Chicago Style Thanksgiving

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"City sidewalk, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style. In the air there's a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile...it's Christmas time in the city. City street lights, even stop lights blink a bright red and green as the shoppers rush home with their treasures."

This was the Christmas song that we lived last week. Since we are many miles from any family, and because Clark had a few days off from school...we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving this year in a non-traditional way with a little trip to Chicago. It was so much fun!

We got an awesome deal on a hotel that was right downtown on the Magnificent Mile in the middle of all the action. I love the big city at Christmas time. The Magnificent Mile was decked out with tons of lights, shoppers, and fun window displays. It was just so fun to be with Clark and Ethan and feel the rush and excitement of the Christmas season!

On Thanksgiving morning we went to the big Thanksgiving parade. Clark went early and got us prime seats (only one row of people in front of us) right in front of the huge Macy's store. The parade had everything from a giant Elmo balloon to barefooted Hawaiian fire dancers. It was so much fun.

Ethan loving the parade!

After the parade we had fun looking at the fun animated Christmas windows.

Then we walked over to the Sear's Tower (we learned that it is now the 3rd tallest building in the world). We went to the Sky Deck on the 103rd floor, from there they say you can see 50 miles. We watched the beautiful sunset and then the lights come on in the city. It was an awesome sight.

It was about 6-o-clock when we left the tower. We were planning on going out to dinner, we didn't care about finding a traditional Thanksgiving Feast, we thought Chicago pizza sounded pretty good to us. However, as we walked the couple miles back to our hotel there were no restaurants open, not even fast food. We found one place open that was $50 per person, but we refused to pay that much...we were pretty sure that 7 Eleven was going to provide our Thanksgiving Feast, and then we saw the lights of Subway burning brightly. By then we were so cold and hungry it really was a feast and we were grateful. We took it back to our warm hotel room and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, since it was Thanksgiving we even splurged for chips and Clark bought a 64 oz. Sprite at the 7 Eleven on the way home.

Thanksgiving dinner Subway style. This may be a new family tradition.

On Friday morning I braved the Black Friday shoppers. Shopping downtown Chicago is so much fun! Clark and Ethan met up with me that afternoon and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry.

This dress was at the museum, the fabric itself is actually made of lights...not for sale or I would have bought one for sure!

Ethan with the penguins at the Christmas Around the World portion of the museum (we were really excited to find the Romanian Christmas tree)

We ended the evening by going to the German Christmas Festival at Daley Village. It was a fun little celebration with good German food and crafts.

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It was such a fun trip! Ethan is a good little traveler.

Oh Dear, he likes driving already.

He does have a problem sleeping in a bed that is not his own, he is not a fan of the pack and play. At night it would take a couple of hours to get him to sleep. We pushed him around the dark room in the stroller one night. He can sleep anywhere else though...on a crowded bus, at a noisy parade, just not where we want him to sleep.

He loved taking a bath in the funky little sink!

We have so much in our life to be grateful for. I had to speak on gratitude last week at church and have been amazed at how many blessings I enjoy everyday.

In the last General Conference President Monson quoted a well known author when he said, "Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend . . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

Focusing on the abudance in my own life truly fills me with joy and gratitude! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

7 Mile Saturday

We woke up bright and early to a cloudy below FREEZING day! It would have been the perfect Saturday to stay inside and drink hot chocolate and eat donuts...but no, we all bundled up and headed to the Living History Farms.

Ethan wondering why we woke him up so early!

Clark signed up to run the 7 mile race that takes place on the farm. He has been excited about this race ever since we decided to move to Des Moines. It is a crazy cross country race that includes jumping over streams and climbing up muddy embankments using ropes. Every runners dream!

7,500 runners signed up, this was the starting line a few mins. after the race started.

Ethan and I cheered on the runners from the bridge at mile 5. I was so excited when Clark finally went under the bridge I gave him quite a cheer.

My view from the bridge.

Ice chunks floating in the stream.

As soon as Clark went by I motored the stroller to the finish line to watch Clark finish...I was either distracted by the muddy runaway brides at the end, or Ethan that I somehow missed Clark finishing.

The Runaway Brides...I think next year I may do this race in my wedding dress. Muah ha ha!

Bubba is ready to go!

Most of the runners in this race were crazy, you would have to be to run this race in below freezing temperatures. Luckily the snow didn't start until right at the end. About 50% of the runners were wearing interesting outfits. FORTUNATELY for you I didn't get pictures of all of them but here are a few that scarred me for life:
1. The chief running in a head dress and a skimpy loin cloth (nothing else...not even shoes)
2. The man running with an open bottle of beer in hand, and another bottle in the pocket of his running tights.
3. 2, yes 2 men running in T-shirts and shoes...NOTHING else, the pants-less wonders!
4. Many men in dresses.
5. A few cow suits.
6. Many in denim overalls and flannel shirts.
It was an entertaining event. I thought the few die hard spectators that stayed for the race deserved medals too!

The mighty runner after the race! Go Clark Go!

To all of you Johnson runners out there...we'd love to have you come next year...a little winter version of the Bolder Boulder?

Check out Clark's blog for more muddy details of the race.

Quirky Genetics

So the argument about how much of a child is genetics and how much is environment has always been interesting to me. I don't think there really is a clear cut answer. Since Ethan is still a baby I figure most of his little behavior traits are probably just a part of who he is, I don't think we could have taught him too many bad habits yet.
However, this week I have been noticing him doing a few quirky little things that Clark and I also do...and I have wondered if it really is part of our genes.

He is still trying so hard to crawl forward, everytime he tries he just scoots backward. This morning he backed himself under the chair and was stuck.

He was so determined to get himself out of there and using all of his concentration power and this is what I saw-

His little tongue goes out when he is really concentrating! That is so Clark. Anytime Clark is concentrating on something (studying, cooking, repairing something) his tongue also comes out. Like father like son.

Yesterday I noticed Ethan reading one of his little board books, he was turning the pages and everything. He was holding the book with his left hand and using the toes on his right foot to turn the pages. He gets the toe action from me. Clark is always a little disturbed when he notices me picking up the house and doing other tasks with my feet.

Can the loose tongue and the freakish feet really be part of our genes? Poor Ethan, who knows what else he's going to inherit!

And a side note...yes, that sewing machine is real in the picture. Shocking I know. I borrowed it from a friend. I am working on some top secret Christmas gifts and teaching myself to sew at the same time. OH dear.

Becoming a Domesticated Wife...

So yesterday I asked Clark what he wanted for Sunday dinner, he responded with two words "pumpkin pie." Since we are going on a trip over Thanksgiving and not having the traditional feast I thought that was a great idea. I thought that would be a fun little family activity...

Come Sunday afternoon I remembered that I didn't know how to make a pie and that I don't really like pumpkin pie to begin with. I attempted one time before to make a pumpkin pie in Romania, some sister had left a can of pumpkin in the apartment (I'm sure a nice mom had sent it to her). However cooking in Romania with limited ingredients, no recipes and an oven that burned my arm hairs off every time I attempted to light it (yes, there really was a fire burning in the bottom of the oven)...always ended in a disaster. That poor pie looked alright when I first took it out of the oven, however, it weighed about 10 lbs. and was just nasty to eat.

Reflecting back on my great kitchen skills of the past I started to get nervous, so I pulled out my trusty Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book. It had tips for making pie crust like "too much flour makes it tough, too much shortening makes it crumble, too much water makes it tough...if you overwork the mixture your pastry may not be flaky." Are those supposed to be helpful hints? I was a nervous wreck. Finally with Clark and Ethan's help, and my mom on the phone, I mustered up the courage to begin the pie crust. We actually had a lot of fun making the pie...and after having the first slice the pumpkin pie expert in the house said, "yum." Yahoo! Me a "non-cooker" was feeling so domestic!

I realized I had quite a bit of pumpkin left over, so I found a recipe for pumpkin cookies...

Oh my, they really are as bad as they look...so my domestic bubble was burst. We spent so long on the whole pie ordeal that I had no wifey energy left to make dinner so poor Clark got Ramen noodles for dinner. At least dessert was good.

And the sign above my stove isn't just a cute little catch phrase...it's true, I do kiss better than I cook!

The Best Part of the Day!

Ethan's little bedtime ritual is one of my favorite parts of the day!

First he gets his bottle. This little boy is an active guy almost constantly when he is awake. He rarely stops long enough to snuggle more than 30 seconds. He is always looking, touching, putting things in his mouth, rolling, kicking, babbling or scooting around, so I absolutely love when he relaxes long enough to drink his bottle and I can sneak in a little snuggle time.

When he's done eating Clark picks him up and heads for the stairs. He immediately gets so excited. I follow along behind. This is the melt my heart moment of every day! Ethan always peeks around Clark's shoulder to make sure I am coming and gives me the cutest little grins all the way to his bedroom.

We then read a story, say prayers and put him in his crib. He always gets his little legs kicking in his bed because he knows a little peek-a-boo is coming with his blanket. Finally, it is lights out until morning!

(A little peek-a-boo action video clip)

He is the sweetest little guy! I just can't get enough! Good night buddy!

A little cute Ethan for his Grandmas!

Cute little Bubby is about the size of the pumpkin!

You can kind of see his tooth in this one.

I love this face!

Here are a few videos of Ethan with the Halloween chicken. He loves screaming lately and listening to himself.

This next little video is footage from the mystery dinner. Ethan thought my feather boa was the funniest thing around!

Ready for the Red Hat Society!

On Halloween night we hosted a "How to Host a Murder" dinner. It was so much fun, everyone came in awesome costumes and played their parts really well. The highlight of the whole day for me was my awesome hat find earlier in the afternoon. This hat is Kentucky Derby Queen of England worthy! It is awesome!

There is a store near our house called "Cover Your Butts." I've wanted to go check it out several times, but never have. On Halloween Clark called to tell me that everything in the store was 50% off, so we walked on over. This store has the coolest men's suits I have ever seen (the kind you would see a rapper wearing on the red carpet in Hollywood), the colors ranged from lavendar to bright orange. There were some amazing dresses and hats for women too. We quickly realized this store was probably not geared up for people like us (white and un-hip), but I just couldn't pass up this red hat! When we payed for the hat the young girl working kept giggling (I'm sure she was picturing me wearing this hat to the mall or church on Sunday)...the older lady working said, "girl, you will look foxy in this hat!" And I have to admit I felt pretty darn foxy!

Clark's role was the hunter from the country (yes his pants are tucked into his cowboy boots). I was his gold digging French wife.