Girl's Weekend

December 14-15:  I was so grateful this year to take an overnight trip with some of my college girlfriends.  I only attended LCU for my freshman year, but the friendships I made are life-long.  I love these girls so much.  It feels great to pick up where we left off any time we are together... easy conversation, lots of laughs, wisdom & advice shared, prayers & encouragement offered.  We planned this weekend months ago so we could all fit it into our busy calendars.  We opted for downtown Chicago at Christmas time...  It truly could have been more magical!  We got lightly falling snow all day on Saturday, twinkling lights, and chilly (but not freezing temps) as we enjoyed seeing the city--shopping, great food, and lots of landmarks.  Here is our trip in pictures:

 

We stayed at the Swissotel off Wacker Drive. 

 

We walked up and down Michigan Ave & State Street enjoying the lights & decorations.

 

We had Chicago Style Pizza at Pizzeria Ora

 

We shopped at Water Tower Place (and I took these pics for Sadie & Kinnick).

We enjoyed a yummy treat at Ghirardelli's.

 

 

We enjoyed the window displays and shopped in Macy's on State. 

 

 

We saw the giant tree...and ate dinner in the Walnut Room.

  We spent some time exploring Navy Pier's Winterfest (and made a stop at Garrett's Popcorn).

 

It was hectic to get away during the month of December, but it was also totally worth it!  I love these girls so much!  We had such a great time... I can't wait to see them again!

Apple Pies

December 9:  We have a MOPS tradition of making apple pies at our meeting before Thanksgiving.  It is so much fun to get together with 50+ girlfriends and bake!  This year Sadie expressed interest in wanting to go, my friend Erika's daughter (Audrey) said the same thing so we decided to have a pie baking night with the kiddos.  We picked a night when both of our husbands were going to be gone and we got together to make pies, cookies, and have dinner.  It was a lot of fun...

Kinnick, Colee, Scot, & Macey

Audrey & Sadie

Hard at Work!

Finished Product!

We let the kids make their pies in mini baking dishes so they could each have their own.  We took them home with us and baked them several days later--they were a huge hit!

Holiday Expectations

December 5:  For me, it is SO easy to build up HUGE expectations in my mind when it comes to celebrating (well, anything really) but especially Christmas.  I start making mental checklists (and often concrete ones) before the thanksgiving turkey has even been cooked.  I always think I can cram it ALL in... every special activity, every thoughtful gift, all the baking, the crafts, the cards, presents, and wrapping... just to name a few!  I fear I am sometimes missing out on much of the present as I am dwelling on the past or dreaming of the future.  Sometimes it is easy to keep chugging along, checking off boxes, everything going just great... and sometimes this happens:

 



 

And of course it happens when you're ready to head out the door and drop your 1st grader off at school then head over to your MOPS steering team meeting... yep--it just had to stay there for most of the day--water, pine needles, broken ornaments, and all.  Instead of dwelling on the extra time to clean this up and redecorate our tree, I took it as a reminder that sometimes the things we will remember (and laugh at) for years to come are the things that we could NEVER plan for (or would want to plan for!)  My friend Jennifer recently posted this quote on facebook--"It's gonna be funny later, it might as well be funny now!"  I totally agree--if we can't laugh at this scenario there is something wrong--our tree is wedged between our staircase and front door!! 

 

I hope that during holiday times--and life--you can take time to laugh at the unexpected, enjoy the people God has blessed with you, and truly be present for each passing moment.  You won't get any of those moments back (although pictures help!) Please, enjoy each moment in time--forever is made up of moments.  A quote from the "one thousand gifts" bible study I am currently participating in...

 

"Hurry always empties a soul. Don't I have the choice to be fully attentive?  Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus."

 

Being fully present is rarely easy or convenient.  It is often messy, time-consuming, and hard but I truly believe that Joy is always worth the wait...  

 

Baking Cookies with Macey

Flour Foot Prints on my Kitchen Rug

Meeting Cousin Henry

December 2-3:  I had an awesome opportunity to visit my sister for a few days and meet my nephew Henry... the best part--I only took Carver!  It was really like a mini vacation!  I had so much fun snuggling sweet Henry, making freezer meals with my sister, relaxing, babysitting so Jessica & Jack could have a night out, and enjoying some one-on-one time with Carver.  It was a great trip!

Cousins:

Annual Gorsch Tree Outing

November 30:  We made out a day out of tree picking this year... we started in the morning with breakfast at Cracker Barrel...

It was not too cold, so we enjoyed walking around to find our perfect tree!  One of my favorite things this year was seeing another family--both parents, 4 grown kids (high school & college age).  I overheard a few of their conversations as we looked for trees... "Mom--look, that family has 4 little kids--just like you and dad, a LONG time ago!" The moms reply:  "Not THAT long ago!" (I'm sure that statement is only too true...)  Later the two sisters talking to each other, "Aww, that little girl (Macey) is just like you--she keeps suggesting different trees to her family."  Little Sister: "Yeah, and she probably keeps getting shot down, just like me!"  It was fun to have a small glimpse into our future--I hope we enjoy searching for the perfect tree for years to come!

My Buddy!

Our Little Explorer

"The One"

 

 Boys Job... Cutting down the tree!

That night we had a Christmas Tree shaped pizza and introduced the kids to the Christmas Classic... "It's a Wonderful Life". 

We had fun decorating together... the kids always love climbing the ladder to put ornaments up high!

When we were finished there was an abundance of ornaments around the bottom of the tree... I had to do a little adjusting.  The kids also had fun adding LOTS of paper ornaments that they continued to make throughout the month...

 

Date with Kinnick

November 29:  After Kinnick's birthday, we let him take some of his birthday money to pick out a new Lego set.  On black Friday, Wal-Mart had all their Legos 30% off so it was a great time to take him shopping (and by Friday early afternoon, it wasn't busy at all!)  We had fun taking our time to look at every different Lego set...  

He had a hard time choosing, but decided on this TMNT lair.  We started putting it together as soon as we got home!

I needed to pick up a gift card at Starbucks so we stopped for a little treat as part of our date...

I love spending one-on-one time with this kid!  Looking forward to many mommy-son dates to come...

Happy Thanksgiving

November 28:

Kinnick's 5th Birthday Party

November 24:  Can I just say that I love having a little boy!  (actually, two little boys!)  We had so much fun celebrating Kinnick's 5th birthday with a Ninja Turtle cake.  Kinnick and I searched pinterest for a turtle themed cake that I could make and this is the one we picked...

 



 

My sweet boy said (when the cake was finished), "Mom, you thought you could make it look just like the picture and you really did!  Thanks for making all my cakes for me Mom--they always look really cool and taste really yummy."  You're welcome my man... I hope I can always make you this happy!

 



 We had a family party at Grandma Janet & Grandpa Gorsch's house.  Grandma asked Kinnick prior to his party what he would like to have to eat and he told her, "We should probably have pizza since that's what Ninja Turtles eat."

Kinnick received "hulk smash" hands (and a mask) from Jadyn & Jaren and they are quite popular (too this day!)  They sometimes have to be put up for a bit but I really love watching my little boy be a BOY...

I can't believe he will be in Kindergarten next year--I don't feel ready for this big step--but Kinnick certainly is.  He is so excited to start school... and so ready!  He is very smart and learning more each day. 

November 25:  On the day of his birthday (a Monday) Sadie was out of school.  We met dad at Applebees for a birthday lunch.  Kinnick was very pumped to receive his first TMNT "bad guy"--Shredder!

After lunch we went to Ms. Jennifer's for a visit and celebrated more with cupcakes.

 

Happy Birthday to my favorite 5 year-old!