How can it be December 8th already??

Where did the time go....with all the advent calendars and other "holiday" calendars measuring the time til xmas you would think I would be more aware of the date then ever...but alas, the days are flying by! Just wanted to update you all on the latest in the Nguyen household at the holidays...

1.) 1st xmas event - attend the annual Geneva Christmas Walk...CHECK!

It was a beautiful cold night, we saw the tree lighting, the band march down 3rd street and present the first candy cane of the season to the mayor(I know, only in Geneva :-), the live nativity at my church, the candy cane pull at grahams and of course a visit to Santa. My mom, Ry and I had a blast and it was a great way to kick off the Xmas season!

2.) the Polar Express Event - the following morning we boarded a bus at Sunset Racquetball Center to the North Pole! The community center in Geneva had set up at Peck Farms a whole event - a visit with Santa, a reading of the story with Mrs. Claus, a barn with real reindeer and a trip to santas toy shop to make a toy. Sadly it was a really rainy morning and Ry's personality was a little "rainy" as well - so while it was a really cute event - I hope we can do it again next year and enjoy it more!

(no pictures...see "rainy personality" comment above.)

3.) Another two new exciting xmas traditions in the Nguyen household:

one - an advent calendar, which Ryker has really enjoyed counting down each day!

two - George. A cute little elf from the North Pole that leaves notes for Ryker each morning. He will be staying with us until Christmas eve. So far he has....left Ry a coloring book, played with his trucks, sent santa emails and last night he watched one of Ry's movies and ate the last bag of popcorn - Ryker couldn't believe it! It has been really fun to have him here and I know Ryker is really enjoying it too!

4.) This weekend is the annual Kendall/Nguyen/O'Brien cookie baking which should be really fun and hopefully will generate alot of wonderful cookies for the holiday season.

So...to say the least the holiday season has started off with a bang and we hope that it will just continue to get better and better!

Happy Holidays!

The Nguyens (and George)

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

Happy Birthday Tyler!

I can't believe he is already 2. The boys had a great time eating pizza and cupcakes together in honor of Tyler. Tyler liked the dump truck ry picked out, but most of all, I think Tyler liked the game Ry and he invented of looking at each other through our front windows, laugh, run around to the front door, hug and repeat....this must have happened 10 times before they said goodbye for the day.

We will definitely miss the chadwicks when they leave the city....:-(

Another one of those moments I don't want to forget...

I always laugh when people say - wow, I just love all his energy (and just a note, they are referring to Ryker, not Le :-) but I always shake my head and think, if they only knew....

Yesterday we spent the day at a new park with one of Ryker's preschool friends, Addie. He really loved the park - because they had all these bars he could swing on and hang from.

Fast forward a few hours, come home, get ready for nap, Ry is real quiet for a few minutes ( I think, wow he fell asleep fast) then all of a sudden I hear a crash! and I run upstairs to a..."sorry mom"

yes, he attempted to swing from the bar in his closet...and to answer your question, no, it didnt work!

oh Ry.

Gotta love him.

Happy Halloween!!!

Growing up Halloween was always my Dad's favorite holiday. He would pull out all the stops, he once made a coffin in the front yard, always had scary music blasting from a boom box in my sisters room and had a big blow up scope bottle (from his proctor & gamble days) that he covered with a sheet and made a ghost out of! It was HUGE! And really just enjoyed every minute of it! I must admit, I was never the Halloween buff he was, but I tried to make him proud this year and made Rykers costume by hand! Ry really likes robots (or as he calls them "little arm") and that is what he really wanted to be - so my mom and I got the scissors, the drill and the battery operated christmas lights and went to work!

Saturday started with a Halloween Preschool party at his friend Lilys. All the kids got dressed up - we hit the park for a while and then went over to Maura's house and had a potluck. The parents in his class are all great people and we had a great time!

the completed costume!

Ry's favorite person at Cherry Preschool - Lily! They have a great time together!!

Batman!! Another one of his classmates - Andy

Another classmate dressed as Elmo - Tessa

There were princesses, a cookie monster, a train conductor, elmo, batman, wordgirl, a ladybug,

an icecream cone and our robot :-)

Saturday was also Grandma's birthday! Grandma slept over saturday night and then we went to brunch on Sunday morning. Miss Maddie made grandma a Yellow cake, with yellow frosting and a giant M and G on it! (Maria, Mom, Grandma,etc). Here are some quick pics from the celebration.

the masterpiece

Ryker entertaining during present opening

the birthday girl and her two assistants

Lastly, Halloween was officially Monday and Ry had the time of his life. We started out in the morning at Le's office - his daddy walked him proudly up and down the rooms in his robot costume so that Ryker could trick-or-treat all the sales folks at Visanow. he loved it!

Then Monday afternoon, Le came home at 4:15 (yes, you are reading that correctly :-)

in order for us to go out in the neighborhood. Once Ryker woke up from his nap, we got his costume on and headed out! I have never seen him so excited.

Ryker trick-or-treating with some of his best friends from the block - Drew(pirate), Max (darth vader) and Dave (skeleton).

Another one of Ry's favorite people - Gabe. He and his big brother Johnny were sharks and his mom emily joined the fun as a diver!

Ry's friend Max the train conductor!

Since Ry was still going strong, we rounded up the night with a visit to Bucktown! We stopped first at Aunt Brooke and Uncle Kevins. They were so excited to see him!

Lastly, we stopped over to see the unicorn and sweet pea (sweet pea was already sleeping for the night) but the unicorn was there for a final picture!

Happy Halloween!

Fall has arrived

I love fall, I love taking pictures of Ryker, Maddie and Abby and I love spending time with my family. This weekend..I got to do all three!

We went out to Kuiper Family Farms (a place my mom and dad use to take us as kids) and even though the weather called for rain, rain and more rain, It turned out to be another great fall day! Tractor rides, apple picking, pumpkins and you can't leave without their cider donuts!

here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

Ryker was ready for any mud or rain that would come his way!

Everyone on the tractor

Ry was SO excited to go Apple picking!

Aunt Brooke and Ryker (right before they got yelled at by the staff for picking apples wrong!)

miss madelyne holding her apple bag

Even though it was a little chilly - Abby braved the cold for a family photo!

grandma and maddie looking for the best apples

The apple monster

just a picture that I loved

I found one!

daddy's girl

the two munchkins

the apple monster got them!

A Nguyen family photo

A perfect day...

Maddie and Addie are 3!

Shortcake is 3!!!

Miss Maddie had her 3 year old birthday party over the weekend. She decided to share her party with her good friend Addie BUT they didn't share the theme! Yes, it was a unicorn and a minnie mouse party and how did it work - A lot of PINK, a lot of PURPLE and of course the magic of her mom and grandma :-)

Here are some fun pics from the event at Little Beans Cafe:

The Birthday Girls

The treat bags (made by Grandma) - each bag had a minnie mouse cakepop and a unicorn treat

the cousins

Daddy and the Birthday Girl

one of my favorite pictures - Ryker looking like a complaining customer!

The Birthday Girl blowing out all the candles....

Success!!

Happy Birthday Maddie!! Hope you had a wonderful day!

Movin' on up!

Ryker officially made the move to a toddler bed this morning. The siding came off the crib and he can now climb in and out. Thankfully a 12-6 birthday party for his friends Mateo and Bella wore him out - so he climbed in, got "snug as a bug in a rug" and fell asleep FAST! What this will bring for the morning....only time will tell??

Here is a quick pic of the new bed and curious george bedding! (new wall art to come soon!)

The comments you just have to remember...

Conversation between Ryker and Maddie on speaker phone today:

Maddie: "Did you go to school today?"

Ryker: "Yes!"

Maddie: "Did you have fun?"

Ryker: "yep!"

Maddie: "I go to school too!"

Maddie: "We're both Schoolies!!"

Priceless.

1st Day of Preschool

1st day at Cherry Preschool in Evanston, Illinois

Ready to go - Bright and Early!

If Ryker could have picked what he was wearing, this is what he would have wanted to wear!

Goodbye Hollywood Ave, Hello Cherry Preschool!

Yes, the backpack is as big as him!

Sitting on the bench outside the Yellow Room

Outside Cherry - looks to be the spot that Everyone takes pictures!

Lunch with Daddy at Harry Caray's - A cake for me??

Yummmmmm.......

Had a great day!!