Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas in Springfield with my family. We left on Tuesday the 23rd. Over the snow and through the ice, our trip was more adventurous than usual. Fortunately we avoided spending the evening in the ditch like some others. My brother Chris and Tonya had a very adventurous trip from Detroit, driving all night in order to make it home.

We celebrated our family Christmas on Christmas Eve. Santa brought Ryan a "busy driver," Jason a Playstation, Chris an engine efficiency gadget, Tonya a Coach purse, Gram tickets to Wicked, Poppy a Cubs fleece, and me, a purple down coat (ok, it was actually lavender). As my Mom would say, "it was the best Christmas ever."

It was a Christmas Day to remember...

On Christmas morning, while we were eating breakfast, we heard a commotion outside near the garage doors. When my Mom went to check, she found their cat, WhiteSox, motionless on the ground, surrounded by my parent's three dogs. My Mom brought the cat inside and it was obvious that something had happened to him - his body was limp, his eyes were unresponsive, and he breathing very heavily. We were sure that he had gotten caught under the garage door and had broken his neck. We couldn't let him suffer, so my Mom and I took him to the emergency vet clinic.

The vet performed x-rays, administered oxygen and gave him some pain killers. No broken bones. After two hours, WhiteSox was responsive and breathing normally. We're still not sure exactly what happened, but the vet is sure that he had a tramatic experience which induced shock. I think it was a combination of getting caught under the garage door and being pinned by the 3 dogs.

Long story short....
An emergency trip to the vet on Christmas morning - $350

Being able to bring WhiteSox home and having a good Christmas memory rather than a bad one - priceless

Those of you who don't have pets probably think we're crazy. Those of you who do have pets will understand.

The rest of the day was quiet and low key. Jason made a gingerbread house (picture here) and we decided that next year we'll make several so that we have a village. We drove home Christmas night so that I could work Friday morning.

Weekend of Dec 13th & 14th

Saturday night we went on a Christmas lights tour on the Naperville trolley. Jason's uncle Donnie was our chaffeur. The entire trolley was filled with Murrs or friends. Ryan learned the word 'wow' to describe the lights.

John and Cathy are travelling to Phoenix for Christmas, so last Sunday we celebrated Christmas with them, Jason's grandmothers and Jeff/Steph/Alex. Ryan enjoyed ripping the paper from his presents, but was very impatient when he had to wait for us to figure out how to take the toy out of the box.

He has discovered Elmo... except he calls him Mel-mo. John & Cathy got him an Elmo laptop. It's super cute, with interchangeable cartridges, buttons, sounds, etc. Maybe he'll stop trying to use mine?

'Ow-si'

'Ow-si'...that's Ryan talk for outside. Because Ryan loved playing outside so much this summer and fall, I figured he would like to play outside in the snow. So, we got a coat, hat, gloves, snow pants and the cutest boots, so that we'd be set to go sledding. Here's a couple of pictures with some pieces of his ensemble.

However, you'll notice that there's no pictures 'ow-si'. We spent 20 minutes getting dressed with all of our snow gear, and when we got outside, Ryan was not happy. His mittens wouldn't stay on, and he fell in the slow and his hands got wet. And he had a hard time walking in his boots. I think he's like his Mom...he'd rather be cruising in his red coupe on a warm, sunny day.

Tiger Club Christmas Party

We went to the Tiger Club for their kids Christmas Party on Sunday the 9th. Jack, Matt and Abby went too (and their parents/grandparents). For those of you who have never been to the Tiger Club.....it's official name is the Tiger Athletic Association. It's a private club in Aurora. Jason and many of his male family are members. That's right, until recently women weren't allowed to be members or to sit at the bar. There's always some interesting folks there. But it's nice of them to host a party for the kids....

Santa was there and each of the kids received a gift. Ryan was not thrilled to see Santa! It was a little better when Mom sat on Santa's lap. But he has had fun playing with the mega blocks that he received.

Allant Holiday Party

I'm waaay behind with all our news...

My company's holiday party was Friday the 5th at Walter Payton's Roundhouse. I received my 5 year service award at the party. Picture of it here. I know, I'm a dork. But I took it to work to keep on my desk, so Jason's the only one who has seen it. It's hard to believe I've been at Allant 5 years (will be 6 years in May).

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving! My family came from near and far to visit - my Mom and Dad arrived Wednesday evening from Springfield and my brother and Tonya arrived later that night from Michigan.

On Thanksgiving I made my very first turkey in preparation for hosting many members of Jason's family for dinner. Turkey wasn't pretty (how does Butterball make them look so nice?), but I think it tasted ok. We had 28 people for dinner, and a few others for dessert and dinner later on, so we used every available space for seating. We even used the loft. Certainly a good reason to get our basement finished so that we can host again. I was thankful for Uncle Jerry who carved the turkies, (2 of 'em), the Aunts who helped with dishes, and everyone who brought food to share.

Chris and Tonya recently adopted a Golden Retriever - Diesel. He came along for the trip. Ryan, Annie and Diesel all got along very well. Tonya's Mom Rhoda came up Friday and they went to the outlet mall for some shopping, then they all headed to Springfield for the rest of the weekend. No Black Friday shopping for me.

Ryan and I put up one of our Christmas trees today. When it was up and the lights were on, I said, "ooh, pretty." He repeated, but it came out "ewww, pretty"....like it was stinky or something.

Other November news

Ryan and I went to Springfield to see my parents last weekend. It was a pretty low key visit. I'm determined to make my kid a 1st year scrapbook, so while I sorted all the first year pictures, my Mom chased Ryan. It worked out pretty well, so it's likely that I'll have another scrapbook getaway weekend.
No pictures to post from our visit - my camera is in the shop for repairs.

The big news in the Murr family is that we'll soon be adding some more pink. John ('Bones') and Carol, and Big Sister Nikki, in Surprise, AZ, found out yesterday that the baby expected in April is a girl. Cousin Ryan is very excited. Hopefully we can make a trip West in the spring to meet the new 'lil Miss Murr.

Julie, Scott & Logan visit

Julie, Scott and Logan came from Florida for an impromptu visit two weekends ago. Fortunately almost all the local cousins were able to get together. The guys played one round of Texas Hold 'Em (seemed like more!), and then they were put in charge of the kids and the girls played cards.
These days, it's much more difficult to get a picture of all the kids together. This time it was Ryan that kept trying to escape. We compromised by taking a BigCousin/LittleCousin picture (Big in wisdom and stature, not size!) It's very neat to see them all next to one another. There's almost five months difference between Ayden (the oldest) and Logan (the youngest), but they're all about the same size and have very similiar developmental characteristcs. Life is definately much busier now than it was this time last year.

Abby, Logan, Ayden and Ryan
















Jason & Ryan, Julie & Logan, Mike & Ayden, Doug & Abby

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was only one day, but we've been celebrating all month. The first weekend in October, Mr. Penguin went to Michigan to say hello to Uncle Chris & Aunt Tonya.


The 3rd weekend, we went to Springfield and celebrated Halloween with Gram, Poppy, Nana, Ivan, Aunt Leslie, and Sarah.














On Halloween day, I took a vacation day and Ryan and I made the rounds. First, we stopped to see Great Grandma Sheila.



















Then, we went to see Great Grandma Murr.



















And our last stop was at Grandma & Grandpa's.




















After all that visiting, we came home so Ryan could take a nap. He was so tired that he missed the first hour of trick-or-treaters! We went to one neighbor's house for a treat...Jerry & Lynn have a great Halloween graveyard display! Later, we hosted a fire at our house for the neighbors. We had s'mores, katydids, cider. I hope to make it an annual tradition. Overall, it was a great day - the weather was beautiful and Ryan put up with wearing his costume, and he did a great penguin waddle.

On Saturday, Miss Lion (Abby) and Mr. Dragon (Ayden) came for a post Halloween gathering. My pictures weren't good, but their costumes were great!

Pumpkin Carving

We got two HUGE pumpkins this year - 31 lbs and 27 lbs!

Ryan wasn't too sure about the gushy stuff in the pumpkin. Look closely at that big smile...you may see a pumpking seed or two. Yes, he was more interested in tasting the pumpkin than carving it.

Jason's pumpkin

Kim's pumpkin

Boo at the Zoo!

Today Ryan (aka Mr. Penguin) and I went to Boo at the Zoo! at Brookfield Zoo....several other characters came with us too....Mr. Giraffe, Mr. Elephant, a Fairy, Tony Stewart, two Bounty Hunters and Yoda.

In addition to all the animals, they also had other events - a giant pumpkin carver, hayride, Fisher Price play yard. But the best part was seeing all the kids in their costumes!

ISU Homecoming

We traveled south for ISU Homecoming this weekend. Saturday was a busy day....parade, tailgating, then football game. Unfortunately the 'Birds weren't victorious, but we had a good time anyway. Prior to the parade, we saw my former manager from bookstore, Jenn. Her family was there too to represent the Student Center in the parade. It was good to see them!
We had quite a crowd join us for the festivities - Kay, Ed, Eddie, & Jack came down to visit fellow Redbird Rooter, Amy, and my friend Dee brought her family (Bob & Austin) and a few others.

Ryan and I stayed to hear the band play at halftime (the best part of the game, right?) then went to tour the quad. The new College of Business building is beautiful and quite high-tech. Interestingly, it reminds me a little of a corporate office building - flat screen TV with stock updates, small conference rooms, interview rooms. I'm sure the students that attend classes there are smarter when they graduate than those of us who attended class in Williams Hall.

After the game, we headed to Springfield for the rest of the weekend to celebrate my Mom's favorite holiday - Halloween! We had dinner with my family and Ryan paraded his costume. We also went to Luer's - a locally owned shoe store, where Ryan had his feet measured and got a new pair of shoes. This is the same store where my brother took home a pair of green, Incredible Hulk shoes when he was 3.

Trip to Kuipers Farm for Pumpkins

We went to Kuipers Farm in Maple Park today to pick-out pumpkins. (same place that Angie, Doug & Abby went - we also had the apple cider slushie) We went to Kuipers last year on a Friday and had the place to ourselves. It was much different on a Sunday! They have all sorts of activities for the kids (apple picking, hay rides, haunted forrest). Ryan was satisfied to push around the Red Flyers that they have for the pumpkins, but next year he'll be ready for all the fun.
Here's some pictures from Kuipers as well as the pumpkins back at home. Also a pic of our new patio, which we've had since August, but I'm just now posting a picture.