New Years Eve

Cameron went to his friend Ian's house while I got my hair cut again.  I stopped at my parents and chatted for about an hour.  I also ate a Suzy Q that are no longer being made.  My dad stock piled some for us.  Yum.

Ran home to get Todd.  We ran some errands and then went to look at carpet.  Found some we liked.  Went to get Cameron from Ian's house.  Back home.

At 5:30 my parents came over.  We were suppose to celebrate the kids birthdays and New Years Eve with my brother and his family but Griffin had strep throat.  Bummer.  Todd and my Dad grilled out a bunch of different sausages for dinner.  Cameron and my Mom played a few games on the Xbox...Wipeout and Just Dance 4.  They both needed a break after those.  They are a lot of work. 

Mom is like a kid with her phone. 

Just Dance 4.

We ate.  We then played Catch Phrase, Scattegories, and Outburst.  We forgot how fun those games were.  There were definitely a lot of laughs.  Cameron and my Dad played the new fishing game.  Todd had to help them learn to cast and reel in fish.  This game is like really being out fishing...BORING.  There was no action what so ever and Mom and I almost fell asleep. 

Dinner time.

Mom trying to get Dad to guess a word.

Trying to fish.

At 11:00 we watched the ball drop in New York.  We wanted to call it a night but Cameron really wanted to stay up for the real New Years.  Todd put in an old video from 2006.  It was ridiculous how much stuff Cameron got for Christmas that year (and every year).  He was so darn cute and sweet.

The videos ended with 15 seconds left in 2012.  Todd quickly found a channel with a countdown and at midnight we yelled Happy New Year.  Pretty low key but we still made it.  My parents left and we were all in bed by 12:15.  Cameron was one tired boy.

Happy 2013.

Side Note:
Remember our house is basically empty.  We brought up my parents old Retro 1970 velour chairs from the basement and had Cameron's new bean bag chairs for furniture in the living room.  We are getting new carpet so our bedroom furniture was in the dining room.  Our house will be all put back together and perfect when we get home in July.  It has been crazy but we have loved being in our home.

More Christmas Celebrations

As soon as the Love's saw our lights on Henry wanted to come over and see Cameron.  Todd and Cameron went to breakfast with them while I got ready.  We went down to the Love's room to say our goodbyes.  What a fun time we had with them.

Last minute gaming before heading home.

We jumped in the car and headed to Port Byron.  Todd's family was having a Christmas celebration with all the extended families.  We had lunch, opened presents, and did the adult grab bags.  We chatted for a bit longer and then said goodbye to everyone.

Cameron and A.J. playing video games.

Cameron and Allison hanging out at the bar.

My family.

My in-laws.

We went to my parents house for my sides extended family Christmas party.  Busy day with all kinds of relatives.  We had dinner.  Cameron played with Nora for a couple of hours.  He is so good with little kids.  Griffin sat with Kyler the whole time too.  They would make a good babysitting team. We sat around chatting and doing a lot of laughing thanks to Laycee and Aubree. Those are some funny girls with funny stories.  Around 7:45 we were back home.  Cameron played a little Xbox while I did laundry.  Off to bed.

Kyler is a solid, heavy baby boy.

My family.

Cameron holding Kyler.

Tummy time on Cameron.

Who wouldn't hire these two to babysit?

Nora getting a lift.

Such a sweet baby.

Nora can give some mean looks when she wants to.

Playing kooshie ball.

Building blocks.

Cameron's favorite...Barbie time.

Cousins Tim and Brian (brothers) and Me and my brother Scott.

We added our spouses.

Added kids.

Added kids' spouses.

Cameron, Grace, Griffin, and Kyler.

Ill-INI

Breakfast and waited for Love's to show up. When they arrived we caught a cab to Beer Bistro Restaurant. We got an awesome table with big comfy seats and plenty of room for the kids. The best thing on the menu...a basket of bacon. I have never seen that as an appetizer so I had to have it. Delicious. The owner is a friend of Bill's so when we met him I told him I would definitely be back for another basket of bacon. Lunch was really good.

Waffles and oatmeal.

Ready for the Illinois game.

William, Henry (full of personality) and Cameron waiting for their lunch.

Getting comfy on Cameron.

Love and Wallace families.

Bill and Todd were texting, facebooking, emailing, or something.

Huge basket of bacon.  Heaven.

Goofy 1 and Goofy 2.

We caught the shuttle bus to the United Center so we could watch the Illinois basketball game. They played Auburn. Won by 2. Henry was tired the whole game and he finally fell asleep with 1 minute left in the game. Poor guy. Bill and William went walking around at one point and when they came back Bill had bought sweatbands and hats for all 3 kids. Cameron was really excited. That was very nice of Bill.

On the shuttle bus.

A lot of orange for the Illini in the United Center.

Henry was checking Cameron's teeth.

Henry loved crawling all over Cameron.

Showing off their hats and sweatbands.

And he is out.

After the game we caught the shuttle back to the Beer Bistro and then jumped in cabs back to the hotel. We hung out for about a half hour and then walked to the Lego store. We went back to the hotel. Bill got Henry food across the street from the hotel and then he went to bed. The rest of us ordered pizza from Pizzeria Uno...Cameron's favorite. 

William and Henry are looking into our room.

Hanging out watching a movie.

After dinner we finished watching Ratatouille then everyone was off to bed.  Great day with the Love Family.

Meeting Emory

Up and at it early...as usual. We left the house at 8:40. I dropped Todd off at his doctor appointment and I ran out to get Cameron from McGuire's. Ran back in town, stopped at Walgreens, then back to the doctors office to wait for Todd to finish. We were on the road to Chicago fianlly.

We went to Huntley, Illinois to meet up with Breanne, Dustin, their new baby Emory, and Brett. We met them at Jill and Chuck's house even though they had already left to go downtown Chicago. Luckily they let us invade their house to spend time with the kids. I finally got to see Emory. He is 7 weeks old and just the cutest little thing. I held him a lot. I only gave him up so Cameron could hold him a couple of times. I needed my baby fix.

Cameron had to have a turn holding Emory.

He's so cute.

We ordered pizza and caught up. It has been awhile since we had seen any of them. I'm so glad we could make this visit happen. Love those kids. At 1:40 Todd started saying it was time to go. We were out the door by 1:55 and on the road to downtown. We were cruising along pretty well until we hit a big traffic jam. Slow moving for a little bit.This reminded me why I wouldn't live downtown.

So glad to catch up and meet Emory.

We checked into the hotel and then went walking around. We hit the Marble store. Cameron found a couple of things he might like to have. Probably going back tomorrow but we shall see. Continued walking around Michigan Avenue. Tons of people carrying all kinds of shopping bags.

Michigan Avenue.

Texas de Brazil was for dinner. It is an all you can eat meat restaurant. The servers walk around with big sticks with meat on them. Delicious. We ran into Jill and Chuck there. It was good chatting with them for a few minutes. We were going to meet them for a drink somewhere but we were stuffed and Cameron was ready to go back to the hotel.

Plate full of meat.

Grabbing some Flank Steak.

Mmmmmm, ribs.

Topped the meal off with fried bananas.

Back in the room. We finished watching Garfield the movie. We watched Gulliver's Travels then off to bed.