New Year's Eve 2017

We may have started a new tradition this year for New Year's Eve - WAFFLE PARTY with friends.  It was fun, yummy and the kids loved it.  It was even more special with our neighbors!

ALL the Nutella.  They were wired afterwards.

"my tooth is loosed"

Ella finally lost her first tooth this morning!  It's been hanging on by a thread and she would not let us touch it.  We've been telling her she has shark teeth, since she has a second row of the permanent teeth partially through. Jake tricked-conned-bribed her into letting him pull it this morning. The other front bottom one is also loose.  We'll see how long it hangs on.

Christmas at Home 2017

First things first, last night we told the girls they could not wake anyone up until 7am and we had to start the coffee before beginning Christmas. The girls were back in our room at 7:01am. Ha!

We read the Christmas Story from our Jesus Storybook Bible. We love that Bible and how every story, Old & New Testament, points to our Savior, JESUS, the greatest gift of all.

The excitement of gift giving & opening!

We had a brunch, okay it was really just breakfast since it was before 9am, of eggs, bacon and homemade cinnamon rolls. It was a fun, relaxing day playing and enjoying time together. We even had a candlelight dinner with pasta - kids pick! Why not pasta?!? I can make dinner in under 30 minutes and enjoy more time with my family.

Christmas Eve 2017

A highlight of every Christmas Eve is Christmas at The Bridge.  The kids sang "Go Tell It On The Mountain." Photo from Thursday night rehearsal

As is our tradition, we opened our Christmas Eve box after naps.  Once again the contents included supplies for making Christmas trees.  It also included graham crackers for making gingerbread houses.  The big girls are moving up! We also had popcorn and popcorn seasonings.  The popcorn was a snack to have while decorating our trees and houses.  The plan was for it to deter the kids from eating ALL the candy and/or ALL the icing (Benny & Wren) but that didn't work out so well.

Merry Christmas

The Aunties come to Wilmington

Auntie Bekah arrived via airplane on Thursday afternoon.

We hit Target and the Post Office on Friday morning to finish up some Christmas shopping.  Benny & Wren enjoyed some hot chocolate. Wren got most of it all over her pants. Ha!

Aunt Anna drove to our house and arrived Friday at 7pm.  She even brought her old baseball and football cards. 

Unfortunately, Ella came home from school Friday afternoon with a fever of 102.  I took her to the doctor Saturday morning and she tested positive for the flu.  Not the fun weekend we had planned, but we hit Walmart for some meds, flu survival and flu prevention supplies.

We did some sugar cookie baking with the aunties.

Despite my best efforts, and all the disinfecting, throughout the weekend more of the kids (and eventually ALL 4 kids) developed fevers and flu symptoms.  Bekah ended up with some sinus stuff too. And Anna had congestion the night before she headed home.

Sunday we celebrated Christmas outside on the porch with our first fire.  It was beautiful.

Monday we celebrated Aunt Bekah's birthday. The girls were home from school due to fevers and the flu.  We tried to make the most of the circumstances.

Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Bekah & Aunt Anna! So sorry we ended up sick and shared our germs.

NYC weekend with friends

We just got back from a fun weekend in NYC with some friends.

We grabbed a quick lunch on the street - falafel - yum!

Jake got us tickets to Jimmy Fallon's monologue rehearsal on Friday afternoon. That was fun! We saw the monologue plus "Thank You notes." NO photos allowed!

After that we hit Rockefeller Center.  The tree was so pretty.

We also saw Sak's Fifth Avenue's window display of Snow White.  We hit the Holiday Market in Bryant Park.  Dinner at L'Ybane followed by dessert at Ferrara, in Little Italy.

Saturday morning we headed to Chinatown for breakfast at a Chinese bakery.  

By the time we left the bakery it has started SNOWING!!

It was so pretty.  Especially seeing Mulberry Street, in Little Italy, through the big snowflakes. We hit another Holiday Market in Brooklyn.  Lunch at Grimaldi's Pizza, under the Brooklyn Bridge.

We saw Grand Central Station, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Macy's in the afternoon.

Jake & Rick walked the Brooklyn Bridge in the snow.  Becky & I said "no thanks" and took the subway to Grand Central Station.

Had an amazing dinner at Mamasita's.  They had some romantic lighting, but Jake couldn't read the menu.

After dinner, Jake & I walked around Times Square for a while and then decided that we had to find Do while we were in NYC. It was good - we love cookie dough!

It was so fun seeing the city, in the snow, with friends. We love NYC!

Wren is TWO

I have to say, this is an EXTRA-special birthday since this girl is officially a Flaming.

We started off the day with birthday waffles.

Followed by presents

Benny, Wren and I spent the morning playing at the Children's Museum of Wilmington.  We have a membership there and LOVE that place! 

That evening was the annual Foster Care Christmas party at Scooter's. So how fun? We went to Scooter's with many of our friends on Wren's birthday.

After that party, we came home for some birthday cupcakes.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, WREN!
WE LOVE YOU

Two Year STATS for Wren:

25 pounds & 33 inches tall