It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Fresh out of the car from our trip to NY, we started decorating for Christmas!  Usually I like to wait until after Addie's birthday- but this year she requested that the house be decorated FOR her birthday party!  It was so fun to see the kids really get into it!  They remembered different decorations, where we put different elements, etc.  So neat to see them get so excited!

Helping Al put up the tree!

Ho Ho Ho!!

Working decorating the tree- they climbed on the couch and got a pretty balanced tree!

Beautiful mantlepiece!

Early Birthday Shopping Trip

Addie's birthday is just around the corner- and this year, all she asked for was American Girl Doll stuff- a doll, some outfits, and a backpack.  Luckily for her, she got some money and a gift certificate AND we would be driving right by it on our way home from NY!  She was SO excited to stop and pick out some stuff- and some other things were bought for Christmas!  She is one blessed little girl- and I am thankful that she still loves her dolls- I want to keep her sweet for as long as I can!

Excited to SHOP!!

SO happy to have her Caroline doll and the doll backpack!

Happy Thanksgiving- NY Style

Thanksgiving Day was simply perfect!  The kids enjoyed the parade and then time with their cousin.  And in true NY-Italian style, we ate wayyyyy to much!

Such 21st Century kids- they took a video of Santa arriving to Macy's....

A park near MarMar and PopPops- perfect place and weather to burn off some energy

Happy to be at The Kids' Table

The Adult Table- full of amazing food!

Such sweet little monkeys!

Opening some gifts!  Lego Advent sets for they boys and some birthday gifts for Addie!

Basking in the all the attention!!

SO happy to start Friday Morning building Lego's!!

Friday afternoon- we had some girl-time- and got our nails done!

It was a great visit- and we can't wait to be back in a short few weeks to celebrate Christmas!!

Making a Difference

As many of you know, Hurricane Sandy made a mess of a good hunk of Long Island.  Al and I wanted to help- and since we would be in NY the week of Thanksgiving, we decided that would be a good time to try and help out.  Samaritan's Purse was actively involved, so we signed-up to help them on the Wednesday that we were there- and Mom P graciously agreed to watch the kids so we could actually help.

It was rough- arriving in NY at 12:30am and then leaving the house at 6:30am, but we knew it would be well worth it- and it was!  We were able to help finish demo-ing a sweet ladies' house- it has been 5' under water as a canal was literally across the street from her.  She helped us most of the day and was incredibly grateful.  

After her house was done, we were sent to another house- this house was of an elderly couple- their bottom floor was totally destroyed.  It was humbling and sad to see so much "stuff" destroyed and yet both people helped were grateful to be alive and to have help getting things cleaned up.  It was a great day- exciting to see people living out the command to "love and help one another".

Starting our day off right- NY bagel egg sandwich!

The huge trailer full of supplies

After our training- we are wearing the bright orange shirts that showed we were a part of this group.

Taking out a wall- still wet even a month after the storm!

Taking a coffee and cookie break- that pile of debris is all from the ground floor!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving

Alden's kindergarten class hosted an amazing Thanksgiving Feast the day before Thanksgiving break.  I made Pilgrim Hat cookies for Addie's Thanksgiving Feast and was asked to make them again this year!  I am so excited that my planning period lines-up with many fun activities at the kids' school.  I get the best of both worlds- getting to work full-time AND still be involved in their classrooms!  

Alden's class is a group of super sweet kiddos- and his teacher is amazing!  It was fun helping set-up the Feast, serving the Feast and then helping with the crafts/dessert.  What an honor to see Alden interacting with his classmates- and the neat relationships he has formed!  I love that I can know his friends and a bit about his life during the day.

A sample for the kiddos to follow

Kissing his Momma!

SO well behaved!

The best part?  After the Feast, we headed home, jumped in Al's car, and headed for NY!  The kids were zonked out- they didn't even wake-up when we stopped for gas!

Bass Pro Christmas

Every year we go to Bass Pro Shop and visit their Winter Wonderland.  It's awesome- full of activities for the kids, an amazing Santa, and it's all FREE!!  Santa usually arrives the Saturday after Thanksgiving- but not this year!  He arrived the first weekend of November!  We held off going until the week before Thanksgiving.  We headed there after school on Friday- and it was fantastic!  There were no lines for anything and the elves were super happy and helpful!

Waiting to see Santa- we waited for 5 seconds- just long enough for this picture to be napped!

Running!

This Santa is amazing- so kind and so real!

The key difference in boys and girls- Addie immediately sat down to color while Alden started shooting stuff...

Can you tell he's biting his tongue?

Addie finally finished her coloring- she drove the train

Racing cars with Daddy

Working on his archery skills

Hunting, Wii style...

Arts and crafts while you watch the fish=perfection!

Fish up and close- some where the same size as the kids yikes!

They love this bear and insist on holding his nails for a pic every year!

And one of the favorite activities- riding the elevator into the fish pond!

It's the simple things in life- they loved this adventure at the "Dead Zoo" as they call it!

Christmas Sneek Peak

The weather was perfect, Shutterfly was having their amazing pre-Christmas sale, and I just couldn't resist- so I took some pics that may or may not show-up in your mailbox shortly!