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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Last Weekend of Holiday Fun

We had just a few more precious days of Ben and Linda time left before they went home, and we made the most of it.  Theresa and Jesus came over for a visit one evening, and we even got to have a double date with them one night when D&E watched the kids.  Really fun!

The Monday after they left was the usual let down of post-post-holiday back to your routines blues…made even worse by the "polar vortex" that came with it.  Chicago experienced record lows, with schools and businesses closed on Monday and Tuesday due to the -50 wind chill/-19 degree weather.  The high of the day didn't even reach 0 degrees.  Luke was actually excited to go back to school after having off for 2 weeks and having spent a lot of the past week inside at home because of the snowstorm, but his school was cancelled too.  Just as well because both he and Claire were still sick, and maybe even getting worse.  Their hacking coughs were awful to listen to.  Going on two weeks of illness, when will it end?

Isolene lets Luke play outside by himself in the backyard if he stays where she can see him.  This is him doing a snow angel.

Meanwhile…Claire playing inside where apparently it is toasty warm.

Dinner with Theresa & Jesus.  It snowed again that night so it took them 2 hours to get to our house from the city!  The lengths they go to see Ben and Linda are a testament to Ben and Linda's awesomeness.

Jesus continues to be the baby whisperer:)

Great times hanging out with everyone

I often think I  have the best husband ever.  When I see scenes like this, of him and her sleeping together in the wee hours of the morning I think how lucky I am!

Four course meal, yum!

Playing with her new Simba toy from G&G Mackus

Getting in some more sledding with Luke while B&L packed to leave.

buddies

Luke and wanted to get into Claire's crib with her and they proceeded to have what I think may have been their first wrestling match as brother and sister.

Get him!

My car temp when I got to work on Monday, January 6th, -15.

Poor sick baby.  She would only sleep resting on somebody, not in her crib, when she felt so crummy.

My Dolly

Luke has been super duper into coloring lately.  He colors everyday with his crayons and I am pretty impressed with his newfound ability to stay somewhat in the lines.  His coordination and control are really improving.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Richardson Trio Help Ring in the New Year

We were soooo grateful to have Katie and Joe spend a few days of their precious Midwest visit with us.  We got to celebrate Katie's birthday AND New Years with them.  We hadn't seen Isabelle in 6 months and boy had she grown into such a fun, interactive little girl in that time.  The snow storm kept us housebound, but that didn't stop us from having a ball.  I think I have spent more New Year's Eves with Katie than without in the course of our relationship (16 years now!) and I hope it stays that way:)

Playing with the toy tea set

Birthday Italian take out for Katie
These two were passing a bowl back and forth and it was really cute.

Birthday cake time
Present exchange with the kids

smiley pants

Luke loves his new "Busytown" rug



Katie and I felt that mealtime was never-ending.  As soon as you got them fed and cleaned up it was time for another meal!

At least we have a helper with the clean up


The guys may have been more into Luke's dominos than Luke was.

New Year's Eve portraits
Those crab legs are climbing out of the pot to pinch us!

Surf and turf feast with Ben and Linda…yum!

"All done!!"





With a little more cabinet and ceiling this picture would have been perfect.

Fireside chats

Snow didn't let up for the holiday, we were glad we stayed in!

Happy New Year!!





Katie and the girls watching Matt snowplow the driveway

Fascinating

Soaking up our time together

Indoor tent was a big hit