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Well. It came. All the snow they predicated came. I have to say, I didn't believe it until it happened. Usually they create all this hype and we get four inches. Boring. But this time was different. And we could tell. Jim Cantori showed up in Chicago and I knew we were screwed.

For those of you who don't know about Jim, he's the Weather Channel guru that only shows up in the most extreme weather conditions. You don't ever want him in your town.

It started around 3:30. Not too bad snow-wise but the wind was crazy. It was sustained at about 50MPH with gusts up to 70MPH. Crazy.

Shot outside of our house around 5:30pm

Around 6:30

Enjoying some blizzard snacks

When I opened the front door to look outside, we saw all of the snow that was blowing in around the seams on our front door. Crazy.

Around 7:30

At 8:45 we lost power. I'm not going to lie, I was freaked out. The thought of not having heat during a bad storm is scary. Especially with little ones. But, what was really frustrating was the fact that it was literally only our block. We had our faces pressed to the glass on our front windows while watching our neighbors in their homes with heat and electricity. Sucked. When I called the electric company they told me only 50 homes in our area were without power. Nice odds. Too bad it wasn't for winning the lottery. All in all, we lost power for 19 hours. Thankfully we had plan B to stay at a Bed and Breakfast two blocks away (thanks for the idea Barbara!) in the case that it didn't come back on at all. Our house was down to 47 degrees when the power finally came back on so there is no way we would have made it another night.

Wind blew snow all over our screen

Another front door shot

View when we opened our back door

Drifting along the side of the house

Our backyard. That circle in the middle is a table we eat at that was almost covered. Crazy.

Our poor Nissan. Buried.

Drift in front of our garage. Was at least 4 feet high.

Hiking to the bed and breakfast

Finally around 3:30 the power came back on. Some little boy I know enjoyed all of this though!

Big snowball!

Coloring the snow blue. Fun!

Showing off all the snow Daddy shoveled in the back

Our poor grill

Another table shot

The Backyard

Side of the HouseOur alley

But, we survived and have good stories to tell. I have to tell you though, I love modern amenities like heat.

Baby of the Month!

Maddi was baby of the month in December. So cute!

In other news, she started crawling on all fours recently. Time to baby-proof...

Lots of Relaxing

Life has been so crazy that we spent this weekend relaxing. On Saturday night our good friends Andy and Jill came over with their baby Lily. She is 4 months old and cute as a button!

Maddi and Lily enjoyed playing together

Maddi is really hitting a lot of milestones:
-puts her arms in the air when you say "so big"

-she also started crawling for real

Crafty Weekend

This weekend I attended my second Chicago Craft Social. Once again, it was a blast. You pay $25 and you get to try 2-3 different crafts out. I love it because I can learn several different new craft techniques that I have never tried before. And who doesn't love an afternoon of crafting!

First up is making a Zinc Frame. I guess this is a popular, but expensive, find at antique stores so we learned to make our own.

You start with any frame and some aluminum foil. First, you Mod Podge the frame and then cover with foil.
Then, you cover with foil and Mod Podge over that.

Once it is dry, you take a mixture of amber acrylic paint with one drop of black and water, and paint it all over the frame. Once the frame is covered you blot with a paper towel to get the metal look.
And, voila, you have a zinc frame. Fun!

The second project I did was paper silhouetting. I really like intricate paper cutting so this was a nice craft to try.

Here are some examples from the expert at our table. Amazing.
To create the silhouette, you start with a photo (I used one from our wedding) and black out the parts that you want to cut. It's important to leave some detail so it looks like a photo when you are all done.
Then you cut out with an exacto and flip over. It actually turned out surprisingly great for my first try! This is definitely something I would do again.
The last craft I participated in was making clay pendants. What made them so unique was the decoration of the pendant. We used windshield glass found on the side of the road. When melted down, it turns a beautiful blue-green. They were mailed to us after being fired and turned out quite nice.
Thanks to Brett for letting me out of the house to participate in this great afternoon!

It was a special treat especially given Brett's physical state. Last Tuesday he sprained his ankle pretty badly during Basketball. Let's hope he gets better soon:(
Gross, I know.

I'll leave you with this shot of Owen playing his Thomas game, courtesy of Papo and Nonna Barbara, on the computer. He can navigate with the mouse and follow directions so well. It's crazy.

Tricks and Treats

We received some FABULOUS post-Christmas goodies from my Aunt Lu and her husband Ed. They always outdo themselves on their gift packages to us. This time it came in 4 boxes and was more wonderful than ever.

Owen got a Thomas Train book with little bitty trains.

And a cool dragon.

This awesome Woody and Buzz poster.

A dinosaur DVD.

A cool buzz figure.

And a Santa pez dispenser.

Maddi got a princess book.

And a monkey blanket.

And here is where the true craft presents begin!

Maddi and I both got these great ear warmers. I remember sending my Aunt a pattern a few months back but totally forgot about it. These couldn't have come at a better time because it's freezing outside.

My Aunt also made me these really neat fingerless gloves.
I also got these sweet penguin coasters. Love them!
She also made Brett this really soft, warm hat.
And, for the piece de resistance, she sent both of the kids needlepoint birth announcements. They are beautiful and are already hanging in their room. It is such a special gift we will treasure always.

Maddi has started doing all kinds of tricks.

saying no

She also started pulling up and has 4 top teeth coming in. It's been a busy time!