Daisy Jenna

Last week we went to Jenna's Investiture Ceremony for her Daisy troop. It was so cute. The girls paraded in with butterfly neon glow sticks and big daisy headbands. They recited the Girl Scout Promise and sang "Make New Friends".

Here she is receiving her Daisy pin.

Afterwards we had some refreshments...Daisy cookies!!

Daisy Troop #1865

Later this month they are going to visit the Naperville Humane Society. Each girl made a food donation to the shelter which earned them their yellow petal patch (represents being helpful and friendly). They will get a tour of the facility, learn about how to take care of animals, and earn their Pet Care Patch! :)

Bunk Beds!

The girls got bunk beds!! Jenna has been looking forward to this day and is so excited to sleep on the top bunk. She was Tom's "little helper" and couldn't wait until the assembly was complete!

This is a big deal for Marissa, too! She now has a big girl Dora bed! She hasn't officially made the transition from her crib to her bed, but it's there when she's ready for the move. She's only spent two full nights in it so far. But she does like to play in it during the day!

Look Mom, Dora sheets!!

Our Lil' Gymnast

Marissa is in a gymnastics class! Isn't she cute in her leotard and pigtails?!?!

I really like the format of the class. It's very unstructured and the kids are free to explore the entire gym. Every week we focus on a different skill. We worked on the beam during her last class. Marissa really enjoys the bars and rolling down the wedge mat.

We always start class by stretching. Here's Marissa doing her "butterfly" stretch.

Marissa at the entrance to the obstacle course.

Here's Marissa practicing her pullover with Coach Dave. He loves giving the kids high fives.

At the end of every class, Coach Dave gives each child a stamp to celebrate another fun day at gymnastics! :)

Air Jacob

Jacob just wrapped up his competitive basketball season. This was the first year he was eligible to play at the competitive level. He had to try out and was so excited to make the league! This offered him the opportunity to play at a more advanced level with kids who are just as competitive as him. At this level the rules of the game are more closely adhered to, fouls are called, games are much faster paced, and the rims are 10 feet versus 8 feet. Jacob thrives in this environment....he loves it! His team did great, they came in second place! The tournament was a heartbreaker though...they lost both their games and didn't get to play the first place team. Now he's moved on to recreational basketball and the season just started. They've won all of their games so far and Jacob was the high scorer in the game this weekend. Coach has him playing the point guard position and in his own words this is a "dream come true" for him.

Jacob also participated in a skills competition. As you can imagine, he was all fired up for it. The competition included 3 on 3 (whichever team scores three baskets first wins), Hot Shots (make as many baskets as you can shooting from various marked points on the floor within 30 seconds), and Knockout (shoot baskets from the free throw line, last man standing wins). Fifty kids participated in the competition and Jacob was the Knockout champion!!

Choo Choo!!

Most of you already know that Tommy is a big train fan. Over the holidays, he finally found some time to work on his HO scale layout that is setup in our basement. He has made quite a bit of progress on it! With 75% of the landscaping finished, he is now working on the city and the mountain that will be behind it. He also has several more buildings to construct and needs to weather everything so it looks realistic.



I'm really happy that Tom has this hobby. He's so happy when he's working on it and is always willing to let the kids get involved. They are really starting to enjoy it now that it's all coming together. They love to "operate" the train...and don't ask if you can play with it...no, you don't play with the train, you operate the train! Marissa likes to push the button that makes the train whistle. She really likes to lay on that button...usually it's a long, loud whistle!!



Tommy is really proud of his baseball field. It's totally custom created. He was so excited when he found the baseball players at a hobby shop in Michigan. He'd been looking for them for quite some time. :)



Tommy wants each of the kids to have their very own engine for the train. Jacob got his several years ago and has been adding cars along the way. Last week, Tom took Nicholas on a special outing to the Great Midwest Train show to pick out his. Eventually, he'll take the girls to get their own engines, too. Recently Tom bought Jenna her own horse car, but she's really more into the architecture of the layout. She has claimed the farm area as her own and has set the animals up exactly how she wants them...and Tommy has left them that way. Here she is with her farm.



"HOLD MY COW"!!! That's exactly what Nicholas said when he first saw all the updates to the train layout. Instead of "Holy Cow" it's become our new favorite phrase...we use it often around our house now.



This is my favorite part of the layout. I love the winding road with the Victorian style houses at the top of the hill.



Tommy and his "helpers". This is the perfect post to tell you all about the kids new favorite restaurant....Choo Choo Johnny's! It's basically a diner that brings your food to you on a train. We've already been there three times this month! :)

Marissa's First Haircut!!

Marissa is now 2 1/2 years old and just had her very first haircut this evening. We decided it was time...her hair was just a mess. I thought about taking her to Great Clips, but after a bit of encouragment I decided to give her a trim myself. And we had to wait for Daddy because he wanted to be there for this milestone. (I think he also wanted to make sure that I didn't cut off too much). I was a bit nervous as I've never cut girl hair before. I've given the boys many haircuts, but this is just different....and mistakes grow out faster on boys! Turns out it was very easy and we are happy with the results...and Marissa was, too. She's so proud of her new haircut. My goodness was she wiggly through the whole thing...but we managed to get through it and rewarded her with a ring pop afterwards. I even made her an official first haircut certificate signed by Daddy and Mommy and attached a bit of her baby hair, too. Doesn't she look cute?!?

Hairstylist Mommy!

Happy New Year!!

Our good friends, the McCarron family, joined us to ring in the New Year. I planned a fun evening for the kids and was very excited to do chocolate fondue with them! We had lots of dunkables including bananas, pretzels, pound cake, strawberries, mandarin oranges, and marshmallows. The kids really enjoyed it!

I even served them passion fruit sparkling cider in plastic wine glasses garnished with a raspberry. These are the kinds of things that I get excited about because they thought it was so cool! It was entertaining to watch them experience their first carbonated beverage...very bubbly!! :) Here's Marissa fishing out her raspberry....and Jenna and Mallory toast in the New Year together. We did an early countdown for the kids at 8 p.m.

We usually hit the hay early, even on New Year's Eve, so I was anticipating an early evening. But I am happy to report that we actually stayed up until 12:30 a.m.!! I was so proud. The format of the evening actually worked out very well. We played Scrabble and Cranium while drinking wine and Strawberry Daiquiri's and the kids played and ran around. Jacob and Madeline actually played a few games of Sequence for Kids, too. Just for the record, they were the only two of the bunch that stayed awake till the end. The others crashed in random places around my house and we just covered them up with blankets. It was fun and we're planning to do it again next year! We hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday season! Happy New Year!

Sledding

The kids have been looking forward to hitting the snow hill in our neighborhood. We recently ventured out and had a great time!

Jacob flies down in his saucer. He kept trying to hit the man made "bump" in the hill that would give him some air time.

Marissa went (halfway) down the down the hill one time...and then was done. She was much happier perched at the bottom. Apparently she was very concerned that Tom and the kids were safe after each run down. Usually they would tip over out of their sleds in the snow and Rissa would run over saying "Daddy, you okay?" or "Jacob, you okay?". She was adorable and we spent about 30 minutes outside before seeking warmth in the car while the others continued to have fun.

Snow bunny....

Jenna Jenna...she had so much fun!

Yep, I went down a few times, too....whoo hoo!!

Back up the hill for one more run! We figure that we went down about 30 times before the cold got to us. We headed home for hot chocolate to warm up! The kids are looking forward to going back again soon.

Christmas in Michigan

We spent a few days after Christmas in Michigan with Tommy's side of the family. Everyone was there...Ali & Rob, Sarah & Jeremy, Uncle Nick, and Papa and Gramma, too! We all had a great time celebrating the holiday. We did alot of shopping, football watching, and wine drinking. I think my favorite part of the trip was playing Boggle...my father-in-law kept all of us thoroughly entertained...good laughs. Without a doubt, the highlight of our visit for Jacob was going to his very first college basketball game with Tommy, Papa, and Uncle Nick. Papa even caught a t-shirt that was thrown out into the crowd and gave it to Jake for a souvenir. He was so happy...he'll never forget it. Tommy had fun visiting the local hobby shops in the area. Our good friend, Wayne, and little Kyle Kless stopped by for a visit, too!

Here are a few pictures of the kids with some of their presents. Jacob was happy to get some new books to read from Aunt Ali and Uncle Rob. And aren't these chalkboards cute?? Gramma Fran and Papa found them at a craft show and had one personalized for each kid. She stuffed them full of fun things for the kids to do in the car...chalk, crayons, coloring books, little toys...they love them!

Let it snow! The kids helped shovel off the deck. Marissa was unsure about being out in the snow. One minute she was happy and the next she was crying. I think she really wants to like the snow, but just can't figure out how her siblings manage to do that. She was sad in the moment this picture was taken. Jacob was being silly for this picture...he simply refused to keep his eyes open for it....he told me it was either a silly face or closed eyes...I opted for closed eyes this time...boys.

A quiet moment with Mommy...so much excitement all around.

The neighbors found out that Marissa is a big Dora fan and brought over some fun stuff for her. Here she is showing Uncle Nick how to play Dora checkers and do a Dora puzzle. He was so patient and let her figure out how to put each and every piece together. They bonded over Dora. Merry Christmas!!