Christmas 2014

We had a fabulous time celebrating Christ' birth this year. 

Early in the season, Katie, Addy and I got all dolled up to go see the nutcracker. 

It was one especially for kids so it was just the right length of time.  Afterwards, they invited the kids up on stage and even taught them a little dance. 

My kids were REALLY excited for the church Christmas party this year-aka the primary nativity.  Katie signed up to be Mary along with a handful of other girls and was beyond thrilled when she was chosen.  Much to her delight, Addy was asked to be an angel and we were able to talk Marcus into being a wise man (after he saw the crowns he wasn't complaining anymore).

It was so cute and so very powerful. 
Afterwards, they filled their bellies with sugar and everyone went home happy.

The Saturday before Christmas we went to visit Santa and his reindeer.  

Christmas Sunday came before we knew it--I had bought the girls dresses forever ago but kinda didn't think about the boys.  Luckily I was able to find something that worked.

School didn't get out until Dec 23rd this year.  

Monday Katie and Addy had their class parties, at the same time, of course  Jaxon and I spent the hour going back and forth between the two classrooms.  With Jaxon's mini-celebrity status this was  dangerous as he almost always gets stopped, and usually gets kidnapped for a while.

Mark worked from home on the 23rd so he was able to go to Marcus' party to help make his ginger bread house.  I only showed up for a 15 mins and took advantage of the time to get some last minute things done

After school we had friends over and had a party at our house--16 kids and 5 moms makes for a lot of noise! (Mark used this time to get out and get some stuff done!)

 Christmas Eve the kids opened their Christmas jammies so we could watch Elf and eat cookies before they went to bed.

We had some REALLY, REALLY excited girls when they saw they got nightgowns this year.

Christmas morning was here before we knew it--it was a blur of wrapping paper and joy.   We spent the day relaxing, playing with our presents and enjoying each other. 

For the longest time Jaxon was not interested in TV.  But, with how wild and crazy his is, I needed a break at times.  I kept introducing show after show to him and he wouldn't watch for more then 5 mins.  Finally, he watched Pooh, and he is obsessed.  It is the only show he will watch.  So Pooh Bear for Christmas was a wonderful thing!

Marcus in his king costume.  Maybe he is stop wearing princess dresses if he has this fancy cape now.

Friday morning we got up, packed the car and headed south.  We had a pittstop in DC, where we saw the Lincoln Memorial and ate at Cafe Rio before heading to Richmond to spend the night. 

Saturday morning we grabbed breakfast and drove the 4 hours to the beach house my parents had rented. 

This house was on an inlet with a very small private beach, but it only a 15 mins boat ride from the 'island' my parent bought and are building on.  The weather was low 60s and as we were running around, Jaxon said with the biggest grin on his face; "Fun, thanks, fun, thanks!"   He was so happy to be free from the car. 

We spent a great week at the house.  Katie, Addy and Marcus ran around with cousins and we didn't see much of them.  Some days were too cold for me to go outside but the kids rode bikes and scooters outside everyday.

There was a huge fire pit outside that Mark started for us most nights.
Mark and I stayed up way to late everyday playing games with my siblings and inlaws.

Family picture 2015

We took the kids to town one day to check out Beaufort, they really enjoyed see all the boats in the harbor--we were a little worried about Jaxon jumping into the water, but managed to hang on to him.

We left early afternoon on a Friday.  The day was the most beautiful one yet, so in the morning we decided to take a boat ride to my parents island to check out the progress on their house.  It has no electricity (yet) and the house is half finish, but after seeing their private beach, I was sold.  When I stop worry about Jax drowning you will find me there in the summer, camping on the beach.

On the island

We saw dolphins in the water on the way back.  They were so beautiful to watch as they following the boat and jumping around.  Jaxon talked about it the whole way home, and still talks about it every time he sees water.

Halloween

I am not always excited to be living in CT, but this fall was one of the times that made me very happy to be here.  The weather was amazing! One weekend before Halloween we took the kids to Lyman's Orchard to pick out their pumpkins.  We made a day of it and picked apples while we were there. 

After pumpkins and apples we headed to the farm store for lunch and some apple cider donuts. Lyman's had a super big corn maze that we decided to try out.  We may or may not have gotten a little frustrated while we were in there and Mark and I might've cheated a little getting out of there but we made it out (at the half way point--there was no way we could've survive the whole thing, maybe next year).  We distracted our children from noticing by telling them we could get some kettle corn and sit by the lake to enjoy it.

Another weekend Mark took the train to Sleepy Hallow where we picked him up to walk the Pumpkin Blaze.  It was amazing! So many pumpkins carved and put together is some amazing designs.  There was a good combination of flowers and goblins to make the night a little spooky.

The weekend before Halloween we carved our big pumpkin.  This year there we let the kids each draw and a face on one part of the pumpkin and Mark carved it for them--we ended up with a 3 faced pumpkin that everyone was happy with.

The weekend before Halloween the school also had their annual Halloween Hop.  My kids love this party.  All of their friends come and it is safe enough that they can run around with their friends and not have to stay with Mark and I all night.  One of the favorite activities is the cake walk.  Katie tried all last year to win a cake to no avail.  But this year...she won one and picked the biggest one to take home. Yea, lucky us!

Marcus went with Army Man again, why change a good thing?  I made Addy a My Little Pony Rainbow Dash costume, I was so excited with how well it turned out.  (Addy liked it too.)  Katie was Hermine, I made her robe and she asked Grammy to knit her scarf (Thanks Grammy!).  And Jaxon did a fantastic job of recycling Marcus' old dragon costume. 

One day after school, I took the kids to their favorite grocery store, Stew Leonard's, to ride their haunted hay ride.  It took us into the park garage where they had different scenes set up.  Marcus was pretty scared by it all until I pointed out that most the scenes depicted friendly faces like Spider Man or Ninja Turtles--he still buried his head in my side every time he saw a ghost or a witch.

All three of the kids had classroom Halloween parties.  Jax and I were invited to Addy's and Katie's.  (Let me take a minute here and talk about what it is like to walk into the kid's school with Jaxon.  EVERYONE knows him, he is a mini-celebrity.  I can not walk down the hall with less then 5 people trying to get a hug out of him.  Half the time, someone will take him from me to go visit their class and then bring him back to his sibling's classroom.  I have 5th graders, who I do not know, saying 'hi' to him.)

Finally, Halloween night.  We went to Katie's friend, Jasmin's house for a preparty

 

And then back to our neighborhood when Mark got home for some trick-or-treating.  Somehow we took no pictures during the actual trick-or-treating.  Maybe it had something to do with chasing a 2 yr old around in the street.

Least you think the fun ended Halloween night, it did not.  The church had their Halloween party the day after.  The weather was bad so the truck or treat was held inside.

I only have pictures of Addy here because she was the only one who liked me enough to hang out with me.

Another very successful Halloween season with some of the cutest kids around.