It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It always feels like as soon as November hits, life gets crazy.

We started off the month with Marcus getting a Citizenship award for being an example at school.  So proud of this boy.

For Thanksgiving this year, Bethany, Eric, Elise and Rufio came to be with us.  There is something about family that makes the holiday complete.  B & E arrived Monday just in time for the kids to get homes from school.  We were so excited to have them!

I am Addy's room mom, and Marcus' class doesn't have one, so I have taken on that duty as well.   Tues I cooked turkey breast for Marcus class and nuggets and tots for Addy's and joined them both for lunch.

Then Tuesday afternoon B and E watched the kids and I took off late afternoon to meet Mark in the city.  We had dinner in Greenwich Village and then went to see an off Broadway at a tiny little theater nearby.  It was such a fun night.

Wednesday we returned the favor and watched Miss Elsie while Bethany and Eric spent the day in NYC.

Katie had her class party on Wed and Mark had the day off, so he joined her for lunch.

Then the real fun began.  It was time to settle down, enjoy family and get ready to eat!

My boys!

Bethany did most the cooking.  She actually enjoys it and was excited to use my new kitchen, and I was happy to have someone to chat with while everything was done, and not do all the work--win, win for everyone.

Jax and Katie helping make the frog eye salad (for Daddy)

Mark was excited that his responsibility was hanging with Zanie roo.

As always, the kids were so happy to have Rufio in our house again. 

Dinner was yummy, and it was truly a time of Thanksgiving.  We are so grateful for Zane, for a new home and for time together.  We spent the rest of the week playing outside and relaxing.

B and E and crew left Sat morning.  And then all the sudden Christmas was upon us.

Sunday we pulled out the Christmas tree and started decorating.

Somewhere in December, Addy and Katie received Principle awards for their grades. (Marcus didn't get one for not participating in class and messy handwriting-he is working hard to correct that for next time.)

December was a very busy month.  Aside from all the stuff Mark and I had going on, there was always something going on for the kids.  We tried not to do it all so that we could really enjoy the spirit of the season.  Mid December our church had their annul nativity.  This year Katie was the star holder, Addy was a donkey and Marcus was a shepherd.  They were (and looked) fantastic.

Katie started piano this fall and is loving it.  She has been faithful about practicing everyday without prompting from me.  She has a Christmas recital and played Hark the Herold Angels sing.  She did so well!

Katie also had a choir concert at school.

 I had a Groupon to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, so Jax, Zane and I went into the city one day to play.  It was raining and we spent more time on trains and subways then in the museum, but we still had lots of fun hanging out.  We met Mark for lunch in Grand Central before we headed back to Stamford.

Jaxon's preschool has an annual breakfast at the North Pole, complete with pictures with Santa.  He loved the breakfast (he only ate donuts) and the craft, but he wasn't too excited about sitting on Santa's lap.

Marcus' class made ginger bread houses.  I let Addy skip out and and come join us. 

We also joined our friends again this year for caroling.  It was not as much fun for me as last year; Jaxon was tired and kept throwing a fit over which flashlight he was carrying. Oh Jaxon!  Can you please stop acting like a 3 year old.  Everyone else was happy to be there, including Zane who hung out happily in the carrier on my chest.

Just a little Zane love going on in Dec

                

We made a service calendar for the month of December.  We were not able to do everything we wrote down, but it did help us focus a little more on serving each other and those around us. 

Getting distracted while Christmas shopping for cousin's presents.

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

And of course the Sunday before Christmas I made my kids dress up all pretty and sit for pictures.

Seriously, cutest group of boys ever!

 Christmas Eve Mark's parent's showed up bright and early to surprise the kids with a Christmas visit.  The kids came down to breakfast to find Grammy and Grandpa coming it the door.  It was so exciting!  Just as exciting was the weather.  It was in the mid 60s all Christmas week, so we were able to spend lots of time outside.

Christmas Eve was a pretty crazy day.  We decided to have our dinner that day so we had to prepare food.  We also delivered bread to neighbors, and a basket we had made to a church member.  

The kids had been preparing all month to put on their own nativity.  We invited our neighbors over and watched the Christmas story reenacted by the Sanofsky children.  Everyone participated but Jax.  Addy and Katie couldn't decide who was going to be Mary, to solve the dispute, there was a costume and role change halfway through the performance. 

Notice the dolls in the background, they played Mary and Joseph while Marcus was a shepherd and Katie played piano.

Before dinner we made ginger bread houses.  Jaxon's consisted of mostly graham crackers, most the candy did not make it past his mouth.  Marcus' had not rhyme nor reason, but consisted of

plenty of candy for him to eat later.  And Addy and Katie put lots of effort into theirs to make them beautiful.

Finally, we had a yummy dinner and then it was time for scripture stories, The Night Before Christmas and Christmas jammies.

Finally, it was Christmas morning.

Santa had come while they were sleeping and we had some happy kids.

Who needs toys

Katie was a gem this Christmas.  My kids draw names so they only buy one sibling gift, but Katie wanted to buy everyone a gift this year.  She did extra chores all of December to earn enough money to buy everyone a small gift.

After a relaxing morning, we took the train into NYC.

We made a pit stop right outside of Grand Central to check out Mark's office.  Some of the kids had way to much fun hanging out at his desk.

After we meandered our way toward Central Park, enjoying all the Christmas decor along the way.

We are in Central Park so of course my kids had to climb rocks.

Our end goal was to go ice skating in Central Park.  We ran into trouble along the way.  It started raining as we were walking through Central Park, we had no rain gear. but that wasn't enough to stop our group.  We finally got to and in the skating rink, Mark and Kerry took the kids out on the ice while Eileen and I fed Jax and Zane (no this wasn't an anti feminist thing, I have actually never skated before, and wasn't about to try in the rain on a crowded rink, maybe I'll take lessons with the kids).

When it started to get dark we began the walk back towards Grand Central.  We were excited to see all the Christmas lights along 5th Ave and they, and the tree at Rockefeller Center, did not disappoint.  The crowds on the other hand were a little crazy, but we managed to make it out of there with all 5 kids.

We spent the rest of Grammy and Grandpa's visit relaxing.  They took the kids to a movie one day and out to eat another.  Mark and I were able to get lots of much needed projects done on the house.

Any chance to get a family picture

Merry Christmas 2015!