Sweet Emily, Sweet 16!

Happy birthday to our first edition of the next generation!

You are one blessed girl and we love you.  

The Christmas Tree is Lit!

Thanksgiving is in the rear view mirror, so the kids have their sights set on the next big thing… Christmas.  

Girls smile and boys do what boys do.  

Daddy and Keira cuddle up for warmth while we wait for Santa.

Santa did it again! The tree is lit. 

The kids are ecstatic!

What a Circus!

The circus came to town  and we took the circus to the circus thanks to Mimi and Bubba.

The Tempels drove to town as well to clown around. 

Watch the video below for a taste of the fun.  

A picture is worth a thousand words.  

The kids show their excitement in very different ways.    

 The UC was packed with wild n crazy fans, though none were crazier than this bunch.

Our littlest noise maker thought it so loud, she decides to plug her own ears.  

The clowns juggled while Kenneth and Lilly watch.  

Keira's first circus.  Besides sitting in a tray of nachos, it was all fun.  

Mommy and her two big kids.

Some days you get the dragon, some days the dragon gets you.  

Our little slayer struggled mightily to make it back to the car.  

Thank you Mimi and Bubba!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 Watch Video Here

Before the renovation…

After… 

The Mac Pack's family pose.  The eleventh take is the winner. 

Sharks!  All of em.  Don't let their sweet smiles fool ya.  

Keira and Jean talk politics.  

The kids ready for dinner, praying god blesses them with all the excuses they can muster for not finishing their plates, while reserving rights to desert.  

The chefs have done it again!  Great work HJ, Donald and team!

III and Alexander will soon have another little face for the camera.

This is he FUN TABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or is this the fun table?  

Wait, this must be the fun table.  Janet was able to join us this year and Helen and Donald hosted a great party.  Thank you!

Molly chaperones the short people, ensuring some compliance with general safety standards.  

Keira grabs Sondra for some play time. 

Look how big those kiddos are getting!

My little sous chefs each had responsibility for one pie this year.  

Lilly did not want to get her princess jammies dirty, thus the doozy of an outfit. 

That's my boy.  

Lilly's Gingerbread House!

Tis Ginger construction season.  

Lilly and her Gal Pal Mommy build one fine gingerbread house to earn a Girl Scout badge.  

Lilly came up with the design all herself, while Mommy helped with the frosting.  

Great teamwork Ginger Babes!  

2015 Family Survivor Champion - Dan McKenzie's Untouchables

And then there was one!  The Meredith Place Merrymen, SHS, and Dakota Gold made valiant efforts, but Dan McKenzie is your 2015 Survivor Champion.  

The Merrymen turned markedly less merry, as Denver's Peyton Manning proceeded to nearly make more completions to the Chiefs than his own team.  In what may have been Peyton's last start was definitely LeRoy's final go in 2015.   

And Green Bay came up lame vs. the lowly Lions, sending Christina's SHS wondering what could have been if she had done her Discount Double Check.  Surely, she would have seen that Ditka's recent commercial was a Packer curse in disguise, and no Packer has ever beat Ditka.    

And just as Sondra's Fantasy Football team heats up giving her the two hottest cross league teams, she couldn't go wrong with the perfect Bengals, right?  Wrong.  The Texans decided to buck up and play some big boy defense, sacking the Gold's title hopes.  Sondra will ease her pain by counting all her Fantasy Football points this week (Can anyone lend her an abacus or something?).   

All pretenders aside, Dan McKenzie's 8 game win streak brought home the bacon (or Doritos, whatever floats your boat).  

The Untouchable victory has many participants scratching their heads asking "how can one be so good at picking teams… yet so bad at picking players?"  (Ha!  Obligatory Big Bro Shot #1)  But seriously, with all insults aside, Congratulations Dan!  You are our 2015 Survivor and will be paid as soon as the Illinois Lottery Commission allows.  In the interim, please don't let the victory go to your head.  

Thank you all for participating and wait until next year!

Your Survivor Commish

Ceiling Shots For Everyone says Danny Boy!

Veteran's Day with Uncle Dan.

In this video, Uncle Dan participates in Lilly's Veteran's Day Assembly.
The kids went wild for all their Veterans.
Lilly was slated to to the introduction live, but with a little stage fright… it was not meant to be.



Thank you serving Uncle Dan!
And God bless all our veterans for their service.

Little Slugger

Thanks Grammy!

Happy Friday

JDRF Walk

This fall we took a walk to support juvenile diabetes research.  

The whole family was there to show support for a good cause.  

Mommy and Lilly are ready to roll. 

Look who we found!  Grace graces us with her presence.  

Purple power!

Lilly, Molly and Alexander get ready to walk. 

Keira cakes gets her Melissa fix. 

Keira cakes was not walking at the time of this race… but will be for next years.  

Stay tuned for footage of her first steps.  

Fall Fun With Mimi

Kenneth had so much fun with Mimi at Fall night!  Thank you Mimi.  

Bye Bye October, Hello November

Well we tried to hang on to October, but it bucked us.  

So welcome November, nice to meet you.  Don v38.0 will be released soon and the early feedback is positive.  

Kenneth finished his soccer camp and won a ribbon!  Can you believe it?  

BTW, note the Cubs shirt.  

The Cubs made it to the NLCS before getting swept by the Mets 0-4.  

Kenneth found a jet in the neighbors garage and took it for a spin.  

Vroom, Lilly is never one to miss out.  She suits up and hits the runway.  

Kenneth loves, loves, loves being a pilot.   

Lilly on the other hand was happy to get back to her wardrobe.  

Good Bye October.  November, please be nice.