Oh! Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas Tree acquisition was put off by one day due to snow, but we went out into the freezing cold to walk around Lowe's and choose from 100 trees that all looked the same. It was amazingly cold so I took the kids back into the store while Kris randomly picked a tree and paid for it. Then came the hard part...

Lowe's will carry the tree to your car, but they won't tie it on. Neither Kris nor I had gloves on and as as I mentioned before, it was ridiculously cold, so we tried to tie the tree to the top of our little Kia as fast as we could. We only live 10 minutes away so it didn't have to be super tight, but we still were concerned with losing the tree and having it run over by the car behind us.

We drove really slowly but the tree started sliding to the side. We stopped and grabbed some of the tree netting and closed it into the door so that it was still kinda sideways, but no longer sliding.

We got the tree inside, cut the netting off, and started to decorate. With each ornament she put on, Ella asked, "Now can I open my presents?" Both kids enjoyed seeing their ornaments and both had to compare their baby foot ornament to their current foot size.

Snow Days

How Ella plays in the snow:

1.) Walk around a little

2.) Find snow

3.) Eat it

How Jacob plays in the snow:

1.) Walk around a little

2.) Find snow

3.) Throw it

How Jessica plays in the snow:

1.) Wait... didn't I do that last year? I think I'm done.

How Kris plays in the snow:

1.) I warm up the car every morning. I think that's enough...

Merry Christmas Everybody!

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Originally uploaded by jessica_c_rhodes

Before and After

Ella said that she cut her hair because it gets in her face when she swings on her tummy. She wanted her hair cut as short as Jacob's, but I would have died, so we compromised with shoulder length. I will tell you, it hurt my heart to see her chop off all her hair, but... it is HER hair. My little opinionated girl is growing up : )

Chicago!

*Road trip!

*Greektown

*Chicago-style pizza

*Michelle's first train ride

*I think we're lost...

*German Kristkindle Market

*27 degrees

*I think we're lost...

*Dinner in Greektown

*SAGANAKI! OPA!

*I think we're lost...

*John Hancock Building Signature Room

*Matching Christmas Ornaments

*Super drunk old guy from The Netherlands who "LOVES...AMERICAN...GIRLS"

*I think we're lost...

*Sneak into bed in our hostel dorm

*Listen to annoyingly loud music from the nightclub downstairs until around 2:30 am

*Listen to annoying dogs barking around 6:30 am

*Breakfast at Starbucks

*I think I lost my train pass...

*Millenium Park

*I'm On A Bean!

*Art Institute

*Terrible cupcake (I'm eating it anyway)

*My doppelganger!

*Back to the car

*I think we're lost... yay GPS!

*What do you mean, toll road?

Nancy Cunard by Man Ray

(First pic is me when I discovered that the cupcake was terrible)

(Second is when I decided that I'm eating it anyway)

A Quick Glance...

And this is what Tomo's been up to lately...

A Million Things Ago...

*We picked apples with Bethany, Layla, and Jaden.
*The kids got a new cousin when Baby William was born to Klif and Jordan.
*We went to Bethany's for Halloween pizza and cupcakes and Trick or Treating. Jacob was the Target Dog, Ella was Alice. Again. It was cold, but the kids made out like bandits. Jake got tired of walking and he and Kris headed in a little early.
*We had lice and pink eye all in one week.
*Ella cut her own hair so had to get a shoulder length bob with bangs.
*Michelle came for Thanksgiving then she and I took a roadtrip to Chicago.

This week's drama is that Ella's black shoes had become so stinky that we wouldn't allow her to wear them. This caused multiple fights because, after all, Alice has black shoes therefore Ella should have black shoes. Problem was solved when Kris took Ella to get new shoes last night. She picked out some black, glittery Mary Janes.

I'll work on getting some pictures up soon...

So Three Weeks Ago...

We went to the Tuttle Orchards to pick apples and pumpkins. The weather was great so the kids played for hours afterward. I picked up some Dutch Apple Crumble mix and the kids helped me put it all together for that evening's dessert.

So, a month ago...

We went to a Renaissance Fair. It was cold and windy but the kids had a good time. Jacob fought the giant three times and rode a horse. Ella fell asleep on the way there, so she mostly just sat in her stroller and played with her crown. I was so cold that even though I had not planned on buying anything, I ended up purchasing a knit hat to cover my ears.

Jacob the Bold Defeats the Giant

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Originally uploaded by jessica_c_rhodes

Jacob's a Reader/Writer Extrordinaire!

Jacob's class has been studying books: authors, illustrators, signatures, title pages, covers... They did a special focus on Eric Carle and talked about how his books are different from other books. In class they make their own books every day so this is just a sample of what he comes home with.

Jacob has just amazed us with the amount he has learned this year in kindergarden! He can write like a champ, read so many things... I'm thinking that I'm going to set him up with an email account so that people can send him letters and he can write back. He loves to help write the grocery list and has posted handmade signs all over the house. I need to take a pic of some of them... one is a list of all the things he's going to be for Halloween for the next 23 years! We bought Jake a composition book with a robot on the cover and every night he writes in his journal before bed. Most of what he does is drawings, but sometimes he makes lists of all the words he can spell or all of his friends at school. Like his Daddy, he sometimes draws chess boards and makes up new ways to play the game.

Jacob has outgrown the Sesame Street games so he mostly plays Plants Vs. Zombies or he'll play League of Legends with Kris. It's so cute to see the two of them fighting bad guys together. If anyone happens to be shopping in the computer game area, the kid needs some first or second grade level reading and math games.

Jacob Reads a Book He Wrote

Jacob Reads a Book He Wrote
Originally uploaded by jessica_c_rhodes

As Much As My Arms Tire...

I still love to hold this girl.

Admittedly, I love holding her MORE when she's happy and LESS when I'm trying to go to the bathroom...

Taken early October