Carrot top?

 All of my kids had strawberry hair when they were born and then it changed to blonde. Here are some shots of William's hair. It is the most strawberry of the three and I am wondering if it will stay that way or get redder.

New York Times

Here is a link to a New York Times article about Epic, the company Jim works for.

Sledding

 No snow in the forecast today but plenty of sun and below freezing temperatures which made for a great morning of sledding. Jim took Isaac and Elizabeth to St. Francis, a catholic school here in Cross Plains, to go sledding down their hill. I was sad to miss it but since it was too cold to take William out and both William and I are sick, I decided to stay home. The kids had a great time and were so excited to tell me all about it when they got home. They had a great Daddy morning with Jim with first getting doughnuts, then going sledding and to top it off, some chicken strips and cheese curds to warm up their hungry bellies.

Winter Fun

 Since we have had an unconventional "warm" winter, I thought we should capitalize on it and have some fun. We took the kids swimming in one of the pools at where I work, Harbor Athletic Club, and they thought it was great. We went in the warm pool which is a salt water pool and is heated to 95*. It feels like a bathtub.

 We also had a couple of days where the weather got into the low 50's so we thought it was perfect weather to head to a park to run around. The kids fell in love with a dog that was there and the owner was so kind to the kids. She let them feed the dog treats, pet him and walk him around the park on the leash. Elizabeth was overcome with tears when she had to say goodbye to the dog when it was time to leave.

 After the nice weather, we finally got snow and winter hit Wisconsin. I ended up shoveling the driveway and the sidewalk 3 times during that storm and it sure was cold. The whole time I was shoveling I was cursing Jim in my head since he didn't show me how to use our snow blower before he left for New York. The kids were thrilled to see snow. I had to walk to Isaac's school to pick him up since our van was in the shop and he was excited to walk home in the. Well, that excitement was short lived because after we crossed the street to head home, he was already complaining that the snow was hurting his face. It was windy with the snow blowing in sideways which made it feel like sand was hitting your face. The amount of snow that we got in that one day was about as much as we would get in UT for the winter. The locals told me that I was lucky that Jim was gone during this storm because it was a "lite" snow.

Our Mr. Wills

Chicago

 This weekend, Danika and I ditched the kids with Brent and Jim and we took Julie for a girl's night out in Chicago. I booked us a room at the JW Marriot in downtown and we couldn't have asked for a better room/hotel. The hotel  beautiful as was the room. We were on the very top floor looking at the Sear's Tower and in order to even get to our room, you had to use your room key in the elevator to gain access to that floor. As we walked in the room, we had to walk down a 15-20 ft hallway before we could see the beds. We were greeted with music and images on the smart tv as we walked in and took in the nice view and the vaulted ceilings. Our bathroom had a tv built into one of the mirrors, had a bug glass shower and a separate HUGE sunken bathtub. I joked that I should have brought my goggle so I could go swimming in it. Everyone at the hotel treated us like queens and it was perfect for a night just to ourselves. That night we went to dinner at The Gage. We enjoyed sampling our cheese board and I loved my lamb shank and brussel sprouts with applewood bacon and brie.

The next day after sleeping in and walking around in our robes, we hit the Aveda Hair Institute for a little pampering. Julie and I got a hair cut and Danika got a make application.

 There are many things that we wanted to do in Chicago and one of them was to eat a "Chicago dog;" a hotdog that is on a roll with mustard, onions, bright green relish, tomato, a pickle spear, chili peppers and celery salt. It was delicious!

 Another stop we made was to the Sear's Tower, now re-named the Willis Tower. We made it 160 stories up in the tower and had a great time overlooking Chicago at night time. It is said that on a clear day you can see 4 states. On the 160th floor, there are cut out glass boxes that you can stand in to look down and peer down below. many people were nervous and un-trusting of the glass, but I thought it was fun,

 We also stopped at Millennial Park to visit "The Bean." We had fun walking around and looking at our distorted reflections. I have no idea why there is such a big bean in the park, but it has become quite the tourist attraction.

 The last stop we made before we made it back to the kids was to The T-Shirt Deli. It looked just like a deli but instead of meats , cheeses, and salads, they had tshirts and decals. It was pretty cute. We made our own tshirts to remember our day. When the shirts were finished, they get wrapped up like a deli sub and served in a bag with a bag of chips.

It was a great little get-a-way and Danika and I said that we will do this at least twice a year. Next time I go back to Chicago, I would like to have an Italian beef sandwich and go on a Mob tour.

Warm Day

 We have not had much snow. This time of year the average is about 34 inches and to date we have had 4. Even though we haven't had snow, that doesn't mean that we have been absent of the cold weather. Since it is too cold for me to take all 3 kids outside, Julie and I took the kids to Play 'N Wisconsin; an indoor warehouse full of trampolines and swing sets. It is a great place for the kids to run around and play with out the fierce bite that the cold brings.

 We got a break from the cold weather yesterday and today and decided to take the kids to the zoo. They have been asking to go but when it is in the teens and 20's the thought of walking around looking at animals just doesn't sound fun. Yesterday the high was 48* and it felt AWESOME! The kids had a great time at the zoo and this was William's first "real" outing. The kids had fun watching all the animals and playing on the big play structure. It was nice to feel the warmth of the sun too! We had so much fun and the weather was so nice that we all, as a family, went swimming after dinner. The kids had a blast and are asking when they can go again.