The Parrillo Family

As we've done for the past few years, we've included the url to this place - our little family homestead on the web here - on our Christmas cards. (* Waves hello to those of you coming here because of that *)  Those of you curious enough to dig through the archives, you can do that by scrolling down, but perhaps the easiest way to navigate through the site is through a little bit of a summary.  We've grouped some of the posts by category below. 2016 brought lots of laughs and love.  Along with some travel, a few tearful goodbyes ( See you later, Mais-a-roo ! and ' Thanks for all the fish, Paw Paw '), a new addition (Lizzie!), a plan for where we're going to live ( we bought a lot and started on construction !) and plenty of milestones (can you believe that we have a first grader !).  Through it all, our family of five has been so grateful and fortunate to share our year with the people we love. So, let's check out what we were up to in 2016: Milest...

Our little Lizzie is growing up.  A bit.  She's still just a little thing.  And she still is a crazy dog.  But she's learning a few tricks and is doing her business (mostly) outside.  We're figuring each other out still, but the kids love her and she loves them right back.  Mostly with licks.

Like...for real.  A star. Check her out at her Little Lamb's Christmas performance. She got to wear the star costume and be a part of the main performance as well as sing along with the entire Little Lamb's class.  See her below all the way at the edge of the risers with her arms up singing along loudly! And check out this video of the 'star of the show' highlights.  You can see her get into it!  And get *out* of her Star costume by the end.  And the laugh along with Natalie (who you can hear!) at the end of the clip.  (If you are reading this in your email and can't see the video below, click here to see it!) Here's a video of the same performance from last year  and you can see how much she's grown up in just 12 months.

For the third (I think?) year in a row, we brought the kids and met their cousin, Aunt Sisi and Uncle Bill along with Grammy and Granddad at an early Holiday Open House in the Western Suburbs to meet Santa and his reindeer. Here's the post showing photos from the same event last year. Like in year's past, we first were able to meet some of the reindeer.  Sadie loved petting them and learning all about them from the elves. The line was long, but the team at Wannamakers has set up some cute photo ops including this one in the little red car with a Christmas Tree attached to the roof. And then it was 'showtime'!  Let's meet Santa and tell him what we want for Christmas. As you can see, Frank couldn't get out of there fast enough!   *Feets don't fail me now!* But the girls?  They hung right in there. And were able to spend some time with Santa to tell him what was on their list.  SD said she wanted the American Girl Camping set. ...

We love Christmas time, but having been down to Walt Disney World at Christmas time in the past, I can tell you that my family *loves* Christmastime even more down at the Happiest Place on Earth. We were able to sneak down to Orlando for a few days late last month to bring in the Holiday season with the kids and plenty of characters.  Each time we go, we try to add some new experiences and things to our itinerary and this trip was no different. We started the trip with a stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge where not only were we able to watch the giraffes eat dinner, we also were treated to the fireworks from Hollywood Studios!  We've been wanting to try the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I'm glad we did!  Next time, we'll stay even longer. The kids loved watching the animals right outside our balcony. And the fireworks were a wonderful bonus! SD going full on Animal Kingdom tourist. A trip wouldn't be complete without some Minnie and Mickey hugs, right?  ...

The weekend after Thanksgiving means it is the time to wander out into fields of Braidwood to find the Parrillo (and Moran and Fox) family Christmas tree(s).   This year was a breeze as everyone found their trees in no time and all in the same area! The kids had a ball running around and even got in on the cutting of our tree! This is an annual tradition that I've documented over the years: I don't seem to have posted about Christmas Tree Day in 2015? Here's the post and photos from our trip to the Farm in 2014 . Here's the post and photos from our trip to the Farm in 2013 . Here's the post and photos from our trip to the Farm in 2012 . Here's the post and photos from our trip to the Farm in 2011 . Here's the post and photos from our trip to the Farm in 2010 . Here's SD lending me a hand in cutting our family tree down: Frank helped for the first time cut some of the excess branches off of our tree. We were all joined by the Si...

We kicked off Thanksgiving with a "Black Wednesday" meet up at Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville with our friend Mark, Matt (and his Dad) and the Morans.  Had plenty of tasty beer with some good friends. I don't post about Thanksgiving every year, but you can find a few year's worth of memories here on the blog . On Thanksgiving morning, Nat ran the Turkey Trot and the kids worked on their 'turkeys'. Then we got doll'd up and went over to Aunt Linda's house for our first tasty meal. And ended the night at Grammy and Grandad's place for our second tasty meal - and some quality time watching football with Uncle Frank (for me, at least!). We have SOOOOOO much to be thankful for and we were so lucky and fortunate to be able to spend the holiday (maybe my favorite holiday??) with the ones we love.

Look at those smiles!  Took almost two years, but we're on our way!  That's the signage for the demolition and excavation of our new house that is getting underway this week. On the lot we bought back in July of this year . We're excited, but I think the more appropriate feeling is one of relief.  That we have a plan!