Downtown Tradition

We have a tradition in my family, every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving all the "girls" (me, my mom, my sisters & sister-in-law) take the train downtown, have lunch/brunch at the Walnut Room inside Macy's and then do a little shopping. It is something that I look forward to. Last year we did not go because my sister Kelly was in Korea. This year, we resumed the tradition and also invited Emma to come with, and to make it extra special, one of Emma's favorite cousins, Ben, came with too. We drove to Cumberland and then took the "L" downtown, just a couple blocks from Macy's. We had a wonderful brunch and got to sit very close to the big tree. It was the first time ever that we did not have to wait a really long time, a reminder of how so many people are struggling this year, no doubt. Did I mention that Emma spilled an entire glass of ice water all over herself...luckily I brought with a change of clothes. After lunch we made our ususal stops, Old Navy, TJMax, Filene's. And we were contemplating heading over to the American Girl store at Water Tower, when the trolley headed toward Water Tower, pulled up right in front of us! It was great and the kids loved all the neat modes of transportation that we experienced. We had a fun trolley driver who pointed ut all sorts of neat tidbits. Including where to get the giant shopping bags that we saw people walking around with. When we got off the trolley, we went straight for the free shopping bags. They were so perfect! I had been stuffing all of my purchases into one shopping bag and the handles were really hurting my hands, but that big bag held it all and the straps rested nicely on my shoulder. :-) All in all, it was such a wonderful day with the girls (and Ben).

Here's me & the kiddos waiting on the "L" platform.

The kiddos having fun on the trolley.
Awww, look at them walking hand in hand through the subway tunnel.

And finally, a fabulous group photo under the big tree at the Walnut Room.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To celebrate Thanksgiving Emma's preschool class made "Thankful Soup" and then had a little program. Mrs. Palmer gave each of the children a pilgrim name. Emma's name was "Humility". They also made cute little turkey centerpieces, placemats, beaded necklaces and pilgrim hats. Here are some pictures.

Hey, I wonder if the pilgrim's used Reddi Whip... :-)

I pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for...our families, our jobs, our health and the love of our precious Savior. May the Lord fill you with joy and peace, may you know Him personally and may we all remember to pause and give thanks.

Pause and Give Thanks

Wherever you find yourself today,

Whether filled with joy or wrapped in pain,

Remember to pause a moment and give thanks

For no other event in our history and time,

Can change our lives like the birth of Christ, so Divine.

His love never failing, and His Presence always near

The greatest wonder in Heaven on Christmas did appear.

God’s gift full of grace that brings life, love, and hope,

Can be unwrapped by us all - changing life’s scope.

For when we invite His life into our hearts,

No love is greater than that He imparts.

So wherever you find yourself today,

Remember to pause and give thanks,

For He is the Truth and the Way!

Crazy Coupon Lady

Yes, the rumors are true...I am OFFICIALLY a crazy coupon lady!! Tammy & I went to a "Super Coupon" seminar last week and I am forever a changed shopper! In fact...check this receipt out... (I would have posted the whole receipt but with all the coupons/discounts it's like 4 feet long!!) I saved $69.80!!! WAHHH! How cool is that?! Not bad for my first time ever using coupons!! Sean asked if it took forever for the cashier to ring up all the coupons and I had to laugh because it was the opposite. I'm so used to the check out process being time consuming and somewhat stressful because I usually have to bag my own groceries. But this was different. I went to the really nice grocery store right by Emma's preschool and there was a seperate boy bagging my groceries who even asked to help me to my car (what?!) and the cashier was friendly and even smiled (I'm not joking) and he whipped through those coupons so fast! :-)

The cute little coupon lady, Jill Cataldo, educated us on timing our coupons with the sales. And also gave us a ton of coupon secrets. And, my new favorite grocery store offers 3 different websites where I can load coupons directly onto my preferred card. Then, I combine that paperless coupon with a store sale as well as a manufactures coupon and basically get name brand stuff for super cheap!! Wait, there's more, my grocery store doubles coupons everyday!! Crazy. Who knew?! Here's a part of my receipt that shows each of the online coupons that I loaded onto my card...Cellfire, ShortCuts and P&GeSAVER. I couldn't believe they actually worked!! Then, all the coupons I clipped from the paper and printed from the internet (coupons.com and smartsource.com) showed up at the end of my reciept.

My most exciting purchases were a big tube of Crest toothpaste for $.48!! And, they paid me a nickel to take a 4 pack of Cottonelle toilet paper!!! Herbal Essence shampoo for $.49!! And I got 5 boxes of General Mills cereal for less that $1 per box!! Look out crazy coupon lady is on the loose!!

Girls Day Out

We had a very fun outting with Grandma Witz the other day. We went to Woodfield Mall, and wouldn't you know it, Santa was there! We weren't planning to see Santa..it is a bit early..but there was no line how could we pass that up?! They have a cool Polar Express snowglobe theme exhibit that you walk through on the way to see Santa (and Santa gave the girls Polar Express stickers!!). Emma was dazzled being in Santa's midst, Lucy wasn't so sure. After we saw Santa, we went to Build a Bear Workshop and then for lunch at Rainforest Cafe. What a special day it was for us girls!

Timothy's Last Day

Timothy was so excited about having an extra hour with Emma when we switched the clocks back for daylight savings! Then, after a nice long night of rest, Timothy came to Church with us.

Timothy has been bonding with our dog Freddie very nicely.

It's been a fun weekend but tomorrow we have to bring Timothy back to preschool. And Emma gets to share with her class all the things they did together.

Timothy's Adventures - Day Two

Timothy became an honorary member of the

Red Flames soccer team!

Timothy had a "smashing" good time watching the

pumpkins fly at the Pumpkin Launch!

Emma thought Timothy looked cute with a little pumpkin on his shell.


Emma took Timothy on a bike ride.


And finally after a busy day, Emma cuddled up with Timothy in the top bunk.