Fruitful Vine

Tabor Hill...

Decisions, decisions

At Contessa...

Round Barn...

Saturday Brad took me on a tour of the local Michigan wineries, not too far from home! We stayed in New Buffalo, MI (same town we visited this summer for our beach trip and LOVED!) and took the Fruitful Vine winery bus tour to 4 local wineries around St. Joseph, MI. We had no idea that being along Lake Michigan makes for such ideal conditions in the grape-growing business! It was amazing how many wineries, vineyards, and fruit orchards we passed while were were out and about. The day was not rushed and there were tastings at each winery with lunch in between. It was a great way to celebrate my 30th birthday! Many thanks to Aunt Nicci and Uncle Andrew for manning the "funny farm" while we were gone! Alex and Abby had a blast with you both!

Visit with Nicci and Andrew

Mmmm, rice!
Her cheese face.

Alex's buddy Josh happened to be at the tree show too :)

Our little Teletubby!

Aunt Nicci and Uncle Andrew came up to visit this weekend and kindly watched the kiddos on Saturday while Brad and I went on a tour of various Michigan wineries. It was a lovely weekend! Friday night we went to dinner in Bolingbrook and then hung out to watch the Christmas tree lights that are set to music. It was really cold outside so the kids were pretty bundled up!

Abby's First Haircut

At this point, I had to put the camera away and hold her still.

Abby's hair is so wild and crazy, I thought maybe a little trim around the edges would help her out. I assumed a lollipop would distract her enough from the scissors that everything would go smoothly. We plopped her up in the little Barbie Jeep that they have for the kids and as soon as the stylist put the cape on her, Abby flipped out. Nothing would settle her fully. So, she removed the cape, snipped a little off the ends and away we went. No sense in forcing the issue. It looks cute and is pretty even so we are pleased. Once she was finished, Abby was able to play with the toys while Alex got his hair trimmed and that made her quite happy.

Alex Is Soooo Ready For Christmas

Alex has been begging us to decorate the house for Christmas, ever since November 1. We just put up the Thanksgiving decorations and are in no hurry to decorate for Christmas yet. Alex has other plans. After shopping Sunday, we went upstairs to put away our purchases and when we came down, Alex had lugged a large Rubbermaid tote up the steps from the basement and unpacked it. He had the tree skirt in the middle of the floor, musical toys lined up along the coffee table, and was getting ready to unpack the ornaments! I didn't take a picture because I didn't want to encourage this behavior, but it was so funny :) I told him to wait a few more weeks and we packed it all back up and took it downstairs again...all except the musical Rudolph.

Abby 22 Months

Abby's becoming quite the talker. Tonight, in fact, Abby said "Abby" as clear as can be. She says "please" and "thank you" pretty regularly. She also says "no" quite a bit and tests her limits everyday. Abby counts "1, 2" then knocks the blocks over. Toy Story is her favorite movie and Max and Ruby her favorite TV show. She got a kick out of Halloween and I think she will really enjoy the Christmas holiday season as well. Here's hoping she likes snow!