More Pictures

Grammie and Kevin

Present time!

Claire Bear in her stylin' new duds!

Girls playing with new Christmas Pet Shops!


Grandpa is "helping" with the Legos...I think Grandpa is having more fun than the kids are... wink, wink! ;)

Christmas with the Zajiceks

We spent Christmas weekend with most of my side of the family...we're missing Jon, Shan and little Jack due to illness, but we did have the extra excitement of meeting the newest addition to the family. Little Andre now a new part of the family. He is such the little man with the most beautiful smile and darling little personality. He loves his big brothers SO much! We'll have lots of posts for photos! We had good food, lots of laughs, more good food and a great, great weekend! Enjoy!

Pictures are:

Jonathan and Matthew in their Reindeer Gear

Luminaries that Kirby and Eric put out - those streaks are snow flakes!

Breakfast brunch specially made by Sal for all - the kids had special glasses of sparkling cider and fancy croissants!

Momma and little Andre

White Chirstmas

Someone else was waiting for Christmas, too...

Christmas at Home

Christmas at home was celebrated a couple days early before getting together with family and then heading to our annual trip to Kohler for a week at the American Club and Waters Spa.

Daddy read the Christmas Story from Luke in the Bible, Elena opened another Advent Day Calendar door, then got to open presents and stockings...she was VERY excited about every single gift thanking us over and over...she was very funny about it all saying everything was so "perfect" and so "cuuuuute". Even Diva got in on the present action enjoying a new giraffe stuffed toy picked out by Elena. Note: Elena hasn't really been interested in Santa until this year, and asked to put cookies out for him. We left her a note on an empty plate the next morning and she screamed, "Santa was here!" then smiled really big and said, "thanks, mom!" HEHEHE! And although she said thanks to us for all the presents as mentioned before, when it came to the "big one" she stopped and said, "I knew Santa would know this was it! " Then smiled again and said, "Thank you mommy and daddy!" So, I can't decide if she's giving credit to both, or if she's doing what we used to do as kids and pretend Santa was real when going to grandparents' houses...we used to be afraid that WE would ruin the magic for THEM if we let on that we knew he wasn't real...how weird is that?! ;)

We hope and pray your Christmas will be filled with the REAL and TRUE meaning that it has been and will always be: blessings and praise as we thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for coming to earth so we could celebrate His birth in human form to live a life we should follow and then gave Himself up on the cross in death to take our sin and rise again, conquering both sin and death so that we may live, in perfect peace and hope through faith that we have a life eternal with and because of Him. Christmas is because of Him. Easter is because of Him. Life is because of Him. Hope, satisfaction, and love complete is all because of Him! Praise God, from Whom ALL blessings flow!

Merry Christmas!

More Snow

And it is supposed to be continuing!!! White Christmas Blessings!

The week of Christmas

We're planning to leave for vacations and special trips, etc...but with the week of Elena being off of school has been hard for her because she loves to be busy...so we got busy! Spent the day at Gurnee Mills enjoying all the Christmas Festivities, along with train and carousel rides! May you have a Merry Christmas!!!

Long Day

Elena barely made it out of the train station awake...she curled up next to Daddy soon after

and held onto him the whole way home...

More Pictures of Chicago

Family photos, a great night shot, and Elena helping shoppers pick out bobbles! ;)

More Chicago Pictures

Navy Pier entry and Elena helping bring Rudolf to life...she was very careful when holding his "heart". ;)

Christmas in Chicago

We spent Sunday in Chicago to do some early Christmas celebrating! Elena loved being on the train and kept asking if we were now on the Polar Express. :) We first headed over to Navy Pier to enjoy Winter WonderFest which has huge trees, jumping play areas, crafts, indoor rides and even a huge ice rink! Then to Build-a-Bear for her annual stuffed toy. This year she chose Rudolph. She was very excited about that! Then on to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping and Christmas Lights, and of course a trip to the American Girl store. Everything was SO pretty! Thank you, Eric, for giving us such a special weekend together!

George Winston

If you don't know this guy, get to know him! He is one of the most talented musicians...Eric and I are big fans of his music. His work is very beautiful and soothing!

Friday night we got to have a lovely dinner/date night out with good friends, Kathy and Dave, and enjoy another amazing concert at the the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. This place is probably one of the prettiest I've seen, too. It's like something out of the the 40's with massive chandeliers and intricate moldings. And again, the music was awesome! Mr. Winston played two of our favorites, "Colors" and "Moon"...I'm attaching youtube clips so you can listen...

http://geneseetheatre.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-mLkzFUzTA Colors...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p-sr175CMLg Moon....

Visiting Santa

This is the first year that Elena has shown any interest in visiting Santa, so we headed over to his workshop at Bass Pro in Gurnee Mills to get that memorable picture we've been trying to get for years. They create a full on Winter Wonderland with deer, games, crafts, trains, stuffed animals, homemade fudge and more to really make it the perfect place for kids to meet Santa.

Elena made friends with a little boy named Ethan ahead of us in line, the two of them played with the fake snow to "decorate things special" for Santa, and Elena led kids in chanting for "Sant-A, Sant-A" when he was supposed to show up (I think we may have seen "elf" one too many times!). She then invited everyone around her to join in Christmas carols to serenade Santa's arrival. What a ham!!!

The best part was when it came to be little Ethan's turn - he got scared and didn't want to go see Santa after all. Elena began hugging him and holding his hand, telling him Santa wasn't a bad stranger and that she would go with him so he wouldn't be scared or alone. When she got him there, she started cheering him on, "Good job, Ethan! I knew you could do it! You're so brave! I'm so proud of you, Sweetheart! Smile for the camera! Good job!" Priceless! They then took a picture with Santa together. ;)

Enjoy!

Sleee-eeep in Heavenly Peace...

I'm thinking that sounds about right...

Cuneo Christmas Lights

One of our favorite things to do each year is get into jammies, load up the car, get hot cocoa and coffees and drive through the Cuneo Mansion's Gardens for the amazing light show they have every year. They have a fun game of finding all the snowmen hidden throughout...last year was sweet because as we came through, we saw someone's proposal up in the maze...now that's romantic! Enjoy some of the photos! ;)

More Christmas Decor and Cookies!

Festivities continue with more decorating...and more cooking!

Ginger Bread Village

This year Elena chose to make a Ginger Bread Village instead of a Ginger Bread house. Again, we had to discuss not eating it before, while, or immediately after making it...it keeps missing parts daily...wonder where it's going...