Christmastime

Tessa has been asking for this little Rudolf every time we go to the grocery store. I kept telling her "next time", so last week I finally asked if we could get one when we were in the check-out line. They came back to tell us they were all sold out. Tessa looked at me with very sad eyes. I asked if they were getting more and they said they didnt know (I was feeling bad at this point). Finally the sale associate came back and said we could have the display if we wanted it. I jumped on that, and said to bring it over. Tessa looked at me and said, "Whew, that was a close one". Now the kids tell everyone ours was the last Rudolf in the whole store.

We tried to get a few family pictures for our Christmas cards--here are a few I like. Thanks Amy Beth for taking them.

I love this one because they all look so happy.

By the end we were all done!

Tessa's preschool had a gingerbread house making day. It was a fun time. Hathaway liked eating the candy the most and Tessa liked being with her friend Nina the best.

Saturday morning Bryce and the kids went and cut down our Christmas tree (I staye home with Hathaway who was sick). They picked out a really nice tree for us this year.

Hathaway doesnt look happy in this picture but I had to put it in since she looked so cute in this dress. It was the dress that my mom made for me for my first birthday.

Wedding cake

A couple in the Spanish branch were getting married and didnt have a cake so I offered to make one. Here it is--my first wedding cake. It was fun and I learned a lot.

Christmas Spectacular

This year Tessa and I went with some friends to NYC to see the Rockettes in the Christmas spectacular. It was a fun show and we all had a good time. Here we are leaving.

Tessa watching the show.

Waiting for the subway on the way home.

More Halloween

The kids decorated our car for the trunk-or-treat.

Halloween evening we had dinner and some game with friends.

Halloween preparations

We started off the Halloween season with the traditional jack-o-lantern carving. The kids had a fun time creating theirs.

Tessa and Oakley also created the concept and design of their own costumes this year. Tessa was a dragon princess and Oakley a black pirate.

Oakley had his first piano recital on Halloween as well--in full costume.

Here we are at the ward trunk or treat.

Fall

We needed to update a little about our fall happenings. Tessa started pre-school two full days a week. She has loved it and it has been a good schedule for all of us. Here she is on her first day.

We have been to the zoo a lot the fall since we have a pass and we always have fun.

Hathaway and her little friend in the tree house.

Oakley started cub scouts this year. We have had to juggle that with soccer, since they fall on the same night much of the time, but he has like both.

Look, the zoo again, I told you we went a lot.

The girls just looking cute.

Since I am a room mom, I got to go with Oakley's class to the aquarium. Oakley of course loved it and I was glad that I took tylenol before I got on the bus---it was pretty noisy (but fun besides that).

Oakley has surprised us by how excited he has been about soccer and how well he has done. He has improved a lot over last year and it has been fun to watch him.

Oakley was sad that so many zoo trips were taken without him, so on a school holiday we swapped Hathaway for one of his friends so that we could do "hard-core zooing".

A quote from the boys, "Isn't the zoo a great place to learn about how to use maps." They are from the same mold.

Sadly, one of our good friends is moving, so we decided to take a girls day in the city. We went to the temple and then got to visit the Chloisters, a small museum that is part of the MET. We had a great day--Liz you'll always be an honorary smith sister.

And a final zoo shot. Oakley and Bryce got to go on an overnight at the zoo (hence no picture because it was dark and no flash allowed). But they did get to decorate pumpkins that were then given to the moneys to play with.

If we had twins, this is what it would be like. We got to take care of our friend for the days who is just a few weeks younger than Hathaway. We had fun but we are glad most of the time we just have one.

A day at the farm

Saturday we went to our favorite farm (Howell Living History Farm). It was back to school day with tours of the old school house. As the day rolled out, our kids' personalities did too. Oakley could not be pulled away from the stream where he was looking for any animal he could find, so Bryce stayed with him while Tessa, Hathaway and I went on to the school house. Oakley found salamanders, frogs and fish and Tessa spend most of her time writing and coloring on an old school slate. Oakley wants to be a herpetologist and Tessa wants to be an eye doctor....they seem to be on the right track.

First Day of 2nd Grade

Oakley started 2nd grade. We walked to school with the Cox family, which is becoming a tradition.

Labor Day Weekend--the Last Hurrah before School

We tried to get a lot into the weekend before school. We went to Boston to visit some friends and family and see some of the city. We got to see my old roommate, Anna (above) and spend some time on Harvard campus the first day we got there.

Here we all are trying to rub the lucky golden toe. I dont know that we had that much luck since our whale watch was cancelled due to the hurricane.

Here is Bryce's old volleyball court with a new net. He used to play in the Rhino intermural league (see photo below for rhino). Ahhh, the glory days with a lower net for lots of spikes.

The rock fountain was lots of fun.

The next day we went to the public gardens and commons. Here are the kids with the Make Way for Duckling statue. We even walked the ducklings route along Charles Street to the gardens.

Here we are in the Frog Pond on the commons. Aunt Amy Beth joined up with us.

Then we headed for home on Sat. Monday we decided to do our, what is becoming annual, hike to Bald Pate mountain. The kids are getting to be good hikers. A nice end to the long weekend.