Celebrating in The City

Tuesday, the 15th was a fabulous day in the fifties, and in an effort to take full advantage of this beautiful rarity, I boarded the kids on the train and met Allen at Penn Station to take in a few sites. Our first stop was to see Santa at Macy's.

Macy's always does a fabulous job, between the train, to Santa, to the windows. Definitely worth the trip!!

Since it was so completely gorgeous outside, we opted to WALK the billion blocks to Rockefeller to marvel at the tree.

This is us marvelling.

Before we began our journey back to Penn, we had dinner at Friday's. Only Friday's in Manhattan is different than Friday's anywhere else in the world. The kids meals begin at $13. Burgers at $18. So for the same price that we could have dined at a decent establishment, we had greasy fries. That shall not be repeated.

There are some great things about this picture. One being that Linley looks homeless, and the other, slightly less obvious- they are asleep. Proof of a successful trip to the city.

After baths we let the kids open up a few key presents (ie, the ones necessary for the trip)

Tess loved the idea

So much so, she was salivating in anticipation

One satisfied little customer

Celebrating Locally

First of all- having my 5 year old operate that massive saw with and even larger blade goes against all of my better judgement. My judgement, however, does not matter when daddy says it is okay. This picture does have a purpose, other than proof for CPS....this marks the last door to be replaced in the entire house. No nasty old door remains. Hallelujah! It also marks Allen using his most phenomenal Christmas gift to him from myself. The tool set/kit/machinery (I don't know what the crap to call that stuff) of his dreams. I rock!

The Saturday before we left for California we spent the day spreading a little festive fun here at home. We took the kids to Friendly's (which is a huge treat for the children as that is their favorite dining destination (it's not really a restaurant is it???) and every time I leave that place I feel the urge to wretch...I'm just saying), then headed to our little local zoo to view it all lit up.

The kids were enamored by the lights. Allen and I were freezing our butts off, desperate to heard the kids through everything as quickly as possible.

We took a break to warm our tootsies at the indoor carousel.

It was a cute little day, gearing us up for the future fun that would occur in California...after our 7 hour plane ride. We needed as much gearing up as possible for that beauty.

The Art of Discovery

Tess has become fascinated with two forms of entertainment as of late.

The first: her little piggies.

She has expertly perfected the grab of her tootsies, finds joy in swinging her toes, and has mastered the artful, elegant and graceful maneuver of shoving foot in mouth.

The second: her binkie.

She is proficient at removing pacifier from mouth, playing with pacifier, then returning back to it's rightful place in her cake hole. This keeps the little dear sufficiently entertained, until binkie is dropped or she rolls her little blobby self over and becomes stuck. Either scenario leads to the same end result of a rather high-pitched and shockingly loud squeal.

Look at that face. Those poor cheeks don't stand a chance against any human in this household.

Thanksgiving, How I Love You

No surprise- the holiday that is most focused on friends, family and FOOD is one of my favorites. I love Thanksgiving. A lot. Really a lot. This is our fourth Thanksgiving here in New Jersey (well, really only our third since our second was spent in California... technicalities). Every year we talk about how we would love to go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. And every year we wake up and it is either snowing or raining, completely cold and miserable. And so then we stay at home. Forced to watch the festivities on TV, even though we are a mere 35 minute train ride away.

This year however, was different. This year we woke up and it was warm-ish. Sunny-ish. Certainly no snow in sight. We checked the weather at 7:30, saw it was 52 degrees outside, tossed around the idea to head into the city, confirmed the idea at 7:45, threw on some clothes, and rushed to make the 8:20 train, which we did, barely. Nevermind that most people were in the city by 6:30am. We like to cut things close.

We went stroller-less, which while my shoulders are just beginning to forgive me for it, was completely convenient and we were able to weasel our way around the crowds without issue. In fact, we were able to position ourselves across the street from Bryant park, only about 4 rows back. Our view was perfect. We saw it all. Allen's arms are still paying for that one.

I am so happy we went!! The kids loved every second. I loved every second. Tessa slept through nearly every second. It was the perfect way to kick off our Thanksgiving day.

Allen was a little sad he missed the church Turkey bowl. He got over it.

Topping the kids list of favorites was Shrek, Spiderman, and Yo Gabba Gabba.

Topping Allen's list was Miss America. Or Katharine McPhee. Or Boys Like Girls. I am such a funny girl!

My favorite was Mr Hooper and the Sesame Street Float. Who knew that dude was still alive.

Sadly my camera died before I could get shots of Dora and Buz. Oh and Ziggy Marley. Because what is Thanksgiving without a little Ziggy??

We concluded our day of Thanks with a fabulous meal at our friends, the Majors. Complete dreaminess.!! We are such a lucky little family that has way too much to be grateful for!!

Allen Ages

On Friday we celebrated a special someone turning 31. He was our handsome prince for the day.

Well, he is a handsome prince everyday, but on this special day he wore a crown to commemorates his handsome princeness.

I would say the handsome prince had a pretty fabulous day, even if he is getting moldy old.

5 Months Old

Tess celebrated turning the big 5 months by rolling from back to tummy.

Problem is, Tess hates being on her tummy.

Tessa really needs to learn to roll from tummy to back.

In other news, baby girl had her first bowl of rice cereal on Saturday. She downed that puppy. Tessa has not eaten any rice cereal since.

Not to Take Away from my Anniversary but....

The BCS is crap. What a gigantic crock.

Eight is Great

Hello Handsome Husband-

Just wanted to wish you a most phenomenal anniversary!!

What a fabulous and eventful year this has been. I'd say we are one blessed little couple you and me. We are so magical. And you are hot.

Love you!!

This is Our Life

Fall in New Jersey really means spending every free second and every free ounce of energy on these beauties. Only to see all your hard work nullified in minutes. Sucky.

In other news, we bought a couch. A hugo mongo massive couch. The boys came to deliver it on Tuesday. Then they left. Because they couldn't figure out how to get it in the house. Shameful.

Allen comes home from Boston tonight. There is something so wonderful about having the hubs home after an extended absence. Sweet.

Before Allen left for said trip to Boston....

On Monday at 5am Allen forced my limp, lifeless body into wakefulness to inform me that the Jeep was dead. And the Scooter was dead. And I needed to take him to the train station, in the next 3 seconds. Honestly, if the Infiniti suddenly dies I will be hunting down every mechanic in a 10 mile radius. Sabotage.

That's our life right now. Simple.