New hairdo!

So, after going back and forth about shorter or longer hair, Abby decided to cut her long locks off. I wasn't sure when Renee was at the beginning stages, but I LOVE this new haircut. It will be so much easier to comb and super low maintenance. Matthew is in the photos too because he also had a haircut, but nothing more than the normal winter cut.

We can have snow in Southern Illinois!

So, after more than 24 hours of sleet/ice which left 2+ inches, we did get about 4 inches of snow on top. My kiddos are in HEAVEN! Matthew & Abby were too little to play in the snow in Chicago, and Timothy just LOVES snow. We played outside while Michael napped, and the twins headed back out this afternoon with Mark. I don't mind 4 inches of snow, but I don't need any more! Enjoy the photos! I know the far right photo is not that exciting, but Matthew was fascinated with the ice!

Michael's 1st playdate!

I've become friends with a newer member of our church, so we had our new friends over to eat lunch and play on Wednesday. They are about a month apart, but aren't they too cute together! Everyone had a good time....although Michael spit up a million times!

Blog slacker

Alright, it has been over a month since I graced everyone with my presence on this blog. We have just been CRAZY busy, and I don't know if it's Christmas, 4 kids or 2 busy work schedules (well, it's probably all 4 together). We are all doing quite well although Michael continues to get teeth which makes him a bit cranky! I never did blog our nice visit with the other young Surburg family, our wonderful early Christmas with Michael & my Mom and then, our Christmas visit from my Mother and Father in Law! I will do a bit of a photo replay! Enjoy!

Decorating for Christmas!

Well, I'm a little late posting, but we started preparing for Christmas, last Sunday. We went and picked out a Christmas Tree (we will always have a real tree b/c Mark LOVES them) and set up the Dicken's Village from Dept 56. The Dicken's Village is Mark's baby and he loves to have it all set up. It was my family's tradition, but it's a good thing that he likes it or I probably wouldn't set it up every year. The tree is one of the nicest trees we've ever had. As of today, it is still soft and super green. We'll see what it's like in a month! I bought the kids all matching outfits from Gap Outlet, and we put them on for the occasion. Enjoy!

Michael at 8 months....a week late!

Well, Michael has made some big changes in a month. At 8 months of age he:

• is fully mobile in the crawling position, but it won't be long until he figures out how to walk



• is loving cheerios and any other cereal type food that he can feed himself



• has 2 teeth on the bottom that are growing in nicely!



• is just the sweetest little guy (unless he is alone in bed) - see below



• is happy moving from toy to toy on the main level and LOVES to climb stairs



• is living in a gated community (most of the time) unless we choose to watch him climb the stairs



• is not happy being laid down to go to sleep and usually cries with seperation



• loves his siblings but especially his sister because she sings and entertains as needed

I'll add a few photos from our outing on Sunday to purchase the tree and during the village set up. He was so happy!

a few photos from sunday after church

I really don't blog much these days. I am tooooooo busy with working two 10-12 hour shifts every Monday and Thursday and keeping up with 4 children. We've been a little extra busy with church activities, and the construction in the basement of the train layout. I don't know what to think of the added stress of the holidays.....I actually think that it may just be similiar to our normal life pace. We'll see. I'm going to add a few photos from after church a week and a half ago.