Gotta love bowling...

We took the kids to a small, but fun bowling alley last week to ward off the winter blues, and to celebrate the last day of a very long winter break. It was tons of fun, and we were in awe that they can basically do everything on their own now, and we can just enjoy ourselves and bowl also! (We did leave Quinn with someone.)

Ethan definitely had the most pizazz, style, and maybe even skill. Although he and Aidan ended up tying. :)

Get-Away

We visited an indoor waterpark 2 summers ago in the Chicago area, and had such a blast we knew we had to do it again. When we couldn't quite squeeze it in last summer, we realized it would be much more appreciated in the winter anyways.
Especially after Daddy was gone for 4 days at SnowBlast. And extra-especially since the school district determined the students needed a 4 week Christmas Break this year. (I understand their reasoning, and applaud their thinking outside-the-box to save money (cutting major heating costs this way), but c'mon, 4 weeks is a long time to be holed up in the dead of winter with 5 little boys...)

So last weekend we headed up to the Starved Rock area and tried out Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. The one night hotel stay included our admission to their indoor waterpark (which we did on Friday afternoon), and their indoor amusement park, which we did on Saturday after driving around Starved Rock a bit looking at Bald Eagles (awesome). It was a very fun trip... aside from the all day vomiting from the twins on Saturday. But we pushed through it and still had a good time.
There is something so exciting about the anticipation of a trip like this for the boys, and the sense of adventure that bonds them and us together during it. I absolutely love it. Of course, we would have absolutely loved it more if 5 little boys were easy to get to sleep while sharing a hotel room.







































And what is cuter than this, really?

Budding Photographer

Caleb very much wanted a digital camera for his last birthday, and when he didn't get one, he promptly decided to use all his birthday money towards it. He's had a lot of fun with it, when he remembers.

Sadly though, I recently transferred his pics onto the computer... for the first time. Slacker mom, I know.

Here are a few that made me snicker. And don't worry, we deleted the one of his brother's bare hindquarters. (after a serious talk, mind you)






Boys. Seriously. They have just recently gotten into the whole "burps are funny, gas is hilarious, and any other potty humor is to be celebrated" stage. And I know it's only the beginning of a lifetime of their "boyness". Gulp. I should be thankful I was spared for this long.

This one I actually thought was pretty cool.

New Year's Eve

Weston was away with the High Schoolers at Snowblast. So the boys and I decided to repeat the tradition we started last year of a "Mock New Year's Eve Party".

We played a new family game, decorated gingerbread houses (we never seemed to find time to fit that in December, so we've started buying a kit on clearance afterwards), and watched the ball drop on You Tube (so it was from last year, they don't know the difference).







We had hats, noisemakers, and a toast. Not a bad way to welcome in 2011.