The Birthday Weekend continues!

After a fantastic kid free weekend, we left the mansion (but not before taking a few quick pictures....)
And headed home to celebrate with the boys! No birthday celebration would be complete without a Peggy Brown cake!
And of course some presents!
Happy Birthday, Dan!!! We love you!

My wonderful husband turned 38 on November 15th and to celebrate we headed to a fabulous Bed and Breakfast - the Beall Mansion, for the weekend! Thanks to Nana, Papa, Aunt Jackie and Uncle Steve for watching the three boys!

Friday night we arrived to a butler, dressed in a tux with tails, and a glass of champagne. We were shown to our room and the butler even turned our bed down! He also suggested a fabulous martini bar, Bossanova, for dinner! We downed a few martini - delish!!!

Here is Dan enjoying his beverage...after a BAD martini, he opted for a long island iced tea...can't go wrong with that!
My dessert martini...
We returned to our room to find "fine, French chocolates" and champagne as well as rose petals on the bed!
I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but for those who are, this 24 hour chocolate bar in the dining room would have been a dream! I have never seen such fancy chocolate!!!

La, La, La, La, La, La Tonight!

I'm embarrassed to be typing this right now, but I must say that I do believe that the New Kids On the Block concert was honestly one of the FUNNEST concerts I have ever attended! Seriously, we were SO close to the stage and we NEVER sat down...picture a HUGE arena with thousands on 30 somethings rocking out to Hangin' Tough!

Perhaps the reason why the concert was so much fun was because of the great time we had at Maggie O'Brien's prior to the big event! MANY pitchers of Bud Light and a very nasty Irish Car Bomb could possibly make any event amazing!

Here are the NKOTB lovers....me, Christa, Lisa and Angie (notice the bright pink shirts...yep, we sure did use some puffy paint and glitter to dazzle our homemade NKOTB shirts!!!)
The "before" picture of the Irish Car Bomb....Bailey's in a tall glass of Guiness...and then someone screams out, "drink it before it curdles!!!" Yummy!
So if it wasn't bad enough that our mode of transportation to the concert was Angie's mini van (thanks for drivin', Ang!) but I sure did have to pop a couple of these (along with others at our table) after all the drinks and food!
One fun final note, this is Lisa, a friend from church who also happens to be Jack's first grade teacher! Nothing like doing shots with your child's teacher!!! Nice, eh???

At last Halloween!!!

So, I finally made it to Halloween!!! My last post for this pseudo holiday!!!

Here is Cami and Syd, our best buds, as Snow White and Cinderella and Jack and Nick in their red Power Ranger costumes!!! We got to trick or treat a bit with the girls in their neighborhood before we headed back to our house!
Once we got back home, Dan took Jack and Nick around the neighborhood while my Dad, Luke and I stayed back to hand out our pretzels (no candy, as I am married to a pediatrician!). Nana was at home sick....
Luke was thrilled to see all the other kids in their costumes. He stayed in his penguin costume all night!!!
Before Papa left, he managed to snap two quick pics of us...one with the boys with their masks on...
And one with their masks off...

Is it STILL Halloween

I know you all must be about as tired of Halloween as I am (posting about it at least) but I had to share these pictures...

A small town near our house has a Witches Night Out when all the cute little boutiques open on Sunday night to any and all witches. We have gone for the past 4 years and our witches costumes have gotten better and better!

Here is a quick pic Dan snapped of the boys and I before I left. Surprisingly none of them were scared of me. It is especially times like this when I truly appreciate how lucky Luke is that he has his C.I. He could hear my voice and realize that it really was just mommy under all that green makeup!
Here is my mom, Jackie, and myself...don't we just look lovely!!! We all had similar hats that I found at Children's Hospital for CHEAP when Luke was there...
Probably the best part of the night is buying our $10 grab bags from a quaint little shop. Each bag has a fun saying on the outside. Once you choose a bag, it is yours. No picking up and shaking allowed. We buy our bags and head outside to a small bench near the street and open our bags, one at a time! I LOVED my mom's saying about...well, moonshine! Not that she is always drinking, she has been known to love her wine...
Dan is known for his "What's a matta with you?" Italian question...the closest I could fine that fit me was this one...
We were happy to share our night with Maddie and Kristin!!! Maddie gave up a trip to Six Flags so we were a bit stressed that she wouldn't have much fun, but she is already planning our next year's trip!!!

Ice Scream, You Scream....

Ms. Laycee, one of Luke's teachers at school, is the manager of a local ice cream place. Since it is the end of the season and they would essentially have to throw everything away they didn't use, she invited us in to make our own ice cream creations!!!

First the boys all got their bowls and had their choice of vanilla, chocolate or twist. Of course they all chose vanilla!!!
Being the great teacher that she is, Ms. Laycee even had a step stool ready so that the boys could truly do everything themselves. Luke had a little help though from his teacher!
Next it was time for the toppings! They all had sprinkles and Oreos and of course whipped cream! We couldn't interest any of them in a cherry though!
It was then time to eat! Here Maddie, Luke, Nick and Jack all find a spot on the floor to enjoy their delicious dessert!
Ms. Laycee offered to make anything on the menu for Dan, Ms. Kristin and I. Dan and Ms. Kristin opted for the famous pumpkin pie concrete, complete with a REAL slice of pie amidst the fantastic frozen custard! Here Dan thanks Ms. Laycee for his dessert!
A quick picture of Ms. Kristin and Maddie before they enjoy their creations!
I opted for a few spoonfuls of the boys' and Dan's yummy ice cream!! What an awesome day!

A little cousin lovin'

I find myself once again sitting at the computer on Sunday afternoon..attempting to recapture events that have gone by weeks ago. My brother, Bryan, and his daughter, Alyssa, came up for a visit 2 weeks ago. He is a golf pro in a suburb of Memphis and had some vacation time to burn so he headed north and stayed with my parents. Unfortunately, his wife, Allie, had to work, so she had to stay home (although honestly, I would love the house to myself for a week!) We sure missed Allie though. She did send us a delish homemade banana cream dessert...YUMMY!!!

Here Alyssa and Nana enjoy playing Pokeno...the boys' favorite game to play when visiting Nana and Papa!
Jack and Nick LOVE creating fabulous art projects with all of Nana's scrapbook scissors and papers! Alyssa jumped right in!
It seemed like the week was over in the blink of an eye though and it was time for Uncle Bryan and Alyssa to head home. I LOVED seeing my boys give their cousin hugs and kisses goodbye! Alyssa would say "hug" and "kiss" so cute whenever she would give them hugs and kisses!!!

Jack caught a kiss on Alyssa's cheek.
While Nick and Luke both got her lips!!!
Good thing they get to come back up for Thanksgiving (and Aunt Allie gets to join them!!!) We can't wait!!!

Candy and Carvin'

In my attempt to get all caught up (it seems that that is all I do in life anymore!) here are some more fun Halloween activities we completed last month!

So, we have these secret pals at work. I was lovin' my secret pal until she (I work with all females!) got me this candy making set. She obviously doesn't know me b/c if she did she would know that I'm still trying to lose baby weight (almost 2 years later!) and I attempt to avoid the stuff at all costs. It was a fun afternoon spent with Jack and Nick though (we let Luke sleep through this one!) Thankfully it was a pretty simple task...heat up little chocolate pellets (for lack of a better word!) and put them into these little baggies and fill the molds. Per usual though, the pictures on the box had these amazing 3 and 4 colored Halloween molds...hello, can I do that? I think not. Luckily the boys were thrilled just doing one colored candies! We put lollipops sticks in them, and put them in the fridge. Then, the best part....all 3 boys actually ate them! That NEVER happens in my house! Thanks, Secret Pal!

Here Jack, Nick and I pose during candy making...
Jack took his job very seriously...
Nick enjoyed his job too, you always have to have someone clean up the leftovers!!!
After candy making had come to an end, it was time to carve our pumpkins. We had bought 8 pumpkins at the farm, but opted only to carve one for each Jack, Nick, and Luke. I had the fun job of cleaning the pumpkins out. Then the boys told Dan what kind of face they wanted and he drew it on and carved them out!

Here Dan is carving Nick's pumpkin...
And Luke's pumpkin...
And Jack looking oh so proud as he got to carve his pumpkin for the first time all by himself!!!
***Sidenote....notice Dan's ensemble....you guessed it, there was a Giants game blaring on our kitchen TV. Now that he has NFL Sunday Ticket, he can pretty much be found in front of the TV. Thankfully we have one in our kitchen so he could join in the fun!!!

Zion's Fall Festival!

Again, a few weeks ago, our church held it's first Family Fall Fest! It was SO great. Our church has so many young families! I have honestly never been in a church with so many people my age! Needless to say we are a rather loud bunch during our service on Sundays, but I truly feel blessed to have such a great church family!

This Fall Fest was like no other I have ever been to. First of all, since it was being held on our church's parking lot and attended by all church members I felt totally comfortable allowing Jack and Nick to run around, which is just the opposite of the typical me! Secondly, everything was free. Now, when does that ever happen! Thanks to all for the great Sunday evening!!!

Luke was a bit timid when we first arrived, as here he is clinging onto me!!!
It didn't take long though for him to jump on the train...along with Jack, Nick and Daddy!!! :)
What is a Fall Fest without some face painting??? Nick is getting a pumpkin on his hand...
...And here is Jack's ghost! No coaxing could make Luke partake in the face painting!!!
Jack and Nick loved rolling around in the hay looking for treasures. Luke was too busy eating cookies and hot dogs with Daddy!!!

Ohhh...PUMPKINS!!!

We made it safely off of the ferry and up to Hagen farm. It honestly is not so much of a farm, more like a small area of grass where they lay out all of the pumpkins. The boys still have such a good time choosing their "perfect" pumpkin and I am happy to only pay $2 a piece!

I don't know if it is a result of Luke's deafness or just Luke, but his face has such awesome expression in it! Here is the picture I was able to snap after he saw all the pumpkins!
Nick enjoyed posing for the his picture amidst all his "finds!"
Jack stopped his search to smile! "Hurry, mom!" He was so worried that someone else would find "THE" pumpkin!
Okay, so all you moms (and dads!) out there know how hard it is to get a picture with 3 kids all smiling and looking in the right direction. After many attempts, we settled for this one. Poor Luke was looking over at Aunt Jackie...