Happy Thanksgiving!

And cheers to the start of the holiday season!! We had a quiet but very enjoyable Thanksgiving with just Gram and Grumpy this year. The girls weren't quite sure what to do with the day as the parade and dog show were only entertaining for a little while and neither wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner, but we kept busy playing and cooking and spending time together.

Today, as is our tradition the weekend after Thanksgiving, we drove out to Bob's Trees to cut our tree. Even though it was raining at home, we were surprised but a good 6" of snow on the ground at Bob's!

Fortunately for Gram and Grumpy and Daddy, who didn't wear boots, we found our perfect tree in record time and didn't have to traipse through acres of trees.

We loaded the tree on the car and headed over to the snack bar for a snack, saw the reindeer and played in the Christmas cut-outs.

1150 lights later the tree is up and ready for decorations. Let the Christmas Season begin!

Museums

It seems that with the change in the weather and lots of yard work and housework to get done on the weekends and appointments and school to get done during the week the past couple weeks haven't been very exciting and have been mostly about getting stuff done.  We must just be saving up for all the intense excitement and fun we expect to have from Thanksgiving to New Years!

In any case, in between running errands, appointments, school and general thing-getting-done-ness, we have visited two museums in the past week or so.  The weekend before last there was a fine arts fair at the Museum of Dance, which we have never been to.  I didn't expect to be able to tour the museum during the art show, but it was open and they encouraged the kids to visit a craft area where they made ornaments from recycled bottle caps and played in the kids room which was full of dress up dance clothes and dance activities.

The girls had a great time dressing up and dancing and using the "giant feet" to stomp around.  I'm sure they could have stayed all day.  I guess we'll have to add it to the list of places to visit when it's too cold to play outside!

Friday we were invited by our neighbors to visit the Children's Museum of Science and Technology in Troy since their oldest daughter had the day off from school.  It was nice to re-institute "Field Trip Friday." We have been using Friday as a school day lately because the beginnings of our weeks have been so hectic.  The girls had a great time building, seeing the animals, and exploring at the museum. It is always nice to take a trip with friends- the more the merrier! (and there is always someone to play with!)

The highlight of the museum was definitely the log boat.  And what's cuter than three girls in a boat?

Five girls, of course!

In the planning stages of Thanksgiving and Advent, but hopefully lots of fun and excitement leading up to the new year!

Gymnastics

At the start of our homeschool year I didn't want to have extracurricular activities during the day because I wasn't sure how everything was going to play out. It has been going well, especially since we cut back a lot and I decided LittleL.G. needed an activity outside of the library playgroup (which she doesn't really care for) and I knew she would love gymnastics.

Even though MiniM.E. has dance Monday evenings and ice skating Saturday, there is a homeschool gymnastics class right before the two year old class and after a week of observing, MiniM.E. really wanted to try it out, so both girls now do gymnastics Thursdays.

I am amazed at what MiniM.E. is doing in her gymnastics class.

And LittleL.G. could not be more adorable doing the tiny obstacle course.

Squeezing in Some Outside Time

With the time change came much less sleep (hello, 4am) and a need to get outside in the afternoon before it gets dark.

Since the weather was nice today, we decided to go to a playground after nap before heading to work to pick up Daddy, whose car is in the shop.

It was so nice to be outside. And hopefully it will help get the kids back on schedule so I can sleep until at least 5...

A Fun Fall Weekend in NH

We took a quick trip to NH over the weekend to see Gram and Grumpy and take part in some fall-y NH fun.

Saturday we drove to the Anheuser Busch Brewery in Merrimack because it was Clydesdale Day. We were able to get our photo taken with a Clydesdale and we even got to pet it! There were a few others to see in the stable and many were running about in a field. They are huge!

Since we were there, we figured we would also take a brewery tour. Daddy was probably the most excited about the tour, but both the girls seemed to have a good time as well.

Sunday we had big plans to visit Pat's Peak for their annual Oktoberfest celebration but the girls had been looking forward to the fun things at Gram and Grumpy's house, like the zip line and the trampoline and the big pile of leaves Grumpy made and they would have been disappointed not to get to play outside at all, so we decided to have a relaxing Sunday instead.

Halloween: Take 2

Today was Saratoga's Fall Festival.  MiniM.E. looks forward to the fall festival almost as much as trick-or-treating solely because of pumpkin rolling down Caroline Street.  All through the rest of the year, whenever we walk past Caroline Street MiniM.E. reminds me that this is where we do pumpkin rolling.

2013

2014

2015

The cold weather stuck around for today and we started our morning by walking around downtown in a downpour, but that didn't sour the girls' moods. There were lots of stores handing out candy and, of course, we were some of the first lined up for pumpkin rolling.

One more day of Halloween Festivities left.  Let's hope the weather holds out!!

Making a Snowman and Carving a Pumpkin on the Same Day!

When we woke up this morning I expected most of the snow to be gone because it was supposed to have rained most of the night, but all the snow was still there.  MiniM.E. hurried through school so that we could go out and play before all the snow melted.

Much to the girls' delight, since it was so warm, the snow was sticky enough to be snowman snow. Last winter every time it snowed all MiniM.E. wanted to do was make a snowman, but the snow was always too cold and dry.

The girls made this awesome snowman with a little help from mom to roll and carry the heavy balls.

This evening we had a pumpkin carving extravaganza in the kitchen.  Both the girls drew the faces on their pumpkins.  I had to cut out LittleL.G.'s for her.  MiniM.E. tried her hand at the knife, but she always wants the BIG pumpkins with the thick flesh and it was even hard for ME to carve out her design.

I am in LOVE with these pumpkins. So cute. And very scary!