Merry Christmas

 Small miracle tonight - 3 boys in front of the tree, looking at the camera & smiling!  BAM

828 N Wheaton!!!

Finally....house pics!!!  We are THRILLED to have a new house, just one block away from our old one, in Wheaton!  We love our neighborhood, but wanted a house with more room and a bigger yard, so we always kept an eye on houses in the neighborhood.  Long story short, this beautiful 100 year old house went back on the market in October (it was under contract with a builder who was going to put another house on the side of it - yes, the yard is that big!) and we jumped at the chance.  It's a perfect house for our crazy boys, with a half acre yard, lots of room inside and tons of 100 year old character.  Pretty crazy, the guy we bought the house from was in his 80's, and he was born in the house.  His parents were the original owners when the house was built in 1899.  We could have never pulled any of this off without all the help from Papa Randy, the most generous dad and Papa around, and Grammy and Bub who spent a week scrubbing night and day to help us get the house ready before we moved.  We love you guys and are so, so grateful.  Here are a few pics I just snapped, they don't do it justice, so everyone come out for a visit!!       

 

The huge yard, which actually goes all the way around the house

 Entryway

 Dining room

 Office

The door to the right is a crazy bathroom built under the stairs

 Normally the living room, but currently home to our huge tree

 Family room - the fireplace in here is from the original library in downtown Wheaton

 Kitchen

 Sun room

 Upstairs loft

 Guest room

 Master - we now have our own bathroom!!

 Josh's room - in the finished 3rd floor

 Boys' room

 They even have an attached little office

Halloween

 Here is a looong overdue Halloween post.  We moved last week and the last month may have been the craziest month of my life, so I'm just now getting to these pics.  I will post another time about the new house!  Anyway, Halloween was a big hit with the boys.  As always, Grammy came to the rescue and saved my chaotic and scattered self by making the boys all adorable homemade costumes:)   Huge thanks Grammy!!!  Alec was Harry Potter, Charlie was a school crossing guard/construction worker, and Josh, very fitting to his nickname, was a Hobbit.    The boys all adored their costumes and all of the fun Halloween festivities.  Josh's costume was particularly adorable and I was told by probably a dozen people that it was the best toddler costume they had ever seen.  Charlie's was also funny b/c he is completely obsessed with the school crossing guards at Alec's school, so much so that the gym teacher, who runs the crossing guard program, made him his own crossing guard stop sign, and let him borrow an official school vest.  Charlie is on a first name basis with the entire 5th grade class at the elementary school since they are the guards.  Here's a photo tour of our  Halloween.

 Picking pumpkins at Cosley Zoo

 Charlie in his first official school show:)  He easily had the loudest singing voice

 Out directing traffic

 Harry

 In front of one of the 3 fireplaces at our new house

 Josh was a trick-or-treating machine and marched around like he owned the place.  Neither of my other 2 were ever as bold at 2.

 Check out the furry feet and ring

 

Loretta sent the boys this crazy witch for the yard, she was a huge hit

 I volunteered for Alec's school party; super cute and fun