Christmas Things

 We put up our Christmas Tree the day before Thanksgiving! The process goes much quicker these days as the girls are so helpful! We had our traditional feast of snacks for lunch!

We did our traditional sushi dinner in downtown Naperville and looked at lights! Can't forget our stop at Cookie Dough Creations afterwards. :)

We went to dinner in downtown Frankfort with Nate's mom and then drove around to look at lights. It was freezing outside, so most of the looking was done from the car (except for this crazy display across several yards in Tinley Park).

Finally did our drive around Naperville to look at lights with our traditional stop at McDonalds for chocolate shakes.

Jemma hosted a Secret Santa party at our house with her friends!

We celebrated Christmas with Nate's mom at our house on the 22nd! We had a great day together and wonderful dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Unfortunately, Jemma began not feeling well that evening and ended up with a fever the next day.

We decided to take it easy Christmas Eve and joined church via live stream! We did still make it out for dinner at Little Italian! The girls wanted to put out milk and cookies for Santa. :)

We had a great Christmas morning at home! We were supposed to go to my parent's house earlier in the day, but in an effort to best keep everyone healthy we waited until the evening! We were so happy to get there in time to visit quickly with Aunt Mar.

The next day my sister and her family arrived. We had Portillo's for lunch and hung out all day. The kids had a blast doing their gift exchange which includes playing various games to win cash! The following day we did more gifts and dinner at Nick's Pizza! We even squeezed in a quick visit with GeeGee.

Fall Fun :)

Amidst the crazy we did manage to have some fun, too!

I enjoyed another country concert with my friends!

We went apple picking as a family! Seems like we always pick an unseasonably warm day for this.

I spent a fun day off school at Bengston's Farm with the girls!

Jemma attended some fun events at school including the Halloween Dance and Glow in the Dark Kickball!

We attended Fall Fest at our church and last minute decided to host a trunk for the Trunk or Treat! Good thing we have plenty of Squishmallows laying around! :)

Nate and the girls carved pumpkins!

We got our last ice cream from our local DQ before they closed for the season!

Jade and Jemma both had their fall band concert!

Both girls went Trick-Or-Treating with friends! Nate and I enjoyed a quiet evening at the house with only a couple kids ringing our bell.

Our little cheerleader was back at it! This time, cheering for her school's 7th and 8th grade basketball teams!

We were finally able see the Northern Lights, and from our yard!

Although we had a wonderful fall, we unfortunately lost Nate's dad on November 14th after battling several health challenges throughout the last few months. In the midst of loss there were reconnections between family members that I'm sure would have made Bob very happy! His calm demeanor, kind heart and silly humor will be forever missed. 

Thanksgiving shortly followed, and while it was hard to celebrate the first holiday without Bob, it was nice to be with Nate's mom and extended family.

Rounding out November was a belated birthday date with Nate's Aunt Nancy for Jemma. Painting with a sloth was a total hit!