Family Fun in Chicago

My mom took all of us to Chicago for the weekend as our Christmas gifts this year. It was wonderful to spend time together and the kids had a blast with it all!! Thanks Mom/Nana!!

walking on the piano in the Charlie Brown area

our little artists

Isaiah enjoyed trying out all the activities at the Museum of Science and Industry

Jacob thought this was a good place to go night-night

driving the tractor with Nana

Jacob "needed" to hug the cow

Kaleb wouldn't stay on very long

lots of kisses for the cow too (eww)

Fun with the whole family

all 3 kids LOVED the building, Kaleb hasn't stopped talking about them yet

seeing the fish at Shedd Aquarium

they LOVED it

the only photo we got of all five of us and it blurry, darn

my good friend from high school, Carlie, came to try Ethiopian food with us

lots of fun swimming

taking naps at IKEA

Visit with the Murray Family

Our friends we met in Ethiopia when we were adopting Jacob and they were adopting Sam came to our hotel today. We went swimming and they brought some yummy donuts to share. They kids all had a blast and Isaiah asked if we could get together again next weekend. We so would if they weren't three hours away. We love the Murrays!!

First Real Haircuts

Jacob and Kaleb got their first real haircuts today. It was hard for me to make the appointment, but glad we did it. Jacob loved it, Kaleb not so much.

Disney on Ice

Grandma took us to see Disney on Ice. All three boys LOVED it!!! They knew most if the characters but got really excited when Toy Story characters and Nemo came out.
Thanks for a fun day Meekie!!

Bullseye is Jacob's favorite right now.

Kaleb and Jacob brought Woody and Bullseye to bed.

Tree Trimming

I love, love, love Christmas! I have been looking forward to starting Christmas traditions with the kids for a long time. The kids LOVED putting up the trees and playing with Baby Jesus in the Nativity.

Here are three of our new ornaments this year:

I love this tree!! We have one tree with all the mis-matched ornaments that having meaning. And this is the first year for this matching tree!! I love it!

So Much Thankfulness

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have our three sons HOME! The past three Thanksgivings we were waiting for our boys to be home. It was such a wonderful weekend spent with our families!  Our boys loved everything this weekend. We got to spend the night with both of our parents, the kids loved the sleep overs with cousins and Grandma and Grandpas house and Nana's house.
So thankful that this wonderful weekend was spent relaxing with family. Now looking forward to all the family fun in December!

Jacob's Toy Story Party

Two days after Jacob's birthday we had our family and a few friends over for Jacob's Toy Story Party!

 Woody and Buzz came to the party too!

 Great Grandma Pat helped Jacob color his flying saucer

 more flying saucer fun

 Big Birthday Boy

 Hugs for cousin Kaylee

 All of Jacob's favorites for dinner, chicken nuggets, Cheetos, cherry tomatoes

 Blessed by so many gifts

 tackling cousin Kaylee while Baby Livvie is on the move

 blowing out his candles

 November 10th is Great Grandma Pat's birthday

 yummy cupcakes

 horsey rides, he is about to fall off in the picture, ha!

 more books with Uncle Chad

 Cousin Levi was trying to hide so he could play more Angry Birds

Our own Buzz came to the party too!

So thankful for all the people that love Jacob and came to celebrate his special day!!