Christmas in Chicago--Days 1-3

On December 22, 2012, our family made a 14+ hour drive to Downers Grove, IL to visit the Mammina family for the Christmas holiday!  Phew!  It was a long one, but we pushed through and finally made it around 8:30 pm.   

Both boys (finally!) fell asleep about 30 minutes before we arrived!!!

two sleepyheads got out of the car

(and the kids were pretty sleepy too!)  ;)

but they weren't sleepy for long when they saw the Cars pjs Nonna had waiting for them on their bed!!!

getting all snuggled in for the night--

they haven't had too much experience sharing a bed in the past, but they did really well

we visited for a bit and ate a quick bite, but we were pretty ready to crash

the next morning (12/23) the boys were full of energy and ready to play

they both loved this cool parking garage

i helped make a fruit salad for breakfast

ma and i worked together to make our first feast of the day!  haha!

the boys were thrilled to spot a bunny outside!

uncle benny arrives and finally we can eat!!!

 love this little family  :)

later, the boys (and their mama) had a little downtime

all smiles with daddy

another favorite of the week--the piano

(i think i said the phrase, "the piano is night-night" more times this week than i ever thought i'd say in my whole life!  haha!)

i obtained some countertop planning advice from dad--the in-house designer extraordinaire

anthony sneaks in some snuggles with Nonno in front of the fire before bedtime

the next day was Christmas Eve!  it was really cold outside, so we had a cozy fire going all day and enjoyed just hanging out.  

anthony gets a quick piano lesson

both boys are super excited to play games on daddy's ipad 

these two kept the fire going all day long

we got all dressed up in the evening to go to a little Christmas Eve party

sweet lucas looking handsome

sweet anthony looking handsome too

our big family photo

our little family photo

ma baked a chocolate peanut butter cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday...

i wrote the words with icing...

...and the boys decorated with sprinkles

nonna read the Christmas story while the boys snacked on a few stray sprinkles

thanks, Nonna, for helping them to remember Who we really are celebrating!

the finished product!!!  ta-da!

(i think we realized later that the adults ate all the cake before the kids got a single bite!  haha!

don't feel too badly for them--they had PLENTY of other desserts!!!)

Ben went to pick up his girlfriend Rachel around 7pm, so we fed the kids early and had a grown-up dinner after they went to bed

here's the group shot including rachel

Nonno and Nonna's house--so cute!

 Merry Christmas, everyone!  I'll let you know how we continued to celebrate in the upcoming post!

Stay tuned!