Santa (A Little Early)

While at the top of the Hancock we were surprised that Santa had arrived early. We were able to get a picture with him and Julia got to tell him what she wanted. Unfortunately, she was a little flustered since we weren't expecting to see him. She ended up telling him that she wanted a baby deer. This is the first we are hearing of it and probably the last time we'll hear it. After we left she was stressing out that she made a mistake. We told her we would write a letter and she can tell Santa what she really wants. Paige liked the idea of Santa, but when he got close she decided she would rather admire him from afar. It ended up being a great day in the city.

Top Of The Hancock

On Sunday we took the girls downtown with the intention of going to the Sears Tower Sky Deck and "The Ledge", which lets you walk out into a glass box that extends about 100 floors above the city. There was a race to the top that day so we were out of luck. We headed over to Water Tower place for lunch when we realized that we could just take them to the top of the Hancock Building instead. They loved being up so high and getting a new perspective of the city. Julia thought that all of the cars looked like toys and the people looked like little dolls. I had never been to the observation deck and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get a great view of the city.

Healing Field

Naperville is honoring Veteran's Day this year by hosting the Healing Field of Honor. Rotary Hill has been filled with 2009 American Flags that people can sponsor and dedicate to veterans. It is an awesome sight and we are hoping to make it to the top of the bell tower this week to get a better view. The girls had a lot of fun running down the hill in between all the flags. It was a great way to cap off the weekend.

Cake and Presents

I love that Julia has pearls on while holding up her Millennium Falcon!

Paige's favorite toy from Naper Nuts and Sweets

Since it was such a beautiful day we were able to open all of our presents outside. It turned out to be a great thing since Grandma and Grandpa B got the girls some outdoor toys. Bryan and Mark played basketball while we opened all of the cool new toys. Thanks to everyone for the great presents and the great company!

Family

Here are a few new family pictures taken at the party. We finally got a great day for a party and took full advantage of it.

Family Party

Julia's Birthday Vanilla Latte from Starbucks

Birthday cakes made with love by Grandma Z

We had our family birthday party for the girls on Saturday. We had a gorgeous day and enjoyed celebrating with Grandma and Grandpa B and Z, Uncle Mark, Aunt Michelle, Alex and Anna. In the morning Bryan took Julia with him to run a few errands and stopped at Starbucks. They noticed Julia's "5" shirt and gave her a vanilla latte to celebrate. I think it was just warm vanilla milk, but Julia was thrilled. The girls loved wearing their birthday numbers and tutu's for the party.

Family Pictures

We had new family pictures taken last week. The slide show is below. Enjoy!

http://piersonkids.com/shows/bottarelli/

Just A Little Work

We decided to have just a bit of work done on our lips. What do you think? Too much?

Trick or Treating

Mary Poppins, a fairy and Silvermist fairyBurt (the chimney sweep) and Minnie Mouse (minus the ears!)

CANDY!!!!!!!

Saturday we went trick-or-treating with our good friends the Rosenbaum's, the Furibondo's and Bryan's parents. It was very chilly, but we managed to make the rounds of the neighborhood before heading indoors. The kids were all so cute in their outfits and so excited to be out together. Thanks for coming by!

Leaf Ride

After all the jumping, the leaves still needed to get to the curb for pickup. We put the girls in the leaves on the tarp and away they went. Better than Disney!

Leaves Are Falling

Saturday was such a beautiful day that we took advantage of it and raked leaves for the girls to jump in. Paige got into it a lot more than Julia and wanted to throw leaves over our heads the entire time.

Happy Times Halloween

Claire, Julia and MJ

Julia had her preschool Halloween program at school on Friday. They sang lots of cute Halloween songs and went outside for a costume parade. Julia stood next to her two best friends in class, MJ and Claire. Julia will be switching classes on Monday and is going to miss them a lot!

My Gym Party

"Paigey Hanging"

Miss Becca

Paige had her My Gym Halloween party on Friday. She is dressed as Minnie Mouse, but she refuses to wear her ears. She loves going to My Gym and this was especially fun with all the kids in costume. She was able to do all her favorite things like jumping on the trampoline and hanging from the bar during the party. There was a little boy dressed as Yoda and Paige saw him and immediately said, "Yoda!" I told Bryan and he was very proud!

Birthday Dinner

Tuesday evening we took Paige out for her birthday dinner at 2Toots in Glen Ellyn. It is a cute diner with a train theme that is located right next to the train tracks. The girls loved getting their food delivered to them by a model train and hearing the train whistle blow throughout dinner. After dinner we headed over to Oberweis for a scoop of ice cream to complete our birthday celebration.

Our Little Paigey Is Two!

It's hard to believe, but two years ago today, our little Paigey Marie Bottarelli was born. Blessed with a violent temper that can trigger faster than a shaken hornet's nest, Paige certainly falls into the "sassy" category (and believe you me, that's putting it mildly). But nevertheless, we all love her more than ever. Some of her 2-year highlights include the following fun-facts:

For whatever reason, Paige is convinced she's turning 5. Whenever asked how old she is, she always confidently replies "5!" On the flip side, she also believes Julia is turning two.

Paige loves what we've come to call "Jedi Jumps," which is when I throw her on our bed of pillows. She can't get enough of it (can't say I blame her). Speaking of Star Wars, she knows most of the characters without even having seen the movie. She knows Yoda, Leia, Chewy, and Vader. I'm so proud.

Paige loves watching her favorite show, Imagination Movers (which she calls "Movers!") A close second is Baby Einstein (which she calls "Baby Yellow"), which is what Julia called it as well.

Paige is starting to remember the lines of her favorite books. Her favorites include: Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear Brown Bear, A Color of His Own and Ten Little Ladybugs. She can recite the lines of Goodnight Moon, for example. We have it on video, it's cute.

In the middle of the night, Paige often whimpers "mommy hold you." I just can't correct her since it is so cute.

Paige refers to herself in 3rd person. "Paigey Cheese," means, "I want Cheese." "Paigey bottle" means, "I want a bottle." You get the idea.

Whenever Paige sees football on TV, she says, "Go Bears!" Now that's awesome, if you ask me.

When it comes to parenting, Katherine and I often warn people, "Don't piss her off."

If we fail to abide by this rule, and we DO piss her off, we can always recover quickly by giving her a sucker. It never fails to avert a meltdown.

When in the car, if she hears a song she likes, she yells, "I like this song!" It's funny hearing a 2-year old say she likes the latest songs.

Paige is going to be the athlete of the family. She likes to "hang" which entails holding herself up on tables or hanging from monkey bars.

She is always trying to keep up with Julia and if she gets frustrtated she doesn't hesitate to take it out on her sister!

And of course, she loves her four pink bears. And in a nutshell, that's Paige at year #2!

Happy Birthday Paigey!

Imagination Movers

Sunday we took the girls to see Imagination Movers or "Movers", as Paige calls them. They had a blast and were dancing in the aisle. It was literally like a kiddie mosh pit when the lead singer, Rich, came out into the crowd. Julia got a high five from Dave and Scott and couldn't be happier about it. This was Paige's birthday present and even though she missed her nap, she got into the concert and rocked out for a while.

Indiana Birthday

Before we went to go see The Imagination Movers on Sunday, my parents had us over for lunch and birthday cake. Paige got to blow out her first set of birthday candles and seemed to enjoy being sung to. This will be the first of a couple of birthday celebrations. Happy Birthday, Paigey!

Jon and Kate Plus 8?

Kelli and Ronjon

On Saturday our friends, Kelli and Ronjon, hosted their annual Halloween party. Bryan and I decided to go as Jon and Kate and brought along their 8 kids on sticks. We had little bits of info about each kid written on the back of each one to wow people with our Jon and Kate knowledge. It paid off and we won best couple for the 3rd straight time! There were some other great costumes there and we had a fun night out.

Alli and Bella Visit

Ring Around The Rosie

We all fall on each other!

Bella's new best friend.

My friend, Allison, came to visit us with her daughter on Thursday. It was great to catch up with her and the watch the kids become fast friends. They had a blast playing ring-around-the-rosie and having a dance party. The weather didn't cooperate so we just hung out around the house, but that gave Bella plenty of time to find a new playmate in Bryan. By the end of their visit he was carrying her around like she was one of ours! Thanks for making the trip up, Alli!

Pumpkin Carving

Picking out the pumpkins at the farm stand

Pumpkin Guts!

Sunday we took advantage of a gorgeous fall day and carved our Halloween pumpkins. Julia is still squeamish and won't pull out the guts, but Paige got down and dirty. This is the first year that Julia really had a hand in carving one of her own. She poked out the bat pattern and helped Bryan with the cutting. Bryan made the pumpkin eating the pumpkin and I carved the cat.

IU! 10 Years Later....

It's hard to believe that we graduated from Indiana over 10 years ago. So, for our eighth wedding anniversary, we decided to leave the kids at home and re-visit Bloomingon for a quick weekend getaway. As you can see below, the campus continues to look great, especially in the fall. I particularly like the shot of Katherine on the limestone IU bench. Over the course of the weekend, we visited some of our favorite spots. Nicks (for me) and Oliver Winery (for Katherine). The biggest development, from my view, was how the Business School Library is now basically obsolete. All the books are gone, replaced with (I assume) digital info. There were also a number of newly-build fraternity houses on Jordan Ave. that looked very impressive.

SIDENOTE: While at Upstairs Pub (another favorite bar), Katherine played darts for the first time in probably 2 years. On her first throw, she hit a red-eye bulls-eye. Yes my friends, make no mistake. We were truly re-living the magic. Proof below:

The Sample Gates...

The best picture of the weekend, in my humble opinion...

Ah, Nicks. What a place. Not much has changed, from what I remember. I like it that way.

Katherine at Oliver winery. We're not used to having wine for a few hours during the day with no kids. It was nice, to say the least.

Like I said above, the first-shot red-eye was re-living the magic. But don't worry, I cleaned her clock in Cricket from here on out.

Wonderful World of Wheels

Well-we tried to make it to the Wonderful World of Wheels that the park district puts on, but unfortunately it was soooo crowded. We basically walked by the tractors, ambulances and other cool vehicles and stopped for a group picture. Oh well-we'll try again next year.