Mendenhall Cousin pictures!!

 This was the very first picture we took..and it's my favorite EXCEPT..you can't see Jackson. He is in the back on the left...BOO!! :(

 These on the stairs are really fun. The top one is a silly face which really shows their true colors. The one on the bottom is nice and it is according to age. Jolie-11 Jackson-10 Bradyn-10 Genevieve-10 Parker-8 Wesley-7 Jillian-7 Logan-7 Jacob-4 Audrey-4  Giselle-2 Wyatt- 6 months

  I think this is my other favorite one and you can actually see them all. They are just so cute!

This is my older brother...I must put the emphasis on OLDER!! he cracks me up. I was trying to have him work on his smile...hmm  I think we know where his boys get their smile from!! Love you Jason!!!

Downtown Hinsdale Christmas walk!

 I love all the cute towns here. I've probably already said that (many times) but honestly they are just too cute and fun and just magical.  Each town has it's own little Christmas walk. Ours is so pretty and has lots of fun things for the kids to do and try and get. It only goes until 8pm and I really wanted Brett to come with us but time was ticking on and on. So I bundled them up and headed out. We didn't get there until a little after 7pm. So a lot was already being put away but luckily the most important thing..>THE TRAIN! Was still up and running.

                                                                  There they go!!!

 We walked around for a little bit looking at all the shops and in front of this bank they had some Star Wars guys. Jacob told me no thank you..i think they kinda freaked him out. Genna and Jillian said sure. These guys were great and got right into character. Too fun!

Brett finally met up with us about 7:45. So we walked around for a few more minutes than he took Jacob in his car and headed home. The girls LOVE this store...OOOO La La. It is little girl heaven. So much fun pretty stuff.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was at my parents house in Michigan.  We had a lot of fun and yummy food together. We of course forgot to take pictures. So I really don't have that many. Most of these are from my mom's phone.  These pants are part of a Christmas gift my siblings and I gave my Mother.  She used to wear her dad's Navy uniform in High School and loved them.  At some point they were lost and she was always sad. So we searched the Internet and found an authentic uniform worn in world war II. Of course it's not my Grandpa's but still fun. I wanted to see if I could wear those babies. Luckily, there is a secret lace up in the back so I was able to.  I would so have loved the high waist era!

One day we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts.  The girls are doing their best impression.  The art was fun and beautiful and so interesting.

One of the traditions we have is bowling. There are 12 grand kids so it's a lot of work to bowl just one game.  It's a lot of fun though. The big kids had their own lane and were so fun to watch.  The little kids were so cute but I have to say I wish I had a picture of Audrey bowling..she runs up to the lane and throws it with all her strength...so stinkin adorable. 

We also had a grandchild photo shoot.  I have a bunch of those that I will post next but I thought this was cute..because of all the closed eyes..so many blinks..sooo many blinks!!!!

Morton Arboretum

It was a few days before Thanksgiving and the weather was beautiful. So my friend and I decided to take the kiddos to a fun place called Morton Arboretum. Brett has been wanting to go there too and the big girls were still in school even though my friends kids were already out.  Anyways we packed a lunch and headed out.  We had so much fun searching for the gnomes in the trees and climbing on everything. Towards the end the kids had shed their coats because it was so warm.   I can't wait to go back in the spring because I have a feeling it is SO beautiful!!!

Circus Circus!!

Brett's firm has a box at the United Center and sometimes the seats don't get used so they offer them to anyone in the firm ( for a price of course).  They told us that Ringling Bros. were coming to town and the kids had never been to the Circus before so we thought..sounds like fun.  We really wanted to reserve the whole box but of course lots of people wanted the tickets so we could only get 9..luckily 2 and under were free. So we asked our sweet friends the Korella's to come..remember they were the one's that watched ALL of our kids when we went to the BYU v. ND game. So happy they said yes.  

 The seats are right at half court so it was fun to have a great view. We got a basket of popcorn that was unlimited..you better believe they ate till their poor stomachs could handle no more!!!

 Jacquie got a couple of bags of cotton candy and they came with these fun hats.

 Jillian and her best buddy Montana!

 He works so hard so it's so fun to do these experiences together and see some reward for ALL his hard work! Thank you sweetheart for all you do!!!

 The animals were amazing..the Lions and Tiger show was a little scary...Jillian actually climbed in my lap with tears in her eyes because she was scared.  The performers are all so talented..the ladies spinning by their hair and the motorcyclists in the dome so crazy...but oh so fun!

BYU v. Notre Dame

Brett and I had such a fun date last month.  We went during the day to Indiana for a college football game.  It was BYU v. ND.  I have only been to a few football games and I know very little about the actual sport. BUT I thought that it would be a really fun thing for us to do, and it was.  Brett got great seats.  We were right behind the end zone surrounded by ND fans. Squeezed onto benches that were 100 yrs. old.  We did find one couple behind us that was rooting for BYU so we would cheer together and than look around to make sure no one would yell at us! haha  It was such a beautiful campus.  We walked around and listened to the band perform before the game.  We saw the famous "touchdown" Jesus statue and even went into a few buildings.  We are so blessed to have very generous friends. They took all 5 of our children ALL day so we could do this. How awesome are they!!!! THANK YOU to the Korella's for an awesome day!!

Halloween

Halloween was great this year. Although, it was the first year our big girls did not go out with us.  They went around the neighborhood with some friends.  So they aren't in any of our pictures. So sad!  Chicago does trick or treating at a set time.  For Willowbrook it was 3-7pm.  That makes it a pretty hard for Brett to get home.  He raced and worked through lunch and made it home by 4:30.  Two of our friends came over with their kids and we headed out.  It was pretty cold so we lasted about an hour.  Jacob was so funny to watch as he lead the pack.  He ran to each house in absolute heaven.  Giselle really liked this whole ask for candy deal.   Once back home we feasted on lots of goodies.  We had Chili from our friend the Korella's.  Dinner in a pumpkin. second time I've made it and it was even better.  mummy hot dogs of course and finger bread sticks.  Apple cups with dip, chips and Chicago popcorn...and orange jell-o and worms made be my friend Leah- Jell-o squeezed out of straws..isn't that the grossest and coolest thing ever.  The kids LOVED it!! Lots of food, fun and friends just like I like it.  Brett got Jolie and Genna from their friends at 7pm and brought them home. It was good to have them back!