Twas 10 Nights Before Christmas!

Well - it would take a while to cover all the ground since the last time we posted. We've been busy and are enjoying the holiday season thoroughly! Cole finished the football season and is off and running with basketball now. I'll have to get some pictures of that soon! We also enjoy Thanksgiving with Hayley's "feast" at school and a visit from Rory, Rebekah, Kirk and Campbell. Cole also turned 8 on Thanksgiving - and enjoyed his favorite (brownies) for dessert instead of pie. Yum.

Since then, we've journeyed to cut our tree and decorate it, we've built our gingerbread house and Hayley and mom enjoyed going to the Nutcracker "ballet". (Notice quotes - this was not the Moscow ballet....)

We've still got some fun ahead of us before Christmas -- and we're enjoying every minute of it. Hope you are too!

Cole enjoyed being QB quite a bit this season!

A wonderful new princess dress courtesy of Uncle Doug and Aunt Laura last month. We also enjoyed seeing Amanda, Jon, Matthew and Aaron during a visit before they headed off overseas.

Enjoying our first (very minor) snow.

At the holiday feast at school.

The birthday brownie.

Cousins goofing around. Well...Kirk was doing most of the goofing here.

Our tree - and the 3 amigos....

A little Boo-lated...

Happy Halloween to everyone!!! Hope you had a fabulous, sugar-filled frenzy! We've had a good couple weeks. We carved our pumpkin, celebrated Mr. Stuart's birthday, had a fun Halloween and enjoyed a great visit with Gram and Grandad. See the fun below!


Having fun carving the pumpkin!

Two princesses celebrate our favorite monkey's uncle Stuart's birthday!

Ready to trick-or-treat!!! A ballerina fairy and David Ortiz.

Hayley scored 4 goals in the last game. Here she is on a break-away...



Showing off her new soccer trophy.

All the leaves are dancing....

Fall is here and we are loving it! In the past couple weeks we've had a great time with more soccer and football. John was off Friday and we had a great time at a local farm with a corn maze. Sunday was our annual walk with Kids for the Cure. Once again Cole did a great job walking with his friends (and 32,000 others) to support the cause. This week we're gearing up for the World Series (go Phillies), putting the final touches on our Halloween costumes - David Ortiz (Red Sox) and a ballerina (for now...), and getting ready for cooler weather. Enjoy!!!


Hayley watches Cole's game a few weeks ago...

The "good game" parade. We're the Redskins this year!!!


One of our favorite pasttimes -- doing a search-and-find puzzle together.

This is how you know they are city kids. Shriveled up ears of corn generate excitement.


Make up your own caption on this one!!!


Heading into the maze.


Jeremy, Cole and Jay at the Race for the Cure start.


Bundling up to walk on Miss Marla's team.


Mile 1!


This is just a ridiculous series of pictures -- but I thought you'd enjoy getting a glimpse of what life is really like around here. This is what happened during the Penn State game Saturday. And, if you're wondering, it's chocolate on her face...























A bonus video for all those with the patience to make it to the end of this blog entry!!!

Horses and History!

We've had a couple of fun weeks here. Two weekends ago Cole and Dad went to the Terps game and the girls had our annual outing to the Grand Prix to see the horses. It was a great day.

This last weekend was a wash out -- all games were cancelled. We did have a nice visit to see Stuart, Marcy, Jack and Lily on Saturday night -- but no pics. Sorry!

Yesterday we enjoyed a family outing to Mt. Vernon. The kids seemed to really enjoy it! Enjoy the pics!


Hayley enjoying a ride on Mac the horse.

The hounds are always an intermission favorite.

Posing at the entrance to Mt. Vernon.

YIKES - way to bright for a picture with eyes open!

The end of the day and we're getting goofy now...

Bunnies enjoying the gardens...

What???? Two weeks in a row???

We're back!!!! Can you believe it? Hmmm. Mom must not have enough to do -- or else is procrastinating. It's been ridiculously hot the past couple of days so we're looking forward to some better fall weather. BUT, the kids were troopers through their first weekend of games. Cole played football Saturday morning -- not a great game sorry to say... Then Hayley had soccer immediately after. We were all anxious to get back into our climate controlled environment after that!!! Not too many pictures, but here's what we caught...





A nice catch and short run by Cole.


Hayley is the tiny one -- second from left.


Doing some drills.


Playing keep away....


Cole had a journaling assignment from school this weekend that involved being a "host family" for his teacher's Mickey Mouse. I think Hayley enjoyed the assignment MUCH more than Cole!

Off the face of the Earth....

I guess I ventured over the edge for a while (a long while) but have now decided to return. Sorry for the LONG lag in posts. It's ridiculous. So...you're wondering what's been up since August 6th??? Here we go...
Baseball Camp...Awesome
Vacation to New Hampshire. A little wet, but always a welcomed change of pace.
Orioles vs. Red Sox. Love the Sox. (Hayley now declares she hates Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers. Mom wonders, is Manny Ramirez on the Dodgers, but takes the 3 year old's word for it...)
Back to school -- mom celebrates. We almost made it! One down, one to go!
Birthday dinner...Japanese Steak House. YUM! (Already planning for John's birthday now)
Birthday party - should have made the social pages...
Actual birthday.
BOTH KIDS IN SCHOOL...Mom loves September!
It will probably be another month before I post again, so we're looking forward to (more school ;) ), Hayley's soccer, Cole's football and golf and lots of fall fun.
Happy Thanksgiving. HAHA!


The cousins...


Is this really hiking attire from Hayley?


On vacation...


Celebrating a run by the Red Sox!

First day of school. (It wasn't raining...)


Birthday dinner at the Japanese Steak House!

The big girl birthday bike!

The cake...

Sleeping Beauty looking a little sleepy...

Musical chairs and the party with all the princesses!

Toss the apples at the bad queen!

Pin the crown on Sleeping Beauty.

The princess pinata.

The cake...

Pony PJ's from Miss Ginnie. A hit!

Belle gown from grandpa and grandmom.