HAMBONE!

My son. My hilarious son.

Our drive home from Chicago made our children hungry, (go figure). So we stopped at an A&W (which can be found at every Wisconsin exit.) The kids were awarded simple tops in their kid's meals. Here's what Malachi chose to do with his:









































That's right, folks, he shoved it in his nose!

Our first day here was spent "catching up" with Kameron and Teresa, and napping! Then Saturday, we hopped (I know, quite a feat with 4 adults, 3 toddlers, an infant, a stroller and 2 backpacks!) on the Metra bound for Union Station, to spend the day in Downtown Chicago. Our main destination was Moody Bible Institute, where Kameron goes to school, but we were willing to enjoy everything in between. We walked right by The Sears Tower, where the kids tried their hardest to make themselves horizontal in order to be able to see the majority of the monstrous building. Then we hopped on the "L" train to get us all the way to Moody. We ate lunch at a cute little Pizza place called Mona Lisa Pizza.













By the time we had done all of this, the kids were pretty tired, so we adults were grateful for the 45 minute train ride all the way back to Kameron and Teresa's. Malachi fell asleep, and Madison, had we had another 10 minutes, would have. Needless to say, the kids went to bed rather nicely last night.













This morning we attended Kameron and Teresa's new church. It was very nice. I think half the church greeted us with either a handshake or a hug! It was a church of about eighty members (to quote Kameron). So, very quaint, but very warm and inviting. The kids did great in their classes as well.

Tomorrow morning we head home. It's hard to believe we've been here almost 4 days already! Time has flown. Pray for our journey home. It's been snowing all day here and already a couple of inches have accumulated.

Take care and God bless.

Chicago!

Well we finally made it! We're here in Chicago for the next three days visiting our friends, the Kuehls.

The drive up was uneventful. The kids did really well, and I even got a little nap in!

When Madison and Malachi met Naomi, they weren't quite sure how to react. They both wanted to hold her right away, and Malachi didn't want to leave the couch without her! Madison is always asking, "Can I hold it?" And Malachi, on his way into Maddie and Naomi's room to play, heard Naomi crying and said, "She doesn't want me in there."

That's all for now. Over and Out.

Smartie Pants

Just a quick update before we begin proceedings: With the birth of her child on Jan. 2, my friend and co-worker, Sarah is on Maternity Leave for the next three months. Because this is such a busy time of year for us at work, I've agreed to work full-time for the time that she's gone. I just finished my first week of "Full Time", and I'm wiped! Props to all of you Full Time Moms who are also "Full Time" employed somewhere else. It's very draining!


This past Thursday was a juggle for me. My parents had to bring Becca to the airport, but they couldn't take Madison because she had school. So arrangements were made that Mom and Dad would drop Madison off at school before they left town (with Malachi and Becca). I'd pick her up when she was done, take her back to work, where my ever-so-gracious sister-in-law, Cara would pick her up and take her to her place, about 20 minutes away. Everything went down without a glitch, and for that, THANK YOU Mom, Dad, Cara, and anyone else who made it happen!

So anyway, back to my story:

When Cara came to pick up Madison, she asked her if she'd want to go to Syna's house because Brett (Syna's 4 year old son) and Daniel (Brett's cousin) were there. Of course, Madison said "yes" (In part, because she's smitten with Daniel.) So Cara put her in her van and off they went. They got to the intersection where, if they were going to Daniel's or Cara's, they'd have to turn left. And because they were going to Brett's instead, they went straight. Madison must've misunderstood Cara's prior question, because she thought they were supposed to "turn here" and go to Daniel's house. Cara said, "no," they weren't going to Daniel's house, but to Brett's house where Daniel was. "Oh," Madison replied, "Well this is the way to Mackenzie's friend Hannah's house."

Now let me explain why this was impressive: Mackenzie is Cara's daughter, who's friends with Brett's older sister Hannah. So she was absolutely right, they were going to Hannah's house! And Madison had only been there a couple of times before...and they don't even live in our town!

Smartie Pants!

Funny Story

While my children were at my mom's yesterday, they were instructed to go "wake Becca up". So, naturally, they excitedly climbed the stairs to her room to give her the Surprise Awakening. When they got to her room, they discovered that she was already awake, lying in bed waiting for a phone call. So they did what kids do, got up there with her to bounce around and play. She let them carry on for a few minutes, then put an end to it by telling them, "Okay guys, I'm waiting for a phone call, so when my phone rings, we all need to be really quiet, okay?" They both nodded their heads solemnly, "We will."

It was quiet for a minute (a.k.a. boring) before Malachi, perched on his knees on the side of the bed, sighed, looked both ways, and said, "Well girlth, I'm out." At Malachi's comment, Madison rolled her eyes and scoffed. Becca had to stifle her giggle. When Malachi got to her doorway, he turned around and said, "I might be back."

Holiday Highlights

• Christmas Eve was spent at my folks' hanging out and opening gifts *ehem* like a nifty digital camera for Mommy.
• Christmas Day the "Seth" branch of the ******** family opened presents at their house, then headed off to Nana and Papa's for more celebrations. And while we were there, my sister called to say that she wasn't going to make it home on January 2nd, but that she was coming home on December 26th instead!!
• So naturally, December 26th, Grandma, Grandpa, Liz, Madison, Malachi and I packed up our minivan and headed to the airport to pick up Becca! We goofed off a little bit in the airport and then spent the rest of the day at the MOA.
• New Year's Eve was spent at Michael and Cara's watching the Packers cream the Bears! (But not before a little fun at their church's New Year's Eve Bash...including a blacklight show!)
• And to finish off the holiday season, another gift opening with the remainder of Seth's siblings at the farm. (This one included sled rides behind the tractor on SNOW!)

WHEW!

Let's Try This Again

Blogger must have a limit on the amount of data it allows in one post. (See previous post.) So here are a few more pictures, and if I need to, I'll finish with a third post on the same topic:

Well Hello, Stranger!

Man, it's been awhile since I've talked "at" you. And it seems I'm not the only one who's been neglecting Blogger lately...maybe it's the complicated new version, perhaps? Or quite possibly the fact that we were all just flung from another hectic holiday season and we're still dizzy and reeling to catch up to our "normal lives" once again.

Well, either way, instead of trying to be all coy and witty in my (what would turn out to be long) description of our holidays, why don't I let the pictures (and the occasional caption) tell the story?: