Here is a short movie with video clips and still images of the aftermath of Snowpocalypse 2011 at our home in the north Chicago suburbs. Final snow total was about 20″! What an awesome sight it is outside right now. If it wasn’t -10 degrees with windchill we’d be out playing in it today!

I thought I would give an update to all of our family that is NOT experiencing this once in a lifetime storm in Chicago right now. It is actually very exciting to be half way through storm that will drop 18″-24″ of snow in our area over a 16 hour period. Who wouldn’t be excited about a snowstorm that comes with thunder and lightning? It doesn’t get much cooler than that! As long as we don’t lose power, I hope to maintain this calm level of excitement and enjoy the time stuck in the house with everyone tomorrow.

Mike’s site is closed tomorrow as are most businesses in the area. Travel is pretty much impossible at this point, as visibility is down to .2 miles with 50 mph winds blowing 12″ of the snow that has fallen so far. The famous Lake Shore Drive downtown is closed, as traffic came to a standstill and many drivers started to abandon their vehicles. All shelters are open to those without tonight, and the city has also opened all police stations, fire departments, and libraries for the same folks. 1300 flights are cancelled out of O’Hare and the airlines aren’t expecting to resume flights until Wednesday afternoon. Chicago Public Schools are closing for a snow day for the first time since 1999. When it is all said and done, this will be the worst storm Chicago has seen since 1979.

We started our hunker down with baking chocolate chip cookies and letting the kids stay up until 9:30. We will find out tomorrow if that was a mistake or not! They think the storm is the “lizard” so every time a wind gust blows they say, “Oh! It’s the lizard!” I stopped correcting them with “blizzard” after about the 10th “Oh!” Both kid a do have a cough/cold right now, so a forced day in will probably do us good as long as they don’t get any worse. Tomorrow we plan to play trains, set up a new racetrack for Joshua, do some stamping, and probably watch some movies. I do hope to get out somewhere tomorrow night. We don’t go too often 24 hours without leaving the house. If nothing else, I’m sure we will get out and play in our winter wonderland!

I did try to take some pictures and video but don’t quite have the equipment to see through white out conditions, but you can see some cool pictures of the storm at this link: http://useeit.abc7chicago.com/ChannelGallery.aspx?c=4983 Enjoy!

Check out the cutest little kids ever declaring their love for queso!

Hi again all! Two posts in one week – can you even believe it?

Nothing fancy, but I did want to share some pictures from our trip to Pensacola this summer. We made the 16 hour road trip with the two kids in a rented Jeep Cherokee. It actually went pretty smooth! (At least that’s how I choose to remember it 3 months later!)

The Johnsons and Aunt Martha met us there and we got lots of time to visit and do some Pensacola adventures together, like Sam’s Fun City water park, the Wildlife Refuge, the Naval Air Museum, and a Fourth of July celebration. We even got to eat at some of my favorite places, like Jerry’s Cajun Cafe, Fish House, McGuire’s, and Mom Acton’s kitchen, of course!

And, we got to celebrate both Janet’s and Michael’s birthdays together while we were in town. That doesn’t happen often!

Mike got to see Jimmy and Tessa, and we all had a wonderful lunch out with Thad, his fiance, and her beautiful daughters.

I think we both feel like we made the most of our time there. Can’t wait ’til next year!

Enjoy the pictures!

Family & friends,
Oh, how we’ve missed you! We hope you are all doing great and hope to hear from you soon! Time goes by too fast these days, but we want you all to know that we think and talk about you often. We tell the kids about you and show them pictures of you, so don’t be surprised if they act like they’ve known you forever when you see/meet them next!

We’ve had a summer packed full of fun and memories, including:

• a 16 hour road trip to Pensacola
• a family reunion in Wisconsin Dells
• a “live-in” with the Stewgles (our neighbors that moved to New Jersey earlier this year)
• a Day Out With Thomas (the tank engine, of course)
• a garage sale
• the potty training of Joshua (finally!)
• the Dave Matthews Band concert at Wrigley Field

I’ll cover some of these adventures as I take the fall to get back in the groove of updating this blog (notice some nice changes in design?), but first I’d like to quickly get you up to speed as to where we all are right now….

Mike (aka “Big Daddy”)

Mike is chugging along at P&G’s North Chicago site. He tends to work 50-60 hours per week and likes it well enough. The site is continuing (yes, still) to transition into P&G systems and it has been a ton of work for him and the rest of the site. He’s proud of his results as the Plant Engineer, but is ready to move on to a bigger and better role there.

At home, Mike really is the model husband/dad. He helps with house chores, namely the dishes and trash, and is very active and involved with Joshua and Addison. Both kids are “Daddy magnets”, since he is their treat at the end of the day. They often go to the park, sing songs really loud, read books, and wrestle in the living room. Because of all of this, he often falls asleep on the couch shortly after they go to bed, all so that he can get up and do it again the next morning.

Heather (aka “Mommy Everything”)

Heather is still home with the kids, though has taken on quite a bit of Web work, namely building websites and doing social media consulting with small interests. She mostly likes helping local bands, moms, small local businesses, and individuals and families. She maintains three blogs:

• this one, The ChicagoActons, focused on the four of us and keeping in touch with our distant family and friends
• a personal blog, Heather Acton – At the Intersection of Mom and Web Entrepreneur, which is focused on the issues encountered while being an at-home mom and establishing a business
• a professional (geeky) blog, ActonWeb, which is going to be focused on my business helping small interests get present and active on the Web

With all this going on, Heather doesn’t get much sleep. But, she couldn’t imagine not pursuing the Web business at this point. She’s found something she loves to do that could potentially be a family business in time. And, it helps her keep her sanity after all day with the little ones =)

Joshua (aka “Spike”)

We call Joshua “Spike” because of his straight and spiky hair. The poor kid is going to have to become a big fan of mousse if he ever chooses to keep his hair longer than a crew cut. Example (um, ignore the watermark on these…I’m cheap!) is to the left!

But really, Joshua is everything a three year old little boy should be. He loves the movie Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine. He loves being outside and going to the park, and even has the courage to do the “fast slide” that Mommy is afraid of. He begs to go to Target and the mall (Mommy LOVES this!), and hangs in there on some very long shopping days!

Joshua also loves his little sister! They are often seen holding hands, kissing and hugging, and chasing each other around the house. And, yes, he also loves to antagonize his little sister =) They play the “mine” game often!

Recently the little man became potty-trained (much easier than Mommy thought!) and started three year old preschool. Preschool has been bittersweet. I have been happy to have some one-on-one time with Addy, but I miss my little guy. He’s been teary often when I’ve left, and is already telling me, “I don’t like school.” I didn’t think I’d hear that for a good 10 years! It’s only two days a week for two hours a day, and is a play-based school, so I’m pretty sure we’ll make him stick it out

Addison (aka “Snorts”)

We call little Addy “Snorts” because of the way she snorts her blanket. She’s done this since she was given a blankie at about one month old, but the sound has only become more piggy-like as she’s grown. It’s a laughing matter for all of us, and she knows it and eats up the attention it gets her!

Addy’s got the cutest little blonde super-curly hair. Yes, blonde. We often get asked where she got both the blonde and the curls, and the best we can figure out is that she is blonde like Mike was at a young age, and she is curly like I was at a young age. It’ll be interesting to see how her hair changes through the years!

Addy absolutely adores her big brother. She mimics everything he does, and as a result speaks very well at not even two years old. She is also such a cuddler, which I absolutely love. It is not uncommon for her to come up and give us hugs and kisses, and she’ll sit on one of our laps for extended amounts of time, just to be kissed, loved, and cuddled.

She currently loves singing the ABC’s and Twinkle Twinkle all around the house (and loves the applause that follows), and also seems to love just about all of the TV shows and movies that Joshua does, including Cars, Thomas, and Caillou.

We do say that Addy is our “flower child”. She is usually pretty happy and goes with the flow. However, cross that girl and you will get a shrill shriek and a pouty lip (and if you’re Joshua, possibly a swipe to the cheek!).

So That’s the Actons Now!

Well, I hope this gets you all up to speed and that you feel “in the loop” again. I do enjoy writing these types of posts because it also serves as a little marker in our kids’ (and our) timeline. I know these are some of the details we’ll quickly forget.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and subscribe to these updates. You’ll get each new post sent straight to your email so you won’t have to remember to come back and check for new updates.

And, please keep in touch by sending us a note about how you’re doing. We love to hear everyone’s stories!

Love and miss you all!

-the ChicagoActons

Keep your volume down. I get pretty “hooty” when Addy is successful in her feats with that waste basket.

Enjoy!
=)

It’s been a while since we’ve shared any pictures or movies of the kids, so I’ve taken some of our best shots from the past six months and made this short slideshow. If you’d like to print/save/share the pictures, you can view them in our Flickr set.

We hope you all are doing great! Enjoy the show!

Merry Christmas Eve from the chicagoactons! We hope you enjoy this short video with highlights from the Eve. It’s worth hanging in until the end of the 5 minute video, especially if you are Tom Davis =)

“Merry Christmas from the chicagoactons” (part 2 of our Christmas adventure) will be coming soon!