Winding down the year

Thanksgiving (a bit belatedly!)

Forgot that these pictures were on my phone and not on the computer.

Christmas is here!

One Christmas Eve present each--a new truck from Grandpa Bill and Legos

Sorting the presents on Christmas morning

Santa brought Molly a super hero outfit with a cape and a mask.

Santa brought Leo artwork of his favorite game character.

Reading all about Lego Minifigs

Breakfast

Learning spirograph

Using Snap Circuits

We couldn't get good pictures of everything, but the kids were truly pleased with every present. It was so nice to be in our own house for Christmas. The kids slept in and we had to wake Molly up! The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have some snow.

Chicago trip

The weather gods smiled on us for our trip to Chicago and it was nice to see so many relatives. Saturday afternoon we went to the Chicago Botanic Garden for their Winter Wonderland display--which was just fantastic. All of these iconic Chicago buildings made of organic materials. So charming.

And there were train tracks running around the whole thing, some above, some below.

The library there had a whole display of felt figures from literature.  So fun!

That is a lot of poinsettias.

Sue!

Examining Sue's head.

Yes, it's been awhile...

Reading with Papa

We got 6-8 inches of snow last night/this morning.

We had our last music class of the session this morning (8am!!!) and afterward we checked out the new coffee place in downtown Urbana.

A tomte santa from Sweden

Enjoying cake after the CBA holiday show this week

Leo in his usual habitat

Watching Charlie Brown Christmas and eating string cheese

Does this really need a caption?

Checking St. Nick's loot

Snow sick

Well, not that I'd ever get sick of snow! But Molly is now on day two of the crud (deep cough, fever, and lower GI issues). Yesterday she and I had already planned to stay home together because Chesterbrook was closed for the holiday and Leo was signed up for an all-day thing at school. And it snowed last night! She is begging to go out and make snow angels. Instead, she gets to go to the doctor!

A fall trip to the park

None of the pictures I took of Molly _at_ the park turned out very well, but the pictures from the trip there and back were lovely.

Molly took this one

Molly took this one too