I warned you!

Well, I warned you all that a big Christmas post was coming, and amazingly enough I've finished it before Valentine's Day!

Christmas morning dawned bright and early, and we were even able to wake Hayley up in time to come downstairs with us. Usually it takes a little more effort to get her going, though from her expression in this photo, I wouldn't say she was completely awake.

When the kids finally were allowed to come downstairs and see what Santa had delivered, they were blown away.
A cat! A real cat!
Well, not a real cat, a Fur-real cat. My favorite kind of cat, actually. No claws, no shedding, no staring at a spot on the wall for long periods of time until you're totally freaked out and think the house is haunted. It's my kind of cat. (Can you tell I'm more of a dog person??)

And of course, shoes. Two new pairs, actually!

Here Nora tries out a sweet new drum she found on the floor.

Can you tell who it actually belongs to?

Shane made this awesome kitchen for Kalen at Tara's request. Nora enjoyed showing Wylie how to do some cooking.

Wylie showed Nora the 'downward facing Sylvia Plath'. Very impressive form, Wylie!

Obviously I didn't take many of these pictures, seeing as I'm in quite a few of them. Aunt Debbie was the photographer, thank goodness. I was much too busy hoarding my gifts and hoping to draw out Christmas until the new year. She caught a great shot of Shane opening his gift from me. I wasn't sure he would be that excited about it. Luckily I was wrong.

I bought him this print along with a gift certificate to get it matted and framed. If you're a Cosby show fan, you might recognize it as the painting hanging in their living room.

Nora also received a sweet keyboard. She's been rocking out quite a bit since Christmas. Drums next year?

Here I was showing Tara the necklace Mom and Dad had bought for me. Very fancy!

This was what the living room looked like for about four hours on Christmas morning. It was chaos, mostly controlled, and absolutely wonderful. I loved it.

As the tradition goes, Shane wrote me a scavenger hunt to find my present from him. Usually I search for it on Christmas Eve, but this year I convinced him to let me do it on Christmas Day, where I would have time and daylight on my side. I had just found one of the many clues hidden outside in this next picture. Unfortunately, this was not the farthest clue. I had to get in the car and drive for one, but it was better than last year, when I had to go and visit a friend down the road to get one of my clues!

My new snowshoes and poles are absolutely worth it, though. Thank you, Shane!

There you have it! Our Christmas in a nutshell.It was a wonderful few days spent with family, and though I'm always a bit let down when the season ends, I know it will be back again, sooner than I expect!

The first post of Christmas

Well, it only took five weeks or so, but here you go, another post. I've got plenty of pictures from Christmas to share, too, but I'll stretch them out over a couple posts. We made lots of Christmas cookies this year, and this is just one of those baking sessions.

Something's missing here. I just can't put my finger on it.

Nora received a big package of Christmas presents from Jenny and Toby in the mail and there was a special, unwrapped treat for her.
Obviously she loved it!

We also decorated cookies over at Kalen and Wylie 's house. We set these two up and they went frosting crazy.

Nora and Kalen were very focused. This was just a teaser post, I promise.

We have plenty of Christmas day pictures to post next, so stay tuned!

A Lovely Thursday

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Camden again this year at the restaurant. We made sure to arrive early enough so that there was plenty of time before dinner for games (notice the chess game being played above), movies and walks. The kids really enjoyed the snacks and movies, especially the delicious nuts my Dad made (I think, or did Mom?), and the crab hush puppies Tara whipped up. I don't even like crab and these were delicious!

Here Hayley scopes out the main meal. Of course, this was before the centerpiece turkey was brought out.

I only took one group photo, and of course Shane wasn't smiling. (His excuse? 'I don't smile in pictures.' Oh, please!)

After our bellies were full it was dance party time. Nora and Kalen got right into it. No, Nora isn't wearing pants. No, she didn't arrive that way.

Finally it was time to calm down a little. We would, after all, be consuming massive amounts of sugar, chocolate, cream and delicious pie goodness shortly, so the kids needed a little rest. Overall it was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I wish I had taken more pictures of everyone who was there, but believe me, we were all well fed and had a great time visiting with each other, playing games, and even sending off a few sky lanterns! (Once again, something I should have taken pictures of.) Happy Thanksgiving, and welcome to the Christmas season!

A Few More Details

I thought you all might like to see a few actual pictures taken on Halloween. Nora dressed up as a sweet dragon, compliments of the awesome Aunt Ashleigh. She probably would have worn her costume much more often before Halloween, but we stowed it away so it was more special.

On the way home from a family Halloween party in the afternoon we drove up route one, and on the way through Freeport we noticed all the trick or treating happening along Main St., so we decided to stop and join in for a bit.

Once we got home we had a quick dinner, then headed out for more trick or treating in our neighborhood. We met up with our friends Noah and Lillian and had a great time checking out all the decorated houses. We finally made it home after a quick stop at Lilee's to show off her costume and visit Aunt Cindy and Aunt Debbie, who were eating there.

Nora wanted to help hand out candy, but unfortunately we only had three trick or treaters, hence the giant bowl of candy sitting on top of our refrigerator staring at me.

Tonight, after dinner we let Nora pick a treat out of her pumpkin for dessert. She chose the green lollipop over the glorious chocolate bars. Whose kid is this anyway?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Halloween!

A trip to the Fair

Well, it's only taken me a few weeks (oops!) to get this blog up, but the nagging has finally gotten to me, so here you go! We went to the Common Ground Fair a few weeks ago, as we always do, and had a great time. My main goal was to sample as much food as possible, and luckily I was successful. Here are Shane, Nora, Hayley and Evan enjoying some of the offerings.One of our favorite treats- potato chip fries. Yum!

The day gradually turned cooler as it wore on, and we enjoyed one of our favorite drinks- warm cider!

We also ran into some of our favorite people- Camella, Marcia and Anna! We watched a puppet show together and then visited a little.

Two more of our favorite people- Hayley and Evan posing for a sweet shot. We like them.

There are always plenty of animals to be seen, and lucky for me, Nanny loves to take the kids to see them; then I get the chance to visit the craft tents.

Kalen and Nora made their own fun in a dusty field. Nora gets ready wrestle-

But in the end it was Kalen who brought her down!

That was a good one!

Wylie referees the match.

Not to worry, the two were best friends again in the next moment.

Our day at the fair was wonderful, full of good food, good music, great crafts and fun people. And now, to finish up the post, a quick little video of our girl. Enjoy!