December excitement!

 Here we are, in December already, and feeling the holiday excitement!  Isaac has been working hard at gymnastics to overcome his fear of the beam, doing pretty well (it helps that it's 6 inches off the ground).

 Isaac also had a very cute Thanksgiving program at school, he was one funny turkey!

 Noah has been moving along nicely in karate.  He just earned his red with brown stripe belt!

 Visit to the mall to see Santa!  He was so impressed how well the boys waited while the computer was slow that he gave us free tickets for the carousel!

 Thanksgiving eve was a perfect night for gaming with family.  Sam and Isaac did some dominos with Daddy.

 Noah was almost bested by Bamma in war!

 And, Sam and I took on the scrabble challenge with a very serious approach!

 Thanksgiving was wonderful, we were able to host for the first time in our new home!  All the Rodriguez grandkids were together!

 Nick, Cesca, and Kim spent the night which was very exciting for the boys!

 The weekend after Thanksgiving, we headed over to the Worsts to do some Gingerbreading with Kelly and Ginger!  The 1:1 kid to adult ratio was perfect!

 Hattie and I are truly BFF, if you're wondering.

 Kids and their creations!

 Sam gave a good effort in his attempt to eat it!

 After the Thanksgiving fun, we were ready to decorate for Christmas!

 Got some new stuff for out front too!

 Mike had his last week at Kraft, he's changed to a new job in Lake Zurich.  But before he left, he was able to score two GIANT jars of marshmallows!

 Isaac's 4 year old preschool picture, pretty awesome!

 The first weekend of December, we headed out to downtown LaGrange to see Santa arrive in town on a fire truck, listen to my high school LTHS madrigals sing carols, and see some cool ice sculptures.  It was a really fun evening with Bampa!

 Sundays are a good day for bread baking!

 Recent Bamma project - Santa letters!

 Last Friday, we were able to host Miss Hattie for the morning.  We started out our day at Dunkin Donuts!

 We stopped by Busse Woods to see the Elk, this guy was right by the fence, so cool!  We also had more fun at home making some ornaments and baking cookies!

 Then last weekend, we headed out in the cold to see the zoo light for the first time!

 We took Bamma and got there early, and boy were we glad when we saw how busy that parking lot got!

 It was really neat, they had a lot of lights and large animal displays.  I think the synchronized tree lights with music by tropic world was our favorite part!

 Josh's dog Emily suffered through a Christmas sweater humiliation for her Aunt Abby!

 And yet another Bamma project that required baking at 7:00am before school!

Some pretty cute Santa cupcakes!

 Isaac was up to his own projects at school this week too!  Here's his Christmas tree made from an ice cream cone, frosting, and candy!

So, bring on the holidays!  We are more than ready!

Halloween 2017, etc....

 The end of October has been good (if chilly).  But we did have a warm streak in the middle of the month.  I headed up to Minneapolis for a 3 day conference for work, which was great!

 Meanwhile, these two hoodlums enjoyed a Cubs playoff game!

 And Isaac got to go to Hattie's birthday party!

 Uncle Josh adopted the sweetest dog on the planet!  Emily is a 5 year old border collie mix and she is too sweet for words!

 The boys absolutely love her!

 Halloween involved a little DIY work this year.  Noah really wanted to be Iron Fist, so we had to come up with our own mask (as he's not a famous one you can find easily).

 Turned out pretty good!

He had an evening event at school and then a karate party, so plenty of opportunities to wear his costume!

 We got our pumpkins carved too.  Isaac went with a "silly" face.

 Noah opted for an "Iron Fist" design and Sam chose a poke ball design.

 Isaac had his classroom party at preschool, he was thrilled to show his ninja moves!

 His class sang some cute songs with Mrs. Adrienne.

 Despite the chill, we put our pumpkins out for the neighbors (and the squirrels) to enjoy!

 Group costume shot!  Sam was an adorable narwhal!

 Perfect selfie of me and my adoring husband.  He was not a fan of the cold.

 Sam started up gymnastics, he is in the 7-10 year old boy class, so that means working on the big equipment.  Hard to see, but he's on the high bar over there in his dark red pants.  He loves it!

 Isaac had to test out daddy's glasses just for a minute.

This past weekend, Noah had his karate tournament.  This time, he was with the red belt group and did sparring.

He also did his bo form.

And self defense!

We were super proud of his effort.  He ended up with two 3rd place trophies for form and self defense.  Way to go dude!

 Now, we head into the holiday season!  Of course we had to kick things off with matching Christmas jammies!  Cannot wait to spend the holidays with these goons in our new home!