Kiddos!

Aren't they awesome? This was shot by a photographer my sister knows down in VA. Too good not to share. :)

Family Time!

I had a totally awesome couple of days with my sis and her family while they were here in Vermont visiting! We managed to completely fill our days with blueberry picking, The Addison County Fair (Gretchen's pig won the race!), homemade ice cream (mint chocolate chip, vanilla, chocolate and cheesecake-4X in two weeks!) a hike up Mt. Philo, swimming, "Make Your Own Pizza" night w/ Chef Luigi, nature walks, tennis and Summervale's Festival in Burlington. We were ready to fall into bed about 20 minutes after the kids were asleep-every night. Party!

Blueberries!

The Scott Family, mom and I went blueberry picking yesterday at Pelkey's in Charlotte. We discovered at 11:45p that they closed at 1pm. I think we made the most of our 45 minutes!

A White Christmas in Virginia.

I spent this Christmas with my sister and her family down in snowy Virginia! Here are a few pictures from my visit along with a list of highlights...

Chocolate Pie.

Scrabble with Jenny.

The first big snowstorm since 1989.

Hearing Gretchen say, "I wished really hard mamma and I got everything I wished for!!" on Christmas Day.

Jonathan getting his RC hovercraft.

Clearing snow off of cars with a leaf blower.

Hearing Adaline ask for privacy in the bathroom.

Playing ACT with Gretchen before bed.

Snow angels.

Prepping for Santa's arrival.

Snuggling.

Oliver sharing, (after all that crying) that he was angry that he couldn't bring his train to bed.

Watching Gretchen be an angel in the Christmas Pageant.

Silent Nights & Time-Outs for adults.

Watching Jenny create her money-saving strategy. Amazing.

Dinosaur Train!

Watching the Sound of Music. Twice.

Watching: The Digital Story of Nativity or Christmas, 2.0.

Running errands with Jenny. Our solo missions are few and far between these days. I treasure those ordinary moments.

Oh, I sat next to NBC's Washington Correspondent, Lisa Meyers on my flight home. Fun!

I'm sure there is lots more but, I'll leave it at that for now!

See you next year! xoxo

Family Time.

Last week, we all descended upon Fort Wayne, Indiana for Thanksgiving at Dad and Jane's-all 9 of us! Chaos. Dad cooked up the turkey and Jenny and I attempted a few new recipes he had selected from Julia Child's cookbook. The joke of the trip came out of my dad's mouth. He kept identifying himself as Julia Child's (or Jane's) assistant, Jacques. As he was whipping up some heavy cream he hollered, "just call me Jacques the Whipper!" Wah waaaaah. Dad had some stiff competition coming up with the best one liners with Gretchen, Adaline and Oliver in the house. I guess Adaline knows that animals are friends, not food because she stepped in during our Thanksgiving Dinner planning sesh to say, "Run turkey, RUN!!" She's two. Kids are funny.

Monsieur Rick & Madame Jane

Oliver was in good spirits despite his broken leg. He even managed to get on the b-ball court!

On Saturday, we piled into 2 cars and headed out to the gingerbread house exhibit to find some inspiration for our gingerbread house craft project. I think it was a hit although it was hard for some to grasp that the gum drops were keeping the walls together and shouldn't be eaten. There were a few minor casualties. Look at that determined gaze on Miss Adaline's face...she has radar lock on an Oreo cookie.

Here is one of our favorite ginger bread houses!! This picture doesn't do it justice though.

Next, we headed to the Embassy Theater to meet Santa (!!!) and to see the christmas tree exhibit. They always do such a nice job making things look festive. Gretchen got to see the tap dancers perform which left her wide eyed and speechless.

On my final night in Fort Wayne, we decided to celebrate Penelope's 5th birthday. Penelope is my sister's pooch who was vacationing at doggie daycare in Virginia during our trip to Indiana. That didn't stop us from making fancy hats in her honor! Yep.

Mmm...

Gretchen volunteered to blow out the candles...

And Jenny and I in our post-party pic...time for a glass of wine!

The drive home with Laura was long-18 hours. But, she and I had lots to discuss. We had pretty much solved all of the world's problems by the time we reunited with the Green Mountain State. Good trip but, glad to be home. xoxo

Midwest Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving will involve a pretty hefty road trip from Burlington, VT to Fort Wayne, IN. Earlier this month, I searched for flights out of Burlington and other larger airports close by but, the results were pretty grim. Only $800-$1,400 options. What to do? This Thanksgiving is slated to be pretty bad for air travelers due to sold out flights, security delays and the big unknown--weather. I'm pretty excited about my decision to drive. It will save me hundreds of dollars and will hopefully make my time off much less stressful.

Last week, I had the pleasure of spending some QT with Miss Laura Koritz who has lived in the midwest for most of her life. We got to talking and she decided she will join me on this journey. Her family lives in Illinois so, she will continue on home once she leaves me. I'm so delighted to have the company and excited to have a road trip adventure! See ya soon, family.