Christmas at Tim & Mindy's

After we celebrated Christmas at my parents we went over to my cousin Tim & Mindy's house. They have a nice big finished basement so it's great for family gatherings. We ate LOTS of food and had a great time. I got Emma and Alli American Girl outfits for their dolls. It was great to see the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Congrats to my cousin Pat on getting engaged to Jenni. We all really like her and can't wait for their wedding next summer in Seattle. This year I was bad about taking pictures, but I promise to take more next year. I'm sure my cousins were happy I was not picture crazy this year.

Christmas at Mom & Dad's

We celebrated Christmas at my Mom & Dad's house. It was great to be home. My Dad cooked his famous biscuits and gravy and we had eggs, cinnamin rolls, and toast and then we opened presents. My Mom went overboard and bought Craig and I lots of presents. She's the best. And my Dad too. My Dad got my Mom a Kindle and suprised all of us...Go Dad! My brothers and I got them a new set of nice pots and pans. We also got my Dad a record player (yes, to play old records), as he has TONS of old records and wants to convert them to DVDs. I didn't know they even made those anymore, but they do. We got my Mom a gift card and some other smaller presents too. It was a great Christmas!

Charleston Girls

We had a Charleston girls reunion while we were all home for Christmas. Allison, Sorry I forgot to take pictures before you left. (so unlike me) First we went over to Allison's parent's house and had a few drinks and then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It was nice that everyone got to meet Allison's 4 mo old baby Cora. Cora is such a sweet baby! After Buffalo Wild Wings we went to Mike & Stan's and hung out with everyone from Charleston. It was great seeing everyone.

Aruba Trip

Craig and I spent the week in Aruba and had a great time. We did not do much besides relaxing by the pool and eating nice dinners, which is exactly what we needed. The weather was very nice, 90 and sunny every day. It was a great vacation!

Christmas with the Kids

We celebrated Christmas with the kids a little early because they will be on a cruise with their Mom and Step-Dad over Christmas, but we will have them Dec 28-Jan 3. This year the kids got a lot of fun stuff...Ethan got several games for the Wii, a PSP, clothes, gift card for more clothes, etc. Julia got a scrapbooking kit, boots, clothes, gift card for more clothes, coat, money towards her computer, etc. We also participated in the Adopt A Kid program through my work and bought presents for two underprivledged kids from a nearby Chicago school. We always have fun picking out the presents. The kids realize how lucky they are which is great.