Franklin Park Zoo

Today we made a trip up to the Franklin Park Zoo. I heard that they had a new baby gorilla, so I was anxious to see her! Even though it was windy and many animals were off-exhibit, it was worth the trip to see the gorillas (my favorite animal)! I could watch them all day-especially the new baby!
Mike and Elijah tried to catch a peacock.

A zookeeper gave Isabella this peacock feather. Germ city!!!!

Elijah tried out Dada's sunglasses.

The lion was warming up in a patch of sunlight between the snowdrifts. That's just like Africa, right?

The girls checked out the tapirs.

The male gorilla.

Proud mama, Kiki, and her four-month-old baby, Kambiri.

Is she smiling for the camera?

I expected her to be bigger, but she was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! I wanted Isabella to sneak Kambiri home in her jacket!

Kiki sat patiently while Kambiri played around her. She's a very protective mama!

Go BC!!

It was a beautiful day to go to Boston College's first home football game of the season. Mike is the one with season tickets, but we were able to get four extra free tickets to the home opener since they were playing Weber State (which we had never heard of). It's in Utah, in case you were wondering.

All three of our kiddos were decked out in their BC t-shirts, and they were ready to tailgate! Mike posed with the kiddos in front of Alumni Stadium.
Then we checked out Fan Fest.
They had jumpies...
... and face (or arm) painting. Isabella went for the flying eagle.
Sienna chose the sparkly BC.Sienna and I matched!
Mike raced Isabella through an obstacle course.
Close-up of Isabella's eagle. The cheerleaders made an appearance.Everyone also got balloon animals (t-rex, horse and turtle bracelet).
We finally made it over to the tailgate with our friends.
Since we had a cook-out to go to, we ended up skipping the game, but we had fun at all of the other events!

10 years!!

Today is our 10th anniversary. We've been married for a decade!! A DECADE!!! Yikes! How did that happen?!? To see pictures from that amazingly fun day, click here. Since we're back in WI for the occasion, I told my dad that we'd like to renew our vows and have another reception at the University Club. We're on our own for that one!!!

Ten years is a long time. Although, it doesn't sound so long when you consider the fact that my sister just turned 40 (and celebrated her 17th anniversary), my sister-in-law and brother-in-law celebrated their 17th anniversary, my in-laws will celebrate their 37th anniversary in a couple days, and my parents will celebrate their 45th anniversary in December . But, how is it possible that we've been married for 10 years already?!?!? We can't be old enough for that, can we? Last year I mentioned that I wanted to go back to Bermuda for our 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. Instead, we'll be at our friend's wedding in Chicago while my dad watches our kiddos in our hotel room. We'll still have a fun weekend, but it's not the romantic get-away that I envisioned. Maybe we can sneak away for a night or two in the fall. Either way, we will celebrate the fact that we've been together for 14 1/2 years and married for 10! Woo hoo!!!

Right now I'm in Wisconsin visiting my parents. I dug through one of their closets and found my old prom dresses (why my mom saved those, I'm not sure!) along with my wedding shoes and my headband and veil that I made myself. My friend, Sarah, reminded me that she helped me finish sewing my veil during my rehearsal. Thanks, Sarah! I always was (and always will be) a procrastinator! I was a little worried when I found my sister's and my mom's wedding dresses but not my own. Thankfully, my mom had it cleaned, and it was tucked away under a bed and preserved in a special box. I was able to peek through the plastic window to admire my dress. It's not worth pulling out because I know that it won't fit, but it was fun to see it and show my girls!

Isabella modeled the headband and veil and the shoes.

Sienna only wanted to try the veil.

My veil still fits! Yippee!!

Isabella also got a kick out of the petticoat (or whatever it's called) that I wore under my dress.

This is one of those times that I'm glad that my mom saves everything!!!! That's definitely where I get my hoarding behavior, but I love the memories!

Preschool Sing-Along

Since Sienna's holiday sing-along was snowed out last month, it was rescheduled for tonight and it became a winter sing-along instead.

We decorated one last gingerbread house.
The children listened to The Gingerbread Man.

They pretended to be gingerbread children through an obstacle course before they went back to the cafeteria to decorate gingerbread people. It was fun for us to do something special with just Sienna!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

We were happy to help my mom and dad celebrate their 44th Anniversary today! The best gift we can give them is being all together with our whole family, and here we are!!!
The kiddos enjoyed riding the Aunt Katy and Uncle Nathan horsies today, too!

A Weekend of Christmas Traditions-Old and New!

Some of the things I love about the holidays are the traditions that we have started as a family. After reading about my friend, Sarah's, great idea to do a different holiday activity every day in December, I was motivated to start some new traditions of our own. This weekend we enjoyed some old traditions as well as creating some new ones!

Old Tradition: Breakfast with Santa
Yesterday morning we enjoyed our annual pancake breakfast at Sienna's school. The girls were happy to see Santa, but Elijah had other ideas!
Elijah seemed to be intrigued by Santa once he was at a safe distance.
This picture has nothing to do with holiday traditions, but Isabella went to a birthday party this weekend and came home with this fancy hair-do (complete with a pink streak) and sparkly eyelids. I'm not sure that modeling is in her future! Old Tradition: Placing Wilma the Angel on top of our Christmas tree
This year Sienna had the honor of putting Wilma on top of our tree.It's getting harder for Mike to lift up the girls as they get bigger!A minor adjustment...Mission accomplished!

New Tradition: Family Christmas Movie Night

We started a tradition of Family Movie Nights complete with popcorn and a fire. We decided to watch Home Alone last night, but we were surprised by some of the language and all of the name calling!!! Is that really necessary in a kids' movie?!?! (I know, I'm such a mom...)

New Tradition: Holiday visit to Bass Pro Shops

Tons of people were waiting to see Santa, and we didn't want to wait around for several hours. Instead, we enjoyed checking out all of the animals (both live and stuffed); although, Sienna wouldn't go near this bear!

There was a pond with live fish and turtles that had a sign that warned people not to put their hands in the pond since all of the animals/fish could bite. Guess who stuck his finger in the pond to see if they'd actually bite? I'll give you a hint...it wasn't Elijah!

Elijah came up with some Christmas ideas for himself. He would either like this pink ATV...

...or this boat!

He likes anything with a steering wheel or handlebars! See?!?

Elijah, Sienna, Lauren (Sienna's friend) and I made a mid-week trip back to Bass Pro Shops and walked right up to see Santa!! As we learned with the Enchanted Village, mid-week visits are much better than weekend visits!

Old Tradition: Festival of Lights

Tonight we enjoyed the Festival of Lights on our town common.

Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived on a firetruck again this year!

Elijah enjoyed a free cookie!

Sienna posed in front of the lights.

Isabella, Sienna and Elijah

Elijah surveyed the lighting job.

Trying to keep warm!

We enjoyed our weekend of holiday family fun!!