Christmas Day

Dave and Drew woke up at 7am and did their best to start waking everyone else up. First they woke up Lana and I and then they kept walking in and out of Taylors room to hopefully stir him. Once they got him moving Dave sent Taylor into Cindy's room. By 7:30 we were all up and heading down the stairs.

Taylor was very upset that we were videotaping and wanted it turned off. He wasn't sure what to expect but did seem a little excited.

Here are the children looking through stockings.

Taylor loved his Lightening McQueen Scooter from Santa and had to take it for a spin right away.

Drew loved his dog from Grandma and Grandpa Draper.

Lana was still trying to wake up.

Here is the train set that Taylor got after Dad spent some time putting it together.

We had a fun and relaxing day with family. We received so many great gifts for everyone and we appreciated all of them.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve began with driving to NJ, luckily it wasn't horrible. It was slower than we wanted but it was only about 3 hours. Taylor was so excited to be with his cousins and we were excited to be surrounded by family. That night we had a favorite foods dinner. Everyone brought their favorite food to eat. Dave got a WaWa Italian hoogie and Taylor and I took Dunkin' Donuts. The twins took, well they took me, they like what I provide for them to eat :)

After dinner we played a left and right game with little gifts that Cindy and MaryAnn picked out. Taylor had no idea which was right or left but he had fun just being a part of the circle and doing what everyone else was doing. The twins kept eating every gift that got in their hands. Taylor ended up with cotton candy, I ended up with yummy truffles, the twins got bibs (after some trading), and Dave got gumballs.

Then we decided to act out the ture story of Christmas. An adult was in charge of each child and helped them find costumes. This was so cute and so much fun. Taylor liked his costume for about 2 minutes and then wanted it off. I did get a picture before he refused to wear it any longer.

Taylor was a sheperd (golf club as a staff and big white bunny as a sheep)

Bentley was Joseph

Cecily was the Angel

Isabel was Mary (she is large with child, thanks to Dave)

Drew was baby Jesus (he was so good, he just laid there and watched).

Tim read the story and the kids did such a great job. I love the pic of Taylor kissing Drew on the head.

After everyone left Taylor put out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots and sugar for the reindeer.

We had such a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Some Fun Before Christmas

I know Christmas has already passed and I should post about that but that will have to wait. Instead I want to post about a few things we did before Christmas came.

Dave and Taylor spent some time making a minivan and a boat out of cardboard boxes, I did not get a picture of the boat. Taylor loves them (yes he loves the minivan). We have had so much fun riding them around the apartment, even Lana and Drew have had a good time in them.

Then we headed to G&G Bramhalls the weekend before Christmas for Bentley's birthday party

and to see Bob, Emily, Carter and Cindy because they were flying in from Utah.

We had a really good time at the Bentley's Wall-E birthday party, Taylor was being a little shy but warmed up by the end and was playing games with everyone. And the crew that was coming from Utah, well they didn't make it. It snowed and it snowed a lot. I loved it, I love th snow. It was so pretty. It snowed 24 inches in 2 days. Taylor went sledding with daddy when it first started snowing and later after the 24 inches fell we all went out in played in the front yard. We were sad that the Utah crew did not make it but it was a fun snowy weekend.

Trains, Trees, Ice Skates!

Dave and Taylor took a boys night out (without Drew) to enjoy the holiday season. Taylor has been practicing his ice skating around the apartment for weeks and it was time to take him. I didn't feel I could manage taking the twins on the train, walk to Rockefeller Center, and ice skate so we stayed home.

They had so much fun. Taylor could not stop talking about the train when he got home and he loved seeing the big tree and now wants to go ice skating everyday.

Dave got to see a friend from his high school days and enjoy time with Tay.

Winner! Winner! Winner!

We moved to NY in October and thought that home buying wouldn't be too bad. We were wrong. It has been a very long process and have really tested us in many ways. Before we moved out here Dave found a home online that he thought would be the home for us. When we got here the home had disappeared online after being there for 300 days. It had been sold.

Oh well, on to the next batch of homes we were interested in. The problem with online searching is you don't know which home are under contract, which homes smells like smoke, which homes have no back yards, which homes have been torn to pieces in 4 years, etc, etc, etc... Every Saturday we would load up all three kids and go to 5-10 homes. We decided on a home that was at the top of our budget but in the area we liked and had an amazing back yard. Just as Dave and I were ready to make an offer, we found someone put in an offer and the offer was accepted. This house had been on the market for 130 days. What the heck!!! Then we spread our search into new areas. After looking at many more homes and falling in love with a home that was in short sell, we did not have time for this, we found a home and we are under contract to move in on Jan. 15. YEAH! No more hauling 3 kids to look at homes, 45 minutes from where we live now.

Our new home is located in New Milford, CT. We decided to move to CT because of lower home taxes and it is beautiful. We decided against NJ because of the taxes and the commute Dave would have to work (it would be horrible having to come through NYC area and go over bridges). NY taxes were way to high and we could not find many homes in our price range that we liked.

Here it is! Everyone is welcome to come and stay anytime. We would love visitors!

Christmas Time!

After we were not successful in finding a house to move into before Christmas, I was pretty sad about being in this apartment. The more I look at it the more I realize that it is a fun experience and one we won't have often. I am sad we don't have any of our decorations, they are in storage. Mainly I miss our stockings and my nativity scene but we will survive. Dave's mom provided some decorations to make our apartment festive. We love our 2 ft tree and "sweet" ornaments.

Merry Christmas!

Meet Sticks!

An Elf has flown in from the North Pole to stay with us and watch over the children for the holiday season. He watches to see if they are naughty or nice. Then he flies back to the North Pole everynight and reports. Each morning Taylor has to find where he is hiding. It has been so fun to have Sticks in our home. Taylor loves talking to him and being nice so Sticks will report nice things to Santa.

P.S. We had to name our elf and Taylr wanted to name the elf Kassidy (our cute cousins name, whom Taylor loves and misses). I said "that is a good name we will see if that sticks." The next thing I know he is calling the elf Sticks and that is what stuck.

Giving Thanks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Bramhall home in New Jersey this year. It was the first time we actually made our driving trip from White Plains, NY to Mt. Laurel, NJ in 2 hours. We left at 9pm and the drive was great, I wish it would go that smooth every time. Anyway, Dave's mom did a great job cooking and everything tasted great. We are so grateful for Dave's parents putting everything together.

Friday we did a little bit of shopping and then partied at a friend's open house. They had dinner and dancing and we danced all night. Taylor got to come with us and he loved the music. He danced and danced and danced. I can not believe the energy he had, he wore me down.

Here are some pictures of the fun crafts we had done over the past couple weeks to talk about Thanksgiving and the many, many things we are grateful for.

Sara, thanks for the oreo turkey idea we had so much fun making them :)