snow time

I asked Cordelia to show me her snow face. I meant an expression, not to white wash!

christmas

This is it, only a few pictures to capture Christmas Eve and day. Thankfully Megan was able to get one of the four of us before we became a family of five.

zoo lights

Lincoln Park Zoo Lights is not really about the animals. At least for us. It's all about the lights, music and possibility of snacks with cocoa.

Cordelia wanted to get her picture taken in front of every single display. I obliged until my battery died.

medinah christmas party

The kids and adults look forward to this event every year. It really is quite the setup. I love that the boys went for the "elf" face paint.

Look at this twosome. So innocent.

One of the last pictures of my BABY. 

Bea bypassed the face painting and opted for the hand painting. It was a beautiful nighttime reindeer scene. But we weren't allowed to talk about it or even ask her about it. Getting this blurry picture was even a challenge. 

A life-size gingerbread house! There were ropes and signs that clearly stated to not touch it or go in it. But neither myself nor my children saw them. It never dawned on me that they wouldn't want you feeling it and sniffing it.

Santa knew what he was doing. He had a whole system for getting individual pictures with the kids and then one of all of them. It was so seamless.

REAL reindeers!!! This one had twigs for antlers...NEXT.

This one was more like it!

After the kids see Santa, they get age and gender appropriate gift bags. These three set up camp behind our table to go through their loot. 

Since I never get these three together, I wanted a picture. We asked Bea to show us her proud older cousin pose. Evie gets it.

thanksgiving divas

birthday reunion

Cordelia's friend Penelope had a birthday party reunion of sorts. A couple of the girls are now at different schools, so the birthday was a great way to see each other again. They all get along so well!

coco rose's school pictures

Like any child, Cordelia has been going through phases of what she wants to wear and how she wants her hair. We went through a double braid phase, which I loved. She is also really interested in dresses, especially ones that used to be mine. This blue number is one of them. You can imagine my delight when I saw the backdrops and props of the school pictures. It was meant to be! She's like a period doll from American Girl. Or a high class runaway. 

halloween

I knew the day would come when the kids would want to have control of their own costumes. This was the year. Bea wanted to be a leopard and Cordelia a pig. I kept saying are you SURE, reallllly sure?? 

Bea wanted to mask instead of getting her face painted. And she wanted to wear a halloween outfit under her partial costume. I had a really hard time with this. It may have even made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Coco opted for a cozy sweat suit and pig parts. 

And she let me paint her face!

tilly's bday party

All of Coco's rainforest friends know Bea, so she is lucky enough to also get invited to birthday parties. This was Tilly's party at Firehouse Art Studio. 

The kids got to play with clay.

Paint ceramic medallions.

Make pigs out of clay.

Tilly's mom made the cake and all of the frosting. All organic and vegan. Then the kids got to decorate it! I am usually a full flavor and full fat type of gal. But this cake was delicious.

Then their friends swung by with their pot belly pigs! What are the chances!?

It was a beautiful day to run outside...

and take turns jumping off a random 4 x 4.