Sunday, December 15, 2013

Walking in a winter wonderland

It snowed last night and I think it's here to stay! We woke up to 13 inches and counting. The girls were excited about the first real snow of the season. Little Elizabeth got to go "play" in the snow for the first time.
 Emily making a chair for herself.
 My silly minions!
 This is how we help Brad snow plow.
 Natalie always wants to play on the swings.
 Nothing like a little hot chocolate after playing out in the snow.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Gobble Gobble NYC style

Three years ago we spent our very first Thanksgiving in New York State down in the city.  We had two kids and Brad's parents with us. This year we decided it would be a great idea to do it again but with four kids and no Grandparents to help. :)  We went with our good friends, the Porters, and their three kiddos. It turned out to be a great idea.
  Jeanette worked her magic and got us a great deal on a hotel in NJ, right across the Hudson from Manhattan, so that is where we stayed.
There was a convenient city bus that picked us up and dropped us off right in front of the hotel (you can see it in the background) and took us straight into the heart of Manhattan. The first day we had tickets to go see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. It was pouring rain, but we bundled ourselves up and headed to the city. Even though it was rainy it was actually around 60 degrees and we were too warm
Almost inside!

 My girls were loving the Ladies Lounge part of the restroom.

 Such a fun venue!
 Excited to see the show
 Seriously, it's a spectacular show.
 We grabbed some lunch and then headed to Toys R Us in Times Square

 We had fun wandering around looking at all fun things in the store.
Indoor Ferris wheel
 Hi Porters!
A whole Barbie section

 Time to head back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and some dinner.
 On Thanksgiving day we wanted to see the Macy's Day Parade. It was nice and sunny, but the temperature hovered around 32 all day. Brrr! We layered up and headed out.
 I really think the girls enjoyed the bus ride.
 I'm glad the balloons were flying because that's all the kids could see. (And me too besides some of the tops of the floats.)

 We stayed for about an hour and then decided to move on.
 After ditching the outdoor parade we were able to watch the rest of it on the big screen TV's at Planet Hollywood. We decided on as non-traditional Thanksgiving lunch as we could think of although they offered a Thanksgiving menu that most of us ordered from.
 They gave us all reversible minion hats, which everyone loved and wore the rest of the trip. It was funny because 3 years ago we ate here they were handing out plain yellow minion hats because the first movie had just come out.  The reversible hats were a huge hit.

 I think the babies had some good lunch conversation.
Had to stop at Rockefeller Plaza to see the ice skating and the tree
 Lizzy was a trooper

 Heading back to the Port Authority to catch our bus we went pass Radio City again.
 We happened upon  The Cake Boss Cafe so we had to get a treat.
 The girls enjoyed their vanilla cupcakes. I tried the lobster tail. Next time I want to go to the original shop in Hoboken.
After getting frozen at the parade we figured it would be appropriate to take the kids to see "Frozen"
There was a  movie theater with comfy reclining seats right by our hotel. Everybody enjoyed it and all of the kids said "eeeeww!" during the kissing part. :-)

Seriously, doesn't this looks comfy?
 
Before heading home on Friday Jeanette and I hit up a Jo Ann's Fabric for some black Friday shopping. 
Brad and I took the girls for one last dip in the pool. Loaded up headed out. We stopped at IKEA on the way home just for fun.
What a fun Thanksgiving. Although, I still plan on making a turkey dinner soon, so I can eat some leftovers. :) 

Friday, December 6, 2013

Miss 6 months old

At her 6 month check up we got her lastest stats.
Height: 26.25 inches 65th%
Weight: 14.3 lbs 12th %
Head: 16 inches 6th%


"Let me just straighten this up..."
"Want me to hold it Mom?"
"There. That might work."
Kisses for kitty (Well maybe more like munching on kitty.)
Hi Sweet girl!
As much as we love this little munchkin I think she's taken some steps backwards the last 2 months. 
She is no longer sleeping through the night (seriously child!) and she is really struggling to fall asleep on her own. It use to take her about 10 minutes to calm down and fall asleep. Now she will not settle down on her own. I hope we can get pass this hurdle!


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Timber

The Greenfield Highway department was clearing some trees across the street to help with some visibility issues on our road. They approached me about cutting down one of the trees in our front yard because of how it hangs over the road. This was great because Brad and I had talked about how it would probably need to come down eventually but it's a pretty big tree so we didn't know if we could handle doing it ourselves.  The girls and I were entertained watching the guys work. We got extra excited when it was our tree's turn.

 Before:
The tree to the left of the front door is going to come down.
There's Derrik cutting away
 
Timberrrrrrrrr
I was surprised how big the tree actually was.
The girls loved watching the tractors do their work.