WINTER WONDERFEST

Well our little family decided to make our annual visit to Navy Pier for the Winter Wonderfest. We love this place!!! We decided to go over my birthday weekend since we were leaving for Canada the following weekend. It was a blast this year, especially since Tristen was able to go on the rides and appreciate more of the decorations. Well we enjoyed a full day of fun and family time. Here are some pics of our outing.


Tristen and Blake before we left for downtown Chicago


Tristen on the Ferris wheel. She didn't crack a smile the whole time she was on the ride, it was the end of the day and time for a nap.


Mom and Tristen decorating a giant sugar cookie


Mom and Tristen decorating a sugar cookie. The final product, hmm... maybe it's a good thing that we cut it out of the picture.


Blake just chilling in the car seat and being a good baby.


Say cheese...hmm not so much. Tristen is getting tired.


Tristen and dad after Tristen got off her first pink dragon ride

THE BIG "30" !!!!!

So I am starting to feel a little old these days....probably because the BIG "30" is in a few days. I'm not a big Birthday fan to start off with, but thinking of 30 makes me even less of a fan. But then again ... when I think of my life and where I'm at, I'm feeling not too bad about getting a little older :) I am proud of the things I have accomplished thus far in my life. I am also proud to be a wife and mother. I am happy with most things in my life and the things I not a 100% happy with, I dare say I'm making almost a daily effort to change them. So I guess I should celebrate being 30 and be grateful for all my life's blessings thus far. For journal purposes (sorry people I like to blog but if I can knock 2 things out at once, then more power to me...this is my way of journaling) here are 30 things about me.

30 Things YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

1. I love being a wife & mom
2. I am all about bedtime for kids ... quiet time
3. I enjoy decorating and shopping (HOBBY LOBBY)
4. I enjoy working with the teenagers
5. I want to travel one day to Italy, Scotland, and Europe
6. I would love to serve a mission one day (Religion is important in my life)
7. I would love to run a marathon
8. I hate chalk, chalk boards, and flour...the texture freaks me out
9. I like being a stay at home mom, on most days
10. I like working out and I love my gym membership
11. I have a slight addiction to facebook
12. I love chocolate and sweets ... but I try to behave
13. If I could be famous, I would love to be famous for being an Olympic athlete
14. I wish I could dance and play musical instruments ... especially the piano
15. I am one of those people who rarely trys anything new at a restaurant ... I play it safe ... I wish I was braver at times
16. I actually enjoy cleaning and cutting grass ... laundry ... not so much
17. I HATE wrinkles in clothing ... they really bother me
18. I still can't believe I used to work at a couple of prisons but it was cool
19. I don't like being late, I almost would rather stay home than be late ... but kids/husband are helping me get over this. (most of the time not by my choice)
20. I don't like bananas, but I LOVE banana bread and most things with banana in them
21. I love warm weather ... winter not so much, only for Christmas
22. I love my new vacuum and find great satisfaction when I see all the dirt it sucks up!!! Kirbys ROCK!!!
23. I am not a procrastinator except when it comes to packing ... I am always afraid I will forget something
24. If I could choose a superpower to have, I think I would like to fly...this would help me with chicagoland traffic and being late (saves $ on gas as well ;)
25. My favorite holidays are Halloween and Christmas
26. My favorite TV shows are House, Prison Break, So You Think You Can Dance, and Law & Order SVU.
27. I love having a DVR and fast forwarding through commercials...oh the time it saves
28. I am grateful for my family (parents, especially) and friends...I am am so happy to have stayed in contact with some of my friends over the years, I love hearing about their lives (especially when they blog about it :)
29. I love psychology and having deep conversations with people
30. I love date nights and spending quality time with the hubby and kids

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Christmas tree and some x-mas decorations


So I am in a really really good mood today :) I am sooooo happy that Jason just finished his last exam (last night) for his master's degree and he just passed his statistics waiver exam (Mon night) to test out of a class for his upcoming MBA program which starts in 3 weeks. It will be REALLY NICE having a husband for the Christmas break. I am also glad that Jason will have a stress free break, which is much deserved.

This Christmas our family is planning to visit Canada and spend some time with my family. Coming from a big family, 9 kids, we don't often get the chance to visit with my siblings due to distance (our family is spread out over Canada and the USA). We were lucky to have some of my family visit us for a few days during the Thanksgiving break, my parents, my sister Jane-Claire and her husband Brian, as well as their kids. Tristen loved playing with her cousins Emmerson and McKinnley. She kept on asking about them several days after they left. So we are really looking forward to seeing and spending some time with family over the holidays. It is also going to be a fun Christmas this year due to the fact that Tristen will understand it a bit more. Yes, she might not entirely get the whole Santa Claus concept, but she totally understands the PRESENT concept!!!! We are also glad that Blake will be celebrating his first Christmas with us this year. I think he was the best gift our family received this year. I can't tell you how much we think about how much we lucked out with his sweet little personality. Blake is such an EASY GOING baby, and even if his little personality changes, we consider ourselves very lucky to have enjoyed his sweet demeanor this long. I still can't believe that he will be 6 months old on the 20th of this month. Time flys ... I'm totally getting it, that's why we are trying to enjoy our family time as much as possible. Speaking of family time, we are planning our 3rd annual Winter Wonderfest trip in Chicago this Saturday. It is so much fun and this year we might have friends come along with us. Well this is a long post, we have a lot going on this month so all going well I will have a lot to blog about. Below are a few pics from Thanksgiving, pics of Tristen and her cousins at Bounce Town.


Blake and 8week old cousin Brogan


3yr almost 4 yr old cousin McKinnley


Showing off Tristen...going on her tummy


2 yr old cousin Emmerson


Jason, Tristen, Uncle Brian and gang in part of the pic...not the greatest shot..my bad

What's new with Us and Happy Thanksgiving :)

So I have been a bit behind on my blog entries lately, with good reason. So short story ... Tristen tripped over the power cord to the camera and broke a part off of the charging base, which equals dead camera and not being able to retrieve the pics off of it. Yes, since our camera is 2 yrs old, we were unable to pick up a part for it at a regular store (discontinued it) so we had to find it on ebay. Long story made short, all is well now and the camera is up and running. I am a picture person only when it comes to blog entries, and I must admit it is hard catching up when you are behind on things...hence my slide show. So below are some pics we have taken over the past month and a half. Some of our happenings include Blackberry Farm and Halloween. Tristen was Minnie Mouse and Blake was Mickey Mouse..I will post more pics of him in a later entry. Plus, there are just some random pics of the kids. Our little family is doing well though. We are excited for Jason to complete his last class of his Natural Gas Master's degree in the next couple of weeks!!!! He is also way excited to be starting his MBA program in Jan. So busy timee are definitely ahead of us. Blake is now 5 months old and the teething phase has started...poor guy. Tristen is doing well, she is a funny little girl....She can drive me crazy at times but her personality cracks me up. I have never seen a kid get as excited as she was for Halloween. She cut through every one's lawns, she was trying to open peoples doors so she could take their candy stash, she was practically pushing kids out of the way to make sure she was the first one to get candy at the doors. Not to mention she was giggling, screaming (b/c she was having so much fun), and falling down on the sidewall and grass b/c she was so focused on getting candy from the next house. Oh the memories this little girl gives us.

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!

Well it is official, Jason has been accepted into his MBA program!! Jason will be starting his MBA program in Jan. at DePaul University. I guess it is one of the top 10 part-time MBA programs in the country, so we are happy. I think the one part I like about this school is the fact that it is right down the street from Jason's work (which is only 15mins away from home). However, he will have to take a couple classes from the downtown Chicago campus, but at least the metro train is less than a 5 minute drive from his work as well. So I think DePaul will be the right fit for our family and for his career. I know the next 2 years won't be easy...especially for Jason trying to balance family, work, school, church. However, I think the sacrifice will have its pay offs....yes, I think I am just planning to take the next 2 years on a day by day basis:)

FOR FUN!!!! FAMILY STICKER

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Bad to the Bone

Picture 1:

Blake being the content baby that he usually is...he is yawning, life is good.

Picture 2:

Blake sporting the bald look, but due to the cold weather mommy had to buy him a new hat so he would keep warm.

Picture 3:

Blake not sure what to think about his new hat, but feeling a sudden change in personality due to his skull and cross bones hat.

Picture 4:

Suddenly a change in personality occurs, maybe mommy should have bought the cute little puppy dog hat instead.

Weekend Getaway!!!

Well a couple weekends ago Jason and I decided that we needed a little break from our busy lives. We decided that we might as well take advantage of his 4 day weekend and leave town. We also decided due to the likelihood of traveling during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons that we wouldn't travel too far. So we ended up taking the kids to the Brookfield Zoo (about 45mins away) and then to a Hotel (1 1/2hrs away). We decided to spend the night up north so Jason could do some much needed work in the Chicago Temple. Also we rented a room with a suite, which was perfect for Tristen to run around in and explore...which she did. All in all our weekend was great. Tristen had a great time at the zoo and loved seeing all the animals she reads about in her books. After we told Tristen that we were going to the zoo I asked her what animals would we see at the zoo, Tristen's response, cows...not so much. Also Blake was as good as gold, which is normal, so we had a beautiful day with great weather and the kids were perfect. After the zoo we left for the hotel and spent an hour or so at the pool, which we had all to ourselves. Mommy enjoyed her time in the hot tub...which I haven't been able to do for a while since I was prego. Also we went Halloween shopping for the kids costumes that weekend, it was so much fun and I can't wait to take their pictures (I'll save them for another blog entry). Well here are a few pics of our trip. I must admit with 2 kids it is a bit tricky trying to take as many pics. Oh well, you get the point that we had a fun and relaxing weekend.


Blake and Tristen waiting patiently while mom and dad finished packing...thank heavens for televisions.


The Lions Den


Tristen was a big fan of the elephants, we had to make a couple trips back to see them again.

Baby Roo

The Princess And Her Throne

Well after a long week of potty training Tristen, I am proud to say she is doing great. I was dreading the inevitable task and wanted to wait until she was ready. So last week I started working with her. I wasn't sure what to expect since she just turned 2 last month. That being said I am proud to say that after one week of training she is on day 4 without any accidents. Tristen is a big fan of the chocolate reward that comes after the fruits of her labor. I don't want to knock on wood too early, but hopefully she will continue a good track record. I am soooo happy that she is doing as well as she is, it makes my week of 'not so much fun' training worth it!

Seasons Come & Seasons GO

Well the smell of fall is already in the air. I miss the summer already even though we are at the tail end of it. On a positive note, I do love fall colors and decorations!!!! I already have some of our decorations up (which being Canadian works to my advantage b/c if anyone asks why my decorations are up so early I tell them that Thanksgiving in Canada is celebrated in the beginning of October). Anyways, now that the summer is coming to an end Jason is back in school. He is finishing off his last class of his master's degree. He is also studying for the GMAT, he has to retake it to apply for his MBA program (it is only good for 5 years, so his previous score has expired). As for me, I'm keeping busy with my little projects around the house. I'm also busy with the kids and with my church calling. So in a nutshell life is good, we are all happy and Tristen and Blake are doing great. Tristen is finally coming out of the terrible 2 phase and Blake is being the happy baby that he is. It is amazing how fast they grow and change. Here are some pics of the last couple of months, enjoy.

Home Improvements Continued

Well I know it has been a while but at the beginning of the year Jason and I started a project (faux paneling) in our living room/dinning room. Well we almost have it completed. Take note that we finished part of the project earlier on in the year but then life got way too busy (we painted our front room with a 20ft. ceiling, we had baby #2, Jason was finishing off a couple of his school classes, then of course the summer happened which translates to vacation and traveling season). So in all honesty the project really hasn't taken us that long to complete. Here are a few more pics of our handyman/woman skills. I will include some before and after pics (the before pics are the previous owners, when they were listing their house on the market)


The BEFORE pic of the living room


The AFTER pic of the living room (1)


The AFTER pic of the living room (2)This is a brighter shot...ok people I know I don't take the greatest pics...maybe that can be my next project


The living room wall by the stairs BEFORE (sorry, it's the only before pic we have)


The living room wall by the stairs AFTER pic


The dinning room BEFORE pic


Dinning room AFTER pic. (1) Sorry folks I wish I had one pic of the whole room ...once again I need to pick up some photo skills


The dinning room AFTER pic (2)

Our World Changed Forever....Happy 2nd Birthday Tristen

Happy Birthday Tristen!!!!

Well it is hard to believe that our little girl is 2 years old, Tristen turned 2 on Aug. 16th. We had a fun birthday weekend with Tristen and as much as she doesn't quite understand the concept of age, she certainly picked up on the concept of her birthday being all about her. Since we had a busy schedule over the past weekend and Tristen's birthday being on the Saturday, we decided to spread out Tristen's birthday celebration. Saturday we went shopping with her and let her pick out her present...yes, she picked out a Elmo toy, then on Sunday we had a birthday lunch and Elmo cupcakes with her, then on Monday we took her to Bounce Town (an indoor inflatable playground). Well Tristen had a great weekend and we could tell due to the fact that she would wake up in the morning and start singing happy birthday to herself. It is still hard to believe that Tristen is getting older, it is definitely a bitter sweet occasion. Birthdays definitely remind you that life is too short and that time passes by so quickly so make the best of it. Overall we had a great weekend with Tristen, she is our precious little girl and we are so glad she changed our world forever. Here are some pics of our fun weekend:


Tristen and I made some Elmo cupcakes for her birthday


Tristen all proud of her cupcakes


Blake being a good little boy while mommy and Tristen made the cupcakes


Mom trying to get a good shot of Tristen and Blake, hmm need to work on it


Hmmm, I wonder where my sun glasses went missing????


Tristen at Bounce Town


Cute pic on one of the inflatables


Tristen and dad shooting some hoops


Tristen getting ready to blow out the candles


Tristen opening her card from Grandma and Grandpa Hall, she liked the $$$ inside