Singing on the Polar Express
Emma loved singing for the crowd! Up on the housetop and Jingle Bells were my personal favs! Watch out Hannah Montana, here comes Emma!! :)

Cuddling Charlie
Although he can be an annoying, full of energy puppy, he is also a very sweet dog who tolerates more than he should have to from Emmie. He was a good pick. : )

Upside Down
As many of you already know, Emma's world (and ours) has been turned a bit upside down the past few weeks. First with the glasses and now with the patching. She currently has to wear her patch for 6 hours a day. It could be worse and are thankful there have been some signs of improvement. The Dr. didn't seem optimistic that her vision will ever be able to be fully corrected, but he thinks we can make progress. And progress is a good thing. So for now, patching away, we are. Emma, although very shaken when she learned about needing to wear the patch, has been a real trooper and wearing her patch without too many complaints.

The Christmas Parade
For the 2nd year in a row we have bundled up to take part in the Christmas Parade. It was lots of fun (although we did all wonder if we still had toes afterward, and thankfully after we thawed the answer is yes- all are accounted for :).

Celebrating Nikolas Tag!!

And the count down begins!

Heading to the Chicago Christmas Market with Auntie Shell, Uncle Paul and Grandma Sandy (Our German side might just choke if we told them how much a glühwein costs here!!!)

Hopping on the train to Downtown Chicago

Getting ready to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at Auntie Shell's

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Heading to the Fox to see White Christmas...
We all had a wonderful time!!

Emma getting her nail and hair done!
Nope, still no haircut- just a bit of pampering :)

Adopting Anabelle
Emma, Grandma Sandy and Mama headed to Chelsea Bear Co this week in order for Emma to adopt a bear. She is a lovely new member of the family and I think she chose a beautiful name for her new charge. :)

Emma, Charlie and Ariel just hanging out...

Grandpa B is always such a good sport and so much fun!!

Trick or Treating in the 'hood with Arjun and Aria. Keeping up the tradition of going together, hopefully for years to come! We missed having our buddies Jack and Sam with us this year! With any luck they might be back next year! *fingerscrossed*

Trick or Treating on Main street with Maddie, Meg and Grandma Sandy (well, Mama was there too but behind the camera!) It was so cute to see the girl stop at the fairy doors and leave the fairies treats. :)

Glasses
We just learned that our beautiful Em is almost blind in her left eye and probably has been since birth. The Dr. we met with has prescribed a strong lens on one side of her glasses in order to get her brain to kick in and accept images from the eye. It came as quite a shock to all of us that know her well and at first it was a little hard to even believe.
Emma was not real thrilled (who really would be?) at first and is slowly getting use to having the glasses on. We go back to the Dr in mid- dec to see if her vision has improved in the left eye and then plan for next steps. If the glasses will work the dr. says they will do so normally in the first 6 weeks. We are hoping and praying they work, and that her brain starts to accept images from her left eye. We appreciate any prayers our freinds and family can share as well.
All in all- it could be worse and are glad we learned about this now before it would have been too late to try treatments. And of course, Emma is still a beuatiful princess, even in her glasses.

Emma's school party (2 days before Halloween- not sure why 2 days before, but hey they had fun! :) I love how Emma holds her dress up and flashes her princess smile.

Time to head home-
Although it is always fun, it is also always hard to say goodbye. Emma really enjoys being with her cousins and we wish she had more time to spend with them.

It beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Ok, ok so it wasn't even Halloween when we took this picture, but it was sure nice of Opa to set it up while Emma was there just for fun! :)

Cooking Dampfnudeln is a family affair!