Ok, so once again I am lagging a month behind on my posts!! Let's see what has the last month brought us. Well, it started out with my bday weekend which was spent up north at my Mom and Tom's house and celebrating Ghiloni Christmas. I always love the big family atmosphere!! We sure do pack em in there with 8 adults, 2 big kids and 3 smaller ones!! The kids enjoyed the weekend with some playing in the snow and sledding down the long driveway. Us girls enjoyed some scenic snowshoeing with my Uncle Gerry. As always there was the usually adult gift steal/exchange and a exciting round of Pictionary complete with video playback thanks to my Step-Brother Nick. I don't know how we made it through the games in the past w/o it, it might be getting a little too serious!! The kids were thrilled with their Christmas gifts. Grace got a Barbie Dream house and Owen got a Hot Wheels Craftsman Ford truck both from G&G. They also got some great gifts from the extended family. Grace and Cameron always exchange small gifts and it so neat to watch them interact together. They are attached at the hip for the whole weekend like best friends! Its always so wonderful being up there with the family!
As for the rest of the month it was pretty low key. Grace is getting into the sleepover craze and had two in one weekend. She just got a report card for the quarter and had straight A's!! Dance has been demanding for her with her regular 1 1/2 hr. classes on Wed and then a 2 hr. practice on Sat. for competition coming up. She is being a trooper and working hard! Owen is his usual cute and curious self. I think him and I are really getting cabin fever with the cold weather and just plain yuckiness the winter has brought. It has been chalenging to keep him occupied during the weekdays.
This last weekend my Nephew Josh and his wife Lindsey came down and all of us went to the Janesville Jets Hockey game. I was really leery about taking the kids but it turned out to be a blast. Owen loved cheering them on first starting out with "Go Badgers" which we corrected. Along with that was "Ohh, come on", "Go Jets", "Swiss Cheese" and anything else he picked up from the crowd around us! He was glued to the game the whole time. He was in Hockey heaven when Dad and Josh took him up and had him stand on the boards against the glass, flinching every time they skated close. It was a really rough game and SO much fun to watch!! They really draw a great exciting crowd and won 3-2!! Grace enjoyed herself also and even got a free tshirt from the drunk guys behind us!! I was really looking forward to a game w/o kids but don't know if that will happen anymore, their hooked!!

Christmas time!

Well, the holidays keep going and going for us as usual!! It is kind of nice to have it spread out as fast as they come and go. We were fortunate enough to stay home around "Christmas" time. My Dad and holly came down and stayed with us from Tuesday till Friday and it was really great to have them around. What great quality grandparent time for the kids!! Always seems that the one Grandparents you think won't spoil your kids are the ones that do the most, ha! Not a bad thing by any means! Anyway, we enjoyed an evening with Joe and Heather stopping in on Tues. Nicole and the kids joined us also. Wed. day and night my Dad and Holly had the kids all day and evening while I was at the mall and Aaron there at night when I went to the salon for work. Dad made some wonderful meals including a roast that night and a ham on Christmas eve that was awesome! The kids got some really cool toys including flying monkeys, small rocket launchers, a billabo and pop gun. Grace got some new boots and a barbie! It was great to have my parents here to experience Santa with the kids. This may be the last year I can convince Grace to "believe" in Santa.
We enjoyed a visit from Kay and Mike on Sunday of that week. It was a great time spent with a quick shopping trip for Kay and Sara, a usual outing for us!! We munched on snacks all day and taught Grace how to play monopoly. The kids enjoyed their wonderful gifts. Grace got a new Liv barbie doll along with doll clothes, and a cool outfit from Justice for herself. Owen, got a Handy Manny motorcycle take apart toy and motorcycle sweat shirt. We opened gifts from Adam and Amy and Owen was SO into his Handy Manny boat building kit. Grace will be able to treat herself to a trip to Claire's and Cold Stone!!!
Bill visited over this weekend and stayed the night with us. Unfortunately it was too cold to go sledding like we had wanted. So, we hung out and played Life and opened our gifts. Grace got some roller blades and coloring sets. Owen got some new sets to go with his Geo Trax train and a ride on motorcycle toy!!
We sure had a wonderful holiday hosting our parents. Looking forward to traveling to my Mom and Tom's next weekend to be guests there for Christmas and my birthday!

Christmas 2009, so far...

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From 2009-11-15