Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in Spanish

Ellie, Papa, Nancy and I attended Colin's Holiday Show last night for the 3 and 4 year old preschool classrooms. I captured a few pics and a video of one of the songs. If you can't figure it out, it's Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer in Spanish. Enjoy!

After the show, Colin held a meet and greet with his adoring fan. She was starstruck!

University Club Christmas Party

This is the 2nd year Papa and Nonnie have taken us to the University Club Christmas Party. It's fun to have Ellie go to this event since Mom and Dad used to take Nancy and I to this when we were kids.

The club goes all out for this. There was a buffet of food with all kid friendly food - they know who their audience is. And of course there are visits with Santa. On top of that, there was a show from one of Ellie and Colin's favorite book series (If you take a Mouse to school).

Don't you love Colin in his bow tie? His pants had little bulldogs with Santa Hats on them. Such a stylish little guy!

There was a petting zoo and a giant caterpillar bouncy house.

There was face painting (Ellie went with candy canes and Colin went with batman) and balloon animals (Ellie went with Rudolph).

The cookie decorating was a hit again this year and yet again the cookie did not make it home without being crushed in my purse. Oops!

And I believe Ellie's favorite part was the Ball Pit so deep that we lost her once or twice.

And I'm sure there were more activites we didn't even get to. The only problem is, Ellie keeps asking me when the Pink Bike is going to show up under the tree that she asked Santa for. Doesn't really get why we have to wait until the 25th. We'll have to work on patience.

Thanks for the fun, Nonnie and Papa!

First Snowy Saturday Morning

The first Saturday snowy day is always fun in Chicago. Of course, it quickly becomes old but for now, let's just focus on the fun that was had. Ellie and Lucy went outside to play with their neighbor friends.


Apparently Ellie's a fan of winter time tree climbing.

Neighbor Jonah is just trying to figure out why we have to walk around in these boots.

Lucy is wondering why Lola still gets to play outside. Lucy would keep playing in the snow until she turned into a popsicle if we didn't put her inside after a while.

I LOVE that Ellie is still wearing the same coat and snowpants as last year. Good move buying them too big!

Joe making snowballs for the kids.

Elsa looking almost as happy as Brad is to be outside.

Not that much snow but Ellie still has fun digging.

Ellie Goes To The Circus

Ringling Brothers came to the United Center and an amazing time was had by all. Ellie absolutely loved it!

She loved the elephants and the tigers and the music. The adults were particularly amazed by the family of 7 who rode their motorcycles around the inside of a very tiny globe.

Ellie requested to have her face painted like a clown. She was such a big girl and sat still in the chair while the lady put the makeup on and loved getting to wear the clown costume and the wig.



The girl had so much fun that she has had us read her the program before bedtime and naptime every day since. We will definitely be going back the next time the circus is in town!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving Day 2008 started with an 8k run and ended with us going to bed immediately following Ellie's bedtime at 8pm because we'd eaten too much.

I think this was our 4th Turkey Trot in Lincoln Park and we couldn't have asked for a better day from a weather perspective. It was sunny and mild (if you see 40's as mild). They had record numbers come out for the run which was great for the Chicago Food Depository collecting donations and canned good. Not so great if you're a participant. The organizers weren't quite prepared to handle that many people. The race started 20 minutes late and was a jumble of people for most of the race. But Eric, Todd, Beata, Jane and I made it through the run. I wouldn't say we broke any speed records but 5 miles is still a good distance to go to burn some calories before stuffing your face the rest of the day. Ellie and Elsa unfortunately did not get to run in their junior dash due to the junior dash starting before we finished the adult version of the race (another organizational blunder). This was particularly upsetting for Miss Ellie but she eventually got over it.

Mike and Jane

The Weiss Family

We then packed up the family (including Lucy of course) and headed out to Grammy and Grampy Arnquist's house in Western Springs. We had a relaxing day of visiting, eating, and playing the Scene It version of battle of the sexes. The ladies won and the guys were of course gracious losers (if gracious means saying all the guys questions were hard and the girls questions were easy).

Miss Ellie slept through most of the afternoon but woke up in time for dinner. She didn't eat much of the turkey dinner but was a HUGE fan of Aunt Jane's delicious pumpkin cheesecake. Yum! My camera battery ran out before Ellie woke up from her nap so pics are limited this year from the Thanksgiving feast. I'll make sure to charge up for Christmas.

Ellie's First Trip To The Movies - 11/9/08

Just a quick post - Ellie has been to the movies!

The Arnquist's and the Weiss's decided Ellie and Elsa were ready for their first trip to the movies and Madagascar 2 was the perfect choice.

I think the girls had a good time. It helped that they knew the characters from the first Madagascar.

Of course it may have also been the large vats of buttered popcorn and giant lemonade. Surprisingly, Ellie only needed one potty break.

Ellie likes to move it, move it. Elsa likes to move it, move it.

Lake Geneva for Great Grammy Arnquist's Birthday

We packed up the family and headed up to Lake Geneva (really Fontana) for Great Grandma Arnquist's birthday celebration. Look how much fun everyone had in the car.

At least driving there didn't make Ellie carsick. Of course, the drive home was a different story. No pictures of that, thankfully.

Grammy and Grampy made a fantastic dinner and the cake was delicious.
We had a great time hanging out with everyone and playing Catch Phrase. That game can get a little crazy after a glass of wine or two.

Ellie had fun looking at possibile flower girl dresses with Aunt Jane.
She's very excited about the pretty dress but mostly that she will not have to wear socks. It's the little things that make us happy.