All packed to leave

Leah's all packed up and ready to leave tomorrow for our Christmas break. We leave for nine days to Texas and then fly to Utah for two weeks. We thought it might be easier to include her with our carry-on bag but then it might not fit in the overhead bin. It will be our first flight with Leah so we hope it goes well.

We can't wait to see both of our families and show off our cute little girl.

Gearing up for Christmas

Leah dug out Logan's Santa hat the other day and begged us to wear it. We had to agree to let her wear it since she looks so darn cute. Wouldn't she make a good model for a Christmas edition of the American Baby Magazine? Of course as parents you think your child is the cutest, most adorable little thing that ever lived. She just turned three months old on Monday and really feels like she got bigger since last week. She is officially wearing 3-6 month clothing which I thought would be too long for her. I'm a little sad that she's growing out of her smaller clothes and just growing in general. I just want to keep her in each little phase longer so I can remember exactly what it was like.

The other pictures show her after taking a bath in her flower towel and lounging in her diaper. Logan thinks she looks like Jabba the Hut sitting on a throne of pillows.

Babies don't need toys

All it took was a sock to get Leah's first giggle. We caught it on video for you. Sadly, we haven't been able to get her to giggle again, so maybe we need to perfect our technique.

Let the Holiday Festivities Begin

Monday night we invited some friends from church over to build graham cracker houses. Everyone brought their favorite candy to add to the decorations. The Parmas and the Seversons joined us at our apartment for some holiday fun. Sarah (right) has never made a graham cracker house before so she was both nervous and excited to make her first one. She and Ben (below) work together to make a replica of the Sears Tower as a nontraditional style of graham cracker building.

The Parmas decided to build a cozy cottage with Frosted Mini Wheats for the roof. Once they picked the design for the yard, Emily sprinkled powdered sugar for the snow effect. We all agreed that their cozy cottage would make a lovely Chicago home. Their adorable daughter Bria joined in the festivities with coos and grunts in approval to their parents' technique.

Logan and I knew from our experiences last year that it was best to make separate houses since we both wanted control for design and candy decoration. Logan spent most of his time on the structure including the chimney, the bay window, and the garage. He did create a nice icicle effect on the roof. We were all jealous we hadn't thought of it first. I went a little crazy with the candy decorations on each part of the house, but was proud of my attempt to make a snowman in the front yard.

To see up close pictures of our houses, please visit our photo page.

The problem with Chicago winter

The problem with Chicago winter is that it snows sideways. That and the snow is more like shaved ice than snowflakes. Today's forecast: Snow ... heavy at times ... Windy. Areas of blowing snow. Highs 30 to 35. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 40 mph. Have someone crush some ice and then throw it at you from across the room, and you'll have an idea of what my walk to the El was like last Friday: 40 mph shaved ice. I've seen some nasty Utah blizzards, but I can't remember any with constant 30 mph winds.
The other problem with Chicago winter is that the shaved ice doesn't melt. It's Tuesday morning and I can't tell that any snow has melted since it fell four days ago. Makes it impossible to park on the side of the street (because we don't have a garage) when there's ice boulders in the way. Hillary says, "There really are ice boulders. I feel like I live in the arctic sometimes."