Chicago

In December we accompanied Mark to Chicago for a work trip/Christmas Party. 

When we first got to the lobby of the hotel I was worried. We have a lot of kids.

But things quickly became calm again. 

As any mom of small children knows-its a phenomenon that when you sleep in a foreign place children wake up approximately 3.6 hours earlier than normal. Oh well.

 Checking out the view.

 Checking out the dresser.

 Checking out the robes.

 Luckily some people we love live in Chicago so we got to have some dates while Mark was at work.

Meeting beautiful Harper, our cousin Audra's little girl....

 Tackling Michigan Ave. with all 4.

 NBD. Just a little lipstick Reese found in the Macy's at Watertower. Probably totally germ free.

We were there on the 4th Anniversary of this pretty girl getting sick. Had a fun day celebrating her with Auntie Megan! 

 MEGAN! We love her.

 Ava got this camera as a gift and was the quintessential tourist all over Chicago.

 Three cheers to Megs for saving my back and carrying the baby.

 They saw Santa going down the escalator at Water Tower. Weird huh?

And we finished our trip with some good old Sprinkles. 

I'm pretty anti-designer cupcakes. 

But the peanut butter frosting. 

The chocolate sprinkles.

 The smiles on their faces.
I guess once in awhile it's fun to splurge. :)

 Sunset view on our last night.

Thankful for 4 kids who made a few days in a hotel pretty enjoyable!

Decemberish

Dishwashers.

 Pretty in pink.

 Special guests!

 These two have done a lot more bonding this year with Ava gone at school all day. I would say all 3 of my girls verge on codependence which I love. So thankful they have sisters!!!!!

 The right hand smile. Oh my.

 Sweet baby boy!!!

Ohhhhhhh Christmas tree.

We have always had a real Christmas tree (we=our family with Mark) However, due to various life craziness that always seems to happen in December for us, this was the first year we got to go a cut it down. 

 We spent a long time trying to all decide. It turns out people start forming opinions at really young ages. :)

 Finally selected. (It was fat and had no top. Not my choice. But whatever.)

 Locked and loaded

 Yeah I'm pretty sure we never finished decorating it this year. Thats just the kind of disaster of a person that I am. (And our garland is still up on our banister. It's March 1.) Aren't you glad you're not me!?

I love Christmas lights though. I wish I could somehow make it cool to channel my college dorm room and keep them up all yaer long.

And a big thank you to my friend Michelle for providing Tree Jail. I'm sure it would have been pulled over 3,425 times if it weren't for this awesome contraption!!

Merry Christmas to all.