This Christmas

This will be our third Christmas we've spent far, far away from our families in Utah. But we are slowly creating our own traditions and we really enjoy the relaxing time together. We'll get to spend Christmas nearby with good friends this year, and we are looking forward to a fun little trip of skiing and swimming and playing.

The tree is decorated and redecorated daily. I love our Christmas tree this year, and I love that Matthew helped me decorate it. I have to smile when I look at it and see two or three ornaments on the same branch.

Packages and presents are in the mail on their way to family. And one good thing about being far away from family is that we get a lot of mail and Christmas packages! The kids get so excited every time they see a big box at our door!

Christmas shopping is not done, but almost. The sewing machine is probably going to need a loooong break after Christmas because I have been sewing day and night. I've had so much fun sewing tons of presents. And, of course, lots of oranges and Christmas goodies are being eaten.

Christmas cards are sent out. This year went by so quickly when I look at it this way:

Matthew is finally starting to figure out Christmas and he absolutely loves anything to do with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We've had fun counting down the days with our advent calendar, and reading tons of Christmas books from the library. There has been no real snow for us yet, but I'm sure it is on it's way. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Letter Wall

We have a wall of letters at our house. Each week we choose a new letter to learn about, and it directs our crafts, activities, FHE lessons, and discussions for the week. Matthew has really enjoyed it, and he can probably list off at least five animals for each letter! We are almost halfway through the alphabet, and some weeks we stick to it better than others, but I think it is doing some good!

S is for snowflake, P is for pig, B is for balloon ... etc.

Thanks

We had a fun Thanksgiving dinner with a couple of Joseph's classmates and their families. The food was really good and we had fun talking and playing games and looking at their cute babies.

A favorite tradition is our "Night After Thanksgiving" event on Friday night when we watch a movie and enjoy leftovers and tons of other snacks. Matthew got to stay up late this year and join us and it was so much fun. We've really enjoyed the long weekend together! Happy Holidays!

Last But Not Least

Joseph's parents came to visit for a few days last week. They are always so good to us, and are so easy to have around. They helped with the kids and the housework and the grocery shopping, but still had a little time to themselves to travel through Brooklyn and Long Island.

We've had so many visitors this last month that it has just flown by! We had a lot of fun seeing all of the family members that traveled so far to be with us. Now it is back to our normal schedules, normal nap times, and making plans for the holidays!

Fall with the Family

Robin, Megan & Kyle came to visit in October and we had a wonderful time. Here is some of what we did and learned:

1. Taking two kids, two strollers, and a few blankets and bags and purses on the bus, ferry, and subway is not easy - even with four adults.
2. A restaurant entirely devoted to variations of macaroni and cheese is a very good thing.
3. Paying only $11 for enough Chinese food to feed four adults is definitely worth two trips in three days. Especially because it was delicious.

4. When walking around the city, comfortable shoes are only a necessity if you don't want your heels, toes, and arches to be in pain. Otherwise, cute, but impractical, shoes are better. :)
5. Searching for shells and crabs on the beach makes for a perfect afternoon. And walking around a lake and seeing the pretty fall colors is the perfect thing to do on a sunny morning.
6. Shopping with sisters is so much better than shopping by yourself.

7. Anna's hair is finally long enough to put in pigtails and it makes her look like a little girl instead of a baby.
8. If you stand too close to a street performer's act you just might get pulled into the middle of it.
9. My sisters and brother-in-law are seriously the best, although I already knew that before this trip.

Monkey Matthew & Banana Anna

Happy Halloween!

School Days

Joseph and I are trying to think up ways to get Matthew and Anna into Princeton University...

Okay, not really. But we went on a day trip there with some friends last weekend and fell in love with the beautiful campus. The buildings were incredible and the campus grounds were full of studying students, outdoor dance classes, and lots of squirrels.

We really enjoyed strolling around with our friends and soaking up the beautiful fall weather. And it made me miss our favorite USU campus and living in a small college town.

Anna looks like she'd fit right in, don't you think? Maybe in 17 years.

No Time To Rest

Joseph's sister Sarah and her husband Justin came to town last week. I hate to say it, but I think that they did more here in a week than we have done in over two years. They did a bus tour, went to the top of the Rockefeller Building, visited the Met and the Natural History Museums, and lots more. Luckily we got to tag along with them for a few days on the weekend.

We saw Wicked on Broadway and it was absolutely fantastic. We loved every minute of it and have been humming the songs ever since. We visited Katz's Deli and had amazing pastrami sandwiches, and weaved our way through Canal Street to find treasures to take home to their kids.

We waited in line for over an hour at Grimaldi's, but it was worth it to be able to eat that delicious pizza while overlooking the water and the city skyline.

We went to the beach and to the park and lots of other places in between. We loved having them here and are so glad they liked NYC!

First Day of Fall

The last few weeks have been pretty great as we have been getting back into the swing of things here at home. The weather has been absolutely perfect for going on walks, having picnics at the park, and hanging out at the beach. Joseph hasn't been too busy with school yet (oh, and he passed the boards!! yea!), I've been sewing during every free minute I can find, and the kids are soaking up every second of outside play time.

Happy first day of Fall!