Kobe's "Christmas Eve" Birthday

Kobe always loves telling people about his birthday since he was born on Christmas Eve. This year at Halloween he even dressed up as a Christmas present and came up with saying that he was like "an early Christmas present" to us when he was born since it was on Dec 24. Which means our family spent the day celebrating Kobe's birthday with a trip to the bowling alley (one of the few places that is always open on Christmas Eve) and lunch at Portillo's (one of Kobe's favorite places to eat in Chicago.) People always ask if he gets "jipped" on the presents since his birthday is so close to Christmas and the answer is definitely NO. If anything he makes out like a bandit since everyone--especially Grandma--makes sure that Kobe get plenty of birthday presents. He even got a cool Guitar Hero game from the Cynthia & Ken and Raymond & Kelly...which the whole family played the rest of the night while we were waiting for Santa to come (I'm pretty sure Santa played a few sets before he headed on to the next house.) Anyway, Happy Birthday Kobe and thanks for being the best present ever!!

To Do List for Chicago...

Most of our trip to Chicago has revolved around doing things that we can't do in Utah. This means that today we spent the first part of the day at Woodfield Mall shopping. Probably not Kobe & Tehani's idea of fun but the kids did at least get to check out the Rainforest Cafe and the Lego Store so we didn't get too much complaining from them. After the mall, it was off to Portillos for lunch--another MUST for our trips to the Windy City. Even the kids have gotten to saying how much better "Chicago hot dogs" are than what we have in Utah. What can I say...we're raising our kids with a taste for the finer things in life! Once we were home, we tried to send the kids out to play in the snow (part of my plot to tire them out). Tehani didn't fall for it and opted to stay in the warmth of the house. We bundled Kobe up and he spent the next hour (we had to chase him in when it got dark) playing in the snow...10 degrees and all. And to top the day off, Cynthia and Baby Charlotte finally arrived from Champaign. The baby is so big Kobe & Tehani almost didn't recognize her. Hopefully they're ready for some fun 'cause we've got tons more things to cross off our "list" before we go!