A New York Christmas

Christmas has come a little early for the Perreca Household! Since Al is now working retail, we knew he wouldn't have a weekend off over Christmas. We decided to not wait to have Christmas with his family until mid-January, so last weekend, the kids and I took off for NY. We had a fantastic time celebrating with Poppy and Nonny (Great Grandparents), MarMar and PopPop (Grandma and Grandpa) as well as with Aunty Jen, Uncle Frank and Cousin Nate. Al surprised us by being at Jen and Franks- he had been able to get Saturday off! We had a great time and made many happy memories!!

Addie doing her "cute" pose by MarMar's tree

Alden LOVES his gift- it's great to climb on!

Addie and her mountain of gifts!


Alden loves the tissue paper!

Sitting on their new stool reading their new books

Addie is really into opening her stocking!

Alden isn't too sure about his stocking- good thing PopPop is there to coax him!

That cinnamon roll is as big as he is- and yes, he ate it all!! It is from PopPop Old!

Cousins!!

Addie's gifts from Nate

Alden making confetti

Decorating cookies

Nate "helping" decorate with Alden watching on

Addie and Nate watching "Cars"

Attempting at getting a Cousins in their Christmas PJ's picture.... Alden wouldn't sit still...

Advent Around Our House

Starting in seminary, Al and I established a tradition. On each Sunday of Advent, we would do a reading, just us, and then exchange a simple gift that we dutifully called a "Sleigh Gift" because I had a small wire sleigh that we could place them in. We have kept that tradition alive with the kids- they look forward to hearing Daddy read the Bible and then getting to open little gifts. We hope this will help instill in our children a love of the true meaning of Christmas!
Waiting for Daddy to start reading!


Alden being silly while he waits


Addie showing off her new Little Pony from a Happy Meal, while she waits for Daddy.

Busy, Busy, Alden

Alden is a busy boy these days. He LOVES to help- from handing me ornaments off the tree, to pulling toilet paper off the roll and putting it in the trashcan. I am diligently working to help him learn what goes in the trash- so now he picks up any trash he sees and proudly hands it to me saying "ash! ash!" This is great, unless he's running around in public- he found all kinds of "neat" things on the floor at BJ's while I was standing in line at the deli counter....

The icing on the cake came last week. I was preparing to run some errands- a Wal-Mart run, exchanging a movie at Blockbuster, and going to the post office. Since I still have yet to regain my mind after giving birth, I dutifully placed all the items needed for the said errands on the desk, next to the front door that we would be walking out of in a few min. I selfishly stopped in the kitchen to top-off my coffee, when I heard the shredder start shredding and a faint "ash! ash!" I leaped with strength and skill I did not know I possessed- and this is what I was able to salvage.

Just the top 1" of the DVD was shredded- good thing Blockbuster has a very gracious policy and didn't penalize us for it!

Alden, as you can tell, is hanging his head in shame. When I yanked the DVD out of the shredder, he gave me "Aren't you proud of me, Mommy?" look. He was rather crushed when I strongly told him "NO! NO! We do NOT shred DVD's!" I didn't even know he knew how to push IN the switch and then pull it to the side (it's still tricky for me to turn it on!).

We all learned our lesson- and just to be safe, the shredder is now unplugged unless Al needs it!

Recent Addie Funnies

Addie has coined some cute phrases recently....

Addie: Mommy, I want dirty biscuits for breakfast.
Me: What are dirty biscuits?
Addie: You know, Mommy! The ones with brown and white on top!
Me: Oh! You mean cinnamon rolls!
Addie: Yes! Dirty biscuits!!

This can be heard multiple times a day around our house....
Addie: Mommy, I'm froggy green!
Me: What? You're a froggy?
Addie: No, I'm FROGGY GREEN! I want something to eat!
Me: Oh! You're super hungry!
Addie: Yes! I'm froggy green!

Life doesn't get much better then being froggy green and then getting to eat dirty biscuits!!

Addie's 3rd Birthday

Addie has had a Hanukkah-like Birthday in that she didn't just have 1 day of presents, but MANY days of presents!! Even though her birthday is only technically 1 day a year, she has been celebrating for several weeks! Her first gift (a bicycle from her PopPop Old and MarMar Young- explained and documented in an earlier post) came a few weeks ago, followed by many more over Thanksgiving (see the Thanksgiving post). This was great in that it allowed her to truly enjoy and focus in on her gifts instead of being totally overwhelmed the actual day of her birthday!

The day of Dec 4th dawned cold and clear, just like the day she was born! I walked into her room with Alden, singing "Happy Birthday." She just grinned and smiled and then promptly requested waffles for breakfast. As we were getting ready for her big party, several calls came for her. By the end of the 3rd one, she turned away from the phone, annoyed. "Mommy, they just saying the same thing!" she retorted! After this, anytime someone started to sing or say Happy Birthday, she would just give me a pained look and say "It's the same thing, Mommy!" The poor girl doesn't appreciate the same greeting from multiple people! Even when her Aunty Becca and Uncle Thomas sang to her in German, she still knew it was the same thing! Thankfully our little talk about being polite about it stuck until after her birthday party!

Her cupcake themed party was super simple and yet everyone had lots of fun! All her little friends have Mom's that stay at home, so her party was on her actual birthday during the day. The kids played in the playroom, taking a quick break for goldfish and grapes, then finally taking a bigger break to decorate cupcakes. The kids had fun AND it saved me from having to decorate a ton of cupcakes! Addie's friends gladly helped her open her gifts- some not even paying attention they were so engrossed in what they were playing with. In the end, everyone left with a cupcake and a balloon. We had a great time and are so thankful for all the fun and cool gifts!!

After a much needed nap, we went over to our friends' house for dinner. Then we packed up all the kids and went to a local Christmas Parade. Addie LOVES parades, so we thought it was a great way to end her special day! I'm not sure what she enjoyed more- the fact that her friend Grayson was sitting right next to her, the free candy canes that were passed out by the various floats, or all the bright lights and floats that were actually in the parade!

Now, Addie proudly tells anyone who asks that she is now 5. When corrected, she will admit that she isn't 5, but really 6. Nope- try again- now, on the 3rd try, she will generally admit she is 3 and hold up her 2 straight fingers with the 3rd finger, the little ring finger, still scrunched up, getting the knack that it is now included!

She is such a sweetie, this Adeline Rose. She fills our life with joy and gladness- as well as a daily need to depend on Him to sustain and love her.

Here are some pictures (ok, a lot of pictures) of Addie's birthday!

Feeding her Baby Snow White- her gift from Mommy and Daddy

LOVING her Baby High Chair and PJ's from Cousin Nate

Happy Birthday! One of the last times it wasn't "annoying"

The spread- notice the cupcakes on the table cloth- I traced a cupcake stencil all over it!

The Mom's chatting while the kids played

Controlled chaos

Blowing out her candle- and yes, she has 2 cupcakes- 1 she decorated the night before and 1 she did with her friends. No, she didn't eat them both at once... And yes, she has cupcakes on her dress!!

April helping Grayson decorate his cupcake.

Addie and her buddy Anna enjoy the kids table (Anna wasn't a huge fan of it at Thanksgiving) She is REALLY looking forward to her cupcake!!

Attempt at a group shot- there are still 2 boys missing...

Telling the triplets Thank You for the really cool Play-Doh Ice Cream Shoppe!!

Anna and Grayson "help" Addie open her gift from Grayson- doll house furniture!

Opening more family gifts after her nap

Sharing her new Legos from Couins Kuda and Annesu

Cheering for the floats with Grayson, Avery and Alden!

A Full Thanksgiving

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving!! I will try my best to keep it simple....

Al's parents came to celebrate with us since Al had to work the entire time except Thanksgiving Day itself. My in-laws arrived Tue for dinner and that's when the fun began!

We had fun around the house on Wednesday with Addie getting a Baby Doll Crib for her birthday (she was getting so many gifts, we decided to spread them out a bit). Just the girls went to the outlets to scope it out. We heard of some amazing deals going on during the Midnight Madness and decided to think about it.

Turkey Day started off with watching the NY Macy's Day Parade- both kids liked it, but Addie was glued to it from start to finish! Later, we had some good friends come over for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids all had fun together! Then at 11pm, Mom and I headed to the Outlets for Midnight Madness. Neither one of us had ever done anything like this, so it was an adventure! We certainly got some great deals- and we were shocked at how many people were there even at 3am when we left!

Friday morning, the Christmas decorations went up! The kids helped PopPop put up the tree and then they decorated it- even Alden got into putting on the ornaments! Once that was done, we went to Salisbury to visit Santa- Addie was SO excited!! When it was her turn to see him, she just lit up and told him enegetically, "I want a baby doll, please! I want a baby doll, please! I want a baby doll, please! Oh, PopPop wants a red 'vett (corvette)." The picture turned out cute, but my scanner isn't working so you will just have to take my word for it! We then stopped by Al's Lowes and visited him briefly. The kids were exausted- as were all the adults! Al and I got a treat- the Grandparents watched the kids and Al and I got to go out, just us! We went back to the outlets to see if they had any more bargins.

Saturday we relaxed around the house and let Addie open the rest of her birthday gifts from MarMar and PopPop. She LOVED the new baby diapers and 2 new outfits for her dolls! After naptime, we bundled up and headed to Ocean City. We had a Birthday Dinner for Addie at The Doughroller and then walked to the Winterfest of Lights. We got there just in time- the line wrapped around the building within minuets of us getting in line! We rode the little trolley around the park looking at all the light displays. Addie's favorite was the Cinderella display while Alden enjoyed it all! After that, we needed to thaw out a bit, so we went to Starbucks where Addie had a special birthday Peppermint Decafe Mocha- she LOVED it!

Sunday we went to church and then sadly after that, the Grandparents had to leave. We had a wonderful weekend with them and are so thankful for happy times like this!!

Addie is THRILLED with her new doll crib!

Addie studying the parade.

Addie at the kids table- this was actually Mom Perreca's as a kid, but Dad P stripped and stained it for her and Alden!

The Turkey Day Group! Notice the kids are with us- The Kids Table didn't go over so well with them....

Helping PopPop put up the tree

Alden putting on decorations

Addie decorating her own little tree to put in her room- it's the tree that Al and I had when we first got married.

Opening her birthday gifts!


Showing off Baby Becca's new outfit!

Her special birthday dinner at Doughroller!

All bundled up and ready go see some lights!

Happy Couple!

Addie and her birthday Mocha

Alden had fun taking these 4 bags of coffee off the shelf, and then putting them back....

The kids and their new outside decorations- the big tree is Addie and the smaller tree is Alden