leaving on a jet plane...

c was super stoked to find olaf in the airport.  gave him a big hug!!!

snuggled and cold.  

kiddos and me in the pool...  

how we napped most of vacation.  loved his hand creeping out!

the rest of my view.  watching the kids swim and go up and down the slide!

all it took to bribe c was iPad time.  i offered him ice cream if he went down the slide, but he chose iPad.  and he LOVED the slide.. couldn't keep him off it!

doesn't get much better than this!

our first night.  we walked in the door and they went straight to the pool.

swimming!!!

pool...

little bubs!

all my bags are packed...

as soon as i got off the train from nyc, i went to this girl's class to help with gingerbread houses.

we had fun!!

her work of art!  (note the anchor doormat.  a girl after my own heart!)

helping grammie with sugar cookies!

decorating!

very intent.  (the fake glasses make it look more so!)

nora, grandpa, james and chris help put on a Christmas church service for us!

looking so comfortable in front of a crowd!!!

in about 36 hours, i got back from NYC, packed and headed to boston for a haile family Christmas before heading to FLA.  it was such a fun time with the whole family and just relaxing!!!!  

NYC!!!

at fao schwartz!

stealing pics from byssa's instagram!

hanging out with alyssa and beth.

nyc near our hotel.

this guy.  man, i love my daddy!!!  no one does a city like he does.  

harry winston.  

chocolate!

got to meet up with david's cousin peter.  so fun to see him at his coffee shop!!

birch coffee- if you ever go to NYC!  amazing!

yummy cupcakes.  but we didn't stop..

it was raining, but we wanted a pic of this tree!!

central park zoo...

they came out to play!

crepes.  well worth the walk!

rock center!

city sidewalks...

had no idea alyssa was taking this.  not sure what i was talking so emphatically about!

from our room...

the nativity.  

on stage, setting up.  carnegie hall

my mom.  singing on state at carnegie hall!

the train station...

i went in to see my mom sing at a Christmas concert at carnegie hall.  it was amazing.  the whole whirlwind 48 hours.  i left the kids with a combination of a babysitter, my husband and my wonderful mother-in-law!  and got to play tourist (by far the coolest thing, after my mom singing, was the WTC memorial.  it's a MUST SEE!).  but it was so fun to see my mom, with her friends, having the time of her life!  i am not sure i have ever been more proud!!!  she did something.  for her.  and did it well!  as a mother of four, now, i know how rare that is!    mom, you are leaving a beautiful legacy!!!

life in these here parts...

gingerbread houses...

home depot kids day...

these boys.  their sweet, smiling faces are going to save them from SO MUCH trouble!  i can tell already...

this kid.  not a huge fan of the cold!

catching snowflakes made him smile, since he didn't want to walk out in the snow!

i got to meet Ava Anderson!  I started with the company in the fall, and have such respect for her.  she started this non-toxic company when she was a teenager.  she's currently in college, running this multi-million dollar company!  she was frustrated with the lack of truly non-toxic home, makeup, skincare, baby products out there.  they started with 6 products.  now have over 75!!!  i got to see the offices and production line.  super cool!!!  (and she took like 5 selfies with me, cause i didn't like the first 4!!!  she's 20- i have had four kids.  love her patience!)

i went to see the kids at school for lunch.  

this kid and i made brownies!!!  he really wanted to wear the matching apron!

and we saw santa and mrs. claus at daddy's work party!!!  they do such a great job- even giving kids gifts!  and we got to see all the really cool parts of daddy's job!!

catching up in a new year!

how our elf appeared this year.  

also, this was the year that nora found out that someone doesn't exist.  and then she realized it ALL wasn't real- elf, tooth fairy, etc.  it was a hard few days (and i wanted to put it all back the right way, but couldn't!), but she had fun helping us move the elf and play "santa".  she's such a sweet, grown up girl!

hanging ornaments on the tree... they had so much fun!

and then this one... discovered something new!  

sidebar- today, d came home for lunch to surprise me!  it was so fun.  we were playing cards, and he looked over to see b up on the third step... his first time!  d got to him JUST as he started to fall.  the gate is now in place!!!  good to know he can do it!  

this beautiful sunrise after dropping a friend off at the airport!

how i find them some mornings... playing wii!

and then, we went to chick fil a on a date.  to sign a contract to buy a house.  by owner.  all crazy and fun and excited.  we are (hopefully) close to closing!! 

i sent out our blog address in our Christmas cards.  then didn't update it for about a month... so if anyone is still reading...  we had a great trip to florida and are now playing catch up.  i hit the ground running when we got back, so i am looking forward to this weekend to catch up on cleaning and organizing our life!

also, we had the monitor packed, so it hasn't gone back in to b's room yet.  not sure if he is ACTUALLY sleeping through the night, or if we just can't hear him!  (just kidding- we can hear him when he cries... he just hasn't since we got back!  hooray!!!)  i have loved FIVE whole nights of sleeping through the night!

oh, and our heat went out.  that was fun.  they came and fixed it and it went out a few hours later.  at 9:30pm.  so, the guy came back to fix it, bless his heart!  

merry Christmas and happy new year!

gingerbread houses!

getting directions from grammie...

she made homemade, gluten-free gingerbread for everyone!

playing some wii...

a mommy-daughter coffee date with another mommy-daughter duo!

building gingerbread houses!

eating, i mean building...

we have had so much fun with the gingerbread houses this week.  james was adamant about his whole house being gluten free and edible (some of the houses were put together with glue guns... he wanted only icing!).  interestingly, his is the only house that didn't cave in!  my little engineer in the making!!