Christmas VERY LATE

Whooweee...we have not been on here in a quite a while!  I was having some issues with uploading photos...but we are back in action!

We also always seem to be so busy from after Thanksgiving until the beginning of the New Year...so here is a quick catch up...less words, more photos, of our Christmas Holiday...and then I promise to get better and share more often in this new year!

Over Christmas, we celebrate each day of December with our Advent Calendar...so we were busy with little crafts, candy cane hunts, dance parties and more.  One activity was to head to The Botanic Garden and enjoy the sights as well as the AMAZING train exhibit...

Hard to believe it was December in Chicago when these were taken!

 Wow...these trains are AMAZING.  And then whole exhibit was made from plants, trees, etc...

Breakfast with Santa...wouldn't be complete without a little silverware duel...

 Dear Santa, I would like a sander and Marshall would like a door (so I can sand it)

 We got a new table...thanks Grandma!

 We took a trip to Galena...this was at President Grant's home

 Made cookies...

 Marshall got his first haircut...

 Our first Christmas eve in our new home...and first Christmas eve just the four us in Palatine....

 Cookies for Santa

 Reindeer food that Brayden made at preschool

 Christmas morning....

 Brayden made and wrapped this for us at preschool....my favorite kind of gift...

 Grandma and Grandpa Jefford came in and celebrated Christmas day with us....

 And yep...this was our tree...it lost 2 five gallon buckets of needles...so sadly we had to take it down Christmas night...

Then we headed south to Belleville

 And back north to see Aunt Reena and Brian...

We had a wonderful Christmas season.  I got hit REALLY hard with the FLU...it was terrible.  And poor little Marshall had 2 different viruses and then ended it with a double ear infection...so the month of December was fun...but tough too!  We are all healthy now (knock on wood) and enjoying the new year.  MORE fun to come!