First Fire

Enjoying our first holiday fire :)

Stockings!!!

Next up...hanging our stockings at the Chimney with care.  St. Nick comes later this week & we are ready!!! :)

Trimming The Tree

Tonight we had our official Rothleutner Tree lighting ceremony in the girls room.  And according to Gracie "It's the prettiest, pinkest, princess tree EVER!!!" Hopefully they won't be up all night enjoying the bright lights :)  Definitely the best purchase I made 2 years ago too!!! Oh how we love the holidays :) And of course pink!!!

2013 Christmas Cocktail

Created by my favorite mixologist, Kris :)

Christmas Kiddie Cocktails

Our family tradition is to start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. And the girls were BEYOND excited to help decorate this year.  Also a tradition is for Mommy & Daddy to enjoy a festive Christmas Cocktail created by Daddy for us to enjoy while decorating. And this year he made the girls a special festive kiddie cocktail too. Sparkling 7up with pomegranate.  Oh my, it was a big hit :)  Cheers to decorating from The Rothleutners :)

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Enjoying the holiday making turkey treats :)

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanksgiving in the eyes of children...thanks Gracie :)

Thankful For Our Cousins

Thanksgiving dinner with the Zwiefelhofer Girls :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from me & my sous chef's.  I'm feeling very thankful today for these little mini me's :) Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!!!

Frozen

We have been anticipating the premier of the movie Frozen since the previews first came out a couple months ago. And today was the big day as it opened in theaters.  So we had a fun-filled movie day with some of our favorite friends.  It was an amazing movie & we are already making plans to see it again. Oh how we love DISNEY!!! :)

2nd Annual Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Feast

Oh how much we love this Thanksgiving tradition.  And such a yummy dinner too :)  Who doesn't like bread, pretzels, popcorn & jelly beans for dinner?!?!? And there's nothing better than enjoying the Peanuts Gang with our favorite friends.  Happy Turkey Day!!! :)

Pumpkin Tiramisu

A little Thanksgiving dessert to end our fun-filled play day :)

Princess Party

Enjoying a fun play day with Riley :)

Thanksgiving Prayer

Thank you god for all that grows
Thank you for the skies rainbows
Thank you for the stars that shine
Thank you for these friends of mine
Thank you for the moon & sun
Thank you god for all you've done

The Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen :)

More Turkey Talk

I'm a little turkey fluffy & brown

My wings flip flap when I turn around

I have lots of feathers on my back

And a big orange beak that goes click clack
 

Happy Turkey Day!!! 

Let's Talk Turkey...Gobble Gobble Gobble

Our little turkey Josie had her Thanksgiving Feast today at school.  After performing their "turkey dance" for us, they enjoyed turkey & all the fixings in the cafeteria.  Although Josie enjoyed a full plate of carbs...pumpkin bread, corn bread, biscuits & pumpkin cupcakes.  It might not have been the "traditional" thanksgiving feast but she sure enjoyed herself.  And mommy did too :)  And yes, that is her buddy Conor pictured next to Josie during the performance.

Nighty Nite

Cute & Cozy...Sweet dreams to all my girls :)

The Great Outdoors

Well in this case, the great indoors as it was too cold to go camping in the backyard.  But they didn't seem to mind at all.  Our shopping spree at American Girl was very successful as they used their birthday gift cards to buy a tent & sleeping bags for their dolls.  Thanks Uncle Bob for the birthday gift :)  A fun-filled camping trip in our living room.  They plan to practice camping inside until warmer temps in the spring!!!  Also known as "glamping" :)

Mommy & Me

Last weekend Gracie had a "Mommy & Me" day & today was Josie's day :) While Gracie was at a birthday party downtown, Josie & I window shopped along Michigan Avenue.  American Girl was a must stop since we had gift cards to use from their birthday.  Her smiles says it all.  Happy shopping day to us. And of course, we are also adding a few more things to Santa's growing list too!!!

Lotsa Flowers

"How do I look?"  Every princess needs to have their own unique style :) And this hairstyle definitely sets her apart from the rest.

Dear Mom

Oh how I love that Gracie writes me a note everyday at school & then gives it to me when she unpacks her backpack after school :)  This one is another one to add to my growing collection.  And I hope that she is still writing me notes & letters when she's in college too!!!   A very special highlight to my afternoon, thanks Gracie :)

Pumpkins & Snow

The view from our backyard during the first snowfall of the season.  

It's A Wrap

Every photo shoot ends with silly faces, right?!?!? Well with these two it certainly does :) A fun-filled fall photo shoot!!!

A Couple Of Cuties :)

Ooooh how I love this photo of them in their matching shirts :)

Fall Photos

Our annual fall photos taken by yours truly, Mommy :)  I love taking pictures of these two & luckily we had a warm end of October fall day & 70 degrees in our backyard.  Ooohhh how I love fall :)

Family Dinner

Today Daddy & Uncle Bob went to a special cubs meeting downtown & then met us girls for dinner.  They received new cubs hats at the meeting which said "Season Ticket Holder" on them.  Luckily daddy gave "us girls" his hat which Gracie immediately wanted to wear along with the sunglasses she had packed in her purse.  As she said "she needed to keep the paparazzi away"  I think it worked too!!! :)

Lunch Date

Since Josie had at a birthday party today, Gracie wanted to do something special with mommy.  So I treated her to lunch at Starbucks (her choice :) & to some shopping at one of our favorite stores, Little Threads.  And I surprised her as it was a double bonus shopping day as they were hosting a special American Girl Doll event.  So after Gracie picked out some new jeans, she shopped for Lanie.  And of course, we shopped for Maddie & Jennifer too :)  

Family Friday...Sushi :)

Tonight we went to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant.  Kris & I brought our favorite bottle of wine & the girls packed their Hello Kitty chopsticks from Japan in their purses & we were set :)  And we may turn Gracie into a sushi lover yet as she enjoyed the miso soup & the spicy tuna.  As for Josie, her favorite part of dinner was dessert...green tea ice cream in a fancy glass.  Yummy!!! :)

I found one of my #5's in the crowd at the pep rally :)

We Will Rock You

As I walked into the gym for the pep rally this was the song that was playing, I love this song!!! And oooohhh the memories from my grade school days.  So fun!!! :)  Cheers to St. Clement.

Team Rothleutner

All ready for Spirit Day & the pep rally at school. And good thing Josie didn't realize that the school vendor spelled our last name wrong on her jersey.  And it's a good thing we have a long last name too as it kind of blends in!?!? :)  At least it's on the back & not on the front & her jersey was free!!!  GO TEAM ROTHLEUTNER!!! :)

Helping The Homeless

Josie was very excited to go to school today as it was going to be a very special day.  While eating breakfast she proudly says "We are making lunches today for people that don't have homes".   "And Mommy, they really don't have homes".  I wondered how much she really understood about how important this service project was going to be for her today.  And I was grateful that I was able to join her & her class as they assembled lunches in the cafeteria for the homeless in Chicago.  Her face lit up the entire room as she proudly put her lunch bag together & drew a picture for the person that would eventually receive the lunch that she eagerly prepared for them.  I can't think of a better way to start the day than giving back to those that are less fortunate than us.  #Feelinggoodtoday.

Homework Helper :)

Gracie REALLY wants to be a teacher when she grows up.  She will come home from school & the first thing she does is change into her Cinderella "teacher dress" & white boots or heals & begin to instruct her class in our playroom.  She enjoys it so much that she also loves to help her little sister with her homework too :)  This really helps mommy out especially when she's cooking dinner :)  Thanks to my future little teacher Ms. Rothleutner for being such a great homework helper.  You are going to be a great teacher someday :)