Berkshire Hathaway Party

Matt joined the real estate firm Berkshire Hathaway last year, after spending a few years with another firm, Baird & Warner.  He really likes the new office he's with and has met some really nice people.  After there was a snafu with the original party venue, he volunteered to have the annual holiday party at our house.  They catered everything, we just supplied the house.  It was about 60 people and we had the whole party in the basement.  It felt like a college party!

Here are a couple Claire updates:

- Claire is being increasingly independent, getting herself dressed/undressed with "privacy", brushing her own teeth, etc.

- Claire has been drawing us pictures and surprising us with them in our room "close your eyes, Mommy!"  She rolls them up into little tubes and delivers them to us.

- She switches off having Matt and I lay with her at bedtime.  When her 7 minutes is up (that's how long we lay with her), she protests... "But I feel lonely!"

Basement party!

Long range BB gun shots

Late night hot tubbing

Waddles playing cards

Iron Chef party at the Cohen's

Bike ride on a beautiful day

Little stop off at the tennis courts

Making pizzas

Waddles also likes pizza

Checking out the new play gym in Glenview

Ropes course

Trivia Night

We went to the St. Patrick's Trivia Night again this year with the Hanson's, Hartman's and Gianakopolous' and had a great time!  No pics, but we did just about as well as last year trivia-wise (which wasn't that good!)  

Some more pics from the week:

Matt and Luke made this fun snow fort

Flashlight in the fort was an extra bit of fun

We had a warmer day so Matt took the kids to the park

Playing on the ice rink in shoes

Homework nook in action

Little snow fall one morning

Lounging in her new favorite nightgown

Luke had a Boy Scouts competition where he had to make a Boy Scouts themed cake.  He did this tent cake all by himself and I loved his decorations - campfires and ropes with special knots.  All the attendees had to vote for the best cake with coins, and Luke got 3rd place and was so excited.

Some of the other cakes were definitely products of Pinterest-savvy kids and parents.  So cute!  These Twinkie campers were my faves.

Claire hosted Waddles for the weekend on behalf of her preschool and did everything with him!

Face plate

Matt teaching Luke how to play pool

Grandma Della In the Hospital

Grandma Della landed herself in the hospital in January when she had extreme difficulty breathing following a lung biopsy.  They discovered she had a collapsed lung and eventually found out that she has uterine cancer that has spread to the lungs.  We are all devastated to learn of Grandma's diagnosis, but glad she isn't in pain.  She decided not to treat the cancer with chemo or do intense surgeries, and is instead doing hormone therapy and trying to stay as comfortable as possible at Aunt Susan's house.  We are going to focus on enjoying the precious time we have with Grandma!

Liked this sign Luke made for his door  "Do not desterb, Luke is making a lego"

Luke gets so creative with his home projects and making boxes out of paper and other activities.  This is a voting box on where to eat lunch.  He loves Subway, so wanted the members of our family to vote for Subway.

Playing Memory with Grandma Donna

De-Christmasing and Decompressing

With all the activity and hosting, we really relished a weekend of relaxation.

Snow on the face!

Hockey game at Lake Forest College

Family Movie night

On Sunday we got to visit with Shelley, Rob and their girls.  Shelley also introduced me to her GRYT Health colleagues pictured here, including GRYT Health Co-Founder and CEO Dave Fuehrer

New Years 2017

 We had the fun the week between Christmas and New Years with Ben and Linda in town, then enjoyed New Years with friends.

Sledding with Uncle Ben and Aunt Linda.  Races!

New sled from G&G Mackus for Luke

Intense game of Chinese Checkers

Smelt and fries for this kid 

Snug as bugs in a....blanket

Matt took Lennon and River to go see some fancy cars

Luke showing the boys his new Lego robot

They loved to freeze their hair

I love hanging out with Jenae and Jeremy.  After this we had a rip roaring game of Catch Phrase with the whole Eichinger crew.

Reading in the living room in the sun

NYE - Leah made these great cut out cookies

This was the only picture we took, ha!

The aftermath

Ben & Linda as well as Lisa and Alexandra Gianakopolous stayed overnight

Doing Legos with Uncle Ben

All tuckered out