once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a family that loved each other very much. these pictures show their adventures over Winter Break 2011.
they went to see the christmas carol.
*it was my first time seeing it. it was wonderful. and warren was my cuddle buddy for the majority of the time. i loved it.
they practiced their modeling skills in downtown chicago while they waited for their deep dish pizza at Giordano's
they ate the most delicious pizza in the world. and loved the team work needed to get the pizza onto the plate because of the cheese.
*look at warren in the picture. cutest kid ever. also James became potty trained over the break. it was very traumatic to go in public places. example a. giordano's
they walked to the German Market and on the way they saw a slew of Santas who were going on massive bike ride through the city. but dont forget the dradle.
they explored the german market and saw lots of amazing things. all very over priced. but beautiful.
*the top left picture is of a decoration we used to have. you put candles in and light them and it causes the decoration to spin. ours caught on fire. it was slightly my fault...only slightly. the story goes. I had lit it and then my dad called me to help him with something. my mom said it was okay to leave it. when i came back it was in flames.
they had fun exploring the rest of the city. the windows at macy's and seeing the huge christmas tree. they went in the old public library and saw the beautiful architecture and domes. they raced to the car. and tried to stay warm all bundled up.
on sunday they tried their hands at some crafts. making little mitten ornaments. we all took a turn practicing and learning to sew. while they weren't perfect they sure had fun.
and the finished products turned out great.
they ate chocolate. lots and lots of chocolate. and shared with the little guys.
and they made chocolate covered pretzels. after all it is tradition. that night they got a present as a family. 17 Miracles. they watched all together and marveled at the faith of the Pioneers.
the next day they made their way down to Naperville to visit the papa bear at work. they ate at the cafeteria and toured the tunnels. The little guys even got security badges.
*warren loved the penguins. he would go up look at them. get closer. touch them and then run back to his mom and laugh. he would hug her and then go and do it again.
they loved playing. they loved to play games and have fun. dr mario tournaments were had. brackets and all. ticket to ride and scum. puerto rico and mormon bridge. games galore. but on tuesday they got out and played a new game. they went bowling. it was a fun game. and a close game. but cate won out of us all.
*probably the best way to keep warren from running off. good work jeff!
the fun and games were not over. they brought out their crafty sides again to make gingerbread houses.
Becca and Jeff, and James and Jonathan made gingerbread trains. Becca and Jeff recreated the last year of their life with each side representing a different aspect. Jonathan and James was perfect and showed that a little kid had made it. More candy might have ended up in James' mouth than on the train but that is half the fun.
Chelsea and Ellie were Gingerbread house making buddies. It was epic. Chelsea made a stained class window! Intense! They didn't know what to on the back so we made our house have a snow drift in the back. and then they put snow everywhere...they call it "Walking in a Winter Wonderland"
If you thought this family had reached the fun limit you were wrong. They still hadn't had their annual dart gun fight. This year was double the fun, because Becca and Jeff were leaving before Christmas. What does that mean? They just had to have Christmas twice.
Chelsea brought the heat. Jeff found a great hiding place. Super Safe. Poor Warren, was so cute, and a perfect target.
*notice the dart stuck to the diaper. i almost peed my pants.
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| probably my favorite picture of bill ever. |
The filled Christmas Eve with traditions. They had Pizza Hut for lunch (a Hostetter Family Tradition). They ordered two. Received four. Paid for three.
They followed the pizza with a wonderful, traditional, Christmas eve dinner. Ham, potatoes, the whole enchilada. Dinner was followed with acting out the nativity.
*I was joseph and a sheep. We dont type cast
That night they all went to bed hoping that Santa would come. At he did not disappoint. He even ate the cookies they left for him. But while Santa is magical, there is nothing more magical that Christmas with little kids.
*Jonathan and Chelsea gave me a UofC zip-up. I loved it. So so soft.
*Chelsea asked for a garbage can with a peddle lid. This is what she got. When you opened it it made the sounds of water bubbles. The kids LOVED them. Lets just say bill was not on the top of Chelsea's list.
Christmas came quickly to an end, and the once loud bustling house became quiet. very very quite. So it became time to complete projects. This year's project. Quilting. The house that was once taken over by toys quickly became taken over by fabric.
The monotony of quilting was broken up by the excitement of a New Year. The celebration was too exciting to celebrate in little ole Batavia. So Ellie picked up and went down to the city to celebrate with Jonathan and Chelsea. Sparkling grape juice and all.
They had lots of fun playing while Jonathan finished a few things on his dissertation. The favorite game was jumping and climbing on the love sac, quickly followed by playing with Ellie's phone.
*quotes of the day from james:
Ellie: James why dont you have a shirt on? (silence) Is it so you can show off your abs?
James: YEP!
Ellie: James you're adorable.
James: Ellie, Im not a door. The door is over there!!
Needless to say, I was laughing a lot.
Another funny moment: Warren loved riding around on his little car with this hamburger in his mouth. He would just bite down and go. So so funny!
Once the kids were in bed they played games like never before. 7 wonders and Small World were the games of choice. There was lots of learning, and explaining but they had fun strategizing. They had so much fun they lost track of the time. It was 11:58 and when they realized they should find a way to watch the count down. No television made life tricky so they just did there own, and guessed how many seconds were left. They had amazing guessing skills because their countdown ended right as their phones changed to midnight.
The Hall Family had lots and lots of fun over the winter break and made many fun memories. At the end they all went their seperate ways, but they all lived happily ever after.
The end.
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