Christmas Vacation

Today was Matt's first day of his Christmas vacation. He'll be home with us for the next two weeks (after which I'm sure he'll be more than happy to go back to work!). The mania started early today with a second round of cookie making at grandma's house.

Noah ate more sprinkles and chocolate chips than he used on the cookies.

Then we hit the mall to run a few errands. These little guys were on sale at Hallmark and I had a coupon, so even though Santa will be here next week with a ton of stuff, we caved and let the boys pick out two favorites each. They love them, and are currently snuggling with them in bed as I write this.

Noah, for as cranky and stubborn as he is, can be really sweet sometimes. He insisted on holding Matt and Matthew's hands as they walked through the mall today. Add in the fact that Matthew was belting out Christmas carols as they strolled and you've got a pretty cute little scene. As I walked behind them I listened to people walk by and "awe, how cute!" at them.

Speaking of Santa, Matthew has asked me to take pictures of the things he wants so that we can email them to the big guy. That's how we roll in 2013 - we email Santa! On his list:

Everything Angry Birds Telepods

Everything Monsters U

Everything TMNT

The entire Swap Force team

Despicable Me 2 stuff

And the Disney Infinity collection

Santa is bringing a lot of this stuff next week. Because he's generous like that.

Friday is Matthew's holiday play at school, and then we join Matt on official Christmas vacation. If I'm not back before the 25th, have a Merry Christmas!

All the Christmas stuff

With such a late Thanksgiving this year I feel so rushed with all our Christmas stuff. But we're managing to cram it all in!

Our house has been decorated inside and out. My new favorite - these lighted stars from Ikea.

Our nativity is up, complete with Woodstock as baby Jesus.

Snickers the Elf has been hanging around. Sometimes literally.

We've done a ton of little craft projects that I bought on clearance last year at Target.

The boys got an early Christmas gift from grandad and nana - each one got a Nabi 2.

And no Christmas chore list would be complete without "take dogs to see Santa" checked off!

Matthew's holiday play at preschool is next week. Then it's Christmas vacation time until January 2nd. Woot!

Busy Busy Busy

We've been busy lately. We spent a lot of time putting together Operation Christmas Child Boxes and dropped them off to start their journey to children in need. The boys really enjoyed doing this and we're going to make it an annual tradition.

Matthew has a lot of school activities going on, including Monday afternoon soccer. So me and Noah sneak off to Starbucks while we wait for him to be done.

You know that saying about the hardest to work with are children and animals? It's true. My photo stream is filled with Christmas card picture fails of these two bananas.

We started decorating for Christmas last week and have been progressing a little each day. Our tree will go up tomorrow.

We're on school break until next Tuesday. We ended the month at school with a little play where Matthew played Squanto's father. He was fantastic.

And since we're really into Snoopy this year, I thought this was a fitting way to end this post.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Why do the long weekends always feel so short?

Sure, we crammed a lot into these three glorious days of freedom, but I feel like there's no way it should be over already. There's more to do!!

Tomorrow is back to work and school. But I think we accomplished a lot of what we wanted to do this long weekend. Like see Santa (yep, he's at the mall already! Great if you want to get a head start on your Christmas cards).

Lunch at the mall, post Santa.

A lazy Sunday morning at Starbucks enjoying our beverages of choice.

Contemplating life in between bites of bagels with cream cheese and sips of hot chocolate.

And even though it was pretty cold all weekend, we managed a little outdoor time.

Now it's off to bed, then back to the grind tomorrow. Friday feels so far away...

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween Cookies At Grandma's

Wordless Wednesday: Me and my little buddy

Party Train

We had Matthew's "friends party" at school last Saturday. They offer an hour and a half of non-stop fun for the kiddos, and bonus, I didn't have to entertain 16 4/5 year olds at my house!

Our party hostess Marsha made this custom poster for Matthew (based on his invitation). We framed it and are going to hang it in our playroom, it is that awesome!

She also made Matthew a crown, and quickly made one for Noah when he insisted he have one too.

Noah entertained himself before the guests arrived - dancing to his favorite Disney tunes.

The party was non-stop action - starting with scooter races.

Then a craft - painting their own light sabers.

Matthew chose only to use blue paint since that is the color the good guys use.

There was a spirited game of musical chairs.

And a pretty intense limbo competition.

When it came time for dessert Matthew mixed up a special batch of blue icing.

And all the kiddos got to ice their own cupcakes.

It was the hit of the party!

To wrap things up, there was the parachute game that ended with Matthew (and Noah of course) in the middle.

And that's the last stop on the Matthew Turns 5 Party Train!

A Day At The Gardens

One of the perks from Matt's job is free passes to the NY Botanical Gardens. Every year we take advantage of that perk when the Halloween Garden is live. It's really a spectacular set up. Thousands of pumpkins (some real, some fake) in different colors, designs, and creations. 

The boys love it. Something about Halloween that gets their blood flowing. They were happy campers from the minute we got there. Made for easy picture taking.

They really loved checking out all the neat little displays.

And they loved the hands-on exhibits.

This year we discovered the puppet theatre.

The boys has a blast putting on their show.

Did I mention that we got some good pictures of these boys today??

Noah made sure that he did everything Matthew did. And looked at everything Matthew looked at. And stood everywhere Matthew stood.

Even when posing for pictures, Noah was a little mimic to big brother. The cuteness was off the charts.

I even think we did better with our self-portraits on this trip.

Not too bad if I do say so myself!

One of the activities they had set up for the kids was creating a "collection bag" for leaves and rocks and other little treasures. Matthew took this collection job seriously.

Which meant Noah did too!

Both boys loved that this pumpkin creation had Mets colors, so we just had to take a picture!

And after all the pumpkin fun, we treated ourselves to hamburgers and chips at one of the garden cafe spots.

Couldn't ask for better weather for this trip. We had so much fun that I'm thinking about making another trip to the gardens for the Christmas Train Show. If you're within driving distance of the NY Gardens, you should definitely make the trip for the Halloween Garden - you won't be disappointed!