St. Nick

We are a MESS at the Wennerstrom home.  The kids have been not feeling great for about a week now.  We have gone through boxes of kleenex, and the kids haven't been sleeping well, had slight fevers, and just been all-out crabby!  Well, then it began Thursday night when Abigail came down with the stomach flu....full out throwing up for 5 hours in a row.  It was a rough night for her (and us).  Friday I didn't feel great but had to go to work for an hour...but by the time I got home I had the stomach flu.  Throwing up with 2 sick kids is rough.  Daddy made it home and I survived the night, but wasn't able to get out of bed till Sunday.  Saturday was Abigail's Breakfast with Santa at school, which daddy bathed, dressed, and took the girls!  We hoped that everyone was healthy on Sunday, but that wouldn't make this story as exciting, would it?  Abigail came downstairs with pink eye in both eyes!  So we headed to a Take-Care Clinic, and after 2 hours, we were on our way with eye drops. We went to get our Xmas tree (more on that to come later) and by the time we got home, Caitlin had pink eye in one eye!  Yep...she sat with us at the dr, completely fine....oh vey!  Of course, we wish it would end there...but Sunday night Daddy came down with the flu.  He wasn't throwing up, but he had a high fever and the chills.  He went to work today, but we are hoping he heads home soon to take care of himself.  Needless to say, we are a mess here...but hoping we can hang low this week, get everyone healthy, organize our house and our life, and be healthy and happy for the big events coming up!!!!!

We have lots to post on X-mas, but today is St. Nick's Day!  The kids put their shoes out last night:

And St. Nick came while they were sleeping: 

This year St. Nick brought things the kids needed and wanted.  Abigail has been BEGGING us for new toothpaste and a new toothbrush.  Her new toothbrush is fun...it's an electric toothbrush (which we were told to have her start using before her 1st dentist app't next month) that you can personalize with stickers.  Caitlin got a new sippy cup.  And the kids got candy, stickers, and a new Xmas movie!  St. Nick's Day is so much fun because it's the beginning "taste" of what's to come...and the kids are very excited and grateful for the smallest things!

Here are a few pics from finding our shoes...but remember, we are a mess.  I would usually have Xmas pj's on, but we have gone through so many pj's that they ended up in Halloween pj's!  :)  They have swollen eyes, crazy hair, and runny noses!  But hey, it's us!   

Hope St. Nick was good to you!  I'll soon be posting about our new friend, Elfer, some of our new favorite Xmas toys, and the great Xmas tree adventure!

Melt My Heart

While I was putting groceries away, look what my daughter was doing:

Nothing out of the ordinary for Abigail, right????  But look who it was:

She put Minnie in her car seat and put her blanket over her...and just when I thought it couldn't get any cuter, she did this:

I mean, really...it melted my heart to see her playing like such a big girl!  This is the beginning of lots and lots and lots and lots of hours of playing with dolls!

Thankful

First, I should warn you that I lifted all my pictures from my sister's blog, so if you read hers already, nothing new or exciting here....but for those who didn't....


We had another wonderful Thanksgiving this year!  Thanskgiving is always a great holiday because it's all about family time.  My mom makes a HUGE thanksgiving dinner every year, so thanksgiving is a lot more work for her than us.  We are very thankful for my mom and dad for putting together such a great thanksgiving meal (although the treadmilll isn't as thankful...I think it "huffed" when I got back on after my meal)!

We are so thankful that Rob's parents spend thanksgiving with my parents.  It's so nice that our families are all together (and Julie's inlaws even stopped by for a visit so we had all the families together for a GREAT family picture).  The kids get to have grandma, grandpa, nana, and papa together for a holiday...that will be such a special thing for them!  We always have such a nice time...with our favorite family tradition at the end of the evening.

We are also thankful for amazing aunts and an uncle who love their nieces so much and spend so much
quality time with them.  The kids love to be with Aunt Katie, Aunt Julie, and Uncle Joe.  Abigail talks about things that happen with them for weeks (like this Thanksgiving, Aunt Katie put "makeup" on her...that's a repeat discussion daily).

This year we were so thankful to be able to celebrate Lucy's 1st Thanksgiving with her!  We love her so much and were so happy to spend a whole day with her!  Next Thanksgiving she's going to be walking and talking....can't imagine!  We are thankful she is here, healthy and happy!

We are also thankful that my Grandma was able to join us again for Thanksgiving.  She's 97 (I think) and we are so grateful that she is in such great health!

And finally, we are thankful for our healthy family!  Last year we had some scares with Caitlin, but a year later, we are all healthy!  The girls are so amazing...they are so different in their personalities, but both so sweet.  We are thankful that we have our whole family of 4 together and look forward to many, many, many, many Thanksgivings!

And finally, I am thankful that someone took pictures since I didn't!  :)  Here are some of Jules' pics!

A dinner shot

Caitlin really got into Thanksgiving this year!  Thanksgiving was the 1st day she was finally able to eat Gluten-Free food (and I should mention it's been going great ever since) and she loved EVERYTHING! 

Cousins

I know this is a Blandford family picture, but I had to post because it's Lucy's 1st smile on a camera!  The 1st camera smile is always so neat because I think it gives you the 1st glimpse of what Lucy is going to look like when she's older!  She's so cute...and I can't believe she's only 2 1/2 months old!

And last, but NEVER least, it's the Clark Grizwold Family Tradition...with the addition of the Muskovich Family Shot!

Drum roll please....on the count of the 3 everyone is going to turn around....1, 2, 3... 

Yeah!!!  The Lights...and Vodka!  ;)   The best part this year was the heavier than normal road traffic driving by and wondering why a whole family is out doing shots on the sidewalk at 7pm at night!  :) 

We hope that everyone was as blessed as we were to spend another great Thanksgiving with our family!

Happy Turkey Day!

Greatest Show on Earth

Yesterday we went to see The Greatest Show on Earth!  The circus is so much fun...and I love that's it's the same as it was when I was a kid!  The whole Muskovich family went. We had such a great day....and we did it in style.  Uncle Joe got us tickets for the circus in his company's box!  Now that's the way to see the circus!  Thanks Uncle Joe!

This is how to do the circus!!!

We don't need to stinkin' stadium seats!!!

Aunt Julie and Abigail

Aunt Katie and Caitlin

Nat't Anthem....on an elephant

The Ring Master

We also have a GREAT family shot (including Lucy who was busy for a lot of the circus but loved the lights) but I will post later in case my parents use it for a Xmas card!

Still to come:  Thanksgiving and Lighting of Xmas Tree in our town

(And I realized that Thanksgiving isn't much of a "picture" holiday...but it was delicious!!!!!)

Now we have 2 ponies.....

tails!!!

:)

And here's a flashback at our 1st pony

(Make sure you read below for our post today)

Happy Friday!!!!!

Grandparents Day

Yesterday was Grandparent's Day at school!  I remember so vividly Grandparent's Day at St. Huberts.  My grandparents always came, we went to church together, we showed them our school, and then they took us out to lunch!  So I was very excited that Abigail's school has Grandparent's Day.  Our girls are so lucky because both sets of grandparents live close and they get to see them both often!  So I decided instead of having all 4 grandparents, we'd invite one set this year (Wennerstroms) and one set next year (Muskovichs) and then the following year....dun, dun, dun....we'll have 2 kids at school here!

Nana went with Abigail and they had a great day! 

Making a cross together

Abigail, Luca, and their grandmas!  That's lots of Italian grandma in this picture!!!!!!

I hear this handprint square is part of a classroom quilt.  How cute?????

And what would grandparent's day be without lunch after?????

I had to work most of the day, so Abigail stayed with Nana (and Papa when he got home from work) and they did some "errands". Abigail LOVES the word "errands" and often tells me we need to go do them!

And not only lunch, but out for a fun dinner too!!!!  Augustino's!

I'm not sure who had a better day, Nana or Abigail!  I'd say it's a tie...I know they both had a great day together!  These sort of traditions make me so happy we found this schoool!!!!  (And I should mention Caitlin also had a GREAT day...she had a whole day alone with Mommy....we don't get those days often so we really enjoyed our day together.)

I also am behind on our weekend at Bass Lake.  We went up there last weekend (our last visit for a while...we don't go much in the winter) and had a nice relaxing weekend.  The weather on Saturday morning was perfect, so we were able to take advantage of the nice weather and have a campfire.

Caitlin exploring the lake...her 1st time "walking" at the cabin!  She can't wait for next summer!

Yard work

We appreciate these family moments so much!

Papa teaching Abigail how to make hot dogs on the fire.  (This is when the rain started...and continued the rest of the day.  Perfect day for a PUZZLE...which took Rob like 8 hours literally to do).

This weekend we are pretty busy, including Baby O'Connor's baby shower! 

My Oh My....Shutterfly!

The time is finally here...Time to pick the Xmas card picture!

All moms know what I'm talking about.  We take pictures all year long trying to get the "perfect picture for the Xmas card".  Every single picture taken on vacation is followed by an evaluation if I could use it for Xmas.  I pick outfits during the year that I think would be great for our Xmas card!  It's really an obsession!  I blame my parents....we grew up knowing our vacation would partly involve getting the perfect picture for our Xmas card!  And we always did!

Well, we did it!!!!!  The Wennerstrom family got the perfect Xmas card picture.  How did we know it was "the one"?  Well....simple....both kids were looking AND smiling!  Any mom of a 2 and 1 year old knows that getting both kids to look and smile is the complete battle!  And we did it!!!!  (There may be a little unwanted drool, but hey, that's life).  And then, it gets better.  We actually got a family shot of the 4 of us all looking.....that's called a BONUS!  So we have 2 pictures for our Xmas card. 

Now What?????

Shutterfly makes that simple!  I'm not sure what people did before Shutterfly, but we love going there for our Xmas cards!!!!  And this year is no exception.  This year Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 free Xmas cards!  That's right, my first 50 Xmas cards will be free thanks to Shutterfly!!!  One more reason to love Shutterfly.

Okay, back to Shutterfly.  Every year the selection gets better and better.  Not to mention they are so afforable.  Last year I went to a photo studio and paid too much for pictures I didn't love and ended up with "okay" Xmas cards.  But this year I decided to save some time, money, and frustration, and do it myself!!!So, I have spent hours, and hours, and hours checking out Shutterfly (not that you need to, that's just my way.  I like to shop around...ALOT)  and I have narrowed it down to 3 cards:

I love all 3 and may use any of them.  The 2nd one is the "traditional" picture card and is much more affordable (we're talking like 32 cents per card), but even the 1st and 3rd cards are still affordable at a little over $1 per card!  We aren't one of those "write a letter about all that's happening" family...but we think our Xmas card is important.  It lets those who are special to us know we are thinking of them at this time of year!  It lets them know we care about them.  And of course, it's a chance to show off our adorable kids!  :)

Which ones did we choose????  You'll have to wait a few weeks to find out!!!!!!!

And in addition to our Xmas cards, Shutterfly makes shopping for gifts so easy!  Here are some of our favorite links:

Want to make your own Xmas card???  Go here

Did I mention we use Shutterfly for the traditional calendar??? The girls give their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and great-grandparents a calendar of pictures from that year!  It's a great gift that keeps on giving all year.  More information on calendars is here

Have someone who's hard to shop for????  Go here for personalized gifts that anyone is sure to love!

Are you a blogger????  Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: http://bit.ly/sfly2010