Thanksgiving in Galena

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. A time to be thankful, spend time with family, and enjoy lots of delicious foods. The whole Ekenstam family was together this year. We all met in Galena for a 4 day vacation together. We had lots of good food (thank you Nancy) went swimming everyday, ate out and did some shopping. It was great to have time together as a family.

The Lobby of the Hotel all decorated for Christmas!

Breaking the wishbone. So excited. We couldn't believe it

the wishbone broke right down the middle. Never seen

that before.

Kaleb wrestling Geoff. I think we can all see who is

winning.

Aunt Kerstin and Kaleb

We found the boys hiding in the nightstands that were on

both sides of the bed. I couldn't believe they both fit in

there. They thought they were pretty funny.

Kaleb thought Uncle Sean was hilarious when

he wanted a piggyback ride.

Game Night!

Home!

I have had a few requests to see pictures of our

apartment in the city so I finally took some. We

really love our home here and it is beginning to

feel like home. I am surprised by how much I

like this Apartment. It is much smaller then the

house we came from, but lots of functional space

and much easier to keep up with the cleaning.

Boys chillin on the front steps. We do this a

lot and most of the time bubbles are involved.

They love to say hi to all the people walking by.

Our small back yard. We are just glad to have a little piece

of grass. The boys are still able to run and play. That is

also our garage behind the boys. We are greatly blessed to

have parking off the street.

Living Room with wonderful big windows that let in lots

of light.

Our view from the living room.

You can see the sun room off the kitchen. It was hard to

get pictures of the sun room.

Sun room and boys playroom.

Bedrooms are small, but functional!

Pre-School

It is November and school has been in session for about two months in Chicago, but Kaleb is just starting preschool. When we moved to the city everyone said you probably won't get into a good preschool since most people put their children on a wait list the year before they will enter school. But of course I thought I have to try since the public school is only 3 blocks away and has a wonderful reputation for their Preschool and Elementary School. So I did just that I filled out an application and they said they would call if anything opened up, since we live in the district we get priority. So a couple weeks past by and I called the school, but nothing. Then just 3 days ago the boys and I had drove out of Chicago to do a couple of things and the boys had fallen asleep in the car so I thought I will just call the school it has been 2 months. Well when I called they told me they had one spot available that just opened up if I wanted it. I was thrilled. Kaleb has loved the first couple days and has already been invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates. We are excited for him to have a couple of hours everyday with structure and social learning. His teacher is great and we are excited to be involved with the school he will be attending while we are here in Chicago. So glad I called on a whim, because I know they wouldn't have called me. What good timing.

Tyson of course wanted his picture taken too.

Navy Pier

Every Thursday night the Chicago Children's Museum is free so last night I took the boys to go play. Erich had to stay late at School. It was wonderful since it was windy, cold, and rainy outside that we had something to do indoors. When we were walking to the museum Kaleb kept losing his balance because of the wind it was crazy. When we got inside at Navy Pier, Kaleb said "Mom it is really windy I thought I was going to blow off of the Earth."

It was a wonderful night for the boys to play. Now that the

summer is over the free nights are not crazy at all and the

boys are really able to play and enjoy all the different rooms

in the Museum. They were also having a "Day of the Dead"

parade so the boys liked watching the colorful costumes and

masks as they danced throughout the Museum.

Trick or Treat

Halloween Party !

Trying to eat a donut off a string. Kaleb had a little help as

you can see. You are not suppose to use your hands, but

he had lots of fun. Nothing like a bucket of candy and a

chocolate donut.

Tyson looking for candy. He spent a long time in this

Newspaper.

Ready to leave with Mr. Incredible and Tyson the Lion.

Kaleb and his Stash

Tyson could have eaten his whole bucket of candy in one

night if we would have let him.

We also went trick or treating on Halloween night and the

boys loved all the house decorated. We went on a street a

couple of blocks away from our house that really goes all

out. It was a pleasant surprise, since we didn't know if they

would have much luck trick or treating in the city with all

the apartment living. Thankfully my friend told us where

her family goes so we thought we would try it out. The street

had as many lights as some homes have at Christmas, but

of course with Halloween colors and lots of decorations. Many

of the owners were dressed and ready to meet any visitor that

came to the door. The boys did really well with some scary

masks. It was a fun night for all of us and wish I would have

taken my camera, but didn't know what to expect. With all

the people I can't imagine how much candy those houses have

to buy.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween

This Halloween season has been lots of fun with the both

the boys excited about Halloween and their costumes. It

all started when we spent the weekend at my parents

house and my mom and the boys put up all their Halloween

decorations and then carved pumpkins. They had a blast.

Kaleb then asked when we were going to put up our

Halloween decorations, but I said we already had. He was

disappointed. My mom has a lot of Halloween decorations

so compared to her it looked like we had nothing.

Carving a pumpkin at home for Family Night,

since the ones from Grandma and Grandpa

Shurtleff didn't make it to Halloween.

Pulling out the Guts!

Two becomes Four

Ben and Karen

Addyson and Avery Shurtleff new additions. Ben and Karen

Congratulations on your beautiful baby girls. They were

born on Oct. 2nd and will share a birthday with Tyson. It will

be birthday central in October for our family.

Wedding weekend and more birthday Celebration

Went home this weekend to celebrate Rachel and Nate's

Wedding. It was so fun to be with them on their special day

and to see them so happy. I wish I would have taken more

pictures, but we were all just having too much fun.

Ashley, Rachel, Lisa, Me, and Nicole. What a beautiful

Wedding.

Carved Pumpkins with Grandma and Grandpa Shurtleff

That cupcake and Ice Cream must be delicious. Look at

that face.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Tyson and Grandpa's birthdays

are only two days apart.

Grand Lux for his birthday dinner.

Birthday Boys!