Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Morning.

Well Evan and Eliana must have been extra good because Santa sure left a lot of presents under the tree! Here's Eliana discovering Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Santa left Evan the most AWESOME monster truck. Grave Digger!

Evan still had sleepy eyes, but had plenty of energy to open all his presents! 

What's in the box???

Evan was so happy to try out his monster truck!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Well, more like the morning of. At 6:58am, I discovered that Santa had visited. 

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Eliana in the Nutcracker!

After weeks and weeks of Saturday morning ballet classes, Eliana made her stage debut in the Nutcracker on December 21st. The curtains opened at the very beginning of the show and there was Eliana with all of her classmates as the 'Sugarplum Fairies.' Photography was prohibited, so I had to sneak these, which is why they're not so great, but you can definitely see her. I didn't think it would happen, but I was moved to tears when I saw her, so proud!



Here's the excellent behind the scenes video Mommy was able to shoot from the side of the stage!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Elmwood Park Zoo

Took the kids to the Elmwood Park Zoo to see one of Santa's Reindeer. Turns out, if you can stand the cold, Winter is one of the best times to go to the zoo! Hardly anyone there! (I don't do well in crowd situations.) So it was perfect, we got to take our time checking out the animals.

A Barred Owl checks us out.

A Golden Eagle looking regal.

Evan checks out the rooster cage.

I think this is the closest I've ever seen a wolf. 


They ALWAYS find the ice.

North American Bison.

This Cougar came and sat right by the fence. Poor kitty has had cataracts since being 11 months old and is now basically blind. 

And here's the reindeer! Eliana didn't want to go up for a photo, but Evan was a really good big brother and took her hand so she wouldn't be scared.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Evan's Christmas Show

Evan's school put on a Christmas Show at the church.
This is Evan the moment he sees his family sitting a few rows behind him. One of my favorite photos of the year.

Notice Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in the front row.

Evan and his classmates line up to join in on "Joy to the World."

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Hello "Spot"

This is our new kitty "Spot," named for the spots on his belly. 

The transition wasn't easy. Mimi and Spot didn't really get along at first, but they've been getting better about playing together. 

Unexpected Snow

I was going to pick the kids up on Saturday, it was a beautiful, sunny day out, and as I was driving I noticed there were a lot of squirrels out, way more than usual, and they seemed to be working rather urgently. I thought to myself, I wonder if they know something we don't, looks like they're getting ready for blizzard! The weather forecast was typical for December in the Northeast; 1-2 inches of snow later changing into rain. It happens that way every year, sometimes the snow is even gone by noon and replaced with cold, wet, miserable rain. But not this time!


So I woke up Sunday (afternoon *cough*) to a text from my friend Chris in New Jersey. "Are you watching the Eagles game? Holy crap!" I sprung up and ran to the window and was shocked to see everywhere covered in a blanket of snow. We had 6 inches in just a few hours and a little over 8 1/2" at the airport when all was said and done. Evan wanted to play in the snow, so I headed over to the Lambert's house. Little did I know, a journey of just 8 miles would take 90 minutes! The roads, including the highways were a solid sheet of ice. Cars were struggling to make it up hills, and there were accidents and spin outs everywhere. I think so much snow feel so fast that there wasn't a chance to clear it. So by the time I got to see the kids, it was already dark out. No matter, Evan and Eliana got all dressed up in their snow gear and we headed off to the local park to do some sledding. It was Eliana's first time and she loved it. We stayed out until all the other kids had gone home and they still wanted to keep going. I remember when I was their age I would stay out in the snow long after the street lights had come on, and by the time I got home I would be crying because my hands were nearly frost bitten. 



Then yesterday it snowed again, we got another 3-4 inches. A sign of things to come?  We only had 8 inches all last winter. We had more snow than Buffalo, NY the winter before that, so who knows? Certainly not the weatherman!



Friday, December 6, 2013

Daddy's

No matter what, when Eliana comes to Daddy's, she want to take a bath. She stay's in there forever!

Evan likes playing video games on Daddy's TV. Here he is playing "The Incredibles" on Playstation 2. 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Guess who lost their first tooth?

That's right! Evan! He lost his first tooth on November 18th in his Kindergarten class. 
Miss Windle sent the tooth home, and Evan got a surprise that night from the Tooth Fairy. 
Now Eliana is telling me her teeth are wiggling...

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Waiting for Evan

What do me and Eliana do between the time I pick her up, and the time I pick Evan up? (2 hours and 55 minutes, not a terribly long time, but enough time to do something.) We went out and got a gas cap for Daddy's car. You see, daddy left the gas cap on top of the car then drove away at the gas station. So we went to Pep Boys, where in addition to my new gas cap, it cost me a few bucks more for a Hello Kitty sticker that Eliana spotted. How could I say no? After that, we went over to the park, since we still had about an hour left. It was a really nice late autumn day, and I had a nice time with just me and Eliana on the playground.

Monday, December 2, 2013

My Little Shopping Helper


I dropped Evan off at school early this morning and Eliana had the day off, so we went shopping to go and pick up supplies for some Crock Pot chicken noodle soup. Got all the ingredients but forgot the noodles. Luckily, I don't have I put them in until the last minute, so I'll let the chicken cook for a few hours and get the noodles later. Anyway, Eliana was helping me push the shopping cart around and picked a few items out for herself. We're both feeling a bit under the weather, so we were having a quiet day inside watching Spongebob reruns.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thankgiving

Evan's Kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving Show this week. Evan and his classmates did an excellent job performing some really cute and funny songs about Thanksgiving. There were Pilgrims, Indians, and Evan and his friends were Turkeys! Evan had quite a fan club there with Daddy, Mommy, Eliana, Nana, Poppop, and even cousins Frankie and Ava came to see the show.
Here comes Evan and his classmates. He spotted me from rather far away. He probably knew just to look for the bald head and the camera. 

Evan's Kindergarten teacher Miss Windle helps Evan put his Turkey costume on. 

Evan and his friends as turkeys. I'm so glad he's beginning to like having his picture taken. This was while they were lining up just before the show was about to start. 

Just before the show started I noticed a few of the girls crying, clearly overwhelmed, by the large crowd of waiting parents, it just seemed like it may have been a bit too much for some of the kids. When Evan got to the stage, standing in front of the crowd, I noticed Evan rubbing his eyes. I thought he may have just been tired so I asked him about it afterwards. He said he was starting to cry a little bit and seemed a bit embarrassed about it. I told him it was okay and gave him a great big hug. I also told him how proud he made me, and that he really did a great job. Maybe was just feeling a little overwhelmed. I had to explain to him what overwhelmed meant but I think he understood. 

Evan and his class did a GREAT JOB on their Thanksgiving Show. Afterwards, all the parents were invited to a 'feast' back in the lunchroom near their classroom. So proud of this little boy. 

Eliana wanted me to take her picture at the show, so here she is looking as cute as ever.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Our Ballerina

Look at our little ballerina! She's all dressed up in her "Sugar Plum Fairy" outfit for "The Nutcracker" next month. Saturday was photo day for all of the ballerina's at Eliana's ballet school.


Look at how beautiful!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Halloween Night.

We lost Evan's skeleton mask, but I think the makeup turned out even better! Makeup by Mommy & Daddy.

Evan with the World's cutest Red Crayon.


Evan with the pumpkin he drew!

All ready for a night of trick or treating! Video to follow. They really had a great night. We ran into some of Evan's friends from his Kindergarten class and we went trick or treating with them.