1st Snow of the Season

I started to type the title of my blog "1st Snow of the Year," but realized that would be false, as it snowed until February or March this year.  It's actually the 1st Snow of the Season, and sadly it is still the FALL season.  I could have done without snow until Christmas...

 Marcus and I had a big weekend planned in downtown Indy.  We were supposed to attend a friend's wedding, we had a hotel, breakfast plans the next day, and unfortunately had to cancel because of the Winter Storm :( :(  My parents were supposed to come up and stay with the girls and I know they were bummed too. 

We settled on a date night in downtown St. Charles and got a local sitter instead.  The girls were thrilled it snowed on a weekend and played outside all day Saturday with Daddy.  Sunday was drastically colder, so we dedicated Sunday to staying indoors and Christmas decorating!   It felt SO good to get the decorations up this year BEFORE we leave for Thanksgiving break.  It's always so stressful coming home after traveling, doing laundry, grocery shopping and rushing into Christmas mode.  This year, we can enjoy our decorations longer, and focus on simply just chopping our tree down and decorating the tree when we get home  :) 

Dixie and I decided to stay inside by the fire.  I finished the book I was reading and it was very peaceful and quiet for a Saturday morning :)

 

We ended up with 5 or 6 inches & it's still quite cold out.  Looking forward to a bit of a warm up for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Kickoff to the Christmas Season!

Every year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, is the downtown Aurora Winter Lights Festival.  It is SUCH an incredible Costco event and we have now been going for 3 years!  It's been a tradition with our friends the Hollands, and every year, we tell more and more friends about it, so it's quite popular now!  :) 

The event kicks off with a parade

It was snowing LIKE CRAZY during the entire lighting.  Pretty magical!

SANTA AND MRS. CLAUSE!

Sonoma and her best friend Alexa, taking a hot cocoa break & listening to a band play

Hugging an elf

After the parade, Santa gets off his float and dashes to where he is set up for kids to come sit on his lap.  Cora saw Santa and was SCREAMING his name, and sadly, he did not say "hi" to her.  Cora was very upset and cried that she will NOT sit on Santa's lap because he did NOT say hi to her :( :(

The girls went crazy when they saw PURPLE cotton candy!

The fireworks over the river are so awesome.  Total 4th of July style!

Me & Brigitte!

We met a live reindeer!  Cora would not pet the reindeer! 

Thanks & Giving November!

November has turned out to be a very wonderful month.  As a family and as a team for my business, we have been very dedicated in giving back this month.  My team, Team Soar, is hosting a Thanks & Giving November.  10% of all my Customer orders this month will be dontated to the Alzheimers Association, a organization that is very near and dear to my heart. 

If you want to give back to a great cause, make sure you get your order placed this month in November!  If you're already a customer and you would like to get your December order moved up to this month, let me know and I will help you get that done!

If you've been thinking about trying products, this is a GREAT time to do so!  Take a few minutes and answer these quick questions and the Doctors will recommend what products are best for you to start with:

https://lfischer1.myrandf.com/Pages/OurProducts/GetAdvice/SolutionsTool


This past weekend our family collected coats and food items for local shelters to help out people in our community.  It was an opportunity through our Church and I am so glad we decided to participate.  I was so grateful for everyone who stopped by to bring items over to our house!  Thank you!  It's such a great month to help out and give back to others.

The girls and I shopped this week to fill a shoebox for the Samaritan's Purse organization and made our shoebox for a little girl age 2-4.

Our shoe box will be sent across the world to a little girl who won't receive a Christmas and it is filled with toys and toiletry items.  It was a good teaching moment for Sonoma & Cora.

Life Lately

 

November has already been such a wonderful month!  The weather has been warm, leaves everywhere, and we've all been enjoying the season!  Life lately has been good :)

Our backyard is always so pretty in the Fall.

 Sonoma had an audition downtown on Monday and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day in the city!  It was for the National Got Milk campaign. Boy, did she love drinking all that milk!  And, Sonoma did such a great job.  We are very proud of her!

I saw a picture of Sonoma come through my Timehop app from exactly 4 years ago.  I compared the picture I had just taken of her:

She's grown up so much! Same look though!  :)

The Potereks had a Chili cook off at their house a couple of weekends ago.  It was a lot of fun and these girls were being super silly together!

Love watching her walk around with me every day and run errands.  She is still so little :)

Preparing for the PEANUTS movie!!  In honor of Cora going to her very 1st movie, I got her a Happy Meal.

I LOVE how the girls want to match and pick out outfits together almost every day.  They try to match everything - socks, bows, headbands.  So sweet, and I know it won't last long!

They day has arrived!! Cora told everyone she came in contact with that this was her very first movie!!

We went to the movie with the Greens.  All the kiddos and adults loved the movie.  Really, really cute!

Ah, Sonoma looks so old! 

Daddy practicing his kissy face

Super Soso!

Cora has started taking an interest in the American Girls.  She has been keeping Kirsten in her room and plays with her and all her babies together.

We walked in Von Maur last week and Cora screamed, "Mommy, it's Christmas at Von Maur!!  It's Christmas here!"

Every time I take Cora to Von Maur, the pianist stops what she's playing and takes requests from Cora.  Cora sang Rock a Bye Baby and You are my Sunshine while the pianist played.

Sonoma does chin-ups now.

The red cup is back!  (Can anyone hear the word "red cup" now without thinking of all the ridiculous controversy?  Ugh!)

Cora is learning all about Thanksgiving and made an awesome Turkey mask at PDO!

 

10 Year Anniversary Trip

Marcus and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on October 22nd, 2015.  We headed out West to Wine Country to enjoy the sights of Sonoma County.  Our dear friends, the Greens,
just so happen to have the exact same anniversary, so we figured it would be perfect to take a trip & celebrate together!  It had been years since Marcus and I were out in Sonoma & Napa.  Marcus has made so many contacts and connections throughout the years with his job, that it was a perfect time to take advantage!

Marcus' parents came up to watch the girls so we could leave on Thursday morning to fly out to San Fransisco. THANK YOU Sarah & Terry!  =)  You can imagine how difficult it was to schedule a trip with other friends, 5 kiddos total, childcare, etc.  It took a lot of work, but once we were on that plane, we could finally relax, breathe and enjoy ourselves

Happy 10 year anniversary & goodbye Chicago!

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge

The guys navigating their way through rush hour

VACATION

We stayed with our friends, Clay & Carrie Mauritson, of Mauritson Wines  .
They had a charming guest cottage that we stayed in which was simply perfect.  They have a beautiful family and it was real cool to get a sneak peek into their life at the winery.  Boy, is suburbia different than life on a vineyard! 

After a quick change on Thursday night, we headed out to downtown Healdsburg to have our anniversary dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen. 

It was a lovely anniversary dinner! 

Love this girl!

Every morning we enjoyed walks around the town square on Healdsburg, grabbing pastries and coffee.  We had great coffee at Flying Goat and the French pastries were so yummy at Costeaux French Bakery.

We started out Friday morning at Mauritson Winery for a private tasting and a tour.

We got to drink straight out of the oak barrel!

Learning all about the science of making wine

There's nothing quite like eating grapes right off of the vine!

Thank you, Clay, for your wonderful hospitality!

Next stop: Lunch at Rutherford Grill, and then a tasting at one of our favorite boutique wineries:  Elizabeth Spencer

After a wonderful tasting at ES, we went to another one of my favorites: Chimney Rock for a tasting and to check out the beautiful vineyards.

 

HA!

Friday night we met my college roommate and best friend, Erin, and her husband Todd for dinner in downtown Healdsburg at Scopa and had the best spaghetti of my life!! I was told it would be to die for and it certainly was!  It was so fun catching up with Erin and spending time together.

 The next morning after a walk downtown and a little shopping for the girls, we picked up delicious sandwiches from Oakville Grocery and drove to Napa for our big day ahead at Chappellet.

Had to get a quick picture by something that said "Sonoma" to show Sonoma.

After an extremely long, and difficult drive to the top of the mountains, we arrived (very nauseous!)  to Chappellet.  Words cannot describe the day we had! BIG shout out to Marcus for arranging such a lovely private picnic on the top of the mountains overlooking the vineyard.  We took a safari type truck to the most serene, peaceful place and enjoyed a picnic and a bottle of wine, just the four of us.  It was one of the most gorgeous days ever and I will never forget that!

Thank you, Cyril Chappellet for the fantastic bottle of wine - Cab Franc

Celebrating 10 years of Sunfish22

Cyril thought it would be real funny if I fell in the bucket of grapes and got my blonde hair all purple!  Um, no!

The top of the winery building looks like their label.

Getting ready for our tasting

Overlooking Lake Hennessey

For our last dinner out we were told we had to try Diavola in Geyserville for the "Dictator Pizza" which had Korean BBQ & Kimche. Oh my goodness, it was AMAZING. 

Hanging out at a local winery in downtown Geyserville  before dinner

Last dinner

Overall, it was SUCH an incredible anniversary trip with the best company!   We had a blast traveling with Matt and Sarah, the time of the year was absolutely beautiful, all of the special tastings Marcus planned were so nice, and we simply had FUN!  I would love to go back again in October.  Cheers to 10 years!