January

Ice Skating, a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

Over Christmas break, we went ice skating at the Rosemont Ice Rink. We met Sarah and Linda. It was pretty crowded, but fortunately it wasn't super cold. This photo was taken during a Zamboni break - which was exciting in itself. This was also Jake's first time on skates - he did pretty well! We made it around 3 times!



We didn't get a whole lot of snow this winter, but they did have a few days to play in it.



And we made it out sledding one Friday night - we pretty much had the hill to ourselves. Darin would push us down the hill, while I held on to Jake's sled. I tried to get fancy on our last run and give him a push to make him go a little further. Unfortunately, I just pushed him over and he faceplanted. Sorry, Jake. He was pretty mad.



We said good-bye to the big castle that Darin made out of cardboard. It wouldn't fit through any doors, so it made it a little tough to play with. It was pretty cool, though. Here's one last look:



I took the girl scouts up to the Vernon Hills Regional Service Center for a day of "Kitchen Science". They made their own ice cream, bath salts and mud masks. They had a hard time getting that mud mask off - most of them had pretty red faces after trying to scrub it off!



And last but not least.....Megan started taking guitar classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music. She seems to really enjoy herself - she also has a great teacher who makes it really fun for her. Doesn't she look like a natural?

Christmas

Love those kids...., a photo by tracyg00 on Flickr.

Christmas was fun this year. Jenny and Flip hosted Christmas Eve. Since I am typically the one behind the camera, I made a special point to get into some of these pictures this year. So, here is my tribute to myself.....



And, one with Scott:



Jake loves toys and was really excited about gifts this year. And, he was especially excited to have such a big box! This happened to be Mario Kart for Wii:



And here's our family pic from that night. I had a better option where everyone was smiling, but unfortunately it was a little out of focus. Rats.



Christmas morning was fun. Jake was excited to get Ultimate Kevin. Although, in hind sight, he sure hasn't played with that toy all that much. I hope Santa's elves didn't have to search all over the world and over-pay for a toy that is no longer made. But, I guess, that's one happy kid for that moment.



This was an American Girl Christmas for Megan. And she loves to play with that stuff regularly. This is happiness:



My dad and Ruth, Brian, Damien and Ada, and Scott came over later in the day for dinner. Megan and Jake always have a nice time playing with their cousins.



Here's Jake and Damien being boys:



All in all, a happy holiday.