Deck the Halls...

Recently, at our weekly playdate with the cousins Amy and I were talking in the kitchen and realized the kids had been quiet for a while which is rarely good with a 3, 4, and 5 year old on the loose. We went into the living room (really we call it "the tickle couch room") and found this...

The tree only had lights on it before this but the kids broke into the ornament boxes and half the tree was decorated when we got in there!




Then we got in on the fun and helped keep the kids (and the ornaments) safe :-)


Earlier that week we had decorated our own tree at home which Ella LOVES to do!


Good times were had by all and only a few ornaments bit the dust ;-)

More Snow Pics!

BLIZZARD!!!

Nothing like 2 feet of snow to have a lot of winter-Christmas-ey fun at home. We had a great day on Saturday. The snow fell non-stop from Friday night until Sunday morning! We cooked, made ornaments, decorated a gingerbread house, watched The Polar Express, and eventually played outside once the wind died down. Great day!






I was determined to mail the last of the Christmas cards and ventured out to the mailbox thinking that whole "come rain, sleet, snow" motto of the post office was for real. It's not. They didn't come :-(

Lots of fuse bead fun was had. I'm telling you $5 at Ikea has lasted us a year!


Ella and I ventured out to play in the evening while Chris shoveled his little heart out


Ella insisted on helping and stayed out there long after I went it to sweep snow off the cars with her broom while Chris shoveled. She really was helpful! I love having a 4 year old!




Ella loved sliding down this snowdrift mountain Chris made!

My rosy cheeked little girl after coming inside, ready for hot chocolate! LOVE days like these!

Rockettes Spectacular minus one

Because my grandmother was a Rockette 70 years ago I've grown up going to see their famous Christmas Spectacular Show many times. Lately they've started traveling so we don't always make the trip to Radio City in NYC. This year my grandmother bought tickets for the whole family months in advance so we could all go to the show nearby.

Then...

My dad spent weeks planning a surprise for my grandmother-backstage passes to meet the Rockettes, take pictures etc. Something she'd LOVE.

Then...

We put in the Rockettes DVD my grandmother bought us at the show last year to show Ella and get her all psyched up for the show. She was even more into this year than last year. And she knows that GG used to be the 3rd one from the end on the left :-)

Then...

The night before the big show and the big surprise...my grandmother fell and broke her hip.

Ugh. I cried when I got the phone call. It doesn't help that she'd been in the hospital exactly a week before for a totally unrelated problem. This poor woman! She was spitting mad to have to miss the show and asked every doctor around if they could just drug her up and let her go in a wheelchair. They said no way.

So, we all went to the show. And met some Rockettes. And called her a lot as she sat in the hospital. It was a great show but so sad to not have here with us! But as she reminded me in her New York/Yiddish accent, "it could be worse, doll"



Ella's sneaky face when she spotted cookies when we got backstage


Ella was terrified and would NOT go up for a picture by herself.

My Dad was SO excited!

My mom's friend, me and my mom had to get in on the photo op too

A little video they made for my grandmother (yes, they're holding the picture of her my dad brought to show them).

Hanukkah, O Hanukkah!

Because my dad is Jewish, I grew up celebrating Hanukkah and Chris and I have decided to carry on the tradition! Ella has been learning all about the Maccabees and the oil lasting for 8 days, menorahs, the shamash, latkes, and dreidels. However we had a little miscommunication and Ella was very disappointed when she saw that the candles don't burn for 8 days :-( It's been fun to point to God's miracles from so long ago to encourage all of us that He still does amazing things today!


A rousing round of "Hanukkah O Hanukkah, come light the menorah.."


After a crazy stressful day I spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of the menorah as the candles burned. It was so relaxing and fun to be creative. I think photography may actually become my new hobby. Like father like daughter I guess.





And finally, Ella singing "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" at my grandmother's house last week. Ignore her pulling up her tights at the beginning. She's 4. She doesn't quite get propriety ;-)