Christmas in Des Moines

We spent an extended Christmas weekend in Iowa with Nate's family. We left on December 23rd, hoping to beat a snow sotrm. As it turns out, leaving a day early was a wise choice. We drove all the way to Des Moines before the snow and ice came. Alaina is doing better with longer trips in the car. As long as we keep her occupied with her favorite books, music, and snacks she is a happy girl. When we got to Nate's parents house Alaina immediately started chasing their cat, Chloe. Alaina loves animals!

Sitting on Grandpa's lap with Chloe

Alaina shared her Cheerios with Chloe

On Christmas Day Alaina woke up to find a stocking filled with gifts from Santa! She got a musical coloring book, a dolly, a board book, and an orange. She was fascinated with the orange!

Later that morning we all went to church together. Alaina sat in the church (instead of the cry room) for the entire service- a Christmas miracle! When we got back home, Nate's sister came over with her girls. Alaina enjoyed spending time with her aunt and cousins. We opened presents and had our Christmas dinner together. We had a great Christmas weekend in Iowa! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Opening presents with cousin Alysa

Alaina with Grandma and Grandpa Bruck... Chloe too!

Christmas in Rockford

We celebrated Christmas a week early with my family here in Rockford. Alaina was much more interested in opening presents this year than last year. It was fun to see how excited she was about her new toys! Below are a few pictures from our gift exchange in Rockford.

Decorating for Christmas

It's that time of year again! We brought our Christmas decorations up from the basement last week. We purchased a new Christmas tree! Our old one looked horrible and was really hard to put together. Our new tree looks beautiful! Alaina enjoyed helping us decorate the tree. She likes to name the different objects hanging on the tree. When we plug in the tree lights she says "so pretty!" I only have one more full week left of school before winter break. I am looking forward to two weeks off work. We are celebrating an early Christmas here in Rockford on December 19th. Then we will drive to Iowa to spend Christmas with Nate's family. We're keeping our figers crossed that the weather is decent for traveling. There is a huge snow storm going through the midwest right now. We spent the whole day at home watching the snow. With any luck, school will be cancelled tomorrow.

Decorating the tree

"So pretty"

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love that it is just a laid back day, filled with family and good food. What more could you want? We spent Thanksgiving weekend here in Rockford this year with my family. My mom cooked a full turkey and also some traditional Greek food. My mom also tried to replicate the sweet potatoes that my grandma used to make. They were tasty, but just not the same (sorry Mom). Nobody makes sweet potatoes the way Grandma used to make them. We always miss Grandma, but especially around the holidays.

We braved the madness on Black Friday and went shopping. We went out after Alaina's nap in the afternoon, not my usual 6AM routine. Surprisingly, I couldn't find anyone who was interested in shopping with me at that hour. Later that night I had my 10 year high school reunion. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already. Nate and I went with a group of friends. It was definitely an interesting experience. It was nice seeing some old friends. Below are a few pictures from the reunion.

Kalli, Jenny, Renee

Jingle Bell Run

Kalli and Anna at the finish line!

Today I ran in my first race! I ran the 5k Jingle Bell run in Rockford. A friend of mine convinced me to do the Couch to 5k program with her. It's a training schedule for people who have never run before. I was very sceptical at first. I was never a good runner and was certain that I would never be able to run long distances. My friend Anna felt the same way, but was determined to give running a try. Together we did the Couch to 5k program. It was a 10 week program that had us running every other day. We would meet after work for our runs. I remember the first week we had trouble running for a full 5 minutes. Who would have thought that 9 weeks later we would be running a 5k race? I hope to keep up with my running over the winter. Anna and I are already looking into other races to run this spring. I'm so glad that we decided to become runners. Not to sound cliche, but you can really do anything if you put your mind to it!

Kalli, Kate, and Anna. First time runners!

The rest of our running friends
Anna's husband, Paul, lost a bet and had to wear this t-shirt during the race. If you can't read it, it says 'I Love Jay Cutler'. He's a big Packer's fan...

Day at the Discovery Center

Today I had off from work for Veteran's Day. I took Alaina to the Discovery Center for the first time. She absolutely loved it! The 2nd floor has so many fun activities for toddlers and preschoolers. It was nice to let Alaina run free from one station to another. Everything was at her level and age-appropriate so she could play by herself. We met up with some of my teacher friends and their children so Alaina had other kids to play with. We will definitely be making more trips to the Discovery Center as Alaina gets older. Below are a few pictures from our fun afternoon!

The water table was Alaina's favorite place to play!

At first Alaina was afraid of these vacuum tunnels. Then she realized they were really fun and she wanted to press the button over and over again to start the vacuum!

Rolling around on the giant keyboard.

Alaina loved the pretend house area. She pushed around the baby doll in the stroller for awhile.

Alaina sitting in the truck.

The only picture I have of the two of us from today. Alaina was busy coloring a scarecrow, but it kind of looks like she's sleeping in this picture.

Weekend in Arizona!

Nate and I flew to Arizona last weekend. The best man from our wedding, Nick, got married last Sunday. We flew to Phoenix on Friday and then drove to Prescott, Arizona for the wedding. We had fun spending time with Nick and his bride, Shawna. Nick and Shawna's wedding was outdoors in a beautiful forest preserve. They had a fun, coffeehouse reception after the ceremony. Their wedding was very casual, laid-back, and fun. I'm glad we got to be a part of their special day. Nick and Shawn will be living in Paris permanently so unfortunately we will not get to see them often. I'm sure our paths will cross someday on one of our trips to Europe or one of their visits back to the US.

Picture of the wedding site. Such a gorgeous location and beautiful day!

Nate and Nick at the wedding ceremony. Nate was the best man.

Nick and Shawna saying their vows

Too cute.

Nick's Dad wanted to include a Serbian tradition in the wedding ceremony. All the men had to take a shot of Serbian liquor. Nate said it was pretty strong stuff!

Family photo after the wedding: Nick and Shawna with Nick's parents

A cute picture of the two of us after the wedding

Cutting the cake at the coffeehouse reception

Trunk or Treat

Last night we took Alaina to Trunk or Treat at the YMCA. There were several vendors giving out candy from their cars in the YMCA parking lot. For younger kids, Trunk or Treat is a great alternative to trick-or-treating on Halloween night. We went with our friends Paul and Anna and their son Parker. Parker and Alaina looked so cute in their costumes! We weren't going to dress Alaina in costume this year, but some friends gave us this adorable lion costume. It was perfect for Alaina since she's recently been working on her lion roar. Alaina is still a little young to have fun with Halloween. She was mostly overwhelmed and a little scared by all the people in costume so we didn't stay too long. Next year she will be at a perfect age for trunk or treat... maybe even real trick-or-treating on Halloween!

Lainy the Lion and Mr. Parker Potato Head

Choosing a pumpkin

Looking through all her goodies on the ride home!

Des Moines Trip

Cousins Brianna, Alaina, and Alysa

Nate and I took Alaina to Des Moines for Columbus Day weekend. It was the perfect weekend to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bruck. There was no school today and Nate and I both took off work on Friday. That gave us four days to spend with family in Iowa. The last time Nate's family saw Alaina she was still crawling. They loved seeing her as a walking, talking toddler! While in Iowa we took Alaina to a pumpkin patch and the apple orchard. She absolutely loved both places! We also hung out with Nate's sister, Sarah, and Alaina's cousins, Brianna and Alysa. Such a fun weekend!

Alaina loved looking at the gourds at the Apple Orchard

She also befriended a stray cat

Mommy and Alaina at the apple orchard

We took about 10 pictures like this trying to get Alaina to look at the camera.

Alaina enjoyed sitting with the pumpkins.

Looking for the best pumpkin!

Daddy and Alaina in the hay maze.
If you can't read her shirt it says "I'm Batty for Daddy"

Grandpa showing Alaina the donkey

Alaina loved the farm animals! She was not afraid of them at all. She wanted to pet all the animals and even made some animal noises.

A cute picture of Aunt Sarah and Alaina