Fun after Christmas

As much fun as Christmas day was, we had lots more to look forward during the last days of 2012. Adelina has really been enjoying her dress-up clothes that she got for Christmas. Here she is modeling one of her favorite outfits. 

On Thursday afternoon we headed into Boston for our one night "get-a-way". We parked our car and then went to the top of the Prudential building for dessert and walked around the mall until it was time to check-in to our hotel. The kids were so excited to get to our hotel room, with the much-anticipated king size bed. We went to the pool right away and then hunkered down in the room with some snacks and games until dinner time. We had a pizza delivered to the hotel and did room service for beer and cookies! Levi was wild all night and obsessed with turning on and off the lights in the room. The video shows him running back and forth between the light switches. Adelina got food on her pajamas, so Caleb let her wear his...it was pretty cute. 

 We got a little snow Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning and had a great time playing in it on Sunday. Snow definitely brings out the kid in me and I had a blast sledding with the kids and having snow ball fights. Caleb and Lina got a pair of snow shoes and Caleb loved walking around in the yard with them. Levi wasn't so keen on the snow in the morning, but during the afternoon he couldn't get enough of sledding down the hill.

And finally, on New Year's Eve the kids and Randy built their annual 8 foot lego tower!

Christmas!!

After weeks of counting down, Christmas Eve was finally upon us. We had a busy day with some chores and last minute to-do items, but made time for fun activities. One of my favorite traditions is baking cookies with the kids. This year they wanted to make and decorate gingerbread cookies...it was so much fun!

 We had a great dinner of local pork, Porteguese shrimp, butter beans, spinach, and cranberry relish and then it was finally time for bed! There was lots of excitement in putting out cookies for Santa and writing him one last letter. Lina was also very sad because our elf Lil' Sneep would be leaving until the next Christmas season. She was particularly fond of him and I know he'll be missed! Surpirsingly everyone went to bed on time!

 Christmas morning came with lots of excitement!! Santa came and ate his cookies and left a present for each child. Lina got her Hello Kitty bike, Caleb got Magna-tiles, and Levi got a car garage....everyone was very happy with their gifts! We spent the next hour or so opening gifts and then had our traditional breakfast of blueberry pancakes. The rest of the day has been filled with play and fun! Merry Christmas!!

 This was Caleb's gift to our family that he made at school.

A video from our day....

Vermont Trip

Caleb has been wanting to visit a new state for a while, so we decided to kick off our Christmas vacation with a trip to Vermont. It was a perfect winter day, complete with cold temperatures and snow flurries. We stopped in Hanover, New Hampshire to look at Dartmouth and have a little snack and then continued on a little further to the town of Quechee across the Connecticut river in Vermont. We stumbled upon a cheese and syrup farm and had a great visit sampling cheese and syrup made on site. We then went to Simon Pearce, a local glassblowing shop where we got to see how glasses are made. We ate lunch at the restaurant on site, while overlooking a beautiful waterfall. It was a fun day!

Caleb's Christmas Concert

Caleb has been working very hard at his piano practice and especially hard at learning his Christmas songs. He was disappointed that he didn't get to have a concert for his friends, so I filmed him playing his songs to share with you all!

Grammy/Christmas Cookies/Christmas Countdown

The past two weeks have been busy and full of excitement. Grammy came for a nice visit and the kids enjoyed every second that she was here. Randy and I were able to have a nice dinner out, which is always a nice treat. 

 After Grammy left, I embarked on my annual Christmas cookie baking extravaganza. This year I really enjoyed my new oven because the convection feature allowed me to bake three racks of cookies at a time. This year I made 1462 cookies and used 10 lbs butter, 9 lbs sugar, 15 lbs flour and 16 eggs!! The kids and I put together 22 bags of cookies for strangers and cemented our tradition of spreading the Christmas spirit by surprising people we passed by on the street with cookies. Caleb was really into passing out cookies this year and watching him do it was very uplifting.

 This week we've written letters to Santa, wrapped presents, saw Santa and lots of lights at the zoo, and listened to way too much Christmas music!!

Adelina's Christmas Pageant

The Rockland had their annual Christmas Pageant on the 14th of December. Adelina had really been enjoying singing Christmas songs at school, but was pretty anxious about the day....and I don't blame her! When all the classes get together, there are over 100 kids at her school, which means over 500 parents/relatives/siblings attending the pageant. It's definitely my least favorite event of the school year because people get a little out of control trying to document their child's every move. I was able to snap one picture of her, but didn't get to capture how great she did. She stayed on the stage the whole performance (which I didn't expect) and did a wonderful job singing the songs and doing the motions. She even seemed to enjoy herself quite a lot. I was bursting with pride for her...she really rallied for the day!

A few days later, she put on a little sing-a-long for me, which was perfect!

Happy Retirement Grandpa!

In honor of Grandpa's retirement luncheon last week, the kids and I made him this video to pay tribute to his wonderful career and to share our excitement about him entering this new phase in life. 

Happy Birthday Caleb/Christmas Tree

Caleb has always been the kid that LOVES his birthday and this year was no exception. He made a giant birthday crown a few weeks ago and was determined to wear it all day long. We started out the day with pumpkin spice pancakes and then a great day at school. I was able to volunteer in his classroom for an hour, which was a treat for the both of us. 

After school, all the neighbors came over for cupcakes and play time. Lina was so excited that she spent the early afternoon getting the house ready for Caleb's party.

We went to Rang Indian Bistro for dinner....and if I'm not mistaken, it's the sixth year that we've eaten there for his birthday. Caleb is treated like a celebrity there and it is such a fun meal. Finally it was time to come home for cake and presents. After bath time we all cuddled on the couch to watch the Grinch and then had a sleepover on the third floor. It was a great day for a great kid! It's hard to believe he's six. I'm thinking I need a walk down memory lane post some time soon.

On Saturday we went and picked out our Christmas tree, which is always an exciting event. The kids couldn't wait for us to get the tree inside and set up.

As was the case last year, our magical "Elf on a Shelf" named little Sneep made his first appearance once the tree was up and decorated. The kids were pretty excited to say the least!