Thanksistmas 2015

It was just brought to my attention that I have yet to complete a Thanksgiving post. This is a valid complaint.   So...

My out-of-state siblings came in for our annual Thanksistmas two-day celebration.  We have the traditional dinner on Thanksgiving Day, then the following day we celebrate an early Christmas with all the cousins exchanging their gifts instead of putting them in the mail.

I made a last minute trip to a local florist I had been meaning to visit, and picked a bunch of loose stems that I brought home and threw together.  I LOVED the centerpiece.

The "Kid's Table".  Our amazing neighbors came with their son who goes to school with Patrick.

I got to share a table with these two handsome guys and my beautiful sister.

After all our Thanksgiving company had departed and the kitchen was cleaned up, I took our brand new artificial tree (that we got from Balsam Hill) for a test drive.  It set up in ten minutes, and I still had time to throw on a couple of bins worth of ornaments.  NOW it felt like Christmas!

 Usually we just eat and drink the day after Thanksgiving, but this year my big brother Dave turned 50, so a surprise celebration was in order.  We borrowed my dad's walker and the kids appropriately decorated the thing.

The benefits of having a husband who is a firefighter - I threw on Tom's firefighter gear to carry Dave's cake out.  That's his wife following with the fire extinguisher.

 All the cousins

 A rare group shot

 Just the siblings

 ...and just the girls!

On Friday we headed to the backyard to play some belated turkey ball.

It is not often that we can get everyone together.  My sister Janet is in Vermont.  My brother Dave is in the D.C. area, and my brother Steve is in Richmond.  My sister Karen is luckily 15 minutes from me.  To wrap up the 50th birthday celebration, we left all the kids with my dad (sorry, Dad!) and the siblings headed to Escape the Room Pittsburgh (with the two 15-year-old nephews along for the experience). We spent an hour trying to solve clues needed to unlock a door.  We would have done it too had the final door not been broken (thanks management).  Still, we really all had a blast, and the teenagers were even TALKING! Highly recommend.

Happy Thanksistmas!

3rd Annual Marine Corps Camping Day - November

We missed last year, but Marine Corps Camping Day is back!  Because it happens in November, our camping and activities are usually restricted to inside.  This year we hit a warm spell, and incorporated a hike into our training.

We found Tom's old compass in a box at home, but it was broken.  We guessed the kids would not know the difference, and Patrick helped us navigate the trail using his readings.

Once at home the boys tried on some old gear.  Tommy's call sign should be "Squirrel" based on the number of treasures and baubles we find hidden in his pockets, under his pillow, and all over the house.

Patrick would be "Aces" because this is one squared away kid.

 The crew (not me!) chowed down on some MREs from the camping store.  Lasagna I think.

 Some R&R in the tent was followed by roasting marshmallows in the fireplace.

 Kaya slept in her bed a=, and me in mine, but all the boys lasted the night roughing it in the tent.  Success!

Christmas 2015

Each year, I am determined to be more ahead of the game so I can enjoy the last week leading up to Christmas.  Each year, at about 3 weeks out, I start to convince myself that I am.  Then I enter some strange time warp that ends with me still buying things 3 days out, and wrapping the teacher's gift on the morning of the last day of school before break. Still, it was an amazing (snowless) Christmas.

Star Wars, Legos, and Star Wars Legos topped the boys' lists this year.  They each wrote out a list for Santa that included about $3,000 worth of Legos.   Kaya only asked for a Doc McStuffins doll, although it isn't even her favorite cartoon.  Our elf, Dooser, made his annual appearance and the kids had the best time hunting for him.  He hung out with Snap, Crackle and Pop, flew a kite, and went sledding in our T.V. cabinet.  Dooser even left a note for Patrick to let us know he is 206 years old!

We decided to attend the Christmas Eve Children's Mass.  It was chaos.  Tommy did not want to put on his bow-tie for Christmas Eve Mass.    Patrick participated as an angel.  He could have picked a shepherd, but he wanted to be an angel.  He was the only boy angel, and I love that he did not care.

Tommy sang "I'm Gettin' Nuttin' for Christmas" with his preschool class. Tommy hates singing and dancing, so it was interesting to see him in the front row. 

My dad came to spend Christmas Eve night with us again so he could see the kids open their gifts Christmas morning.  We let each kid open one present each after Mass.  Tommy had carried around Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Matt's wrapped gift all day because he knew Legos were inside, so we knew which would be his pick.

After the kids were tucked in and fast asleep, Santa stopped by and unloaded all his goodies

Our new artificial tree joined us this year.  It is fantastically life-like, and after hanging some pine scented sticks on its branches, it passed off pretty well as the real thing.

Joy!

Kaya's favorite gift overall was a Frozen umbrella Santa brought.  Santa brought her a bunch of new princess dresses and dress-up shoes also since she had outgrown her last play dresses.

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We tried for a photo of the kids with Pap Pap, but this was the best we got!

Kaya was so obsessed with the umbrella, she begged to go outside.  Luckily, we had a record warm December, and it was probably 55/60 degrees outside Christmas morning.

After opening gifts and some Lego building, we went to Baba and Grampy's house for Christmas lunch.  More Legos.  Tommy has neither the desire or skills to build his complicated sets, so he has Patrick build them all.  Patrick loves building, so I get hours of the boys playing quietly and nicely together!

Tom with his dad.

Baba and Grampy's dog, Yoda, is getting up there in age, but still tolerated Kaya's attention.  She sweetly read to him.

My mom and Mr. Rich stopped by our house around dinner to see the kids and all their new toys (both boys are wearing the new Star Wars shirts Santa brought)

It took Patrick only 1 1/2 days to build this monstrous Millennium Falcon Santa had brought, and another day to complete his Ice Walker.  Daddy helped Tommy with his Sith Infiltrator.  Kaya was just photo bombing their Lego shoot.

(As I finish up this post mid-January,  the tail end of the huge East Coast storm that is making snow headlines is blowing outside.  We have only about two inches of snow on the ground at sunrise, but it is still coming down.)