Chicago Christmas

Greetings from the cold and windy city!

We have had cold weather for awhile now and we have already seen our first Chicago snow! Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to be considered measurable and now we have broken the record for the most consecutive days in Chicago without measurable snow! BUT, tomorrow we are expecting the first snowstorm of the season. Patrick and I went out a bought an ice scraper and shovel to prepare. Hopefully there will be some snow but nothing too serious!

There is so much going on in the city for the holidays that we are trying to pack it all in before we head back to Dallas for Christmas this Friday! Back before Thanksgiving break we went to the Festival of Lights Parade and Fireworks event on Michigan Ave downtown. We had no idea how crowded it would be! There was close to a million spectators there! Needless to say, it was difficult to find a spot to view it. We ended up sitting on a bridge parallel to Michigan Ave. It was hard to see the parade but we had a great view of the fireworks! 

We  went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights. We went with a bunch of our friends and Patrick's classmates. We had a great time. The lights were beautiful!

We've also been spending a lot of time decorating our apartment for Christmas! We brought our pre-lit tree from Dallas and it fits perfectly in our living room. We also bought a tiny real tree to put on our landing outside our door. 

Patrick with our baby tree!

Our tree in the window from the street

At the Daley Plaza in downtown they have a beautiful Christmas tree and a Christkindl Market. We went with two of our friends, Neena and Becky. We had yummy German food and drinks!

We've recently joined a small group at our church with other young married couples. We had them all over last week for a Christmas get together before the holidays. We made a it tacky Christmas Sweater party. We had a great time getting to know each other, sharing our Christmas traditions, and reading the Christmas story.

Bentley and I in our tacky Christmas sweaters!

On Friday we head back to Dallas for a week!  Can't wait to see our families and celebrate Christmas and birthdays!

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Halloween

Happy (belated) Halloween! We have had a great time this past week celebrating Halloween here in Chicago. Last week we had friends over to carve our pumpkins that we got from the pumpkin patch. We had cider, watched Hocus Pocus, and carved our pumpkins! They turned out pretty cute!

Ashley's pumpkin

Patrick's pumpkin

Bentley in his pumpkin costume

Saturday night we celebrated a friends Halloween birthday and Halloween. Patrick and I dressed up as American Gladiators from that 90's tv show. We had a really great time putting together our costumes! It was a fun night out with friends!

Both of us dressed up for work on Halloween. Patrick was Where's Waldo for his patients and I was a pumpkin for my class. All of my students wore their costumes to school and we had a party. It was so much fun seeing the kids so excited! It was such a great day! Here is a picture of the layered dip I made for my school pot luck. Patrick and I made a spider web out of sour cream. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

Bentley also got into the spirit. This year his Halloween costume was a lion!

And lastly, my sister sent me a picture of our nephew dressed up for his first Halloween! So cute!!!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Love,

Our Nephew

We are so happy to welcome the newest member to our family... our nephew, Carter!!! My sister, Alicean, gave birth to a big and beautiful baby boy on Friday, October 19th! Carter Anderson Harwood was born at 7:38 am and weighed 9 lb 7.3 oz.

Due to our work schedules and the crazy costs of flights, we have not been able to meet him in person. We are so sad that we couldn't be there but we are so thankful for the gift of technology! Kevin updated us through text messages the morning of, my parents sent us pictures, and we have been able to Face Time through our phones, ipads, and computers. Here are some screen shots of us getting to chat with our little buddy!

@ the hospital 

@ the hospital 

@ at home!

We are so thankful the Lord has blessed our family with this little boy and we love him to pieces already! Here are some pictures that were sent to me of Carter. I apologize for being "one of those" aunts... but not really! We are looking forward to seeing him over Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas!

Probably my favorite!

Hook 'em Carter

Carter and Grandad

Carter, Grandad, and Alicean

Carter with his Grandmother

Father and son

Carter's first game day! Hook 'em!

Ready to go home!

Mother and son

Love,