A collection of things

Where did I leave off?

Hummm I think somewhere about two months ago.....


Well let's see since my last post Halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas have happened!!!! Needless to say I have some "catching up" to do!

For Halloween Olivia was Princess Jasmine (she really loves those Disney girls). Daddy took her out to gather up some candy while mommy went to the neighbors to help hand some out. She came back with plenty for all of us. Of course the chocolate vanished into thin air.....LOL

After Halloween was finished we started getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. We were very Thankful this month, cause we were invited to the Garrick's to celebrate Thanksgiving Day!! And let me tell you the food was WAY good! Plenty for everyone. I forgot my camera that night so I have no pictures, But Nikki has some on her page so check them out. We had so much fun we didn't get home until real late and Olivia was way way tired. So right to bed she went when we got home. What a fun night!!!

Then to start preparing for Christmas....MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!!! I love Christmastime so much, the pretty lights, snow on the ground, inspirational music.....the list can go on. The day after Thanksgiving is a tradition for us to get a tree and decorate it. So we invited to missionaries over to help us and to have a little FHE( Family Home Evening). So they showed up we ate dinner and then decorated the tree. We had lots of fun! But we can't forget what the true meaning of Christmas is so we put out our Nativity and made a stable for our baby Jesus!!

So many things happened this month. We went to the festival of lights at the fairgrounds(thank you to the Garrick's) where Olivia saw Santa and took a sleigh ride with real reindeer! We went to a sing-a-long at the Christopherson's house and saw many of our friends there and had a great time. We were invited to the The Garrick's traditional FHE/ White elephant exchange. That was a blast the kids heard a fantastic retell of the Christmas eve in Bethlehem (retold by Nikki). The gift exchange was a lot of fun. I have to agree with Nikki that Marielle's gift of goldfish was brilliant!! Once again no camera with me so visit Nikki's page to see photos from that night.

I had a work Christmas party with a dinner a Daniel's in Hamburg...very nice!!! Our ward had there Christmas party too. There were so many people there! I only wish that many would come each and every Sunday!!! We also threw a little Festive party which I thought was way fun. We had many of our good friends from right here in Buffalo. We played games and ate food. the kids decorated cookies and also got to whack open a pinata that Nick, Olivia and I made. Thanks to all my friends that came, we had a great time!

We have a little Christmas eve tradition in our house. Every year Nick likes to make Stromboli for dinner. So Olivia and nick do all the work I just watch and then eventually eat!! ( ha I have the best job of all)!!! And so once again we (- me) kept that tradition alive! And it was good too!

So after dinner we let Olivia open one gift (another tradition) and she picked one that Nana sent, it was an sleeping beauty doll. Olivia left her milk and cookies for Santa, then off to bed. Or so we thought! I was reading a story to her when the doorbell rang.....Of course she thought it was Santa, But it was better than that! Elder Haines was in the area so he stopped by. What a nice Christmas surprise! So after a little visiting, back up stairs to go to bed this time for real...Ha. To my surprise no fighting to go to bed tonight. Olivia said "let's go I have to go to sleep or Santa won't come!". That's my girl!!!!

Then on the the most anticipated day of the year.....CHRISTMAS!!!

And the day was great! Olivia had fun opening her gifts and we had fun watching. We invited the elders over for Christmas dinner and we had a feast. We played DVD jeopardy which the elders we a little disappointed because they did not win a single game between the both of them!! And then we watched a church movie called "Joy to the World"- to get your free copy go to www.mormon.org It is a great DVD!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas too!

Happy Haunting

Yeah to messy things...

So while we were back home our friend gave us a haunted gingerbread house kit to Olivia. Well the second we arrived home she wanted to put it together,but that was not about to happen! So after may pleadings from her we finally broke down and said yes. The mess she made was really not as bad as I anticipated it to be, but none the less still messy. The house turned out "OK". She made a door for it so that officially makes it a house right? Well anyway here our some pictures...enjoy!

Where to begin...well the family and I just took a trip back home(that means we went to Lebanon, PA)for about a week. We also made a stop in Cape May, NJ(to visit our friends) and Smithville, NJ(to visit my little brother). We had a great time visiting with everyone! We started out with Nick's Grandparents, who were shocked to see us(since we told NO one we were coming home...I love surprises).

Then we surprised Nick's little sister(who just turned 7!)at the bus stop. Her and Olivia played well together and had fun with our dogs(we have a boxer-DUKE and they have one too-MAX)

After enjoying several days with the family we headed to Cape May, New Jersey to visit our friends. We lived there for two years and would love to go back if given the chance. Olivia was born there too, so it holds a special place in my heart. Olivia got to ride our friends horse around at her barn.(wish I had taken my camera). Then after our two night stay there we drove a little north to visit my brother. We invited the Elders over for a lesson while we were there, since they are investigating the church*YEAH MISSIONARY WORK*