Joergen's First Villanova Game

It's not easy scoring tickets for a Villanova home basketball game at the Pavilion, but with students being on winter break, I jumped on the opportunity to snag tickets for the student section to see the Wildcats take on the University of Delaware.  This was Joergen's first game, and Liam's first one at the Pavilion.

We very much underestimated the time it would take us to get through game-day traffic, park, and get into the Pavilion-- which meant our view was from the rafters. Fine by us! The game was great and Nova got the win.

Getting Ready for Christmas

This year, we tried to step back from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and really enjoy these weeks leading up to Christmas. So if you were looking for us this December, here are some of the places we could be found:

In the living room, running trains around the tree:

Visiting all the winners of the Upper Merion Holiday Decorating Contest. This house was our favorite- it was awesome! Their decorations wrapped around their entire house, and they set up a pathway so you could walk through and see it all. The homeowner stood at the end of the path and handed out candy canes, and even made sure he had a safe one for Liam!

Having some laughs at the annual ETC Christmas show at MDP. Liam was over the moon to be called up on stage to pull tickets for the 50/50. His new life goal: find a way to get in the show itself!

At the annual Vanguard Holiday Gala (this year, at the movies!) with our pal Darth...

And Leia! And after all that fun, we saw... The Good Dinosaur.

At Joergen's holiday party at preschool, where he enjoyed another Giggle Magic Show and showed off his sweet dance moves:

At the Candlebrook Holiday Sing-Along Concert. Every song was exactly like this. Hilarious and shouty.

Followed by Liam's classroom party. I loved volunteering at his school this year!

Remembering the true reason for the season at PREP's Advent show:

Baking and decorating Christmas cookies:

I love sharing this tradition with my boys-- it's one of my favorites!

Visiting the Live Nativity at Valley Forge Presbyterian:

And last but not least, getting the kids' photo with Santa himself:

Little Baller

Liam begged us to sign him up for basketball through parks and rec this winter, and seeing as how it was an opportunity for him to learn some skills while running off some pent-up winter energy, how could we say no? He was a little disappointed that competitive leagues don't start until 3rd grade, but other than that, he had a great experience :)  If he's anything like his dad, he's got a bright basketball future ahead of him!

Finding a Christmas Tree

Since Liam was born, one of our favorite Christmas traditions has been going to a tree farm as a family and cutting down our own Christmas tree.  That said, selection has been tough, and the trees we have gotten in this manner in recent years have been less than stellar (needles.  All the needles).  But, tradition is tradition! So off to Varner Farms we went, with decidedly more scrutiny in our selection :)

Hayride to the tree fields!

I think we found our winner

Chop chop!

The best part: hot cocoa while our tree is shaken and tied.

Homeward bound

Our faith in tree farm trees may just have been restored!

Thanksgiving 2015

I was so happy to be able to take some time away from work to join Joergen's "Thanksgiving Feast" at VFPNS this year. Per tradition, the 4-day kids were the pilgrims at the feast - a look Joergen pulled off in adorable style:

Thanksgiving weekend itself was nothing short of action-packed. We went to York to celebrate at Nana and Grandpa's house, and because Uncle Tim was about to be deployed to Germany for the next several months, we celebrated Christmas with them, too. Throw in the York Symphony Holiday Concert and a visit with some friends, and you have a pretty great kick-off to the holiday season!

Getting ready to fly Grandpa's RC helicopter!

What's Thanksgiving without some football?!

GG enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

Loved this idea for keeping the true spirit of Thanksgiving! We read all the responses during dinner, and it really made the day extra-special.

Aunt Jayne, GG, Dad, Mike, Grandpa, Nana, and Judy-- looks like a party!

"It's almost as big as me!"

Grandpa slicing the bird

Nana's beautiful Thanksgiving table

Liam, Mike and Judy, ready for the feast

Me with my mom and grandma

Aunt Jayne, me and Dad

Aunt Doreen's apple pie, and my mince and pumpkin pies.

Morning after Thanksgiving: Froot Loops and cartoons

On Friday afternoon, we visited with my good friend Desiree and her kids, Landon and Sosie. We ran off some turkey on the playground and then went back to their house to hang out for a bit. Our kids always get along so well and it was awesome to see them pick up right where they'd left off.  By the time we left, Joergen even declared that he was planning to marry Sosie :)

Playing Landon's drums-- J's favorite thing in their house, next to the toy guns!

This was Landon and Liam pretty much the entire time. A glimpse into the teenage years, no?

On Saturday, the NJ crew joined in the fun. College football and some couch-cuddling-- can't think of a better way to spend the day!

I'm guessing Joer had just been licked on the lips by Lilly... I can't look at this picture without smiling!

Cuddling with Aunt Jackie :)

On Saturday night, the York Symphony Chorus had their annual holiday concert at the beautiful Strand-Capitol, and we were so excited to be able to go and hear Nana and Grandpa sing!

In our seats, ready for the show to begin

Intermission ("half-time") with GG

These two! 

Our view of the stage. The boys loved seeing all the instruments!

After the concert, we all went to dinner at OffCenter at the Yorktowne Hotel, which is where Daddy and I had our wedding reception. We always love going there, and especially when it's decorated for Christmas!

Joegen, Genevieve, and Liam

Nana and Liam

Mayhem in the revolving door!

On Sunday, we had an early Christmas celebration with Uncle Tim, Aunt Jackie, Colin and Genevieve. Not only would Uncle Tim be deployed for Christmas, but the rest of his family would be traveling to Germany to spend the holidays with him!

We started by trimming the tree...

... and then it was time to party!

Uncle Tim, Lilly, and Joergen

Christmas sweaters!

Given Colin's love of Legos, Liam wanted to make him a special Christmas gift. So he built him a little rolling house, and then painstakingly wrote out the directions to recreate it in true page-by-page Lego style. It was so cute!

Nana and 3/5 of her grandsons!

Monkey pile on Dad/Uncle Tony!

Dad with his sweet goddaughter

Present time!

Liam and Dad loved this Star Wars book from Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie

Smile if you love Christmas!

Working on Colin's new Lego set

Liam presenting Colin with his gift :)

I received the sweetest godparent picture frame from Geneveive

Liam also gave Uncle Tim the book he made in school about something (or in this case, someone) he is thankful for:

So much to be thankful for, that's for sure!