Cirque Holidaze

We took the kids to see "Cirque Holidaze" Friday night. It was wonderful!







our tree...


my mantle...I love it this year...(and yes, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care but we had to take them down to have a fire. We didn't need them going up in flames.)


Danny and the kids made home made pasta tonight. So yummy. Then we spent the night in front of the fire playing games and reading Christmas stories. I love my little family.

My babies

December happenings...

We finally got our tree last week. It was a lot later than usual due to our hectic schedules. We even went in the pouring rain but it was still a lot of fun.

KoKo loves when we decorate the tree because he can hide in all the tissue paper...he plays this same game every year...




And lookie lookie what I made! I'm not crafty at all but I put this old thing together in just a few minutes. I'm very proud of myself! It will make a very pretty centerpiece for our Christmas dinner.

The kids made their annual gingerbread house yesterday...


And look how it came out!!!

Well, OK...if you look closely, you'll see there is no way they made THAT one.

It was THIS one...

They are just acting by the way...not REAL sad faces! : )

My sweet Mom bought these for me...aren't they cute?

And why don't we look at that centerpiece one more time... : )

Our friend "Luke" (a.k.a. Elf on the Shelf) has come to stay with us until Christmas. He has been hiding in the best places! The kids have been leaving him notes every night hoping he writes back...and he does! He's keeping a close eye on them to be sure they are being extra good! He goes back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa!




And tonight was our neighborhood cookie swap. Oh dear. How am I going to resist all these yummies?


Tomorrow night we are taking the kids to see Cirque Holidaze. I can't wait! Only a little over a week until Christmas! I'm hoping for snow...what are you hoping for?

Have you seen the movie "Elf"?

We thought it was hysterical! Danny and I kept playing this scene over and over again until my sides hurt!

Elf the Movie: The Angry Elf

Another favorite scene!! "Look at you!!!"

Shut Out

Nicholas got his first shut out last weekend! That's when he goes a whole game without letting the other team score a goal. Not sure if he'll play goalie next year or not. I'll be honest. I really miss watching him skate. He was a fast little bugger on the ice! But he's done a good job this year as goalie for his team . I'm always so proud of my little boy!

Birthday Fun

I know this picture has nothing to do with birthday fun but I thought it was a funny sight. Gianna has a cold and when I walked into the living room yesterday, I found the room strewn with dirty Kleenex. I know...gross...but she just looked so pitiful and sick. And yes, I made her pick them all up.

So yesterday was my Mom's birthday. We had a fun little party for her last night to celebrate her big day.

Julia always makes the cutest cards. I told her to include Nicholas on hers because I knew he wouldn't have time to make one himself...

And Gianna's was sweet too. She always has to put KoKo in her pictures. It looks like he's taking a flying leap over Nana's head...



I bought Mom some Christmas decorations. What else do you buy someone who has pretty much everything under the sun?

And Julia and I found this adorable picture. It looks exactly like her dog, Daisy!



Happy Birthday to my wonderfully, funny, thoughtful, spontaneous, silly, loving Mom!! Love you!!!

Can you find me?

Something so sweet

The kids had a book fair at their school recently. I gave each of them a little bit of money to buy a book. If they wanted anything extra (like pencils, erasers, a.k.a junk), I told them they would have to bring their own money for that. Gianna came home from her book fair with one cute book about dogs. She never likes to spend her own money so there were no "extras" for her.

The next day Nicholas and Julia had their book fair. When I picked them up from school, they said, almost at the same time, that they each had bought a book for Gianna. I told them how nice but they were supposed to buy themselves a book. They both said they did and used their own money to buy her something. And when they pulled out their books....guess what.

It was the SAME book!

See how much they love their little sister? I gave them each a big hug and told them how wonderful they were!! They used their own money to do something nice for a change. Wow. I must be doing something right.

Waiting for the school bus this morning...

Nicholas has been sick since Friday. But let me tell you, I know he feels 100% better today because he woke up to his old self this morning. What is his old self you ask??? Hyper, hyper, hyper, not keeping his hands to himself, LOUD outbursts, and bugging his sisters. Oh yes, he's better alright. I had to get in his face twice this morning with a stern reminder to work on his self control and that he can't act like that in school today.

Julia is trying to learn how to ride a ripstick. It's not easy....

Happy Halloween

We'll always remember this Halloween...the year with snow!!! We had quite the Nor'easter over the weekend with lots of rain, then snow, and wind. There was a lot of damage to trees around here and many power outages. We were very lucky that we didn't lose power. A lot of surrounding towns didn't even have school today. Again, so glad it wasn't us. We really don't want to start missing school so early in the season.

Gianna made this guy with her Daddy...

Pretty good for not all that much snow but it was very sticky which makes for the best snowmen!

Julia was a "sad dead bride"...her idea...

Notice the mascara tears??? My idea.


Nicholas was "Harry Potter".

He wanted to go trick or treating with his friends this year. Kind of sad for us but it's all part of growing up I guess. Danny and I still laugh about the Halloween when he was 3 or 4. He couldn't believe people were actually giving him candy!!! He was so excited that he kept falling down and spilling his candy at every single house he went too. It was hysterical!

And Gianna was a "goth witch". She added the "goth" part. She saw how much money we were spending on costumes this year that she actually said, "Mom. I'll save you some money and just wear Julia's costume from last year." She didn't want us to "go poor". So that's what she did! So thoughtful and cute!

Do you see who is checking out her costume in this picture?







The girls are going through and tasting all their candy as I'm writing this...

and are very happy with all their goodies!!!

But I think Nicholas hit the jackpot!!!