At home with the Zerbes family, 2008

I borrowed this great post idea from my fellow blogger and friend Jennifer. Here are just a few pictures of our family room area from a month ago, but we did have decorations here and there throughout the house too. I'm pretty happy with what we were able to get up this year considering the ages of our little "helpers" :) and the pretty hectic second half of the year we had.

We didn't even get to outside decorations this year before the cold and snow hit but we did manage to put a big red bow on the front door! Look out 2009- I'll be back in full decorating mode with fresh ideas for a wonderful home for the holidays!

Welcome to a peek inside our home- Christmas 2008!

The stairway

The mantle

The tree

Part of the family room

Christmas 2008

Christmas was a magical time for us this year! After the events of the last several months, the wonder, joy and excitement in the girls was not only priceless but contagious! We kicked off Christmas Day at 4AM (yes you read that correctly!), attempted to make it through 9:00 mass :), and then headed to Michigan City to have Christmas at Grandma & Papa's, spend a few days there with Uncle Mark & Connor too and then celebrate today at Oma's house.

Instead of typing away as I often do :), I'll let some pictures from our holiday celebrations speak for themselves!

CHRISTMAS DAY...

Kylie sporting her new Hannah Montana hat in front of her #1 request to Santa- the Sleeping Beauty WALKING horse

Peyton getting a closer look at her musical activity table from Santa

A quick pose before heading to church

Peyton during one of her "calmer" moments at mass

Kylie opening gifts at Grandma & Papa's house

Daddy helping Peyton see what awaits inside her next gift at Grandma & Papa's house

Kylie and Connor - just a little happy to see each other again :)

Kylie with more prized possessions from Santa Grandma & Papa- the Barbie as the Diamond Castle gifts she had really wanted

TODAY AT OMA's...

Daddy and Peyton starting to open the gifts from Santa Oma & John

Kylie in front of Oma's tree

Kylie and Peyton having fun after lunch with Oma's Christmas train

This photo of Peyton on the drive home sums up the end of our Christmas travels- a lot of fun but we're pooped :)!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Good AND bad boys and girls

This was the conversation as I was tucking Kylie into bed tonight:

Kylie: Mommy, I wish I could be Santa.

Mommy: Why Kylie?

Kylie: Because I would bring toys to all of the good AND bad girls and boys on Christmas!

Mommy: Why is that Kylie?

Kylie: Because I like when kids are bad too.

I think someone was feeling a bit nervous tonight that she wasn't on Santa's GOOD list :)!

Twas the week before Christmas...

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here are some pictures of our week leading up to the BIG event tomorrow morning!


Watching some tv after baths tonight

Spike with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head tonight

Peyton opening up her birthday gift from her godmother Becky over the weekend that Grandma & Papa brought with them. Thanks Becky- I LOVE all of the toys!

Kylie with some of the finished product over the weekend- great job on the cookies Kylie & Grandma!

Grandma & Kylie hard at work making Christmas cookies over the weekend

A very decorated Peyton opening one gift on Monday night when we gave Daddy his Christmas presents

Kylie posing in the one gift she opened on Monday night- a Barbie wedding veil and shoes. Wow does this picture make me think about 20 years from now!

Kylie opening her one gift on Monday night

Peyton having fun with her food today home with Daddy (Easy Cheese works great if you want to stick something to your head :)!

The view from our front window today- we're pretty buried at this point but I think the snow as finally stopped...for now. It's definitely going to be a White Christmas this year!

Kylie's drawing of Frosty to also leave out for Santa tonight- she insists that there are only 2 snowballs that make him up!

Daddy & Peyton tonight on Christmas Eve

The 2 pager for Santa and his chocolate chip cookies and chocolate milk- Kylie had a very specific order for Santa this year!

Composing the letter to the "big guy" tonight

Brrrrrrrr!

On this very cold & SNOWY night, what does Kylie want for a snack? Hot cocoa and cookies you might guess? Nah...a popsicle! Peyton couldn't get enough of the tasty treat either! Daddy had to capture this very comical scene as Mommy was frozen in her chair just watching them!

Brrrrrrrr!

Kylie's 2008 Holiday Program

Last night was Kylie's holiday program at school. It was put on by the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes and Kylie had several solo parts in the show- like kicking the whole night off by welcoming us all!

It was a great program filled with singing and dancing followed by a fun time of juice, cookies and being able to socialize with other parents and Kylie's teachers. We were so proud of Kylie for how well she sang in english and spanish and even signed along with some of the songs! It was a great time had by all- even little Peyton who hung in there so well after such a long day- good thing the night ended with cookies :)! Great job Kylie! Mommy and Daddy know how much hard work and good listening it took to make such a wonderful holiday program!

The torch has been passed

My old college pals out there know exactly what I'm talking about when I say the Steak n Shake torch has officially been passed to my girls! We went there for lunch today and both of them couldn't have had a better time- I almost had to pinch myself that we were actually still in a restaurant with them when we were about finished! That is until Kylie had an outburst in the middle of the place as we were packing up :)!

Please note the side of ranch dressing that Kylie has to compliment her fried cuisine- she is definitely on the path to success!

A holiday event in the Windy City

This morning was my company's 3rd annual holiday event downtown- and it was a big success! Robert Half International in Chicagoland as a whole was able to collect over 2500 toys between employees and clients and today was the party where we presented all of them to kids of the Boys & Girls Club at the Union League Club in Chicago.

Daddy and Peyton took Kylie and I to the train station and our adventure began! After an hour on the train followed by a quick cab ride, we had made our way to the event. It was nice for me to meet people from other branch offices in the area and everyone loved meeting Kylie- she was quite a hit, no surprise :)! There was a continental breakfast, face painting and several art stations where all of the kids could color and make holiday art projects.

But best of all was when each of the kids from the Boys & Girls Club was given a bag of toys- they looked so happy! It was the type of event that makes you remember what the season is truly about and regardless of how hard times are, how fortunate we still are in many, many ways. It was also a great experience for Kylie. It was tough (as expected) explaining over and over why most of the other kids were leaving with a big bag of toys, but I think she really understood things by the time we were ready to leave and was happy to have been able to come to the special party with Mommy.

Here are a few pictures of Kylie as we were leaving. The holiday decorations throughout the building were beautiful and Kylie especially loved the little gingerbread house in the lobby. I'm looking forward to being more involved in volunteering and contributing to the event next year and also having Daddy and Peyton join us!

Walk this way!

Little Peyton continues walking more every day- the best times I would be able to capture her on video is when she walks across the room towards me but I never have the camera ready! Here's the best I could do this afternoon after it hit me that she had been walking around the house most of the day already!

(Post title compliments of Daddy from the classic Aerosmith tune!)

Congratulations Daddy!

On the successful completion of your first MBA class!

We don't know how you do it Daddy, but we're so proud of you! Enjoy the next few weeks of no classes, papers or reading to worry about :)!

Puzzle Time

I think I may have mentioned this in a prior post, but Kylie loves doing puzzles! Pete and I don't know where she gets the patience or ease in figuring them out, but she is a whiz at them!

She managed to get Mommy to buy her another one when we were grocery shopping on Friday night- she can spot a puzzle for sale anywhere! Here she is working on it today- first solo, deep in concentration, and then joined by Peyton at the table who decided to lend a helping hand :)!

We saw Santa...twice in 1 day!

As Christmas day draws closer and closer, Kylie is beside herself in anticipation! Another year older, the wonder of Santa and his reindeer and all that Christmas brings has her little wheels turning and turning, trying to really figure it all out!

Seeing Santa not once but twice yesterday sent her reeling with excitement! We attended a holiday party BP throws for kids every year together with the Marines Toys for Tots program in the morning and then made a stop to see Santa AND Mrs. Claus at the mall as Daddy needed to make a quick visit to the tool dept. at Sears.

Peyton seemed to enjoy herself well enough for the most part, but again was primarily interested in what snacks the different venues had to offer :)!

Here are some pictures from the holiday party. There were games, snacks, face painting, a magic show, balloon animals, an orchestra playing Christmas music and of course pictures with the big guy himself!