Christmas was merry!

here are some photos from our celebration of Christmas!

frosty the snowman

yes, the snow is melting, but i had to make one more post of the snow weekend we had.

after making frosty, noah insisted they encircle & sing to the new friend. that kid thinks of the funniest things. it must be from the movie...

you know you need to drop the nap...

when your three-year old is up at 10:30 PM watching football in your bed!

luckily he's the snuggliest, laughingest child in the world!

the visit with santa

we went yesterday to see santa. noah was very nervous & excited. joshy wanted NOTHING to do with it. except to make sure noah spoke on his behalf for the baseball helmet that he simply MUST receive for christmas. he is seriously going to play in the major leagues some day.

so back to noah meeting santa. it's really cool to watch noah getting so big & independent. when he gets nervous he makes the funniest expressions, very similar to jeff's. he was, of course, very descriptive and thoughtful in his conversation with him.

we left & ate at the very unhealthy macaroni grill where the kids discovered 'dipping sauce'--aka, olive oil with pepper. it is healthy right?! the workout this morning is going to be rough.

and we ended with a good drive to kohl's for the all american Christmas shopping experience. luckily there were lots of fun lights to see there & home.

time to really get on the ball. this very enjoyable (but MOST unorganized) Christmas season must get a bit tweaked so i can get my cards out in time. i fear they are already late. we'll start by getting dressed for the day!

day 2 of snow

joshy LOVED eating the snow yesterday! so cute!

day of sledding

what a glorious day of being lazy and having fun in the snow! we hit brown bark park for amazing sled runs this morning. we saw lots of friends and i loved our walk there, pulling the kids on the sled. our neighbors joined us for lunch--one of those fun, let's-each-clean-out-our-fridges lunches. this afternoon we played on a hill at the playground & made a snowman in our yard. the evening was rounded out by noah's suggestion to make tacos for dinner. here is noah flying down the hill this morning. so fun!

all photography provided by mrs. tricia dean, photographer extraordinaire. and to "mr. curt' who caught this on film. i don't think noah meant to go over the bump on his first jaunt alone. so fun!!! we had lots of laughs over this one.

Let it Snow!

the view from our front porch this evening (our neighbor's tree) and the activies in our house tonight...uno by the fire.

thanksgiving...a bit late

we headed north for thanksgiving and had a great time visiting with jeff's family. jeff's mom cooked a pretty traditional american thanksgiving meal (see ceremonial wishbone breaking) and we got some nice time in the outdoors and in NYC. so fun! we saw the rockettes (thanks Akon!) and hit "Top of the Rock." the kids loved seeing the Yankees store, the M&M's store, and climbing the rocks in Central Park. I do love the city. I really love the energy it has, the brisk air, and the BIGness of it all. And though the roads are awful (so busy and full of crazy drivers) i think New Jersey is the quaintest place--such lovely towns and parks and coffee shops. really, it's surprising but true.

It was especially nice to get away, away from my house, my chores, my controlling ways, and just BE and relax and let Jeff lead the way. ahhh.....the drive was long (can't do that often) but we have a really great hotel that breaks up the trip. and the kids just LOVE the whole hotel scene. they love all the multiple tv shows they get to watch, the early-mornin-king-sized-bed-snuggling that happens, and the huge breakfast buffet that is served.

Thanks Akon for all the photos. I took no pictures myself. i was off-duty in every sense.

gingerbread houses

tonight we ate WAY too much candy and made some gingerbread houses too. i'm supposed to ask you all (whoever you all are!) to vote for your favorite gingerbread house. i just love this photo! sooooo their personalties. we told the kids it was a competition so noah is all worried & joshy is just celebrating.

cozy evenings

we're loving our decorations. it was such a bummer to me this year when the time changed and the evenings grew much shorter, with darkness coming at dinner time. but now i'm loving it as our lives are a-glow with all of our christmas lights & decor. we've decorated quite simply and i really like it. a tree, a nativity, a few books, some wreaths & candles in the windows, with a touch of tacky on our trees out front. our nativity is placed in our front room (it's the one i grew up with) so i can see it countless times throughout the day. its a great reminder of the SANITY Christ brings to our lives & hearts at such an (ironically) INSANE time of year.

the tree

we went last night and got our perfect little tree. we decided to make a shift this year and put it in the den. it's a great change! while jeff put up the lights & I baked cookies, the kids watched "mickey mouse christmas." then we all decorated together. we love Christmas!

the ship is done!

yah-yah got noah a set to build a ship. he needed quite a bit of help to build it but alas it is finished!

it's been a great saturday morning here. jeff made sausage balls (our fave!), i brewed coffee, and the kids got to watch trashy cartoons that we never let them watch! and now the boys are at the meet&greet for winter basketball at the ymca.

now, what shall i do with my hour free? hmm....

the thanksgiving feast, TK style

noah had his thanksgiving feast at school today--same as last year, but now he's so much bigger! still didn't try the pumpkin pie. oh well! don't they look cute all dressed up?

music night at preschool

this is noah ELATED about his music night at school. he just loves a good chance to share what he's learning with all of us. even yah-yah made it. what fun!

joshy

neighbors...

this is the scene on our street nearly everyday, thanks to wonderful friends living so close! the kids LOVE playing bakugan and baseball most.

joshy goes to college!

joshy's favorite blues clues episode is when steve passes the torch to joe in 'steve goes to college.' lately, for some reason (we haven't seen the show in at least 6 months!) he's been pretending to go to college. all with noah's backpack on. this kid is cute!

cake-YUM!

pumpkin cake with caramel rum sauce, oh my!

i had to take a photo of this cake i've made twice in one week! i can't get over the fact that i could make anything that looks or tastes this good, all from things in my cupboard! it definitely inspired me. and many thanks to beth farrand for passing along the recipe and encouragement!!! now off to the gym to run off all those calories!

GREAT neighbors

we had a spontaneous dinner together last night with our wonderful neighbors who live across the street. it is a tremendous gift from God to have friends so close! looking forward to many more meals together in the future!

dear friends

we had a great visit with the darlings....love that our kids are dear friends too. gifts from God, to be very thankful for.

Dance Party USA!

the darlings are at our house tonight (minus jacob who is camping!) and we had a very successful dance party tonight in noah's room pre-book reading before bed time!

go yanks!

we have our very own superstar Matsui in Greensboro!

halloween

we had such a crazy, full day! soccer games, birthday parties, neighborhood parties, soiree's with new italian friends (wahoo!) and then trick or treating with neighbors. we are tired! but definitely snatching some of the candy in the kid's pumpkins! it was a great year...the kids love it more and more!