Free! Free! Free!

I love Christmas Cards. I love sending them to all of our friends and family and I of course love receiving them as well! I love picking out the perfect photos and design. I love seeing all of the photos of family and friends that we do not get to see very often. One of the websites I have used in the past to design our Christmas cards is Shutterfly. They always have really cute and creative cards that are easy to make….you can check  out their Christmas cards here. 

Another fun Shutterfly product is the photo book. Last year, I made a photo book for my in-laws for Christmas. They loved it! I included all sorts of pictures of Luke and our niece Savannah. It was really easy to do and made the perfect gift….and right now they are 30% off!

I have also used Shutterfly to make photo calendars. These, too, are great gifts for parents and grandparents. In fact, everyone is asking for another calendar this year!

So…if you love Shutterfly like I do…and if you have a blog….you can win 50 free holiday cards! Go here for the details!

I cannot wait to start designing our Christmas card and to share it with you soon!

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful, warm, and somewhat quiet Halloween this year. Luke was able to spend the day with both family and friends!

My parents and brother were here visiting from Texas and got to see Luke in his duck costume!

Can you tell how much Luke loves his Gigi, Coach, and Uncle Colby?!?

Our neighbors & friends Jenny & Chris stopped by for some candy!

And Matt & Beth came out to the burbs from Chicago to spend Halloween with us! We ate yummy pizza and handed out candy to the small number of trick or treaters who came to our door.

Luke was SO excited to see Matt & Beth!

 

Poor Luke was done being a duck & pretty much with Halloween at this point!

Happy Halloween to our precious little duck! We love you so so much!

Wigglin Gigglin Fun

Luke and I attend a preschool-style class every Tuesday morning. It has been great for Luke to be able to interact with other children his age and a place for me to meet other moms.

This week all of the kids wore their Halloween costume or t-shirt to class. They all looked so precious. It was of course hard to get a picture with everyone sitting down and looking at the camera…but here are a few cute pictures of Luke and his classmates:

Sadly enough, this is the best group shot I was able to get. Such a fun age…everyone was busy, busy, busy!

Brrr….

It is definitely fall here in the Midwest. There is a chill in the air, the leaves are an array of beautiful colors, and my personal favorite, it is Pumpkin Spice Latte season at Starbucks! Since we are now living close to “the windy city”, I ordered Luke an adorable hat and mittens from Baby Gap.

Look who is ready for a windy & cold Illinois winter:

Please excuse the poor picture quality…these were snapped with my I-phone.

Boys

I get the privilege of being wife and mom to three handsome boys. Here they are before church:

Not thrilled about getting all dressed up :)

They love each other!

My furry, but still handsome, boy!

I love each of you very much and am so thankful to be a part of your lives!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Luke to the Goebbert Pumpkin Patch. The patch was extremely crowded, but we still managed to have a great time. There was so much to do….hayrides, an animal petting zoo, pony rides, camel rides, and lots of Halloween/Fall shopping. The lines were pretty long and Luke’s nap time was quickly approaching, so we took tons of pictures of our handsome little man and then called it a day!

A wonderful day

This past Thursday was truly a wonderful day! Luke and I got up and headed to BSF (bible study fellowship). Jason and I are still looking for a church here in Illinois, so in the meantime I started the study of Isaiah with BSF. The best and my most favorite part is that my mom is doing the same study in Texas! What a blessing to be able to give her a call when I need help with my lessons. We meet every Thursday for 2 hours and childcare is provided. The first time I dropped Luke off, he of course cried. I went to peek in on him during one of my breaks and could not help but laugh. All of the other children were playing nicely on one side of the room, while my child was being rocked and read to on the other side. God bless that sweet woman who gave my child one-on-one attention for two hours! When I picked Luke up he proceeded to start bawling all over again! I had a feeling they would turn and run when they saw us coming this week…but they were again so gracious and took my sobbing child. At break time, I peeked in again and Luke was smiling, laughing, and playing and no crying when I picked him up! Praise Jesus!

After bible study, we headed to the Metra station to pick up Miss Beth Wilson. We just love it when she heads out the burbs to spend the day with us. We had a delicious lunch of Zesty Tortilla Soup and Chocolate Chip Cookies at Corner Bakery and then headed back to the house so that Luke could nap.

After nap and snack time, we then headed to Home Goods. Beth found a snazzy new vase/fish bowl and Luke found this:

Beth was soooooo kind and offered to babysit Luke so that J and I could go to dinner. J took me to Texas de Brazil for dinner and it was delicious! Warning…you should skip breakfast, lunch, and all snacks in order to be able to truly enjoy your dinner. We had a great time at dinner and then went to REI so that I could look for snow boots…yes, snow boots!

Here is what we found:

Jason tried on these weird barefoot toe running shoe things? Crazy! And I thought these snow boots were pretty cute, for snow boots anyways!

Beth & Luke when were got home :)

Thank you Beth, Luke, & Jason for a great, great day!

A Trip to the Windy City…

This past weekend, Jeremy, Crystal, and Miss Savannah Johnson came to visit us in Illinois. They came to visit us last year in Washington, when Luke was just a few months old. We were so excited for Luke and Savannah to actually be able to play together this year!

The two cousins were instant friends and loved having their car seats next to one another. On the way home from the airport…Savannah kept reaching over to Luke and saying “tickle, tickle.” How precious!

We spent Wednesday in Arlington Heights and took the kids to the park, where much fun was had by all! I cannot wait until next year, when Luke will be up running around and sliding down the slides with Savannah!

After the park, we all went to the mall (we happen to live 10 minutes away from the 2nd largest mall in America). Poor Savannah was tuckered out from her day of traveling and decided to take a little snooze while we shopped!

After the mall, we all went to out for some famous Chicago deep dish pizza! It was delicious and both cousins had their fair share of pepperoni pizza.

The kids ended the night with a bath party and were both off to sleep shortly after! So many memories already made in just a couple of hours together :)

On Thursday, Crystal and I loaded up on the Metra train to Chicago, while the boys drove with the kids. We had such a fun ride and thoroughly enjoyed just being able to chat and relax for 40 minutes! When we stepped outside the train station we were instantly greeted by the windy city! We were literally being blown down the block on our way to the hotel. Thanks to directions from my handy dandy i-phone, we were able to hop on a bus and head to the hotel to meet up with the boys.

While the boys took a nap…Crystal, Savannah, and I went out to sight-see! Here are some pictures:

Here we are by the river outside of the hotel. I just love Crystal…she managed to find the only non-English speaking couple on the bridge and after a bit of confusion (they thought she wanted to take their picture…so cute) we both had pictures taken!

Here we are on Navy Pier…can you tell how windy it was?

We then took Savannah to the beach…yes, there are beaches in the city! She had the best time!

We then headed back to the hotel, so that the boys could head to a Chicago Cubs game! Here they are at the game:

And now for what has to be my favorite part of the trip…our dinner on Thursday night. My maid-of-honor/best friend, Beth Wilson just moved to Chicago a few months ago….yea!! We have been having so much fun spending time together again. Beth was kind enough to plan dinner out for 5 adults and 3 children! Before heading to the restaurant we met up with this lovely family:

 

The Barretts! Erin is originally from Wichita Falls and we even went to the same high school together…however, this was my first time to meet her and let me say…boy have I been missing out! (Erin, Dutch, and little Liv drove from Indianapolis to see Crystal, Jeremy, and Savannah.) What started out as a hodgepodge group of friends turned into a 2 hour fun-filled dinner and lots of skinny margaritas! Thanks to Dutch for putting up with all of us girls!

Beth, Luke, & I at dinner!

Crystal & Savannah

Liv, Savannah, & Luke

New & Old Best Friends!

It was so windy! Luckily my fellow-momma friends were able to show me how to use the stroller visor as a wind-blocker :)

The whole group back at the hotel!

Sadly enough, we had to head back to the burbs that night. Jason had to leave for an out-of-town work meeting on Friday. We had such a wonderful time visiting with both family and friends and cannot wait to see ALL of you again soon! Love you all!

Jason, Lauren, & Luke