December visitors

Our friends the Pittlers were up for their daughter's birthday and we got to play before they left. The kids had such a fun time playing and it is always so nice to catch up.

                       Kinsley
                                                          Steve and Hayden

                                                 We tried...

                                      The simple pleasures of leaf throwing!

                                       Katie and Kins

                                                     

            Love these next two shots of the boys climbing on the rocks-

Then the Mindels came to visit. It was one of our coldest weekends to date, but it wasn't actually too bad. Ask me again in February.  We visited the Children's Museum of Manhattan for the first time and the kids had a lot of fun. We then hit Rockefeller for the first time since the lights went up, but it was during the day. And, of course, the Lego store. 

                                            Ryan, Charlie, Tyler and Andrew

Grand Central Station Train Show…or so...

We trekked down to Grand Central to see their "AMAZING" train show. It was not. I think it was about as big as our dining room table. AND, we couldn't find it anywhere (because I was thinking it should take up an entire room).  Anyway, the boys LOVED it. And soon, we are heading to the New York Botanical Gardens where theirs is big…or so I hear:)

Decorating for Christmas

For the first time in 9 years our home will not be filled with the real scent of Christmas. We decided to go artificial this year because we will be away for two weeks and it would be to much work for someone. Over the course of three days though, we finally got everything decorated for Christmas and even watched Polar Express. 

                                                First decoration for the year!

Andrew remembered right away that he got kisses in this calendar last year. This year I couldn't fit two in each spot so now they get morsels. 

   This is my personal favorite. Notice the amount of ornaments at this level. I didn't have the heart to move ALL of them.

                              Where's Ryan?!                                              Here he is!

 Happy Holidays! Can't wait to visit all the Christmas-y things in the city before we head home!

Scholastic Store

I took the boys on the train for the first time by myself. It went much better than anticipated even with the stroller in tow. All that was lost along the way was a new book we purchased from the Scholastic Store in SoHo.

                                         The Magic School Bus

                                           We love Clifford!

First Chipped tooth

The boys were playing in the tub (and I mean, climbing up the back wall and sliding down playing) and giggling their little hearts out. I got a few minutes on video and then Ryan came down a bit too hard. This was the result.

                          Our friends Adela and Peter came over the next day to play for a bit and the sleeping bag was the toy of choice. Ryan was so frustrated he couldn't get in with them!

It's Christmastime!!

The boys got new Christmas jammies from Grammy and they loved modeling them for me.

                                      One of Ryan's favorite things to do is build up a lego man with 20 heads or so. Sometimes they even get 20 bodies.

 We have LOVED visiting the trains at Kennilworth Mall in Towson. We had to sneak a trip in before we left and we even got to visit with SANTA! Andrew was very excited, as was Ryan, until we actually got up to sit on his lap.

Fun around the house

I can see dueling pianos in our future

                                                   Family Sandwich

                                         Watching the game

                                                            Feeding the bird

                                      Go Tigers and Ravens!!