Before and after....

Front of house....



My brother Kevin came over and did some landscaping. He trimmed trees, removed the tree that was growing sideways over the driveway and took down the (3) shutters. We also had the awning removed. Landscaping will begin in the spring (and possibly new shutters). We have a new front storm door coming soon. Already such an improvement!



The kitchen is probably the most dramatic change:





Living room fireplace...



Small bath on first floor...

I will post more as we empty more boxes and get settled!

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas eve, already! I love Christmas. I love the silly part of it and the important part of it. I have friends on all ends of the spectrum on how they celebrate (or don't) Christmas. Some go crazy buying their kids everything on their wish lists...I always dreamed about being that kid on Christmas! Some don't acknowledge Santa in their houses...they want to keep Christmas about Jesus only. I get it. In our house, we embrace it all. Jesus' birthday (first and foremost), Santa, Elfie, stockings, egg nog and all the warm, fuzzy, fun things that Christmas represented to me and my husband when we were kids. It's important for us to establish our own traditions, and what works for our family. If someone says "happy holidays" instead of Merry Christmas I'll take it! Any wish of goodness thrown my way makes me happy!

I am hoping this holiday season that whoever you are reading this find yourselves surrounded in love with family and friends and have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Ho Ho Ho

Aidan wasn't overly excited to see Santa today ("Mom, please don't make me sit on his lap"), but when he heard he could tell him specifically what he would like for Christmas he started to think it over. Lucas was having none of it...

Once Santa started talking Legos and robots with Aidan he changed his tune pretty quickly, even offering up a smile! Lucas, however, was not impressed.

Sometimes the screaming ones are the best ones anyway, right?

Updates on Elfie...

Elfie has had some fun adventures lately...he traveled to Tinley Park with the boys while we moved and then safely arrived at our new house!

Dad's Birthday.

Today is my dad's birthday. Still miss him tons and doesn't feel right without him. Not true it gets easier - still waiting for that day.

Weird but true story. The day after my dad passed away I was driving to my parents house. Driving in the car was the only time I had to myself without Aidan seeing me cry so I bawled. I turned on the radio and the song by Kansas, Carry on my wayward son was playing... right at the line that said "don't you cry no more..." I thought it was strange - hadn't heard that song in years. A few days later on another drive home from my mom's the same song, at the exact same line in the song came on the radio when I changed stations. I am pretty skeptical when it comes to stuff like that, but it was weird. Now a year later, driving in my car, having a good cry with no kids in the car (as you can imagine that doesn't happen often), I hear Fergie "it's time to be a big girl now...big girls don't cry." Hmmm....maybe it's time to stop the tears.

Love you pops and miss you tons...xoxo

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Happy Birthday Mom!

We love you so much and hope that you have a great birthday. We are so blessed to call you Mom/Grandma - not sure what we would do without you. Love you!

Elfie's Latest Adventures...

Elfie has been busy over at our house...his latest adventures include ziplining and making snow angles with one of Aidan's transformers!

We have been busy over here too...packing! We are moving into our new house on Saturday - so excited!!!! I am so ready for this to be over and am so happy we will be able to celebrate Christmas in our new home. Our Christmas cards may be going out late this year, but they will include our new address info. I have been checking in at the house almost daily and the progress is amazing. I will be sure to post before and after pictures - you won't believe the transformation!

Three Fridays until Christmas....

So I slacked this past friday and forgot to do my "_ Fridays until Christmas post"... I have been packing like CRAZY for our move on Saturday!

So my thought this week on helping out small businesses this Christmas is gift cards. There are always the gift cards from Target, Best Buy...you know the usual. My mom gets so annoyed by this - she says it is so impersonal. I kind of agree. But what about a gift card to a small business? That's a little more personal - it could be for a service or an item last week I recommended The Tea Sanctuary) ...here are a few of my favs:

Lawn Care/Shoveling/Raking Gift Certificate
What about that elderly neighbor who lives on your block...the one your kids sometimes refer to as "Grandma ___"...why not treat her to free snow shoveling? Lawn Mowing? If you live on the south side I've got a great referral (shameless brother plug here...) Creekside Total Maintenance

Kids Haircut and Play Center
Pickles Playroom
I love this new small business in Lincoln Square...where else can you take your child for a haircut, let your other kids play in a kid-friendly playroom and enjoy a cup of coffee? Great idea for a winter activity!

How about a pampering gift - mani/pedi or a massage. There are so many local places you could support this way - and who doesn't love a reason to pamper yourself? Especially as moms, we quite often skip spending the money on these kinds of things for ourselves to get things/do things for our kids!

Lastly (another shameless plug here)....I do offer gift certificates for Photography Sessions - this is a great idea for a mom who is having a baby, or for a grandma to have pictures taken with the grandkids...

Anyway, I just hope if you are considering purchasing a gift certificate this season you think about the small businesses in your area that you can support before going to the big box stores. Have fun shopping!

Elfie's Adventures (Elf on a Shelf)...

By now almost everyone has heard of the Elf on a Shelf right? They are in just about every store now! Our "Elfie" has been with us for two years now. Elfie arrived this year the day after Thanksgiving. Below are some of Elfie's adventures so far...

I am having way too much fun with this! All I know is Aidan is being a very good boy and going to bed on time these days - I love Elfie!!!

After much anticipation....

Baby Jude has arrived!

We are so excited for his arrival - congrats Anna and Jeff! xoxo

Five Fridays until Christmas!

My Friday small business/gift idea I want to share with you today is called The Tea Sanctuary. We have ordered teas from here and they are fantastic! It's a toss-up which one is my favorite - the Lemon Lover Tea or the Fatigue Relief Tea - they are so good!

Tea Sanctuary

If you know someone who loves to drink tea this is a great gift!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving with our family this year. My aunt, uncle and cousins came in from Grand Rapids, our local family and a few friends joined us at my mom's. We tried for a family picture - below is the best we got:

Lucas was not happy...

Love the above pic of Nate and Aidan and of course the one below of A...

I actually didn't take many pictures - we were having so much fun! I did manage to get a picture of myself with my childhood friend who came to dinner, Charyl. It was so fun catching up. She has two amazing boys - Aidan had so much fun with them.

I started out sad missing my dad and ended up happy having spent time with family and friends. Overall it was a wonderful day.

Little Fish...

Aidan has been taking swimming lessons at Galter Life Fitness Center at Swedish. He absolutely LOVES it. He is such a little fish. The class has at most 5 kids in it so he gets lots of one-on-one. I am amazed at how much they have taught him already - he is doing freestyle and back stroke!

He has been a great swimmer since he was two - I hope he keeps this love of swimming!

Happy Birthday Kacie!

Happy Birthday Kacie - we love you so much and are so glad we are able to spend so much time with you! I am so excited for you future - this next year is going to be a great one for you! xoxo

Festival of Lights

So we tried. We had good intentions...but what were we thinking? We decided on Saturday night to go down to Michigan Ave for the Festival of Lights. We headed down around 4:30 p.m. on the train....this was our view:

So we didn't see much of the parade, but honestly the boys didn't mind. Lucas was so excited just to be on the train...

and Aidan got a glow in the dark light saber - he was set!

Overall we had a lot of fun. Anna was a trooper and came with us - she's ready to have that baby any day! I think next year we will head down there earlier and make a day of it.