The Erfurth Family

Friday, December 2, 2011

Our Trip to See Santa at Macy's

The Macy's right by our hotel in Minneapolis sure had quite the Santa Showing. First the kids made out their Christmas lists and mailed them. Then we went upstairs to the neatest display of the North Pole followed by meeting with Santa and eating yummy cookies that Mrs. Claus made :) It was so so magical for the kids ( and I am not going to lie--me too)

The Erfurth Family

Minnesota Trip-- Lunch at the Rainforest

I do have to say that this is official the kids' favorite place to eat.... The Rainforest cafe. If you haven't been there before, well, the food isn't too wonderful but it is all about the experience. The aquariums, the monkeys, the thunderstorms, stars, etc. The kids loved this place.

The Erfurth Family

Our Weekend Trip to Mall of America

On Thanksgiving night, after celebrating and enjoying wonderful food with our families, we packed up the car and headed up north to Mall of America. Every weekend in December is busy with something for us so we thought that this would be a good weekend to go. Lily didn't have school on Friday. Chris closed his office for the day and I didn't have any kids. We figured that once January rolls around--and the baby can be due possibly any time that month-- we wouldn't have any time to get away and we wanted to get away with the kids one last time before the baby arrives. We stayed downtown in a beautiful hotel. There was shopping close by the hotel, the pool that the kids loved, the Mall, and at night, our hotel was on the Holidazzle parade route so we enjoyed the light up parade while sipping hot chocolate. It was the perfect weekend! If you ask the kids what was their favorite part of the weekend, they would say riding the rides at the mall on Friday. My wonderful husband took the kids all day to ride the rides while I shopped a bit on Black Friday. The kids are so so fearless. They rode every ride that they were tall enough for and if they weren't, Chris rode with them. I think that there was only one ride that Lily didn't go on. Lily rode the big roller coasters since she is tall. Nolan rode the big kid rides too. And the best thing was that there were no lines to get on the rides. Everyone at the mall that day were shopping so the kids could walk onto any ride without waiting.

The Erfurth Family

Ladies Day Out

Boy am I spoiled. A full day on Friday Nov 18, Saturday Nov 19, and then Sunday Nov 20. Sunday Mom, Lily, and I hit up the women's expo. We sampled wonderful food, got loads of free stuff, got pampered ( as you can see in the picture below-- Lily got her hands done) and shopped.
It was a wonderful way to end a weekend!

The Erfurth Family

Day of Fun with my MIL

My mother in law, Kim, invited me to join her for the day shopping in Chicago. How can I pass that up--especially right after my birthday. We had a wonderful wonderful time! Chris stayed home with the kiddos all day ( well, I guess they didn't stay home all day---he took them bowling and out to lunch) We left early in the morning and headed for Woodfield area in Schaumburg. We spent the day at Lego land shopping for Legos for Nolan, at the mall, at Ikea splurging on fun stuff for the house, and we hit up the container store. We even dined at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch followed by a Cinnabon ( my favorite by the way and we don't have those stores in Madison). Mmmm.. what a wonderful day!

The Erfurth Family

The Big Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday-- It fell on a Friday this year which was nice! Well, except for the throwing up and flu going around in our house. I braved the sickness on my birthday and Mom VV. took me out to my favorite place for lunch--Olive Garden. I didn't want to stay in and be sick on my Birthday--that is no fun. I didn't have any kids for daycare that day so I wanted to take advantage of being with Nolan only and not stay home. In the evening, I still wasn't feeling much better but Mom and Dad wanted to take us out to eat at Quivey's Grove for my birthday. I LOVE that place. It is so beautiful and although set in the middle of Madison, feels like we are worlds away. It is amazing how much I can talk myself out of being sick :)

The Erfurth Family

Monday, November 14, 2011

Just a Couple More I LOVE

I just can't decide which one I like the most for our Christmas Card photo! Here are some more that I have to choose from... This is going to be hard! Again.... Kudos to my awesome Dad for the wonderful pictures of our family. Can't wait to have him take the new baby pictures.