Christmas in Chicago--Day 4

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Yes, I realize it's March now, but better late than never, right?!?

We had a super-relaxed, fun Christmas day in Chicago....

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Here's how we celebrated...

homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast...yum!

Ben had been fighting a viral infection, but he was still smiling...

no fun being sick over Christmas break!

love these boys--

always so happy in the morning

hmmmm, how'd our stockings get so full?

love these sweet Christmas morning smiles...

they each found the stocking with their initial--so fun!

gummi band-aids?!?

anthony got a kick out of that one!  :)

i love sitting around the tree in our pjs with a warm fire going...

it's fun just being all together

the boys enjoyed helping to pass around all the gifts

big helper anthony

i'm so glad i'm a part of a family where no one is phased by me climbing over the furniture to grab our presents!!!  ;)

big helper lucas

the boys opened these matchbox airplanes...

...and then proceeded to make "runways" from wrapped gifts for their planes to taxi on

such a fun way to pass the time when it wasn't their turn to open a gift!

lucas was thrilled to receive a new mobigo game from uncle benny!

team umizoomi has become one of his favorites!!!

anthony is a boy after my own heart--

he agrees with me that the best place in the house is in front of the fire

Ma shows off a pretty package while wearing her new scarf from Benny

Anthony specifically requested to sit next to miss rachel

the kids loved their new binoculars from mommy and daddy

guess we'll have to work on how to properly use them--hehe!

wait a minute---

is that a snow flurry we see???

Benny and Dad enjoying some of their gifts

sweet little gift bag that anthony decorated at school--

he gave a gift to Nonna in it!

These two were all ears when they unwrapped this recordable story book from Nonno and Nonna depicting the story of Jesus' birth.  It was so special to hear it in Nonno and Nonna's own voices!

Mar loves his new air rifle from Benny

Nonno sneaks in some snuggle time with Anthony

after the gifts have all been opened, dad treats us to his famous sicilian egg sandwiches--

wow--these are delish!

time for the big boys to go out and play while the little boys are taking their naps ;)

and i got in the kitchen again to dip my peanut butter bon bons into all their chocolate yumminess

we decided to chill and watch a movie--the incredibles!

Ben and Rachel are the chefs of the evening

Nonna gets the opportunity to have some playtime with the boys...

they loved these styrofoam play dots...

kinda like play-doh, but different

(guess you have to see it to understand!  haha!)

and after the little ones go down, we enjoy our gourmet meal--

scallops, grilled shrimp, beef rib roast, and some yummy mashed potatoes!

what a treat!

Well, Christmas may be winding down, but our week isn't over yet!!!  More to come...

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!

CG Christmas Party

Just a few quick pictures from our Community Group Christmas party...

our turn for a family photo in front of the tree

SOME of the kids of the group--

yes, the adults are quickly becoming outnumbered!!!

a special birthday cake for all the girls with the December birthdays

so pretty, soooooo yummy!

marilyn, me, hang, sarah

happy december birthday, girls!

(marilyn's is actually on Christmas day!!!)

 make a wish!

We had fun celebrating our birthdays as well as Jesus' birthday with you, dear friends!  We are so thankful for you in our lives!!!  We need a grownup group shot next time!!!

Mystery Reader and The Real Christmas Story

Mid December, Anthony had some fun events going on at school.  I signed up to be a "Mystery Reader" for his class.  A different Mystery Reader is assigned every Thursday, and is a parent or grandparent of a student in the class.  I had to leave 5 clues about myself with Anthony's teachers, and they read the clues here and there throughout the day to build the anticipation of who it might be.  Hopefully by the time the teachers read the 5th clue, your child has an inkling that it might be you!  

My clues were...

1) I have blonde hair and blue eyes

2) I love to paint things

3) We always go looking at Christmas lights for my birthday

4) We love to laugh in our house

5) The angel ornament on our tree is my favorite

I read a book to the class called "Room for a Little One" by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Jason Cockroft.  The illustrations are absolutely beautiful!  The story is the description of the night of Jesus' birth as told from the perspective of the stable animals.  Here's the link...

http://www.amazon.com/Room-Little-One-Christmas-Tale/dp/1416961771

I also made a little treat to give out to Anthony's class.  These didn't have anything to do with my story, but when I saw them online, they were too cute not to make!!!  

"reindeer noses"  :)

here's the link to the free printable bag topper i used...this girl is genius!

http://katehadfielddesigns.com/blog/digital-scrapbook-products/reindeer-noses-freebie/9749

This same day was the day of Anthony's big Christmas concert at school.  It was entitled "The Real Christmas Story".

It was really cool because the program was streamed lived through their website, so our parents got to watch it from Tennessee and Illinois!

me and my little lucas ready to take some pics

even daddy made plans to be there!

my friend jen--

she has a little boy named caleb in anthony's class as well as one that's lucas' age

there's jen's other little one--seth

seth and lucas are trying to catch a glimpse of their big brothers from the balcony

anthony's class had been working very diligently to learn their songs

the 4 year old classes got to go up on the stage twice!

they were so proud!

we got so sad because anthony would not look up, and we were waving our hands from the balcony trying to get him to see us.  the little blondie to his right, eli, kept looking up and waving to his family who was sitting near us, but anthony never did.  we didn't want him to think we didn't come, so mario rushed down to the front row to snap this picture and to wave.  anthony grinned so big when he finally saw his daddy!  and his class did such a fantastic job!!!  a beautiful performance!!!

(and yes, that sweater is waaaaay too small, but he really, REALLY wanted to wear it for his special day because it has a TRAIN on it!!!  how could i possibly say no to that?!?)  haha!  ;)