Merry Merry Christmas

This picture is from the last week of ballet before Christmas.  I just love it and had to post it before we moved on to Christmas!

On Dec. 22nd we went to a fun cookie party at the zoo....the girls had a blast and high on sugar till bedtime!  Thank you to Frances and her mama and aunts for having us!

Now onto the big day.....we had a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Siggi and Frank meet us at church for the noon service.  Elizabeth Magee was so excited to have them at church.  Then, Pops came and we had a fun visit with Melissa and Thorne.  We had a big family dinner with Aunt Cindy and fam.  When I tucked EM into bed she said, "Aunt Cindy is so much fun."  Elizabeth Magee was very apprehensive about Santa.  She kept saying that "Santa does not come downstairs."  She was very insistent that her roman shade be all the way down......(Our house is kinda flipped flopped and the children's rooms are downstairs and most of the house upstairs)

The girls got up around 7 this morning.  Oliver told Elizabeth Magee that Santa had come  and she said, "But I didn't hear the jingle bells and I stayed up all night."

Mary Thorne was a hoot today.  She loved Christmas for all its worth.  She played with each thing as she opened it.  She ate everything in her stocking.  She put on her tutu.  She loves her grandfathers.

Elizabeth Magee loves Siggi so much.  Tonight at dinner she asked me why Siggi had to leave.  I told her that Siggi had to go to her house.  She said, "But I love her so much.  She's my favorite person."  Elizabeth Magee has such a sweet spirit.  Tonight she asked Oliver, "Did you have a good Christmas Daddy?'  He said yes and she said, "Did you like your presents?"

She likes her skates but her favorite thing has been the paddle ball from the Dollar Tree.  She has said  1000 times today that she wants to keep it forever and please mama let's not give this away.....

And Poppy....she is her own person....she loved her pony but wasn't so much into Christmas.  About half way through opening presents we realized she wasn't in the room.  Pops found her downstairs playing by herself with a rubber duck.

She has cried every time her sisters have gotten on the pony.....tonight she had to get one last ride in after bath:

It was a very Merry Merry Christmas.  As Oliver said tonight, "Christmases just get better and better."

Library Fancy Nancy Party

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again but our library is AMAZING.  I've heard the programs only get better as you get older but that's hard to believe because the pre-school programs are out of this world.  Yesterday the library hosted a Fancy Nancy Hair Boutique.  This was our second year to attend.....and Elizabeth Magee participated this year!  She was so proud of her hair and I must say she looked adorable!

These are the silliest two little girls and we love Annie so much!  The twins routinely start asking for Annie around 4 o'clock!

CHICAGO

Eataly.  I could run away and just go to Eataly.  We spent the last few days in Chicago, sans kids, and literally ate our way through the city with some really good friends.  One the way home Oliver and I were talking and he said, "You know to me vacation is eating REALLY good."  That we did.   If you've never been to Eataly before, you need to put it on your bucket list.  A gourmet Italian super market doesn't even begin to describe it.....but this picture of cheese kinda does:

In between eating...we took in the beautiful, clean city.....we looked at fancy cars.....

This was our cheese plate at Acanto....in the middle is a parmesan cheese that is MELTED....we all double dipped in that goodness!

The Bean is where Emily and Sean got engaged.  It's really neat...if you look close you can see Emily taking our picture in the Bean!

This was lunch at The Purple Pig - they say that when a pig drinks wine and gets drunk she will turn purple.  Not sure if that is true but the food good.....the meat and cheese was better than our food but I'd go back!

We saw the Bears play the Saints last night -- very unreal how different 8:47 is at home versus on vacation --- but anyway -- the Bears lost.  At the half, the Bears fans BOOED their team off the field. It kinda shocked me.  Even if the Bears weren't impressive, Solider Field was VERY impressive.  On the way into the stadium Oliver noticed a Tahoe with a Leflore County tag....he stuck his head our the window and saw Gary Woody!  Small world!

I don't have a picture but we ate at this Italian place called Sapori.  AMAZING.  Emily got a picture and I need to update with it.  If you are going to Chicago - Spori is a must!

Giving Thanks!

Our Thanksgiving was full and fun and exhausting!  We crammed a lot of visiting and food into our trip home.   We spent Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving in Oxford.  It was cold, but we enjoyed the Square.  We don't have a house phone and I've realized Elizabeth Magee doesn't really recognize a real, landline telephone (much less a phone booth)! When one rings at someone else's house she jumps and asks, "What's that?"
 

We ate at Ajax on Wednesday night.  Oliver was a little distraught that no one wanted to sit on his side of the booth!  It was a good reminder of why we don't eat out with the girls.......

 Thanksgiving we had a cold, beautiful day at Taylor with the Williams' clan.  It was so fun to have everyone together and see the cousins play --- Aunt Cindy outdid herself with games for all ages!

5 Brothers, Wives, Children, In-Laws, Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren and two dogs!

On Friday, we celebrated birthday #8 for the twins -- I can't believe they are 8!  Poppy is still looking JUST like Strain to me!  Isn't it funny how genetics work?  She and Strain are second cousins (their dad is Oliver's first cousin) but they REALLY favor.....something about the eyes I think!

We got home on Sunday in time for EM and Oliver to get our tree.....we decorated it with only non-breakable ornaments this year....it looks a little bare but that's better than broken glass!