Chicago Trip

Eric surprised us with a trip to Chicago last week.  It was such a fun little vacation!  It was really fun to be in a big city again and the girls were just awestruck by the tall buildings and loved staying on the 14th floor of our hotel.

We went to the Shedd Aquarium one day.

Scattered around the aquarium were fun "kid" things to do like this penguin habitat, a submarine to play in, a canoe to "fish" in.  The girls favorite thing was a Dora 4D movie experience.  A huge hit!

The next day we went to the Childrens Museum on Navy Pier.  Another hit!  We spent many, many hours there! :)  I was a little surprised at the stations that were their favorite.  They loved the fire truck, hose and pole.

Their other favorite was this 'construction site'.  Madi spent a good hour building this little chair with the help of daddy.  Look it even works!

And Taylor was more than content to sit and twist the screws in.  Although she didnt have a bolt on the other end so they never actually did anything, just around and around and around.  Every once in a while she would say, "Its almost done, Mommy!"  Ha Ha!  She was happy and didnt want ANY help!

Waitress Aprons

Madi loves to play waitress.  Whether it is upstairs at a tea party in her play kitchen or during dinner when she serves us all our plates, drinks, etc.  Eric loves this and uses her love of waitressing to turn her into his personal little slave to get him drinks and snacks! :) 

About a year and a half ago I had made the girls full aprons to wear while helping me in the kitchen.   But a waitress needs a cute little half apron, don't you think?  We hit up Wally Worlds clearance fabric and the girls each picked out some cute material.

Madi went with the super adorable, and pink!, strawberry material.  Such an apron classic right?  The darlingness of it just screamed for a dainty lace edge topped of with a cute little strawberry button on the pocket that I had left over from an apron I had made for myself back in home ec in highschool, which I still use today. 

 Taylor chose a more modern and bold print.  Love the colors!  (She picked it b/c she thought it had basketballs on it! Ha!)  So of course I had to go with more contemporary accents.  The pink ribbon at the bottom and a tiny fabric flower by the pocket.  (oops, didnt realize I cut the pocket sideways until I saw this picture on the computer)

 Here's a close up of the fabric flower:

I had so much fun making these little aprons.  I loved that they were both so different.  And the price couldnt have been better!  $.75 for Madi's and $1 for Taylors!  WooHoo!

Snow Day

Uh, yeah, everyday is a snow day around here.  BUT, its not everday that I actually go outside and play with the girls- that's Eric's job! :)  But today just begged for a good tromping around in the snow.  It was sunny and warm- 30's- and not windy at all.  Perfect!  We had so much fun!  The girls went sledding, while I went 'lugging two girls on a sled'! Ha!

 They made sweet little snow angels.

 We have the perfect little hill for two little girls in our backyard.

Merry Christmas

 We hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating our Savior's birth.

Sinterklaas Day

Did anybody else celebrate Sinterklaas Day over the weekend?  We had a great celebration this year.  Look at all those sweet faces, eating all the Christmas goodies  and excited for the scavenger hunt yet to come!

 Of course there were speculaas, a spice cookie, traditional for celbrating sinterklaas day.  They taste great with a cup of cider!  You can find the recipe for them HERE, on my food blog.   

Aunt Bev brought a cute little wooden shoe for each of the kids filled with a chocolate coin and an orange slice (a candy one- so clever, right?!), two traditional goodies that Dutch boys and girls find in their shoes, except they got a real orange :)

Then we had the scavenger hunt.  We divided the kids into teams and let them loose to find the clues and their treasures at the end.  Its so fun to watch them run around the house and hunt for the clues.  So often the clue was right in front of them, but they would all miss it completely.  Ha!  So fun.

Christmas Parade

Madison's preschool was in the Lighted Christmas Parade in town tonight.  Their float was a barn and all the kids were little piggies.  Pretty Cute!  It was very cold, but I was thankful that it wasnt windy and the temps only dropped down to 27.  Not bad!  I layered the girls up so much that Madison complained she couldnt move!  Hah!

 She had a blast!

November

Man, I am terrible at keeping you all updated on our lives.  According to this blog it looks like we do NOTHING!  I wont even get into Oct. with Madi's preschool fieldtrip to a pumpkin patch or the pumpkin patch visit with all the girls cousins.  But I will offer up two little pictures from November. 

This first one is the girls sitting on the new caterpillar at the Des Moines Zoo.  And yes, its November and look how the girls are dressed- no jackets!  Nice!  We have a membership to the zoo so we have made several stops there over the summer and fall.

 Emily, my niece, came over for a sleepover a couple weeks ago.  Aren't they cuties all snuggly watching a movie? :)