Fa ra ra ra ra

Tis' the season once again!  I have been anticipating Christmas so much this year.  I think it's because I was making some crafts for Parker that I was pretty excited about.  I'm starting to feel the 'pressure' of starting special traditions with him, so I made him an advent calendar, and a felt Christmas tree with ornaments he can take on and off.  It isn't a total hit, but I think he'll like it in the next couple of years.  

Parker helped pick out our real tree (from Home Depot ;), and helped daddy set it up.  Then we tried to put the tree skirt on him.  Last year he begged to wear it and kept it on for quite a while.  This year...not so much. 

He did help us put the ornaments on.  He put three of them on one branch.

Now our condo is full of Christmas cheer!

Last weekend we had our first ever Ross Family Thanks/Christmas.  We decided to combine the two holidays and have one big, ugly celebration.  Don we now our gay apparel!

Having fun with Grandma and Alaina.

Super Mark and Easton

Great Grandma Ross and her 10 Great-Grand children.
L-R: Parker, Easton, Hunter, Abby, Aliyah, Grace, Christian, Braedn, Alaina and Mark 

Reading books with Great Grandma

Reading books to Baby Aliyah.  So precious!

Today we went to the Arlington Heights Fire Department Christmas Party.  Ryan was on shift, but I am starting to get to know a few other families, so Parker and I went.  Then Ryan brought Santa on a firetruck!  Parker thought that was pretty cool.  We figured he would freak out when we tried to put him on Santa's lap since he has a history of strongly disliking anything that is large and dressed up.  Ryan sat Parker on Santa's lap, and he said, "Did you ride here in the firetruck Santa?"  So cute.

Looking forward to many more Christmas memories!

Galena Getaway

Galena, Illinois - a place one hour from my parents' house, 30 minutes from where I went to college, and up until a few weekends ago, I had only been there for a grade-school field trip, a Ross family get-together, and dinner at an Irish Pub.  When we lived 'close' by, it didn't seem like the place to go.  The suburbs and the big city were the hot spots.  Ironically, now that we've relocated to the suburbs, it seems like everyone goes to Galena for their getaways!  

Long story short, we had our friends, Jake and Andrea MacNamara, over early this Fall after not seeing them all Summer, they told us about a Groupon at Eagle Ridge Resort, and we booked a weekend for early December.  

We arrived at the resort Friday evening and went downtown.  The stores were mostly closed, except for a candy shop, so we had to try it out.  We also got some appetizers at Benjamin's... Let's just say Andrea was laughing so hard she was crying by the time we got our check ;)  It was an interesting experience.

The next morning, we went to breakfast in the resort restaurant.  It doesn't get much better than breakfast buffet's in my opinion.  Omelettes made to order, crepes, oatmeal, fresh fruit, bacon, pancakes, you name it!  We decided to fill up and hopefully last until dinner.  After breakfast, we dropped the boys off at the golf course.  We originally planned for this to be a ski trip, but the weather was calling for 50-60 degrees!  They thought it'd be pretty sweet to golf in December.  Unfortunately, it didn't get much over 40 and it rained a little bit.  Thank goodness the hot-chocolate cart came around ;)  

Andrea and I treated ourselves to a manicure at the spa while they golfed.  Then we headed to the cute shops downtown.

The best part - the samples!  We sampled fudge, popcorn, and several different kinds of dips.  No wonder we weren't hungry for lunch ;)  We headed back to the hotel, picked up the boys and went to town again for dinner.  First, we stopped at Poopsie's where we found an AWESOME tractor book for Parker.
 

Dinner was at a cute Italian restaurant, Vinny Venucci's.  The food was soooo good.

So was the peanut butter cheesecake for dessert.

We felt a little lame getting back to our hotel at 8:30.  We picked up two movies, and I think I fell asleep an hour later.  We could've found something else to do, but to be honest, it was really nice to go away for a weekend, have fun, relax, and sleep!  We had lunch in town the next day and went home feeling re-energized.  Thanks for a great weekend, Jake and Andrea!  We are truly blessed to have friends like you.

Long Sentences

Parker has always been a talker, but we have realized lately that he is putting together some LONG sentences - without any help from us.  Here are some examples...

"Daddy, when you get home, I will show you my parade."
"When you come visit the firestation, I will give you a ride on the firetruck."

Isn't that crazy?  Conversing with him is so fun!  He has also been singing a lot lately.  He has a little prayer doll in his bed that he has recently named Simon.  He tucks Simon in every night, and sometimes sings him Jesus Loves Me followed by the Prayer of Jabez song.  (We have sung both of these to him every night since birth pretty much).  He also know all the words to the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, the ABC's, Rat-a-tat-tat, God is so Good, and several more.  Listening to a two year old sing is just so sweet.  His little voice brings me so much joy!  And it's cool to know that it is pleasing to his heavenly Father as well.

I've mentioned this several times before, but the kid LOVES parades.  He's recently taken them to a new level.  They are getting incredibly long, and he usually asks us not to put them away at night so he can play with them right away in the morning again.  This particular parade includes every pair of shoes he could find, some vitamins, a calculator and lots of letters.

We had a good time with playdoh a while ago, too.

His imagination is incredible.  He can turn anything into a tractor or combine, the pillows on the couch are horses (most of them named Jane, like Uncle Bill's horse), and he is always pretending to make and bring us food.  He likes to sit behind the cushions of the couch and read, too.  Today he was reading a book I borrowed from my dad.  He read it as "Papa's book, Papa's book."

Knock on wood, so far, two has been terrific =)

Thanksgiving

Parker and I headed home Wednesday morning and spent the day with Nat and the kids.  Her and I made some Christmas crafts while the kids played.  We broke our rule of waiting until the day after Thanksgiving to play the Christmas tunes, but we just couldn't work to our full potential without them ;) Here's what we made.

Then we attempted to make some TeePee's with the kids.

The usual Thanksgiving Day traditions were a little different this year.  We got to spend the entire day with Ryan's family instead of trying to go to two in one day.  The Thanksgiving feast was AMAZING, and so were the leftovers...Turkey and Cranberry Panini's =)

We spent the night at my parents that night, and Nat and I set the alarms for 3:30am for our annual shopping extravaganza.  We both thought we slept about two hours total, due to a series of unfortunate events, but we were on the road by four.  We get a lot of guff for taking part in the Black Friday craziness, but to us, it's a fun time to spend together, we get ALL of our Christmas shopping done in one day, and we treat ourselves to Peppermint Mocha's =)  Sounds like a great day to me!

So that pretty much sums up our Thanksgiving, but I did take some time to reflect on the many MANY things I am thankful for.  God has been SO incredibly good to me, and I have seen His provisions in every stage of my life.  I am humbled by His grace and hope to radiate His love wherever I go.

November in a Nutshell

Wow!  Either we have been doing absolutely nothing worth writing about lately, or we have been super busy and I haven't had time to blog.  Whichever it is, I will do my best to sum up November in a nutshell.

The month started off with a special family get together for my Grandma Saar's 85th birthday.  Almost everyone from my mom's side of the family was able to get together.  It was great to see my cousins and all of the babies that have come into the world since we've been together last.

Most of the great-grandkids - Katie, Mark, Joey, Lauren, Cassie, Ava, and Parker

We had a Thanksgiving-like spread, and then we asked Grandma some questions about her life.  I always love hearing about what things were like for her generation.  My how things have changed!  My Grandma is such an encouraging and loving person who is always looking for a way to serve others.  She has a wonderful sense of humor, is still active in many different things, and now she has three generations who admire her.  As we said our goodbyes, I thought about how special it must be for her to see all of her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids in one place, having fun with one another.  I hope I live to see that in my own life someday, too!  I love you Grandma!  

Aside from that, we have had a lot of good times with various friends and family.  One night my friend, Kate, came over with her son Josiah, and we talked non-stop for a few hours.  Then we attempted to start a movie, paused it, and talked for another few hours. haha.  At the end of almost every day, Parker will say "That was a fun day!"  He is still making parades, and he recently told us he's going to give the baby "two kissies" when it comes.  

I guess that's all I got!  Thanksgiving post coming soon!  

Family Movie Night

A few weeks ago, Ryan and I decided it was time to attempt our first ever, family movie night.  He made some popcorn while I ran out to rent The Lorax.  When I got back, we all sat down on our big chaise lounge, covered up with a blankie, and dug in to our bowls of popcorn.  Now, how do you picture people eating popcorn?  I don't know about you, but my family likes to take a big handful and shove it all in at once, dropping a few kernels along the way.  Parker hasn't really had popcorn before, so he has not yet acquired this sophisticated way of eating.  He would take one piece at a time, chew it very slowly until it was dissolved in his mouth and then finally swallow.  Ryan and I each finished our rather large bowls in a matter of minutes, and Parker's lasted almost the whole movie.

Miraculously, we cuddled as a family throughout the entire motion picture.  There were several times Ryan and I just looked at each other and smiled, as if to say, "This is what I always dreamed having a family would be like."  Either that or, "Lets make more popcorn."  Sometimes it's the little things in life that can be so memorable.

Trick-or-Treat!

We trick-or-treated in Glen Ellyn tonight with one of my bff's, Katie Borst, and her sister and family.  Parker and Nadia became fast friends.  

Nadia is such a sweet little girl, and she is very active, too!  She was always way ahead of Parker while he strolled down the sidewalk and took in the scenary.  They would both say "Trick-or-Treat," grab candy, say "Thank You," and then Nadia would be off to the next place while Parker would spend a few minutes checking out all of the other kids and their costumes.  It was quite funny.  

We made it up and down a few streets before the kids go tired and we got hungry.  When we were done, Parker said "I have a fun day!  I please have a trick or treat?"

Katie's sister made us all an AMAZING lasagna supper.  Thanks Melissa!  It was DELISH! Now Parker is in bed, Ryan is on shift, and I'm just trying to practice self control while I stare at a pumpkin full of candy.

Goebberts Pumpkin Patch

When you go to an Apple Orchard, you eat a cider donut, buy some apples, and sit on an occasional tractor or walk through a small petting zoo.  You get your apple fix and then you go home.  Not the case with the pumpkin patch...  If you go to Goebberts pumpkin patch, you play on all sorts of different vehicles, such as firetrucks,

tractors,

monster trucks, school buses, pirate ships, etc etc.

When you're bored with those things, you can go check out the giraffe, 

and an entire tent full of exotic animals that you've never heard of.  Then you can play on the wooden train, see the pumpkin-eating dinosaur, watch the pig races and the magic show, walk through Western Town, ride a camel, ride a pony, and/or ride a choo choo train!

When you get hungry, you can eat some cider donuts or eat a brick oven pizza in a giant greenhouse.  Then it's time to take pictures with every Disney character ever created, like Parker's favorite - 

Little Einsteins!

By that time, you have had a lot of fun, your hands and nose are freezing, and you've forgotten the fact that you came to a pumpkin patch to get a PUMPKIN....and you run to the car =)

In a nutshell, we have a blast when we go to Goebbert's.  Especially when we get to go with our best friends.  But I always find myself wondering whether I love this place or whether it is just extremely unusual and random.  Maybe I will make up my mind after next year's visit :)

Halloween Sneak-Peak

I hadn't really put much thought into Parker's costume this year because Ryan will be on shift.  I still want to take him out, but it won't be the same as being able to do it as a family.  If you ask Parker what he wants to be for Halloween, he will answer, "Papa."  Have I told you how much he loves my dad?     Totally cute.  I think I will still try to do something that resembles Papa when we go home next weekend, but last night we decided on the fireman.  He had a hat from last year and Nat had a coat, so we thought that would be just fine.  

I ran out to get a Redbox last night and ended up getting a little pumpkin for Parker to put his candy in. I showed it to him when I got home and he said, "Is this for me? Oh, thank you mommy!"  Ten seconds later..."Mommy, is this mine?  Oh thank you!"  He said that at least 50 more times throughout the night.  When it was time to go to bed, he asked for his pumpkin to be in his big-boy bed with him.

We  took him to Downtown Wheaton for their business trick-or-treat this morning and boy was it ever fun!  At first he kind of just looked around and walked super slow.  Then after he got his first sucker, he asked if he could eat it, so we let him.

Then we went to the next store where he got some Skittles.  He said, "I please eat this now?" Haha.  Don't worry, we cut him off after the sucker.

We went up and down the streets and he got more and more used to saying "Trick or Treat!" and thanking them after they gave him candy.  We saw SO many cute kids!  The streets were filled.  We stopped in at Starbucks and got an apple cider to complete the morning.

Edible Arrangements had chocolate-covered apples.

When we were all done, Daddy gave him a shoulder ride...but he didn't leave go of his pumpkin!

We got home and Ryan made omelettes for lunch.  Of course, Parker was begging for a "trick or treat," and he ended up refusing lunch and throwing quite the fit until falling asleep for two hours.  I'm just going to block that part out of my memory;)  It was the perfect morning!