Times Square

We went with some friends to see the tree in Times Square last weekend. I love New York at Christmas time! Everything is so pretty and shiny. Plus you get the added bonus of wandering arounnd people watching. It's awesome!

Merry Christmas

An update(just for you Carrie!)

What have I been up to? Let's see...... School, housework, volunteering, shopping, decorating, sending Christmas cards, partying, basketball practice

We went to Hershey park to see the Christmas lights with some friends. It was the coolest!!!! The park is all decorated with lights and we toured the Chocolate factory.

The singing cows that make the chocolateSo things have been a bit crazy here. I'm looking forward to next week though. I love Christmas more than any other time of year!!!!

Good old fashioned family Christmas......

We brought our tree home yesterday. Luckily my dad has a truck cause this is what the PT Cruiser would have looked like driving home from the tree farm!

We have 15 ft ceilings in the family room and the tree fills the space very nicely.......

Coach of the year.....

This past Wed. we got a call that a friend of ours had passed away. We met Chris when Gavin started little league in town. He was an amazing coach. The kids had a great time and learned so much from him. Right from the very first time you met him he would always remember your name when you ran into him someplace. It's such a huge loss to this town and the sports organizations for Chris to be gone. I'm really gonna miss seeing him at football practice, in the concession stand, at the baseball field.....

We will never forget you Coach Chris!!!

Happy Monday!

View from the back door!

View from the front porch.....

We woke this morning to a snow storm. I cant remember the last time the ground was covered in snow for Thanksgiving. Of course it's supposed to be back in the 60's by Wednesday so this will all be gone. I'll take some of this again Christmas Eve, thanks!

Sam and Patrick

Gavin has always been annoyed by the fact that Sam the cat will have no part of being dragged around the house. He is 7 and pretty much set in his ways. Those ways do not include playing games with a child.

Sooooooo I introduce you to Patrick!

Gavin got Patrick for his birthday on Friday. Being only 8 weeks old he is much more willing to play, run, jump, climb, skip, hop, leap and anything else he decides is fun at that moment. This is what happens when you try to get an 8 week old kitten to sit nice for picture taking......

Then and Now.......

7 years ago today I was at the hopsital giving birth. It still doesnt seem like that long ago!

Gavin has a very social weekend planned for himself. This morning we went out for breakfast with some friends to celebrate. Then tonight its dinner with the family.

Tomorrow is the football end of the season party and then everyone will be coming here for Gavin's birthday party. This year it's a lego theme party. Should be fun!

So that was then and this is now......

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Watercolor

Get busy living......

This weekend was the busiest 2 days ever! Football game, fall festival, out to dinner, another football game, birthday party......

It was cool though. Nice to be busy spending time with friends, being outside, etc.

Saturday night we went to a dinner and had a blast!!!! I will leave you with a picture that pretty much sums up the night....

It's Coming......

Did Fall get canceled this year? Did I miss a memo? It's been way to hot for Fall weather! I look forward to the pumpkin picking, the leaves changing, chilly football games, etc. I should not be at a football game in October sweating and wearing shorts! Some nasty storms came through here last night and today it is cool! Not cold enough for a snowsuit like Carrie is wearing but a nice cool day.

Month in review......

Drinking!

Bowling Party

Road Trips

Apple Picking

Football, football and more football!

Craft Festivals

This pretty much sums up what we have been doing for the past month. See Carrie I have been busy! Oh yea and school too!

Let's go defense, let's go!

Last night was the official start to football season! We had our opening pep rally. The boys have a great time painting their hair green and running around on the field. All the cheerleaders get to perform the new cheers they are learning for the season. I always loved the pep rally's in school. It's almost like the kick off to fall. Football games, the leaves changing colors, camp fires, halloween. I love this time of year!

Back to school, back to school.....

Gavin is off to his first day in the 1st grade! I still can't believe he is that old already. He is so excited to spend the whole day at school. All summer long he has been looking forward to getting to eat lunch in the cafeteria. It was nice to catch up with the other parents at the bus stop. Lots of new Kindergarten kids there this year.

I don't start school till Monday so I plan to fully enjoy the next to days to myself!!!

FYI: Grandma helped Gavin pick the backpack. I am not a Jet's fan!

Looking both ways is not optional......

As children our parents were always telling us to look both ways before we crossed the street. Somehow once those same children get a drivers license they forget that rule. If you are going to pull out onto a main street you must look both ways for oncoming traffic. Otherwise this happens.......

Lucky for this girl, Mike saw her coming so she just clipped the tail end of the car. No people were hurt in the making of this accident. Just a busted tail light, a small dent and a bunch of scratches.

The Butterfly Garden....

Toothless grin....

Gavin lost his first tooth last night! He has been waiting for this day forever. Some of his friends started losing teeth over a year ago and he has been asking the dentist why his wont fall out.

He's been wiggling the tooth for days now and last night finally did it. It finally fell out while he was in his room and he got so excited he dropped the tooth on the floor. Let me tell you baby teeth are not easy to find on carpet. So he went to bed last night with the tooth placed carefully under his pillow for the tooth fairy.

Very exciting day for him!

Gonna go out and play some golf.....

So my child apparently feels that he should be a pro golfer after 5 minutes at the driving range. Nothing like standing outside in the 500 degree sun and listening to a child get mad because his golf ball isn't going as far as the men that are hitting it next to him.

The miniature golf was way more fun! That was yesterday's activity. Did some yard work, played some golf and went food shopping.

My dad came over Saturday to help us get rid of the 2 trees that fell. Both trees are on the ground and cut into logs!

Oh and the most exciting thing....My 4 year old dishwasher has decided it no longer wants to clean dishes. I swear I will never buy another Fridgidaire appliance ever again!

So I am off to empty the dishwasher into the sink and handwash everything......

If a tree falls in your yard......

At 4 AM does it make a loud enough sound to scare you out of bed? Hell yes! So last year I thought I was going to be deaf in one ear after a tree outside our bedroom window got struck by lightening. We left the tree and it seemed to be ok except for a few dead limbs.

Well last night we had this really nasty rain storm. Thunder and lightening that sounded like it was on the roof of the house. All of a sudden I head this loud crack! Look out the bedroom window and the lightening tree is coming down!

The wind was so strong it broke the tree right in half and its headed straight for the back deck. There was nothing we could do but hope that it doesnt land right smack in the middle of the new gazebo we just put up. Tree starts to fall but gets stuck on another tree. Thank goodness for that tree! It broke the fall and caused the tree to fall right down the middle of the back yard. Just missed the swingset and the deck. Of course it also broke the whole top of the other tree and now that is hanging in the air and also needs to be cut.

So I have now made a giant pot of coffee in the hopes that it will help my sleep deprivation. Just when you thought you had no big projects for the upcoming weekend.....HA HA HA!

See the branches by the deck railing? Thats how close the stupid thing came to smashing my new tent!
The tree is laying across about 50 feet of my back yard.

The Zoo Crew

Thursday we spent the day at the Bronx Zoo. It was rediculously hot but we had a good time.

Saw some really cool animals. Even saw a Stork! I have never seen a real stork and was sort of suprised at how big they are in real life. Of course Carrie reminded me that Duh they have to be big in order to carry the babies!

They have changed the butterfly exhibit since the last time we were there. The house is a lot smaller and I didnt think there were as many butterflies. The gardens and outside displays are beautiful though.

That zoo is definitly one of my favorites. Tons of very cool exhibits! The sea lions even swam around and did tricks for everyone!

A Mad Tea Party!

Saturday was our annual summer BBQ. This year's theme was Mad Hatter. Everyone was invited to bring or create a crazy hat to wear to the party. We even planned a hat contest!

All week long they were calling for a giant storm to hit this past weekend. I was so stressed thinking the party was going to get rained out. Even Sat morning when we got up they were still calling for storms all afternoon. I figured we would make the best of it. We got a bunch of party tents to set up just in case.

Well wouldnt you know that the party came and went and not a drop of rain! The sun was out! Thanks John you rule!

So the party was a ton of fun! Everyone came with their silly hats. We had lots of food, lots of drinks and lots of laughs! The kids got to spend the day outside with the slip and slide, sprinklers and water balloons. It was a great party!