was worth breaking into. They smashed my drivers side window and stole my GPS I had on top of the dashboard. In retrospect I guess I could/should have put the GPS in the glove box or something but I've clearly never had a problem before this.

So the security officers called the CPD who sent out a cop to take a statement and fill out a form (like that will ever do any good). The folks at WMS were really nice and helped put a piece of plastic up on my door so I wouldn't have to drive home in 29 degree weather with no window. It looked SO trashy though. But Nancy and I took the car into the shop and by the next day we had the window fixed. I don't think we'll be getting another GPS anytime soon, but word to the wise, we'll be taking the GPS in the other car off the dashboard when we leave the car for a good long while.

It's a bummer but what are you going to do? The whole thing reminds me of what I heard someone say once, "A liberal is just a conservative whose house hasn't been broken into yet." Well I'm not that cynical yet.

Time flies...

Funny that although this is probably my favorite time with the girls I find myself bloging less and less. The stories are a plenty - I am not sure if it is just too little time or what is causing me to be such a slacker. So, here are some funny stories.

- Tonight we had a bunch of kids over for play and dinner. About 6 kids were in the kitchen drinking from little open cups. Ev was holding a toy mustard container. She dropped a few dashes of "mustard" into her water and said "yummy". Erin asked for some and Ev gave her a few shakes. Soon enough every kid was asking for mustard in their water and telling her how yummy it tasted. Pretend play is fascinating.

-The girls are total social butterflies. They want to see their friends every day! Every day they ask me what friends they will see. They have gotten very good at recognizing faces and knowing which mommy goes with which kid - and even both mom/kid names. They are constantly asking me where everyone is. Where Daddy? Where GiGi? Where Eliot? Where Uncle Dan?

- Erin is especially good at ending nursery rhymes and songs. She knows most of them and if you start off the line she will finish it - even if it is somewhat uninterpretable. Funny how much they love their nursery rhymes.

- I try to work on the girls memories by both remembering things and looking forward to things. It is amazing that if I tell them before bed we will be going to a museum - that's the first thing they will talk about in the morning. Dave showed Erin his business card a few months ago. Yesterday Erin found one, picked it up and said "Daddy's business card". We had not talked about them or looked at them in months.

That's about it for now - I'll post photos from the museum tomorrow!

Halloween Debrief...

Dave and I could not find our battery camera charger - and the camera was dead. Therefore, we could not download any photos - and that led to no blogging. So, everything is back to normal... and here is our Halloween update...

So, the girls are nearly 2.5 and man do they love trick-or-treating. They walked their little hearts out and had an absolute blast getting all the candy their hearts could desire. Of course being the cruel parents we are they were not allowed to eat 99% of it - and that all went to Dave's work.

Erin was a ladybug and Evelyn was a bumble bee. Erin really wanted to be a butterfly, but I could not find a costumer. She seemed pretty content to be a ladybug. Ev would not wear her costume for a long time and then got into it. They both wore their antennas the entire time!!

In our neighborhood we get about 450 trick-or-treaters. Yes, 450 - they come from near and far. The street is blanketed with mini-vans and the kids are everywhere. It is a really fun holiday and we are so lucky to have this experience to share with our kids. The girls were lucky to play with our little neighbor Jack. We don't see him much lately because it got so cold! But, Halloween was close to 70 - which is unheard of in Chicago!

Another Family Wedding

Dave and I had another family wedding to attend! Dave's little cousin, Lauren, married a nice guy - Sebastian. We don't see them very often as they are living in Denver. Lauren is in school to be a pediatric surgeon - how crazy is that!

Anyhoo... The ceremony was at Saint John Brebuff in Niles - that's where Dave went to elementary school. Dave's little sister and brother were in the wedding which was fun to see. And, the reception was at the Shedd Aquarium. We had cocktails in the shark and stingray area - and tons of tasty appetizers! Dinner was on the main lever with all the tanks - we even saw a guy inside a tank feeding the fish. I had the beef tenderloin and it was excellent! Dave had chicken something and he loved it. It was a super cool place to celebrate a new life together.

Lauren & Sebastian - Best wishes for a long and happy life together!!

Why is Erin always sticky?

For some reason it seems that Erin is always sticky! Yes, Ev is also often sticky - just not as much as Erin. We were at a Halloween party decorating cookies and Erin could not have been messier! Ev was far less interested in getting messy and simply decorated the cookies.

How do kids communicate?

Sometimes it is tough to know what a child is saying or what the mean. This can be especially difficult when you have a child that has trouble using all of their words. Sometimes they speak clear as a bell - be it with words or actions.

Saturday Erin woke from her nap. She started making a ruckus and work Evie. Ev was not all to please to be woken by her sister. We gave Ev her milk and started playing with the kids. Ev then went into the guest bedroom and pointed at the pack-and-play that was on the floor. She pointed to it and said "open". Dave obliged and opened it up. Ev then went back to their room and got every animal/book/blanket Erin sleeps with and put them in the pack-and-play. She then said "Sissy go night-night"pointed at the pack-and-play and walked out of the room.

Ev officially kicked Erin out of her room.

Crystal Clear.

Too funny!