A picture review for 2009

In January we headed to American Girl. This was the first time Chloe had been to the new store - you can tell she was excited! :)


We took our annual trip to see Great Grandma T. in February. Always a fun time!
We had Crazy Hair Day at school in March! :)


We did so many fun things in April because it was Spring Break, but this is a picture from when we went to Lincoln Park Zoo.


And in May, each year, we head back up to the lake!!!!! Of course, that includes catching a frog or two...or 12!!! My boys sure love catching frogs!

In June, we hosted a 40th Anniversary Party for Ryan's Mom and Dad! It was a surprise, and boy, were they surprised! It was a lot of fun!!
We all headed to Tunnel Park in July! It's a beach in Holland, Michigan.
It sure was a chilly August, so the boys had to find things to do that didn't involve the beach or the boat. They decided that dirt was a good choice! The boys were dirty from head to toe!!
In September, we went to the Chicago White Sox game with Grandma Betty and Grandma and Grandpa T.


We're off to see the Wizard! :) We had a great time in October for Halloween!
This year, the boys had a lot more fun hunting with daddy! They thoroughly enjoyed being with daddy when he shot this goose!
And finally, this picture was a part of our Christmas card in December.

We've had a really good year, and are praying for an even better 2010!

Happy New Year everyone!

A bunch of random! :)

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving. We stuffed ourselves to the gills and enjoyed every minute of family time that we had! I just love getting together with our extended families!

Friday morning I woke up about 2:20, and was out the door by 2:35! I met-up with my sister, Melanie, friend Katie, and her niece Jessie. We had such an awesome time getting awesome door-buster deals! :) We were done shopping around 11:00.

I then headed to my in-laws. My kids had spent the night there on Thursday night with all of the cousins, and then when I got there, we decorated Christmas cookies. I hit a brick wall around 2:30p.m., and was SOOOOO tired. I drank a couple cups of coffee, and it seemed I was much better after that.

Once we got home, I tried to take a nap, but couldn't {the coffee did it!}. That evening we went to the Parade of Lights here in town. My brother and sister-in-law came to watch too. It was really a cute parade!

Yesterday, we headed to a tree farm close to our house, and cut down the perfect Christmas tree! We ended up putting it up today, and I just love it!

Unfortunately, my camera was no where to be found during any of these events, so I've got nothing to show you! ;)

I hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving too, and that you enjoy this holiday season as much as I do!

They're HERE!!!

Today, my hubby came down the stairs asking me if I was expecting anything from FedEx.

Why yes, I am! I was waiting for my Christmas Photo Cards to come via the US Mail, certainly not FedEx, as I hadn't even paid shipping for the things.

He opens the door and accepts two little packages. Of course, he starts to open them! How dare him?!? ;)

Any way - they arrived in perfect order. All 100 of them - WITH envelopes.

Is it too early to send them out?!? ;)

If you haven't order your FREE cards yet - go quickly - before 11/30/09. I didn't have to pay shipping for them, but my friend Susan did - about $6 for 100 of them - which is still a great deal!

Have I told you that I love free?!?

Well, I do!!! I read on Freebies 4 Mom that you could get a FREE 20-page, hard cover, personalized photo book. INCLUDING FREE SHIPPING!! Well, I just created mine - here's a glimpse! ;)

If you enter the Promo Code: BONNIE at checkout it should be completely FREE - mine was!

Hurry though, apparently they are only giving away 25,000 (you won't know if they are sold out until you check out) of these babies, so go grab it! :)

Hot Tip for Black Friday!

For all of you die-hard Black Friday shoppers out there, I've got a hot tip that helped me, and the girls I shop with, tremendously!

A few years ago, I was shopping at Costco and were selling reusable shopping bags. Because Costco sells things in bulk, the bags are quite large - definitely larger than normal reusable shopping bags. They were sold in a 3 pack, so I picked one up. My main reason for picking them up was because I thought it was a great way to transport Christmas presents. However, last year, I thought it would be a good idea to bring these along on Black Friday. And let me tell you, I was SO glad I did!! The stores are SOOO crowded that these bags made it easy to grab what we needed, but didn't have the hassle of a shopping cart.

So, if you have these bags, or bags like them - take 'em with you - you won't be sorry! :)

Sneak Peek!

Alright, so I was just so happy with my kids the other day when I was taking their pictures for my Christmas cards. If I told them to smile, they smiled. If I told them to hold hands, they held hands. Occasionally Brett would lick Owen's ear or something crazy like that, but overall they did so well!

This picture did not make the cut for the card, but it's a sneak peak at the real thing! :)

They shipped!!!

Wow! I can't even believe this. I got an e-mail that was time stamped around midnight last night telling me that both of my photo card orders have been shipped! Talk about speedy! I can't wait to see them! :)

If you have not done this deal - you gotta go try it!