Our Gingerbread House

Today the kids put together their gingerbread house. I surprised them after lunch with this fun holiday project. They were so excited. As you can see, there were quite a few hands involved in creating our masterpiece. They each helped frost and decorate our little house...although the majority of the candy didn't end up on the house, but rather in their tummy's! We went a little crazy with the green frosting....very festive!

The house came with a cute gingerbread pine tree...but I managed to break that into about 12 pieces while assembling it. The kids were a little mad at me. Like how I "glued" it back together?? Can't even tell! Yeah, right. At least the two gingerbread people survived!

Let It Snow!

My kids were SO excited to wake up this morning and see snow! Jacob, Jenna, and Nicholas couldn't wait to get out in the fluffy stuff. Marissa, on the other hand, is not such a big fan. She cries when she sees the snow. It may be a long winter for her! Here's a picture of Jacob with our first snowman of the season. He has celery stalk arms and nose, russet potato eyes, Max's dog kibble for his mouth, and clementine oranges for his buttons!

Schnicky Is Four!

I cannot believe that my Nicholas is four already! He had a great birthday celebrating with friends and family. Thank you to everyone who made his day such a special one for him. We appreciate the cards and phone calls...they made our birthday boy smile. :)

Nicholas requested a monster truck cake and I had fun making it for him. I even took a hammer to the Matchbox cars to make them look like the trucks had actually smashed them...how fun is that?!? He was quite happy and had fun licking all the frosting off the wheels after he blew out the candles.

When I asked Nicholas who he wanted to celebrate his birthday with he rattled off a very short list of VIP's in his life. At the top of his list was his good friend, Joshua. He and Nicholas are in the turtle room together and have become close buddies. So, we decided to have Joshua over for a sleepover! His big sister, Lauren, is friends with Jenna and came over for the night, too. It was officially a slumber party! The kids had a ton of fun and Nicholas was thrilled. We ate popcorn, watched movies, played monster trucks, and then headed off "to bed". The girls slept in Jenna's room and Nicholas and Joshua set up their sleeping bags in Nicholas' room. How cute are these pictures of them together?! The boys crashed quickly...they were tired from all the fun. But Lauren and Jenna stayed up for awhile acting like girls. They took me back to my sleepover days...the amount of giggling was hilarious. When I went back upstairs to re-tuck them in, I caught them in mid-jump off the bed holding hands...pretty funny!

No explanation really needed....it's just classic Nicholas eating a birthday sundae at Red Robin. Couldn't wait for the waitress to bring a spoon??

We wonder what the next year will bring with our colorful, curious, little Nicholas. Lord knows, the past four years have been an adventure with him. I spend a great deal of time just trying to keep him safe from himself. I'm sure he'll continue to keep us smiling, shrugging, and shaking our heads. I just love that little guy. :)

Fall Into Autumn

I almost missed my opportunity to get pictures of my kids in the leaves this year, but we got these photos just in time...there were still plenty to play in!

Even Mr. Dale (as my kids refer to him) couldn't resist jumping in! Turns out our good friend is a true kid at heart. After raking a HUGE pile of leaves in his front yard, Nicholas spotted it from our front door and was out there in an instant....no shoes, just out the door and headed straight for that pile of leaves. Eventually, everyone was in on the fun! I just love fall.

That's Mr. Dale on the bottom of the leaf pile. My kids just love him. :)

Halloween Fun!

The kids were excited to go and get their pumpkins so we took our annual trip to a family owned farm that we visit every year. From the get-go Nicholas was intent on picking out the perfect one to be his Thomas jack'o lantern. After getting their pumpkins, we enjoyed a little hay ride and a run thru the hay maze! My Mom, Dad and Yia Yia came along with us, too. We all had a great time.

Here is Nicholas with his final pick!

Here Tom is carvin' up the pumpkins with the kids. I love this picture of Jenna helping with her dinosaur pumpkin. She was SO excited that Tom found this apatosaurus design for her! We did four pumpkins: an Elmo for Marissa, an apatosaurus for Jenna, Nicholas' was a Thomas the Tank Engine, and Jacob did a tradtional scary face pumpkin.

The kids couldn't wait to go out trick-or-treating! I was disappointed that I couldn't go along with them for all the fun. Instead, I was home recovering from the swine flu (don't take me there...it was awful). So, Tom headed out with them. While it was a bit chilly, they still managed to come home with gobs of candy...more than they'll ever be allowed to eat. Here they are in their costumes...three cute dinosaurs and a happy frog!

Happily Ever After

On October 4th, my baby sister got married! She was the most beautiful bride that I've ever seen and I was so happy and honored to be there by her side.

Jenna shares a quiet moment with her Aunty before the wedding. She did a great job walking down the aisle. I was so proud of her! We all know that she would have preferred to wear a dino t-shirt, but she didn't complain once about her fancy dress that day. She hated her shoes though and took those off immediately after the ceremony. I do believe that she was spotted wearing pink crocs at the reception....more comfy! She enjoyed the day, but eventually tuckered out and crashed on the couch in the bridesroom. Doesn't she look pretty??

Jacob was a junior usher and took his job very seriously. He was also responsible for handing out wedding programs to guests. Isn't he handsome?? He had a ball at the reception! He danced the whole time with anyone who was willing and able to keep up with him. There are some GREAT pictures of him dancing the night away, but they're the professional pictures that we don't have the copyright to yet so I cannot share them here. Bummer!

To see these and all other 1000 photos from the wedding day, go to http://www.essencepv.com/, click on "Proofs" and type in "Alejandro". Enjoy!

Rick's brothers, Melissa's best friend Karen. I had SO much fun at the reception! What a great day...

Look at this handsome couple! My Mom and Dad now share their wedding anniversary with Melissa and Rick. How cool is that!?

Okay, enough....I'm ready to be an aunt now! :)