Starting 2024

 I got to kick off the new year with a girls trip to Miami with my mom and my sister! This was a Mother's Day gift from my our husbands that we finally were able to redeem! We had the best weekend eating, shopping and hitting the spa!

Jemma's Girl Scout troop had so much fun at Kidz Kabaret last year and wanted to do it again. This time they put on a performance of Beauty and the Beast! Jemma was the cutest Belle #2.

Jade's soccer team kicked off the indoor season with a 2nd place finish at their tournament! The following weekend the girls all got together for pizza, cotton candy and a movie! These girls are all so sweet and get along so well. I'm so glad Jade has them in addition to her school friends!

Open house night for Jemma, and the first with only one elementary aged kid! Jemma loved taking the lead and showing us around her classroom and the school!

Christmas 2023

With Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday this year our church held services at the normal times, so we attended the candlelight service at 10:00 am! We didn't have much else planned for the day, which was wonderful! We spent the afternoon watching Christmas movies, having dinner at our traditional spot Little Italian, and putting out milk and cookie for Santa. :)

We had a fun Christmas morning at home opening presents, drinking coffee and eating cinnamon rolls and bacon!

Later that morning we packed up and headed to my parents house in Crystal Lake to celebrate with my Grandma (GeeGee) and Aunt Mar! Wish I had gotten more pictures from the day but it was so great to see both of them and to chat!

The next day we enjoyed our cousin celebration with my parents and the Baum family! Always one of my very favorite days of the year! We all missed our traditional Nick's Pizza dinner this year as they were unfortunately closed that day but made up for it at Giordano's!

Later that week, the girls and I went to tea at the Drake Hotel in Chicago with Nate's Aunt Nancy as a Christmas gift to the girls. We all loved it so much that we're thinking about making it an annual tradition!

We had our final Christmas celebration with Nate's mom and dad on the 30th! We had the best day hanging out, opening presents and eating!

December Things

 We have lots of favorite traditions in December, so amidst the crazy we were able to squeeze in our two favorites!

First up was our visit to downtown Naperville for dinner (sushi), looking at the lights and ending the evening with ice cream!

On another night we drove around Naperville looking at Christmas lights! The Taylor Swift themed house (which gained a lot of publicity) was a big hit with the girls! :)