Merry Christmas!

Love,

Ben, Allison, Paige & Will

Happy Birthday, baby boy!

Will turned ONE yesterday!! It seems like just yesterday that we were announcing his arrival into this world. He has brought so much joy, love and laughter into our home and we are beyond thankful for the incredible blessing Will is to our family. We had a great day celebrating, beginning with breakfast at Egg Harbor and ending our day with a birthday party. Will definitely knew it was his special day and Paige was quite a helper, assisting him in all of his birthday activities ☺Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

Here's a bunch of pictures from Will's birthday....click on it to make them bigger

Reunited!

We got the chance to see Ben's best friend from Wheaton this past weekend and meet his adorable twin daughters - it was so hard to believe we hadn't seen Taylor and Connie for 5 1/2 years!!! We had such a great time and are so thankful for friendships that are able to pick right back up where we left off....Paige adored Margot and Ryken, I think they would be great friends if we didn't live across the country from each other. Perhaps they can be pen pals:)

Ben, Taylor and their kiddos!!

Side note: Ben recently taught Paige how to "smile"...it's a work in progress:)

The girls jumping all over the place....they had a blast!

Water fountain and Walnut Room

We ventured downtown in the cold last weekend with Ben's parents to do a little Christmas shopping on State Street - we had a great time showing them all of the festivities in the city and kicking off the holiday season together. Paige loved showing Grams and Grandpa the big Christmas tree at the Walnut Room while Will slept comfortably in his stroller!! Grams taught Paige how to throw pennies into the fountain...I'm pretty sure Grams went through a dollars worth of pennies, but it was worth the excitement in Paige's eyes☺

Misery Loves Company!!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago on State Street - we love this family tradition and it has been so much fun for Ben and I to experience all of the events through the kids eyes. One of the highlights was eating breakfast at the Walnut Room at Marshall Fields Macy's and then venturing up to visit with Santa. As you can tell, it was an emotional experience for all:) I think "Misery Loves Company" really reflects the emotions in the room:)

Good try guys...maybe next year we won't cry and scream!!!

Here are a few other pictures of our fun weekend downtown:

The kids having fun in the hotel

Paige loved swimming with Daddy!