Christmas in Chicago!

On Dec.28th we ventured out in the car to Chicago for a Christmas celebration with my immediate family and aunt. The drive wasn't too bad! We left at 12:30am Tues morning and arrived in Chicago at 3pm. Mark drove most of the way. Somehow he was able to stay awake. Mattingly was great. He slept and watched some videos. That night my brother and sister in law came in and we enjoyed dinner. It was just the 3 siblings with no parents! =) Wed. my parents and aunt arrived. We enjoyed doing a train exhibit tour, lights at a zoo, shopping, Navy Pier, and a limo ride on New Year's Eve. That was fun. I would have liked a little more time in the limo though and wished it wasn't so windy so that the pictures came out better. We can do it again in another 5 years. =)

Christmas Eve/Day

Christmas Eve we went to Mark's cousin's house with his family. We chatted and opened presents. Mattingly and Lexie (Tracy's dog) gave us some entertainment.



Christmas morning Mattingly woke up and found presents from Santa in a new tent. We opened presents and then headed off to my parents house for some yummy brunch and presents. Then it was off to Mark's brother's house with his family for delicious dinner and more presents. (I need to take more pictures with Mark's family!)

Happy Birthday Payton!

My bff's little girl Payton turns one year today! She had her birthday party a few weeks early seeing as how it's around the holidays. It was a ladybug theme. Mattingly had fun running around the place, eating treats and "helping" open gifts and "checking" them out first. =)

Rockstar

Mattingly was pretending to play a guitar and dancing around the house so Mark decided to take out his guitar from his younger days for Mattingly to play. He loved it! He was rocking out!

Silly boy

Mattingly was getting ready for bed and of course ran away from me after taking his pants off. Well he found my boots and put them on. I thought it was funny especially when he tried walking so I took a picture. And another night getting into his pjs he was trying to take his shirt off by himself and it got stuck on his head so he was walking around with it on and I snapped a picture.

Smile!

I was trying to get Mattingly to take a cute picture in front of the Christmas tree last week. This is what I got...

Serena's Brithday Party

was at the beginning of Nov. at place called Timber Gyms where they have swing sets inside in which you can play on. They did a corny magic show and treasure and and fed them bagels with butter and juice for a snack. Mattingly enjoyed climbing on all the different swing sets and hanging from the rings the most. He didn't interact much with the other kids.