New Years Eve

This is officially going to be the most pathetic thing I've written on our blog.

On New Years Eve we did absolutely nothing.  Seriously.  We did not one thing different from our normal evening routine.  We were all in bed by 9pm.  I know, we are total party poopers.  I wasn't feeling that great and the kids have never stayed up past 10 pm so we didn't see the point in doing anything special.

The end.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

We did a lot of things over Christmas Break.  The kids had two solid weeks off of school and no sports and Scott took a few days off too so we did a few things locally just to get out of the house and cross some things off our list we wanted to do.

We all got hair cuts, we went sledding, we baked cookies and took the kids out to lunches and a few dinners and we took them to see Big Hero 6 which we all really enjoyed.  Scott and I even snuck in a few dates.  We hosted a play date with Katie's class at our home, played with the kiddos and even a few adult board games.  So nothing crazy but it was nice to slow things down just a bit.

Luncheon play date at our home.

The kids only broke 2 ornaments from the tree.  A success.

Eating a few treats with Hannah, Sophia and Gabby.

She loved getting her hair done.

Counting all the Florida oranges Grandma Bette sent us!

Playing vet with all the animals.

Cookie making time!

This kid gets it everywhere.

Down to the beach to ride our bikes.  We need bikes just to keep up with them!  Seriously, they pedal so fast!

Time for a project!

He was very meticulous with his painting.  Everything meant something and needed to be in just the right spot!  It currently is taking up prime real estate on our fridge.

Michael's Christmas Wish List all drawn out.  Scott took him to see Santa where he explained everything!

We took the kids to Home Depot for a free craft on Saturday.  Today was sled making day.

We had no idea they knew how to use a real hammer and nails.  It took Katie about 20 nail hits for the 1 inch nail to go into the wood.  She refused our help.

He was a natural.

Time to paint them!

Painting all his sections different colors.

They were very focused and now their sleds are used by their stuffed animals.

Playing librarian.

Battleship with this guy.  I thought I had him but he beat me in the end.

Spotting a double rainbow outside the kitchen window.  It was breathtaking!

Merry Christmas 2014

We spent Christmas at our home this year, just the 4 of us.  It was relaxing and less stressful since we didn't have to figure out any travel logistics or how Santa would get presents to Nana and Papa's house.

Michael and Katie woke up early and jumped on our bed, so excited to see if Santa had come!  Scott grabbed the video camera and off we were to start our morning.

The kids started by opening up their gifts they got for each other and it was great to see their excited faces.  Katie got Mikey a ghostbusters lego set and Mikey bought Katie an Elsa doll and some books.  After that we took a short break to change into some clothes for the day and so I could put a breakfast casserole in the oven to cook!

Then it was right back to opening gifts.  The kids made sure to take turns and finding presents was a good exercise in recognizing their names.  Katie's favorite present by far was her princess bike Santa put together and Mikey's was 3 Megasaurs from Power Rangers that he specifically asked Santa for.


Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas Morning!

So, so , so excited she got a bike!

Mikey with his gift from Katie!

Starting to open gifts!

Katie received a puppy!

Both trying to ride at the same time!

Opening a gift that Grandma Bette sent!

The presents all unwrapped!

Around and around and around the table.

The hubby and I on Christmas morning.

 In the afternoon we took the kids to the park in Pound Ridge so they could work their little muscles and ride bikes and play on the playground.  Katie took off and loves to go really fast!  She kept saying "Weeee!" whenever she'd go down a hill.

Michael put together his Artic Cargo Airplane.

Flying it around!

Christmas Eve 2014

We spent Christmas Eve at home this year.
The kids each received an email from Santa telling them that they were on the Nice List this year. It was great seeing their awe and excitement!  We also watched the Reindeer Cam and some Christmas classics like, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer & Charlie Brown's Christmas.

The kids made some delicious Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies that Santa devoured.  We left Santa a note too and he wrote one back to the kids.  We tucked the kids in and went to work putting together a bike for Katie.  A few weeks earlier and there was day care offered at the kids school one Saturday, so we spent that time wrapping all the gifts while the kids played with their friends! A genius idea especially since we didn't have to stay up half the night wrapping presents.

Katie watching her message from Santa.

Just amazed that Santa sent him a message.

He's happy he's on the nice list.

Cookies a carrot and a note to Santa.

The Stockings were hung.

Santa delivered all the presents!

The Nutcracker

Since Katie was born I've been wanting to take her to see the Nutcracker around the holidays.  This year she was finally old enough to see it and enjoy it, so I scored some orchestra seats at our quaint, and kid friendly theater here in Stamford and we saw one of the four showings of it!

It was amazing and magical and everything I remembered it being.  When I was a teenager I was an actual dancer in the Nutcracker one year.  I played one of the mice and remember how much fun it was performing and how in awe I was of watching the professional ballerina's during our practices.  I wanted to share that memory with Katie.

Her favorite by far was the Fairy.  She was magnificent!

Waiting for the show to start!

Getting silly with my phone.

I had a warm heater for most of the show on my lap!

Posing.