Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always spent at my brother in law John's house. It is fun to see the family and Santa (who always find his way there to see the kids). Ella spent some time hanging out with Dad.

I love this one of her. She actually kept those things in her hair for once.

Shawn loved seeing his cousin Amy. (no family resemblence there huh?)

Shawn also loves seeing Emily. They were born 1 day apart and are so similar that people always think they are siblings but they are not even related really.Then Santa showed up to hand out presents. Shawn and Austin thought it was great but...

Ella did her best to stay away from him while retrieving her gift.

Then we tried for a group picture with Santa. If I thought getting 3 kids to pose was bad...haha...try getting all of them.

Shawn got a new video game which he shared with Emily. I love this picture.

And I finally got to give John my present which was a pet portrait of his dog Payton.

It turned out really cute!And then there was the post holiday crash...

Christmas Card Photo

As most of you know...this was our Christmas card photo this year. Of course, it looks so easy right? Ha! What you don't see is the process behind this blissful looking photo. You see, I took about 75 photos that day. Here is a small sampling of the Christmas Card Photo Process...First there are the just plain bad ones. We had lots of those. Try asking 3 small children to smile, pose and look at you all at the same time. See what I mean...CrazyThis was by far my favorite of the boys but then my daughter had to go and stick a thumb in it. Blech!C-mon Shawn...get down there and quit looking half asleep...Ok, 42 photos later I realize that the tree is not working so well. Let's move to the couch. Hmmm...cute but not exactly what I am going for...Then, just as I am getting everyone happy and settled, the phone rings...no, I am not stopping to get the phone...come on smile everyone...then my cell phone rings..."Mom, aren't you going to get that?"...no, just smile...now the house phone is ringing again...of course by the time I get back, someone has pinched someone else and no one is happy. (Nice talking to you Aunt Brenda BTW)

So we move on to plan #2...take a picture of just the boys and then one of Ella. Sound familiar...yeah...that was last year's Christmas card. But of course the boys were now geared up for a show.The new favorite...rabbit ears...Come on guys...just look normal would ya...

See...look at your sister...how nice she is smiling...OK...that is it...we will just take 3 separate pictures. They make those kinds of cards now right...ones for people with rotten children...
There we go...nice...So cute...

A beautiful princess...

And then I asked my husband for his opinion...and for those of you who received a Christmas card this year...never ask your husband...(see top picture).

Christmas Pack Meeting

I had to throw in one more Cub Scout entry. We had a big Christmas Pack meeting. Even Santa was in attendance. Here is a picture with Tim and the whole crazy crew from Den 4 (plus a few siblings). They are a wild and fun bunch and we enjoy these guys so much.
And here is Shawn with Santa and a friend.

This was the flag ceremony where Shawn brought in one of the flags.

Ok...no more cub scouts...I promise (maybe)...

Sleeping Beauty...

oh wait...wrong dress...
oh well...a sleeping princess anyway.

The holidays are here.

and we kicked them off, as usual, by heading over to the annual Wheaton Christmas Parade. It was cold this year...brrr......but we bundled up and enjoyed the floats and seeing Santa.
After the parade, the characters walk around downtown so you can hang out with them.

Ella would have nothing to do with this guy.

Then we headed over to Cosley Zoo the next weekend to see the light display.

This is one of our favorite things to do as you can visit with the animals and see the lights all in one location.

This year we went with our friends and it was a great time.

Ella was excited to feed the baby goats in the barn.

So far, our holidays are off to a good start.

Why use the stairs...

when you can slide down the stair lift track, giving Mom and heart attack in the process!

Winter hiking...

The scouts go hiking...regardless of weather.
Thankfully...I do not have to attend these coldfests.
Yea...lick the snow Shawn...who knows what animal just pooped there.

Of course, he doesn't care...he just has a blast with his friends.

I love closeups.

More from Cub Scouts...

Everyone always asks what we do for Cub Scouts. Here is a brief snapshot from our last Pack meeting.

Tim is the Cubmaster. We have 41 kids in our pack. Tim is also a den leader for Shawn's wolf den. We have 6 boys in our den.Every month we have den meetings, a pack meeting and a hike. We also offer other fun activities. Our pack meetings have over a hundred people in attendance sometimes. We have our awards and the boys do skits and stuff. It is like planning a big party every month.I am the committe chairperson (translated: person who does all the work for no pay :)) I get to hand out the awards like these for top popcorn sales. Shawn was our top seller this year along with his friend T. He was pretty excited! One of the incentives to sell more popcorn this year was our "Pie the Cubmaster in the Face" program. If you sold a certain amount, you were entered into a drawing and... Multiply this times 6. You get the picture. Tim was a good sport...especially by the time we got home and he smelled like rotten milk...yum.

A hiking we will go...

Every month Tim takes the Cub Scout Pack on a hike at one of our local forest preserves. Last month they had the most beautiful weather, Sadie went along and Tim took this beautiful, artsy picture of the cat tails. I was so impressed with him.

Of course the next photo on the camera was this one...have no idea what is going on here...playing the water bottle, being silly...no clue.
Here is Shawn with his buddies and faithful companion Sadie. The whole family is invited to hike with the cub scout so it is a fun day for everyone.

Especially the wild boys!