Christmas Baking

Gracie's Holiday Recital

This year's holiday performance theme was Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer.My friends Pat, Audra and Kori came with me to the show. Each class level performed one routine. Gracie's class did a ballet routine to the holiday song "Silver & Gold". I was so proud of all the girls and thankful to all the people who helped in putting this performance together...very nice job!

Moosie Baby!

Loved this pic of Moosie vegging out as we were baking cookies!

Happy Holidays

Holiday Decoracting Finally Done!

I am so behind this year with EVERYTHING! George picked up the tree on Saturday (12/3) and we finally got the christmas decorating done. This was an all day project and we put nothing outside this year. Attached are some photos of the tree and some other decorations we put out. I did not take too many pics this weekend - it was just mad-crazy pulling out all the holiday stuff and going through everything. Jacob and Gracie's bickering did not help any - they literally argued when it came time to one of them needing the ladder to put an ornament on the tree - just incredible! The two of them are like oil and water!

Better Late Then Never - A Few Thanksgiving Pics

Why should this year be different then any other Thanksgiving? As soon as that turkey came out of the oven everyone was in the kitchen wanting the neck, heart, gizzards, livers etc...total CAHOS! LOL - I could not imagine it any other way though. We had a very quiet Thanksgiving. We ate, watched TV and vegged out all day in our PJ's!

Ahhh...Thanksgiving is Just Around the Corner

I love this time of year. Now if only I could get into the holiday spirit. Thanksgiving crept up on me rather quickly this year - it's hard to believe it's in just three days. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year (with Christmas and St. Patty's Day being close seconds). It's what I call our family "lazy day" where we stay in our pjs all day, eat, watch tv, nap and repeat the cycle throughout the day. Plus I have a 4-day weekend to look forward to so anytime away from work is a good time...especially if it's with my family. Hope my family and friends all have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Disney on Ice - Dare to Dream - November 5, 2011

My firm had a few extra tickets for Disney Princesses on Ice in Hershey at the Giant Center and I figured before Gracie gets too big on me I better jump at the opportunity to take her (hmmm...are you ever too big to go see any sort of Disney on Ice show? Naw....). What a show it was...it was by far the best Disney Princess on Ice show I have seen and I have seen quite a few shows through the years. I have been wanting to do something special with her and this was a great opportunity for me and her to spend some quality time together. We both really enjoyed the show and had a wonderful time.

October 31st here in PA (Go figure!)

This was a first me - snow in October and a good amoun at that! Fortunately it all took place over a weekend and didn't interfere with work and school.

Halloween Night

Happy Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011

Nothing like a cold and rainy night for trick-or-treating (yuck). Here in Pennsylvania they have trick-or-treating the Thursday before Halloween (don't ask...must be a Pennsylvania thing). This year Gracie was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Jacob was Dracula. I noticed this year that Jake was not as enthusicastic about Halloween like has been in previous years. Maybe he thinks he is getting too old to go trick-or-treating (my baby is growing up fast). George took the kids around the neighborhood around 6:00 p.m. and by 7:00 p.m. the kids decided they had enough candy and ventured back to the house (I know my husband was not going to argue with that...it was freezing out). I only got about five trick-or-treaters that came to the house - I was disappointed...I really look forward to seeing all the kids in their costumes. I must say, Halloween was this year was nothing like previous years - very disappointing due to the weather but we made the best of it!

They kids were very pleased with all there candy...and so was mommy (Weight Watchers here I come...AGAIN).

Nothing Like Having a Big Brother....

Georgie came home the weekend of October 8th (he had a four days off of school/work due to the holiday).  Big G and Lil' G went to a friends 50th birthday party so I stayed behind and did a few things with Jake and Gracie - it's been a while since I did something with the kidos.  So I took them to see The Smurf Movie (which was absolutely adorable) and we went to Highland Gardens and I let them pick out their pumpkins.  On Sunday Lil' G ventured outside with Jake and Gracie to carve the pumpkins and I must say they did a great job.  I doubt very much Lil' G will be carving any more pumpkins in the near future LOL.  It was a great Sunday...why? The Steelers won!  Lil' G took the kids bowling Sunday evening.  Jake and Gracie love it when Georgie is home because he always makes sure to spend quality time with them!

My three babies - Jake, Georgie and Goofy Gracie!

Vickie's Angel Charity Walk (Breast Cancer) October 8, 2011

I participated in Vicke's Angel Charity Walk with my friend Kathy on Saturday, October 8th.  we were on team "Kristie's Krusaders" who raised over $12,000. I learned that these funds go toward helping those with cancer pay their bills - anything from medical co-pays to car payments - mortgage payments...etc...how incredible is that?  I must note that we had a beautiful day which is something we have not had in a long time here in Pennsylvania.  The weather has just been miserable but we were fortunate to have a lovely fall morning which made participating in the walk quite pleasant

Kat, Dawn & Brynley

First Day of School

I finally got around to uploading some pics. Attached are pics of Jake and Gracie's first day of school. Jake is in 5th grade now and went from the elementary school to the middle school so this was a big change for him and I knew he was a little nervous. Gracie is now in second grade and seemed relatively happy that school was starting back up. When both kids came home from their first day of school they called me and told me they had an "awesome" day.

 Jacob - 5th Grade (August 29, 2011)

 Gracie (2nd Grade - August 29, 2011

Gracie & Jake - First Day of School