The part that has been great is that we have had a bunch of visitors this past week, which has been nice to see friends and loved ones before Christmas comes. With our string of visitors, we have also had some Christmas parties with Divinity School friends! It's been a lot of fun and we squeeze in naps when we can so we can keep going!
It all started with my birthday on December 12th! I had a great day at work celebrating with Bess, my coworker. She got me a chocolate cake to have with our morning coffee and yellow roses, then she treated me to lunch at a old school diner type place that had the greatest old fashioned hamburgers, fries and coke! I went with regular coke instead of diet since it was my birthday! By the way, I'm 30!
After work I drove home and Josh was making me homemade General Tso's Chicken, which is my favorite Chinese dish! It was better then any restaurant I've ever had! Seriously it was really good! He also had a bottle of my favorite wine, Moscato D'asti! Here is a picture of the meal! Oh and our favorite beer too! It's called Fat Tire. And Brussel Sprouts too, which is my favorite vegetable.
After dinner I was sent on a scavenger hunt looking for little pieces of paper all over the apartment. Throughout that search I had little clues to a website, which led me to this. After watching the video, I opened the ornament and it told me to log on to a Gmail account. When I did that, there was an e-mail in there for a gift certificate for a Swedish Massage for 60 minutes!!!! I have been wanting a massage for so long because I have never had one. I actually started crying when I went onto the spa's website to check out where I will be going because I cannot imagine having a massage for that long! I can't wait! I set it up for December 27th!
Here are some pictures from the weekend!
L-R Wendy, Jay, me, Norah, Josh, Branden, Sarah
Here we are trying to get a normal picture and one of us is struggling a bit!
The big Christmas tree in Daley Plaza!
This gang left on sunday and on monday, two former students of ours, who babysat Norah often while we were in Wheeling, flew into town for a four day visit! Ben and Annie are their names! It was so good to see them! We played board games with them alot while we were in Wheeling, so we were anticipating some fun! They were really sweet and brought Christmas presents for us. They got Norah some books, Josh a new board game, called Last Word, which was a lot of fun and we played it every night while they were here. For me, they got me the greatest gift ever! That's right folks, "The Happy's Head Trip"!!!!! I included a photo so you would know what it was and how you use it! It's awesome! Annie had one and I was so jealous!!!
While they were here we took them to the U of C campus to show them around. We also tried to do the blitz tour of downtown. The best thing was that they wanted to go to the top of the Sear's Tower to see the view, so I did a little research and it would cost the same amount of money to go to the top of the Sear's Tower for the view as it would to go to the Signature Room, which is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building, and get the view and lunch! So we opted for that and we were not disappointed! It was really cool to be up that high!
Here are some pictures from our time with them!
This is Ben and Annie playing with Norah!
This is the view from our table in the Signature Room! It was so high up! There are swimming pools on the tops of some of the buildings!!! I thought that was only in the movies!!!
It was so cold while they were here!
Norah loves the piano and plays it all day long. She sits in her chair half the time and plays and the other half she stands, plays a song and then makes sure everyone in the room is paying attention and then she bounces at the piano and wants everyone to join her!
In case you have never heard of my mom the piano player, she may have only been world renowned in Beaver County, but you're missing out!
While they were here we took them to the U of C campus to show them around. We also tried to do the blitz tour of downtown. The best thing was that they wanted to go to the top of the Sear's Tower to see the view, so I did a little research and it would cost the same amount of money to go to the top of the Sear's Tower for the view as it would to go to the Signature Room, which is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building, and get the view and lunch! So we opted for that and we were not disappointed! It was really cool to be up that high!
Here are some pictures from our time with them!
This is Ben and Annie playing with Norah!
This is the view from our table in the Signature Room! It was so high up! There are swimming pools on the tops of some of the buildings!!! I thought that was only in the movies!!!
It was so cold while they were here!
Josh's oldest brother Tim and his wife Marisa stopped by on saturday on their way from Madison, WI to Cleveland. We made them a big old filling lunch so they did not have to stop at a crappy rest stop and eat food they would regret. They were supposed to come friday and spend the night rounding out our string of visitors, but Tim got the 24 hour bug and stayed at home an extra night to rest up. It was great to see them for a short time!
It fell below 0 today here in Chicago! It was a little crazy walking to church. I bundled Norah so good and she cried the whole way there! I felt so bad, but I wanted to make sure she was warm. I carried her in a wrap thing that my friend Katie made me so that we were body to body to add extra warmth.
This Chicago weather is crazy and especially when the wind kicks in. I had to stop at one point and make sure I was balanced. I was about the cross the street and the cars at the intersection all waited for me to get my balance and wait for the wind to pass and let me cross. It was very kind as they were sitting in their toasty cars!
I added a picture for my parents because this was their Christmas present for Norah. In case some of you do not know, my mom is a world renowned piano player so it is only appropriate for them to give her this gift!
This Chicago weather is crazy and especially when the wind kicks in. I had to stop at one point and make sure I was balanced. I was about the cross the street and the cars at the intersection all waited for me to get my balance and wait for the wind to pass and let me cross. It was very kind as they were sitting in their toasty cars!
I added a picture for my parents because this was their Christmas present for Norah. In case some of you do not know, my mom is a world renowned piano player so it is only appropriate for them to give her this gift!
Norah loves the piano and plays it all day long. She sits in her chair half the time and plays and the other half she stands, plays a song and then makes sure everyone in the room is paying attention and then she bounces at the piano and wants everyone to join her!
In case you have never heard of my mom the piano player, she may have only been world renowned in Beaver County, but you're missing out!
4 comments:
Sounds like you're having a great Christmas season!
Happy Birthday Rachel!!!
great post. love to read updates on the eleks. the thought of a quiet christmas @ home is sounding better and better.
Merry Christmas, Elek fam! Although the picture still does not adequately explain "happy head trip."
Merry Christmas! I'm glad Norah is following in the family talent. I'm sure your family will be missing you this Christmas. I'll be praying for you. I'm so glad you had so many fantastic visitors. Much love!
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