Happy Fall!

I never thought fall was my favorite season...I always like being warm and being on vacation so I thought I loved summer and swimming...but Chris' absolute favorite season is fall and being cooler and the holidays and football and....well, I think I'm being won over! This fall has been gorgeous and we have gotten to do so many fun things outside. I LOVE going to pumpkin patches with our kids! This year we went to a smaller farm where the girls could pick a pumpkin from the vine and actually see how they grow. I loved it! However, Elizabeth was not very impressed...she did NOT like it that the pumpkin had DIRT on it!

We went with a smaller group this year which was a bit calmer!! It's so nice that Elizabeth has a friend her age just a few doors down from us!

Thanks Nana and Poppa for the cutie pie T-shirts! They love their "Scaredy" Cat Halloween shirts...almost as much as they love their Ty-ty!! :)

1st Slumber Party

The girls really wanted to sleep together one night over the weekend so we pulled out the sleeper couch in the guest room and they loved it! Although, Elizabeth (since she no longer naps at all) is exhausted by 7:30 so she didn't last long! I think she was asleep by 8:00 and we could hear Ali talking away! And then Ali woke up first in the morning (about 7am which is early for them...they usually sleep until 7:30am!) and of course woke up Elizabeth too. But it was a fun little sleep over! :)

Early Thanksgiving

Maybe it's the unexpected gorgeous weather we had this weekend or maybe it's just because we stayed at home and relaxed a lot, but I am feeling SO thankful for everything in my life. We are so lucky to have moved to this great neighborhood where there is never a dull moment (there are so many families with kids here now that there is sometimes an overabundance of activities to choose from!), our girls are happy, easily entertained, like to play with each other, like being at home but are flexible when we go out, are good to each other, Chris is such a wonderful husband and father (we are communicating really well right now!), and I just feel so blessed. So, why a picture of my refrigerator and pantry??? Well, obviously that is part of the reason we are so lucky (and I also love feeling so prepared and food-organized so I had to show you!) but I want to remember to really appreciate all we have. We have SO much in our lives from groceries to friends to our wonderful families and we are so thankful for it all.

I love Costco....probably too much!!

Our kissy girls...I love it when they aren't in fighting moods and love on each other so well!

Breakfast around the island...just a regular morning but I'm going to miss it so much when things start to change and the girls get bigger. I don't want to take this time for granted.

BLING!

Both girls now have ear BLING! Ali had been talking about getting her ears pierced for a while now and we finally decided to go. Elizabeth wanted her ears pierced also and I didn't think she'd be brave enough. But both girls did GREAT! They didn't cry or even squirm too much between the two piercings...I was impressed! They are so excited to have pretty earrings now!! :)

Ali got green emerald earrings (her birthstone) and Elizabeth picked out pink earrings (her favorite color).

A full house!

Uncle Colin, Doug, Oma and Opa and Ali around our fire pit outside...I loved having so many people at our house...it was really fun! We had air mattresses in 3 different areas plus the guest room being used...it was quite cozy!

Playing a game of cards after all the guys got back from their trip! They looked a bit tired but had a great time in Iowa!

I loved planning meals and everything for so many people! I got all of my recipes from my friend Melanie's amazing cooking blog!! :) Thanks Melanie! I love trying new recipes and making homemade things but I get some resistance from the little girls in my house....so when I get a chance to make a lot of grown up food... I love it! We had Honey-Lime Enchiladas, Minestrone soup, Frank's hot sauce chicken tacos, Pesto Pizza, Chocolate Truffle Sauce over ice cream, Granola for breakfast...YUM!!

Oma and Opa

Since Colin was coming all the way from China and was going to spend a few days at our house after the football trip, Oma and Opa came to visit so that they could see everyone also! (And they agreed to babysit for the 3 little girls so that Sheila, Erin and I could go out one night!!)

We celebrated Oma's 60th birthday with a homemade vanilla cake and Ariel candle!! Happy Birthday Oma!

Here is Oma opening her gift...a scrapbook with pictures throughout her life! It was fun to put together!

Girls Football Weekend

We were SO lucky to have SO many visitors last weekend...it was SO much fun to see so many people!! So it all started 6 years ago when Pete and Chris went on their first annual football trip to go see a big game. So every year they have added people to the trip and have visited lots of different college towns and have gone to a big game. But before this year, I had been left at home and it wasn't as exciting for me! But then Chris had this amazing idea that the wives should come and stay with us while the guys were away...and they came!!

Aunt Sheila (Pete's new wife) and Cousin Nora and Aunt Erin (my stepsister) all came to visit us! We felt SO lucky to have everyone here! I think we definitely need to make this girls' weekend an annual tradition also!! :) Wendy (my other step sister) and Elizabeth (Colin's wife) need to come some year when you can make it too!! :)

Here are all the guys leaving for their 6th football trip (Colin, Chris' brother, met them at the game in Iowa and he came all the way from CHINA for this trip...crazy!) Here is Chris, Nathan (Chris' roommate from college), Doug (Nathan's friend), Pete, and Tony (Erin's husband)

1st Family Camping Trip

Chris and I haven't been camping since right before I got pregnant with Ali...we haven't been brave enough to go with kids before now. But our two neighbors right next to us know of good places to go so we all decided to go together...we just went for one night to see how it would go and it was SO fun!! The girls LOVED playing in the tent and pretending to sleep in their sleeping bags...

Here is the whole group on a hike...I hope we do lots more camping together....we had a great time!

Our campfire didn't get going so well so we cooked our dinner on a portable grill and sat around a small fire to eat Smores and tell stories and play Black Magic!! This was my kind of night...games and talking...I loved it!! Elizabeth feel asleep in Chris' arms around the fire and both girls slept great (even through a rain storm in the middle of the night and fortunately our tent stayed dry!!)

New York

Our View from our hotel room

On our second day we ate an amazing breakfast at the Hilton and then went for a run in Central Park...we felt so healthy and the weather was perfect. The park was great and I kept wondering at how people raise kids in the City...but there are so many families and it looked kind of fun to have kids in the big city. And then for lunch we went to Little Italy where we saw more healthy food...like this sign that says "Fried Twinkies and Fried Oreos and Fried Snickers"! Oh my goodness...the food in this country is insane...who eats that stuff??

We also had the BEST dinner that night...at a small Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village...so nice!

Little Italy...it was just so fun to walk around and be together! THANK YOU Nana and Poppa for coming out to babysit our children so that we could get away! We appreciate you so much...the girls had a great time with you guys!!

Happy 10th Anniversary

To celebrate our 10 wonderful years of married life, we got to go on a weekend get away to NEW YORK! It was SO fun to be together and walk all around the city. We got to stay in the Hilton in Times Square with Chris' hotel points...it was amazing!

Times Square...The first day we walked all over Greenwich Village, walked to Washington Square, got tickets at the TKTS line for a show (and only had to wait in line for 15 minutes hooray!), ate a burger at the famous (hole in the wall but really tasty) Burger Joint, and went to see "Promises Promises" the musical. Cute and entertaining!

Dancing Darlings

This is Ali's first Ballet & Tap Class...Before class started she was prancing around the room, kissing Lizzie, and telling her sister that she would miss her. After class, I asked her what her favorite part of class was and she said, "Getting to dress in my tights and tutu!" She's all about looking the part!!

After taking pictures of Ali, Elizabeth said, "MY TURN!" Oh, by the way she is now asking to be called Elizabeth rather than Lizzie!!