It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

We decided not to go to Pittsburgh's Light up Night on Friday night due to traffic, crowds and the cold.  The girls went to bed early that night anyway, so it worked out for the best. Since we missed it, Saturday night we went to a local light up night for Lily to meet Frosty the Snowman.  That was our main objective!

The weather had warmed up a little bit Saturday. We were happy about that! As we were walking from the car, the fireworks started which made for a nice kick off! The kids were excited to see them and as we got closer, we could hear that there was Christmas music playing along while the fireworks were going off.

When the fireworks ended, the crowd headed into the area where Santa would be. We headed over towards the outdoor Christmas tree to take a couple pictures and to look for Andrew's friend, Jake. We found Jake pretty quickly for the crowd size! 

While we were hanging out there, I spotted Frosty coming out of the library.  We made our way over to him. Lily was so excited! 

 Violet did pretty good with Rudolph!

 And of course, Andrew had to be with The Grinch! hahaha

We lucked out catching them all quickly!  After our photo ops, we headed into the library to make some crafts. Andrew requested we skip the Frozen karaoke though.  First up was a picture of a Santa hat. Lily was excited to glue a "snowball" {cotton ball} on the top. She also loves to write her name, so she made sure that was on there even though she started to high on the hat and ran out of room at first. :)

Next, was a Christmas tree card that she got to glue the pieces to make the tree. Although it won't look like this exactly when Oma gets it in the mail because the old lady "helper" didn't think Lily had enough glue, so she "fixed" it.  Here's a lesson lady...it's better when it's "imperfect" done by the child. While we were at this station, we ran into another of Andrew's friends' dad and little sister.  It's been awhile since we've seen them and it was nice to catch up.  Andrew and Jimmy have been friends since we moved here when Andrew was in 2nd grade and although they haven't gone to school together since 4th grade, they've remained friends since.

Not to avoid all things Frozen, the next station had Frozen coloring pages and Lily was pretty happy to be there for quite some time! She colored the snowflake, but we convinced her to take Olaf and Anna home with us, so we could go find her a balloon!

We left the library and headed over to the middle school where the other activities were being held and got in line for the balloons. We grabbed a cookie while we waited. 

The girls both got flowers and Andrew got a sword! When the clown tried to hand Violet her balloon, she wanted no part of him. She looked at me with a pretty scared look and turned her head! She happily took the balloon from me though. :)

Our final activity was cookie decorating.  Lily loves sprinkles so this was a great activity for her! She made Andrew one first and then did one for herself.  She wanted to do one for Violet too, but Violet was still working on her first little cookie. I think Lily just wanted to use more sprinkles!

I'm never one to miss a photo opportunity that is presented to me, so despite this little penguin being too narrow for anyone's face ever, we took it. 

We decided to skip Santa and wait for Daddy to go with us, plus Lily was sure that The Grinch was Santa anyway.  She keeps calling The Grinch, "The Arch".  Not sure why, but that's what she thinks his name is. 

So, lastly we headed to finally take the picture in front of the tree before going home.  We had a fun night and I'm glad that even though I often drag my teenager out with us for things like this, he still enjoys himself. 

This was the best I got.

Oooooh too bad Violet didn't look my direction...

 And well, these last few...this is what picture taking often looks like with this crew.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween 2014 is in the books.

For approximately year 4, we had cold, rainy weather. It makes for a not super fun trick or treating for the little ones, but we made the best of it!

This year Andrew's school football team had a playoff game on Halloween night, so the marching band did too. They made it a special night for the band kids by having supper for them before they had to get on the bus to go.  The kids also got to wear costumes instead of marching band uniforms. Off he went to the game as a piece of bacon!

We dropped Andrew off at band then came home to feed the girls a quick supper before trick or treating began at 6pm.  The girls thought these little jack o lantern quesadillas were pretty fun!

Then we needed to get outside for a few quick pictures before the sun went down.  Trying to get Violet to stand long enough for me to get a picture of her was tough. Lily was pretty cooperative. :)

Our favorite Elsa and the sweetest guitar!

 Daddy went as a hunter and helped out with Pippi standing and smiling! :)

Oma snapped a quick family picture on her phone for us too! 

(Violet and I are shooting lasers with our eyes!)

Lily did a good job remembering to say trick or treat and thank you this year. She didn't need any help going up to each door and she loved ringing the doorbell--even if someone was standing there waiting haha! My girl is too big, too quickly.

Violet grabbed some Cheetos at her first house. :)

The rain picked up a little more, it got colder and we were ready to head home. Our neighborhood didn't have a lot of trick or treaters, so our girls ended up with a TON of candy for just being out for about 45 minutes to an hour. 

We got the girls out of costumes and warmed up to snuggle up and read a couple new Halloween books and soon it was time for bed.

Since I wasn't able to get a picture of all 3 of my kids together on Halloween, I had them all costume up for a few pictures the next day. :)  Oma was here this year too!

Happy Halloween!

Where Did Summer Go?

Here we are, day 2 of the newest school year and my husband and I are shaking our heads wondering where summer went.  This was the fastest summer I can remember.  Fastest year of my life actually. Violet is just a handful of weeks away from turning one. One! How is this even possible?!  Fastest year of my life!

I'm not one who sits waiting waiting waiting for kids to go back to school and is cheering when the door closes. I like the flexible time with my kids.  I do, however, like the routine of the school year as well. We had a great summer and Andrew traveled all over as he usually does.  He always has a summer filled with things, so the closer-to-home of the school year is nice too.  I guess, I just try to embrace it all and make the most of what I've got.

Andrew is a freshman in high school this year.  Class of 2018.

Nothing like that reality check to make you realize how quickly your kids grow up and how soon they will leave for college.  One of my best friends who has known Andrew since he was 11 weeks old commented on his 1st day picture yesterday..."Howwwwwwww?" This. Exactly this.  It has gone crazy fast!

He has to catch his bus before 7 in the morning this year.  Actually 2 minutes later than the time he woke up last year, so getting used to getting up early should be a treat.

 I woke up around 5:45am without an alarm, unable to sleep, so I figured I might as well get Andrew's breakfast started.  He's been in the bad habit the last few years of not eating breakfast, so I'm determined to change that this year.  Though I do always make his favorite breakfast of biscuits and gravy for the first day of school.

He did wake up a little earlier than he will normally have to the first day because he knew we'd be taking pictures, of course. I teared up taking his first day pictures as he hit this new milestone in his life.

This year is a new year with no glasses! He's ventured into wearing contacts and so far, so good.  His shirt is, well, perfect. It's so him.

He was actually ok with me driving him to the bus this morning just to make sure it came. {last year the high school bus never showed up the 1st day}  I had to promise him I wouldn't get out and take any pictures though, so I took one from the car, hence the fogged up window. I couldn't exactly lean out the driver's side and get one. :)

And he's off...

Reagan has spent every first year of school with us since she started kindergarten. I actually think that's strange, but it is how it's been, so I just go with it.  She is a 5th grader this year and looking forward to being in beginning band, learning to play the flute.  She's also a new part of the Gifted & Talented Education {GATE} program this year which we feel will be really good for her growth as a young girl. I'm glad she's got some of her own things to look forward to this year!

George and Lily took Reagan to the bus while Violet and I waved "bye bye."

Happy 1st day!