After weeks of anticipation, the
Boudle Family Reunion finally rolled around this past weekend. On Wednesday afternoon my parents rolled into town. On Friday night Josh & Jeff both flew in and then on Saturday the 9 of us were finally all together.
On Friday morning we packed up the car. When I say packed up, I mean as in we couldn't see out of the back windows. This was for two nights in the city, mind you. It was pretty ridiculous and reminded me why we don't fly anywhere as a family these days. Too much stuff! My parents and Reese ended up having to take the train into Chicago because we couldn't fit them. Kevin,
Talan and I met them at the hotel. Speaking of the hotel....holy
moly! A friend of mine was able to pull some strings and get us into a 2 bedroom suite at the Palmer House. The hotel is breathtaking when you walk into the lobby:
I was already blown away but walked into the room and started jumping up and down and screaming like a kid in a candy store.
AH-
mazeballs. I was in awe. I've only seen hotel rooms like the one we stayed in on TV. I would have been happy staying there all weekend long but we were all hungry and ready to explore the city so we packed up and went out for some lunch.
After lunch we headed over the
Christkindlmarkt, an open air German Christmas market in the middle of the city.
Our first stop was the Santa House.
It was starting to get dark by the time we came out so we took some photos and then hit the road.
It was a freezing cold day to start so you can imagine how bone chilling cold it was by the time the sun set. I heard that there would be Christmas caroling at
Millennium Park which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. It started at 6PM so at 5 we made our way over there.
We stopped to watch the people who were brave enough to get out on the ice and then made our way up to the bean to grab some free hot apple cider and to listen to the carolers.
Unfortunately the arctic temps were just too much for the kids to handle. They were both miserable so we had to take off before they started singing. After some nice warm baths, I ordered room service for the kids and we waited for Josh & Jeff to arrive. Before we knew it we were already into Saturday.
Saturday morning we bundled up and headed out into winter weather (single digits!). The windows at Macy's were a must!
We ended up a block from the Market so we went back so that Josh & Jeff could browse (and get a fried apple snack!):
Once again the cold got the best of the kids so we decided to go back to the hotel rather than fight it. We got back just in time for Steve's arrival. I feel like the day flew by from there. That night we exchanged gifts. My parents got us all matching pajama bottoms and Kevin & I got everyone Keith's
Nicevillian shirts so we were just one big
cheeseball family that night!
There were two dining room tables so we took advantage and ordered in food that night. It was delicious!
After dinner we
surprised my Mom with an early birthday celebration.
That was followed by a lot of games and good times. And hey, when you're in
matchy-
matchy outfits, there are photo-ops
galore!
You know when you laugh so hard your stomach starts to hurt? This was one of those times:
(Very impressive photo bomb Mom!)
I was so happy to be surrounded by my parents and all three of my brothers. It was the first time in a long time. And the kids were thrilled, too.
Happy Holidays indeed.
Naughty Eric found our dry erase marker!
We got home on Sunday night. He must have really missed us because this is what Reese woke up to on Monday morning:
He had made a winter wonderland out of her room.
A little birdie told Eric that Reese could use some chapstick so he left her a little surprise this week:
It's always exciting to see what he'll come up with next!
I was already blown away but walked into the room and started jumping up and down and screaming like a kid in a candy store.
AH-mazeballs. I was in awe. I've only seen hotel rooms like the one we stayed in on TV. I would have been happy staying there all weekend long but we were all hungry and ready to explore the city so we packed up and went out for some lunch.
After lunch we headed over the Christkindlmarkt, an open air German Christmas market in the middle of the city.
Our first stop was the Santa House.
It was starting to get dark by the time we came out so we took some photos and then hit the road.
It was a freezing cold day to start so you can imagine how bone chilling cold it was by the time the sun set. I heard that there would be Christmas caroling at Millennium Park which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. It started at 6PM so at 5 we made our way over there.
We stopped to watch the people who were brave enough to get out on the ice and then made our way up to the bean to grab some free hot apple cider and to listen to the carolers.
Unfortunately the arctic temps were just too much for the kids to handle. They were both miserable so we had to take off before they started singing. After some nice warm baths, I ordered room service for the kids and we waited for Josh & Jeff to arrive. Before we knew it we were already into Saturday.
Saturday morning we bundled up and headed out into winter weather (single digits!). The windows at Macy's were a must!
We ended up a block from the Market so we went back so that Josh & Jeff could browse (and get a fried apple snack!):
Once again the cold got the best of the kids so we decided to go back to the hotel rather than fight it. We got back just in time for Steve's arrival. I feel like the day flew by from there. That night we exchanged gifts. My parents got us all matching pajama bottoms and Kevin & I got everyone Keith's Nicevillian shirts so we were just one big cheeseball family that night!
There were two dining room tables so we took advantage and ordered in food that night. It was delicious!
After dinner we surprised my Mom with an early birthday celebration.
That was followed by a lot of games and good times. And hey, when you're in matchy-matchy outfits, there are photo-ops galore!
You know when you laugh so hard your stomach starts to hurt? This was one of those times:
(Very impressive photo bomb Mom!)
I was so happy to be surrounded by my parents and all three of my brothers. It was the first time in a long time. And the kids were thrilled, too.
Happy Holidays indeed.
On Monday night, long after we put the kids to bed, we finally went up to go to sleep. We found the sweetest surprise waiting for us. This first note was in between our pillows:
And we each had one under our pillows:
So cute!
And Talan.....oh Talan. What am I going to do with this kid? His latest "trick" is locking himself in the bathroom so that he can then use Reese's step stool to climb onto the counter and play with the faucet. Off, on, off, on, off, on, etc. Awesome. Is it a coincidence that he even has the same fly away hair on top of his head that Dennis the Menace sports? I think not:
And now for your Eric the Elf update. He has been pretty well behaved this week. He hid in the chandelier on Monday night. This morning when we woke up we found that he had made a lasso out of a rope and used it to crawl from the chandelier to his new spot....above our basement door:
It's so much fun to see what he'll do next. Crazy elf!
This was Talan's first real snow day. He wasn't walking at this time last year so he didn't have the option of playing in it. He was screaming with delight the second he walked outside.
And Reese wasted no time making snow angels.
In looking at this photo, I think it's time for some new snow pants. She has stained them beyond repair. Not to mention the fact that they are a 3T. Definitely time.
Believe it or not, today I made my very first snowman. I'm not a fan of being out in the cold for extended periods of time. It's harder than it looks!
Frosty the snowman, was a jolly happy soul.
With a broken stick pipe and a carrot nose and two eyes made out of berries.
Oh, and don't forget his funnel hat.
*Cue Sanford & Son theme song*
Her elf, Eric, had just arrived two days previous so we were wondering whether or not they'd run into each other last night. Reese woke up this morning to find a note from Santa had appeared in her magic Christmas container:
Between the excitement from the letter and from the $5 the Tooth Fairy left her, she almost forgot that there was still some fun to be had. Eric travels back to the North Pole every night to report back to Santa. When he comes back to our house, he finds a new hiding place and Reese gets to find him each morning.
It took her a while to spot him and when she did I found out I was in for a big surprise, too. That naughty elf erased my calendar in the middle of the night and wrote a message of his own:
Fortunately I keep a calendar in my phone and was able to put it all back up there today. Reese was really cute this morning. She was excited to get to school to show her friends her new look but also nervous because she was having some trouble speaking. She had a little lisp in the beginning. When she was able to say something without lisping she would say "I got it back!". Very cute. Here she is ready to walk out the door today:
< sarcasm > As you know, she is really shy and doesn't at all like to perform but I was able to convince her to let me record her reading the letter. < /sarcasm >
