december 5th - road trip

Daddy and the kids went to Nomad tonight before heading up to Rhode Island. Alex and Gemma’s new favorite thing is to play hangman while we wait at restaurants. Gemma’s clues are always heart warming...somewhat makes up for her misbehavior. The ride to Rhode Island was easy and Daddy made great time...Gemma was out first, then Lucy, and Alex stayed up the whole ride. 

december 4th - new england karate

Mommy went out of town to Boston this morning so we had a Daddy day at home. Mommy got to head into Rhode Island and hang out with Ben and Will. The kids were very jealous, but we get to drive up there tomorrow for a visit, and the anticipation is killing them. 

december 3rd - school fun

Lucy loves building at school. We have a similar block system at our house, so she gravitates to it (and the babies)!!

december 2nd - hot chocolate season

These two have been asking for hot chocolate for three days...at last we are viewed as good parents in their eyes due to their cocoa with lots of marshmallows. 

december 1st - lucy monster

Lucy got dressed up to take her birthday invitation photo. She is a bit of a challenge getting her picture taken...so much fun. 

november 30th - little elves

The tree has been lit and made ready to decorate while the kids napped today. They were really excited to wake up and put on the proper attire for decorating the tree. We have built up quite a stockpile of ornaments over the years and it was fun trying to remember with the kids where/when we added each to our collection.  Lucy decorated her own “wee tree” by the front door and was super proud of her work. Gemma hacked Mommy’s phone a took a collection of selfies. 

november 29th - illumination

We went out to the farm to cut down our Christmas tree this morning. It took us a pretty long walk around the farm to realize that we are not really a “tree cutting down” family. Mostly because Mommy lacked scale and was picking out 22 footers. Instead, we double timed it back to the usual farm lot where we get our trees and found the perfect one. 

This evening we got to see the monster tree in Palmer Square light up for the first time this year. Lots of music, hot chocolate from Bent Spoon, and a Santa sighting was the perfect way to kickoff the start to the Christmas season. 

november 28th - pass the corn...asshole

Turkey day is here and we are just about done with turkey. Mommy made some sweet turkey pancakes this morning and we were lazy for most of it...watching the parade and drinking mimosas. Lucy really loved the parade and was obsessed when Sesame Street characters appeared. 

We went to Beeps and Grandpa’s with Uncle Frank’s crew and everyone from Chicago for dinner. Lots of food, drinks, and anger. On a lighter note, the pumpkin pie was a delight. 

november 27th - thanksgiving eve

Aunt Vicky, Katie, Frank, and Marco are in town for Thanksgiving and we had a little jam session to celebrate. We went out for pizza at Nomad and then hung out at our place. Alex, Gemma, and Lucy pitched in on percussion. 

november 26th - kinderturkey

Mommy and Daddy got to attend Gemma’s turkey day feast at her school this afternoon to help get all the kids fed. There were 60+ kids that strolled in with their turkey hats and custom-personally-made placemats. It was pretty cute. Gemma wouldn’t admit it, but she loved having both of us there for the special lunch. After we got everything cleaned up, we went through and served all the leftover cornbread to Alex’s lunchroom full of kids who were in the cafeteria. Then, Mommy and Daddy had our own special lunch. 

november 25th - good will

Today, we counted all the food donations that everyone brought to Friendsgiving so we could get it organized for Daddy to drop off to the church.  We had a pretty good haul this year to donate “for the people.”  Lucy helped Mommy bake cornbread for Gemma’s Thanksgiving feast at her school tomorrow.  

november 24th - recovery

Mommy and Daddy got the majority of the clean up done late last night, so today was filled with lots of stumbling around, naps, leftovers, and football. Even Lucy’s dolls were tired today. 

november 23rd - friendsgiving

Kicking off thanksgiving with our annual friendsgiving party hosted by Mommy. This year was slightly smaller than most with only 12 adults and 19 kids, but it was one for the record books. We actually had a live turkey attend the party. The kids helped get prepped. Lucy and Gemma helped Daddy with the fire. Tons of fun and enough food to induce multiple comas.