Ski Trip to Cascade Moutain

Jason's family & friends take an annual trek to Wisconsin to ski at Cascade Moutain (there's a moutain in Wisconsin?!). Several years ago, I assumed duties as the trip coordinator. It was a smaller outing this year - 7 hotel rooms and 16 skiiers. Definitely the coldest trip I've seen - 7 degrees on Saturday and just a few degrees more on Sunday.

Ryan loved the hotel - he ran up and down the hallways, rode on the elevator and luggage carts, and knocked on all the hotel room doors. He and I went to the pool while everyone else was skiing.

It was cold outside!...

But warm inside!...

Theatre vs Theater

Again, no pictures!

The 1st show
For Christmas, we got my Mom tickets for Wicked. So last Sunday I chauffeured us into the city (yea me!), we had lunch and saw the 2 p.m. matinee. It was great! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. I saw it several years ago when it first came to Chicago and it was as good the 2nd time as it was the 1st.

The 2nd show
December 28th was our 6th anniversary. Apparently I was good this year, because Jason surprised me with tickets for Dirty Dancing. Ryan stayed with John & Cathy and we went down early for our date. Neither of us bothered to make dinner reservations. Theatre district, Saturday night....you need reservations. We ended up eating at Catch Thirty-Five, at the bar. Never eat at the bar, people stare at you, "hey you, didn't care enough to make a reservation, huh?"
The show was good - dancing was phenominal, but I think it's best as a movie. If I didn't know the story line, I would have had trouble keeping up. Johnny was played by an Australian dancer who tried hard to disguise his accent. All in all, it was an ok show.

Let it snow, snow, snow!

It started snowing Friday night and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon. We probably got about 8 inches at our house (that's my unofficial estimate).

I was shoveling the driveway this morning and our neighbor offered to use his snow blower on it. Thank you! I don't mind shoveling, but the operations person in me says that a snow blower is so much more efficient...so maybe we'll have to invest in one.

We tried a 2nd attempt at playing in the snow with Ryan. It went better this time. Annie sprinted around in the powder and he thought that was hilarious.
Jason plows part time for Naperville (his first responsibility is to dispatch 9-1-1, but when he's available, he can make OT by plowing). He went in, but after his plow broke twice, they told him they had enough help and sent him home. My Mom & Dad are here for the weekend, so we went to TX Roadhouse for dinner.

Southside Bunco

In October, one of my neighbors organized a monthly Bunco gathering. I had played Bunco once before, at a baby shower. Little did I know that there's an entire Bunco society out there! Did you know there's an annual Bunco convention in Las Vegas?
Friday night was our fourth gathering. We have snacks, adult beverages and lots of chatting....we've named ourselves Southside Bunco (south part of our subdivision)
Eight ladies, nine dice, 12 dollars....and the best part is that I can walk home!

Matthew's 1st Birthday Party

Sarah & Josh's little guy, Matt, will celebrate his 1st birthday on Jan 8. His party was this weekend.
One of his favorite gifts was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ride-on airplane. Ryan was able to push him on it. Funny....6 months ago Jack, the 3 year old, was pushing Ryan.

And, of course there was cake!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that I didn't take any pictures?....

On New Year's Eve, we went to a munchkin party at Doug & Angie's. It was a munchkin party because there were 8 adults, 4 kids and we were all partied out by 10 p.m. Jason had to work that night, so Ryan and I dropped him off at the PD and then headed home for bed.

New Year's Day was quiet. I took down all our Christmas decs and Jason made beer can chicken for dinner. Grilling outside in January - his idea of fun.

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.