Thanksgiving 2012

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year…All of our Riedel Florida family was here for the holiday. Tim and Kelly & baby Will stayed with Pam and Wally, Scooter and his family stayed with Chris and Nona, and Mom and Don stuck it out in our backroom. 2 air mattresses and a few nights on the couch and all was well. We were SOO happy to have them at our house, Brin didn’t know what to do with herself…she LOVES having guests! We spent Thanksgiving day at Aunt Pam’s house. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, the food was delicious and the kids had soo much fun playing with Izzy the dog and just running crazy in her HUGE back yard! Nick and Brin and I left Pams and headed over to Pam and Wally’s for dessert…A fun and BUSY day.

The day after Thanksgiving, another reason for the Florida family to be here, a surprise party for Don and Scooter was thrown at Grady’s Grill in Homewood. Don turned 70 and Scooter 40. They were DEFINATLY surprised and overwhelmed by all of the people….Great Job Chris & Nona!

Here are some pictures from the party…

The perfect picture to end a PERFECT & BUSY weekend…

Morton Arboretum

We took Brin to the Morton arboretum on October 20th. It was soo much FUN! Nick and I had never been there before and we will definitely be back. There were lots of places to play and lots to look at. Brin and Daddy checking our the fountains!Jumping on her shadow!Posing for the camera!

Painting her pumpkin…lots of fun!

SMILE

Making Sugar Cookies

We made pumpkin sugar cookies over the weekend. This was Brins first time making cookies. She had soo much fun!

“Foot Stuck, Mommy”

So, she walks into the kitchen the other day and says, “foot stuck, help!” and then she laughed at her self! I love this kid! She is soo funny!

Eating corn for the 1st time

This weather, here in Chicago, has been INCREDIBLE… we were definitely spoiled last week with high 70’s mid 80 degree weather. This week, it has been beautiful, just chilly. During the warmer weather, I think we were pretending it was June, we BBQ’d, opened all the windows and were bummed when our corn was just OK…but then we came back to reality and realized…hello…its just MARCH…we still have 4 months before local corn is ready…  

Brin had her first ear of corn for dinner. She was VERY interested in it…for a few minutes, then her pickiness kicked in… but she is being more adventurous with her food lately…or you could also call it…falling for the brib…but lets just say adventurous!  

Family Movie Afternoon

On Saturday, we decided to have our 1st family movie time. We popped some popcorn, had pretzels and raisins and watched Toy Story 3. Brin did SUCH A GOOD job! She was soo into the movie. The look on her face in this picture is how she watched the WHOLE movie! She stood up only twice during the movie and never once got down to play with toys. I think the movie theater may be in our summer plans. I was totally impressed! It was SOOO much fun!

A few more have moved into our home…

No matter how hard we try, this girl LOVES her some stuffed animals!  She went into her bedroom, and one at a time, brought her animals into the kitchen and laid them on the floor. Then she played with each one of them, feeding, rocking, burping, just taking care of them. It was too cute…but WE are BEGGING you…NO MORE STUFFED ANIMALS as gifts! Thank  you and we LOVE you all!!

Double fisting already??

So, Brin goes into the refrigerator and says, “I want milk Mommy” So I give her the milk, then she sneaks in and grabs the water and says, “I want water too Mommy.” This is the result…She tried to drink like this for a good 5 minutes…I guess you can call it, making skim milk??!

 

Chocolate!

So, yesterday, about 6:45 AM, Nick and I are still in bed, Brin is in her bed and we hear her say, “I want chocolate, I want chocolate.” Now, mind you…she hand never knowingly had chocolate…so as we lay there and listen to her, she begins to change her statement to, “Mommy, I want chocolate”…she repeats this 3 or 4 times. We continue to lay in bed and just listen to her through the monitor and then her statement changes to “SUZ…I want chocolate”…we about died laughing!

A few recent randoms…

I found Nick and Brin watching gymnastics YouTube videos the other day. They were soo cute…I think we are looking at a gymnast and her coach! She sat on his lap for at least 10 minutes just watching and they would talk about it  too…it made my heart melt! I found Brin feeding Lola one day…she knew exactly what she was doing…this kid is soo observant…it’s CRAZY!!!Before work last Monday, I was getting the last things ready before we left, I walked into our bedroom to find this…Brin standing on Nick’s footplate and the two of them in conversation about her first day at Aunt Nona’s house.

Coloring with Morgan at their daddies Rugby game. Opening a Christmas present from the Sauber’s. Thank You Sauber’s. We LOVE Elmo here!

Happy Valentines Day

Here are a few pictures from Brins Valentine’s Day. She had a small party at school and got to pass out valentines to her friends. Brin got a valentine balloon and a ladybug mini pillow pet. We had a quiet raviloi dinner at home last night (Brin ate a few cheerios) and Nick and I worked on my homework…Happy Valentine’s Day…My how our life has changed in the last 4 years! We were talking at dinner about how we spent several Valentines dinner’s at Francesca’s for Italian. It was delicious then but we would not trade one thing to go back…this valentines was perfect…(minus the homework part) .

 

Brins Valentines for her friends at school. We made heart shaped crayons, gave everyone a sucker, and a matchbox car. She is totally into matchbox cars right now.