Gator turns 7

Our little Gator is 7! It seems like only yesterday we were at the hospital watching an ice storm! Her day began with breakfast in bed served by her brother...donuts & milk. She then opened her presents and we made party favors. We headed to the mall for lunch at Moe's (the birthday girl's favorite), then it was time to party! It was a puppy party at Build-a-bear. Everyone made their own puppy....we had Spruce, Joshin, Josh, Spot, Hannah, Scruffy, Brownie and Handsome Puppy...what a birthday litter! She had such a great time. We had dinner at the Captian's Table in PF Changs with Aunt Debbie, Uncle Jay, YaYa, Granddaddy and the Treichlers. It was interesting to see the cooks working in the kitchen & the fried green beans were a delicious surprise. YaYa even brought 2 little puppy cakes for the birthday girl! Alli what a blessing you are to our life. You are our giggle full of sunshine!

Early Birthday Celebration

Aunt Aishe & I helped the kids make a gingerbread house for Gran & PaPa. We put together puzzles and on Saturday we celebrated Alli's Birthday with her cousin Anna. We took the kids to the mall to Build-a-bear. They visited with Santa and we ate lunch at Andy's favorite Mr. Dunderbauk's!

Thankful

So many things to be thankful for...this year we spent Thanksgiving with Andy's family. We hit the road on Tuesday to try and avoid the traffic...no luck! Wednesday should have been renamed Electronics Day. With Andy in town his was able to shine in his element...he helped his sister get a computer, his parents a monitor, and even a few Christmas surprises! Thanksgiving Day was full of yummy food, laughter and family. Alli helped Gran with the "most delicious" stuffing with a recipe from her Great-great grandmother. Caden & Papa made a hurtin on some smoked turkey! We all took a walk after lunch and did a little geocaching! Andy even found one that Jane & Dennis had been looking for for months! Go Andy! We earned our pie...take your pick...cherry, pumpkin, chocolate, or pecan! Thanksgiving has always held a special place in my heart. I grew up going to my Grandmothers with all my aunts, uncles and cousins. I feel so lucky to be able to go visit my Aunt Frances and other family since they live right around the corner from my in-laws. It was early to bed for me! Another tradition...Black Friday! I headed out on my own at 4:30am to take on the stores! I had so much fun & Scored 6 door-busters! The rest of the crew joined me for some deals of their own! Unfortunately, Dennis came down with the flu but the rest of us stayed healthy! What a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Autumnal Neighbors!

One beautiful fall afternoon the kids had fun gathering the leaves in the yard and took time out to smile for a few photos!

Backyard Photos

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the colors and just being outside. We wanted some photos of the kids and Rachel offered to come take someof the whole family! Thank you~

Naughty or Nice?

We have two that will be on the nice list for sure! We took a trip to Target the other night to get some ideas of what might be on their wish list! Both kids found several things they were interested in!

Generations

On Saturday we met Amy, Anna, Gran & Papa to celebrate Anna's 4th birthday! After lunch Gran asked if we could go over to Twin Lakes and get a photo of the kids on Ganga & Pop's Bench. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day to play a little bocce and walk around the lake. The kids loved looking at the rabbits, swans and of course puppies!

Brayden's Baptism

We drove up to celebrate with the Lynchs as they had Brayden's Baptism. It was such a sweet day spent with family. His gown was over 150 years old!

Happy Halloween

Not every tradition is planned. This year marks our 8th year of having a Halloween cookout! We still try to keep it pretty simple but it does take a group to have it all come together. We took the kids over to the pumpkin shoot with Gran & Papa. It looked like rain so we set up tables in the garage. We had a big turnout this year...40 folks! Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and friends. Fortunately for us the rain held off. This year Caden went as DJ C! His costume was a box with three bins. People got to vote for their favorite type of music by placing their candy in the bins. Hip hop won by a landslide! Alli was our little poodle girl! We made her skirt with YaYa's help and she loved it so much we had to make one for her too! After dinner and trick or treating, we set up the outdoor movie screen. The kids watched Monsters Inc. and we all had Smores! It was a wonderful evening!

Must be fall!

Andy was ready to fire up the smoker so we loaded it up and called the family over. YaYa, Granddaddy, Aunt Debbie & Uncle Jay joined us for a fall rib feast! They were delicious! After dinner we decided it was time to carve our pumpkin. Someone had the great idea to make a polka dot pumpkin...but first...Alli took a poll to see who could guess the number of seeds in the pumpkin. This sounded like a great idea until we realized we then had to count them all! Would you believe 386 seeds! While Andy drilled perfect holes in our pumpkin we roasted the seeds. The seeds were ok but the ribs were certainly the star of the evening! But our pumpkin was pretty adorable too!

Birthdays

Andy and I are blessed to have birthdays only 4 days apart. For Andy's birthday we went out to lunch with our friends the Treichlers. Andy had his favorite she-crab soup! We gave him a new game for his x-box & new rubic puzzle. We went to Outback for a joint celebration with our family. On my birthday we went to the Cheesecake Factory with my parents. When the kids got home from school they gave me a Comfy (Brookstones version of the Snugglie) , and my favorite pumpkin bread mix from Williams Sonoma. The festivities continued as the Treichlers joined us for dinner at Vincents, followed by my favorite Ben & Jerrys cake. Rachel gave me this adorable metal tree...oh the possibilities! Can't wait to have fun with this! Ornaments for christmas, eggs for Easter, shamrocks, flags...

No Fair....no fair!

It was time for another visit to the doctor and we got the news. Andy was doing better but the doc said no fair! What...did I hear him correctly...no fair...NO FAIR! (of course we are grateful his was getting better...it is just he loves going to the fair). Well the fair must go on! & so must we since I prebought our tickets! So YaYa, Susan, Maddie, Caden, Alli & I were fair bound! We saw cakes, cookies and some amazing legos! We rode rides...Madeline went on her first roller-coaster...and we ate! Before we left we got a turkey leg for the road. I think our patient was thankful!