It's a tit bit Nippy Out!

In past posts I have mentioned that it is cold here in Chicago, but I do not think I realized what cold ment until the last 2 days. Example: The kids and I piled into our car this morning to take Dave to the train station so he could catch the 8:24 express. I walked into our garage and I knew it was cold, as I was trying to put the kids in their car seat my hands started to get frost bite on them. No joke, maybe a little. So as we are driving to the train station Dave checked the temperature it was a balmy 2 degrees, feels like -19 degrees. Yes that is right -19.

Now let me explain the feels like part, because my mom thought when I would tell her it feels like negative something, that it was weather according to Cassie. No it is not. The weather stations out here say "temperature 2 feels like -19." Because of the humidity and windchill it almost always feels colder than it is. In the summer it has the opposite effect, the humidity makes it feel hot, hot, hot.

Good Book

This is a book which is a no nothing book, just a fun and entertaining story. Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor' Easter by Lisa Patton. Just the name itself makes you want to read it. It is a light and fun book to read. No complaints here.

Bad Book

Have you ever read a book that just made you mad. Not mad because it ended badly or, it was sad (only my problem), mad because it was just down right stupid and the more you think about it the more you hate it. In fact you hate it so much you want to write a letter to the author telling her what a huge waste of time it was for you to read 500 pages of the most worthless words ever. (This seems very harsh I agree, but it was a really bad book) The characters in the book were very selfish and grew even more selfish as the book went on. To top it all off, the book really had no story to it. It was a book about nothing, which may work for a beloved television show we all know and love, but it does not work for a book. So needless to say do not read The Emperors Children, by Claire Messud. If you have and you loved, I am sorry for this post.

Macy's Display Windows

Downtown Chicago at Christmas has amazing decorations. The Macy's on State had the story about the little girl Virginia and her response from Santa in their windows. The display was made from all paper and every window had a different part of the story. Izzi just loved these windows and wold stare at them forever. In the pictures of her standing and looking at the windows you can just tell she wanted to be part of the story itself.

Pictures

For Christmas Dave takes pictures of our kids to give to my mom (upon my moms request). These are the pictures this year with a couple of other cute ones thrown in there.

Christmas

This year for Christmas we were able to go back to Utah to be with the family. We had a ton of fun with Mick's new baby boy Micah, going to Zoo lights and Layton Park lights. The flight out of Chicago was a little rough. Izzi who is such a great little traveler sat in her seat and watched her i-phone read the safety manual for the airplane, didn't even make a peep. Max was a whole other story. Max was under seats pulling things out of other peoples bags, trying to climb over the seats kicking the seat in front of him. Literally for 3 hours it was non stop movement. So the picture you see of the two kids is Izzi being so safe and adult like by reading her safety manual and Max being Max by laying under the seat.

Garden Party

Living in the mid-west is a guarantee for one of two things... college sports fanatics and freezing, freezing cold weather. I really only care about the tundra of a state we live in. During the day the thermometer generally hovers around 15-20 degrees, with the humidity and the wind chill, it usually equates to nippy negative numbers. So needless to say when you head out of the house you and your kids are pretty bundled up with all the obvious accessories.
Since Izzi's birthday happens to be in the middle of winter we thought it would be fun to through her a garden party with all her little friends. When all the girls arrived they received a pair of wings and a little tulle skirt. We decorated with lanterns, butterflies, branches and flowers. We played pin the dot on the butterfly and painted ceramic flowers and butterflies to go on bracelets. It was a ton of fun and made you feel like your were out of the arctic cold for a little bit.