Christmas preparations

Over the past 3 weeks we have been busy getting ready for Christmas! We've decorated our tree and our house, sent out Christmas cards, made Christmas cookies and Christmas cupcakes (by Anna's request), sang Christmas carols, read Christmas books, told the Christmas story with the Little People nativity set, searched for our Elf, Sophie, visited Santa Claus, written to Santa Claus, attended Christmas parties, attended our town holiday stroll, attended (and performed in) Christmas concerts, and drove around our town to see the Christmas lights. We are ready!! Here's some fun pictures from the past few weeks:

making Christmas cookies with our neighbors

sporting our Christmas jammies from Nana

okay, not Christmas related, but sooo cute!

Anna's preschool Christmas concert

On Friday all 4 of us went to Sesame Street Live - which I guess is also not Christmas related, but it is starting to feel a little like a Christmas tradition around here because this is the second year in a row that we went to the show right near Christmas. Anna & Abby both loved it!

waiting for the show to begin!

munching on some popcorn

red slush - yum!

It's been a great Christmas season so far and we're looking forward to a great weekend celebrating both at our house and with our families in Albany.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Had a great trip to Albany! Here are some photos:

weekend update:

watching football with Corinne and Michelle

riding an old fashion Chicago "El" at the American History Museum

playing in the leaves

Go Giants!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

On Monday Mommy turned 33! Grandma & Grandpa also arrived on Monday and we had a great party Monday night. Then on Tuesday Mommy & Daddy went to Mommy's favorite restaurant - Bazin's - yum!

Thanks for a great visit, Grandma & Grandpa!

Natural History Museum

On Saturday we took a trip to the natural history museum. We went to a special exhibit with live butterflies. Anna loved it and Abby liked it at first, but then she got a little scared. After the butterflies we checked out the other insects, animal skeletons, Hope diamond, deep sea exhibit, and mammals.

trying to identify some butterflies

working on a skeleton puzzle

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year. Anna loved being Mini Mouse and Abby loved being a bumble bee. They were both so excited to put their costumes on. They trick-or-treated with a bunch of kids from the neighborhood and went to a ton of houses.

before heading out

sampling their candy

Wow, I can't believe this!

Anna & Isabel after the school Halloween parade

Anna's Ladybug class

Pumkin Carving

We had a great Halloween this year. More pictures are coming, but for now, here's our pumpkin carving:

Frying Pan Farm Park

Today while Anna was at preschool Abby & I headed over to Frying Pan Farm Park with her little friend Mia. Abby loved all the animals. Every time we walked up to a new animal she got all excited and squealed or made the animal noise. She blew kisses at them and said "hu, hu" with her arms wide open (trying to give them a hug). Whenever it was time to move on to the next animal she would say, "bye shee" (sheep) or "bye chi" (chicken).

Weekend adventures

This past weekend we had a fun trip into DC and started our Halloween festivities. Earlier this week we were reading the book Goodnight Washington DC to Anna and Abby. After the page that read, "Let's have a picnic on the National Mall. Isn't the Washington Monument tall?" Anna asked, "When can we have a picnic by the Washington Monument?" Matt & I thought that was a good idea so on Friday when Matt had the day off we headed into DC. We decided to check out the Lincoln Memorial first then we walked down the mall to have a picnic near the Washington Monument. Besides enjoying the DC sites, Anna & Abby liked seeing the regular helicopters and airplanes flying low over DC, a horse-riding police woman who visited us during our picnic, and a little duck pond we found.

On Saturday we went to a Halloween party. Anna & Abby were both super excited to put on their Halloween costumes:

the cutest Mini Mouse and cutest bumble bee ever!!

Look who else is Mini Mouse this year:

Teagan & Anna

Also this weekend Anna & Matt continued and Abby joined in on an annual tradition of taking walks to look for spooky decorations. We also added some spooky (spiders hanging from our trees) and not-so-spooky (scarecrows on the lawn and pumpkins in the window) decorations to our house.

Cousin Kieran turns 1!

This past weekend we went to Albany to celebrate Cousin Kieran's 1st birthday! We had a great trip. The party was lots of fun and we got to spend lots of time with Nana, Aunt Becky, Uncle Jeff, Liam, and Kieran all weekend. We also had a belated celebration for Nana's birthday.

making salad dressing with Nana

waiting for party guests to arrive

the birthday boy!

yum!

eagerly awaiting birthday cake

picking out candles for Nana's cake - how old are you again, Nana? 19?