2008 MEMORIES ...

January:
Lindsey cheered at the DC basketball games
M & M had an anal gland rupture (not fun)

February:
Rachel and I had the flu
Allie sang at the D300 choral competition
more cheering for Lindsey at bball games
lots of snow (school cancellations too)
Hannah Montana 3D concert

March:
Lindsey turned 16!
Brett Favre retired (don't worry something tells me he'll be back)
my old ipod died
I bought a new ipod
we celebrated Easter
we took a day trip to Chicago over spring break

April:
Lisa turned 43 on her bday
celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary

May:
Lindsey played soccer on the JV team
got my flowers planted on the deck
Rick and Rachel went to the Daddy/Daughter dance
Lindsey went to the PROM with Steve
Rachel's team won 1st place in soccer tourney

June:
school finally got out for the girls
Lindsey got her driver's license (yeah)
went to the Kane County Cougars baseball game

July:
Brett Favre is now a NY Jet (I told you not to worry) (stupid Packer mgt!)
we enjoyed an awesome vacation to Hershey, PA and OBX
Rachel went to a camp at the Brookfield Zoo
we spent two days boating and having fun with the Babiches in Wisconsin
Rachel went to a basketball camp thru our church
celebrated Rick's bday

August:
Allie & Rachel played in the Schaumberg soccerfest tournament
we went to see the Chicago Fire play at Toyota Park
Lindsey went on a mission trip with some friends to KY to build a home
Allie was a volunteer at our church's VBS
Rachel went to VBS
I was very busy reading James Patterson's book with Alex Cross

September:
Lindsey went to the DC Homecoming dance
Allie turned 14 (yikes) and got the new ipod nano in lime green
the girls went back to school
Grammie Heron passed away so we went to Pittsburgh for a long weekend for services, etc.

October:
Rick and I went to Door County for a weekend
Rachel turned 11 (can't believe it)
Lisa got a part-time job as a dog walker/sitter
the girls celebrated Halloween with trick or treating
Lindsey was inducted in the National Honors Society at her HS

November:
outdoor soccer season ended for all 3 girls who were playing with their travel soccer teams
we celebrated Thanksgiving in Wenona with Rick's family
started my Christmas shopping
Joined the church we'd been attending since last December

December:
got the house decorated for the Holidays
the girls had a snow day on the last day before holiday break
had a holiday party with the Babich family
lots and lots of snow in Algonquin
spent a wonderful Christmas Day at mom and Len's house
went to the Chicago Wolved hockey games
celebrated with Rick's parents a few days after Christmas (due to the bad weather)

And that about wraps up the year of 2008. I probably left out a ton of stuff but you get the general idea of our year.

PART 2 @ GRAMMIE AND PAPA'S

CHRISTMAS AT GRAMMIE AND PAPA'S

LOOK WHAT SANTA BROUGHT ...

OUR COLD TRIP TO CHICAGO

A few days before Christmas, we braved the extremely cold weather (low single digits and below 0 wind chill) for a trip to Chicago to see the lights. We decided not to spend a lot of time outside since it was just too cold so we headed over to Navy Pier for their Winter Wonderland. First we ate lunch at Bubba Gump's restaurant (the shrimp popcorn was delicious!) After that, we headed over to the Winter Wonderland where the girls enjoyed ice skating and of course, posing for a picture by an enormous Christmas Tree. Look who I ran into on the way! Yes, it's Barack Obama. (And you that we was vacationing Hawaii, right?)

We made a VERY quick stop by the infamous bean in Millenium Park for some more photos. By the way, that's Rachel wrapped up in her scarf just in case you couldn't tell. After that we looked at 2 windows at Macy's and were extrememly disappointed. It's not like the old Marshall Field windows that's for sure. Then we shopped a little before heading our day at Gino's East pizza for dinner. It was a fun day with the family (even though it was really cold!).

Having fun at the CHICAGO Wolves hockey game.

FUN WITH FAMILY

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FUN WITH FAMILY PART 2

SOME DECEMBER HAPPENINGS ...

The girls decorating those wonderful pre-cut out sugar cookies from Market Day. All you do is bake and then decorate them. So easy and fun for the girls. It's one of their favorite holiday traditions!

SNOW DAY TODAY

even though I don't think it was THAT bad! Needless to day, the girls enjoyed their snow day and started their Christmas Break one day earlier than planned. They all played outside in the snow and went sledding in the neighborhood. I stayed busy inside making several dozens of cookies and some chex mix. Also finished up the last of my wrapping (only had 5 gifts left). Trying to keep the house clean and tidy for a family holiday gathering tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to it!

NOT THE ONE VOTED FOR ...

our annual Christmas card, but it's my favorite because Titan is in the photo

BLOG CHANGES

made a few changes, just experimenting and having fun

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?

Halloween Trick or Treating

Lindsey and Katie as 80's girls


Rachel as a vampire and Karly as a maid

Allie was an injured soccer player and Rachel C. a Raggedy Ann

Rachel turned 11 - happy belated birthday my sweet little girl!


Lindsey was inducted into National Honors Society - congrats and so proud of you!

MORE DOOR COUNTY

Here was the view from the deck at the cabin where we stayed. The trees weren't quite at peak yet but this view was very pretty.

A few pumpkins over at the main house of the B&B who we rented the cabin from. The businesses and shops were all decorated with huge bright orange pumpkins and colorful mums. Very charming and definitely put you in the mood for fall.

Thanks for a great weekend Rick! Love ya.

DOOR COUNTY

Rick and I had a wonderful weekend away up in Door County, WI. We stayed at a very quaint cabin in the woods. So cool.
We visited this lighthouse along Lake Michigan.
We went to a traditional Fish Boil at Gull Inn in Fish Creek. Very good.
Actually got a photo of the two of us by putting the camera on the railing and using the self-time. Yah!

Caught this fisherman and the sunset after we were leaving the Shipwreck Restaurent where we had dinner Sat. night. Very pretty.

HOMECOMING

3 SOCCER PLAYERS

It's not too often anymore that all 3 girls are home at the same time so on Sunday (soccer game day) when they were all at home and all had their red jerseys on, you know what that meant? A great photo op! Rachel also requested a photo with their numbers showing!

ALLIE IS FOURTEEN - NO WAY!

The pictures are out of order but here is Allie after our Woodfield trip opening some small gifts. She loves the Jonas Brothers right now so I knew she'd enjoy this magazine. Hope you had a great day Allie Bud!

We told Allie that she had to ready to leave Sat. at 9:45am for a surprise birthday trip. She didn't know it but we were taking her to the Apple Store at Woodfield to pick out one of the BRAND NEW IPOD NANOS. We even blindfolded her when we got close to the store so she had NO IDEA where she was going. We undid the blindfold when she was standing in front of the new NANO display. It was so cool! And even though she acted like we were so lame I could tell she was pretty excited. Here is she posing with her new LIME GREEN nano.

Allie chose to eat her b-day lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe at Woodfield (always a favorite with our family). We ordered the VOLCANO dessert which was big enough for all 5 of us. Yummy!

FALL AROUND OUR HOME

I always wait until after Allie's bday to decorate our house for Fall/Halloween. Here's a few shots from around our house. And yes, we have a real live black cat but not just for Halloween; he's here year-around.