November Highlights

Paul's been giving me a hard time that I haven't updated the blog (it has been a while), so I thought I'd do a quick month in review. Nothing too much exciting happened - the kids kept us busy with girl scouts, dance, playdates, etc, but here are some of the highlights:

Paul was able to golf at Oak Hill Country club on the 2nd. He had a great time and loved the course.

On the 8th, Paul and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been married so long already - that is until I look at wedding pictures and see how young we look. (I'm going to try and remember to post a picture tomorrow).

The 23rd brought us all to a screeching halt when Paul, Alli, Joey and I all got hit with the stomach bug at the same time. That has never happened before, and let me say, I hope it never happens again. Not that it's great when it's dragged out over a week as one person gets it at a time, but Paul and I both being down and out at the same time and having to care for two sick kids was no fun at all! Thank goodness Emily was a wonderful nurse - she took great care of us.

The 23rd was also the first time Emily sang in the cherub choir at church. I was so disappointed to miss it (I was already puking when it was time for church). Paul was feeling lousy, but was able to get her there - we hated for her to miss it. She did an awesome job Paul said. I'm still so sad that I couldn't be there.

Thanksgiving was a family, fun filled day. We had an early dinner at Paul's aunt's and then headed over to my aunt & uncle's for dessert - we got their just as they were eating though, so we ended up eating again and then having dessert. Boy was I stuffed. I joined Weight Watchers at work and I'm guessing next week's weigh in won't be pretty lol.

Friday the 27th, Paul and I went out to dinner with two of my close friends from college - Pete & Michelle. It was great to see them and catch up. We haven't been able to get together in over a year (maybe even longer).

On Saturday the 28th, we cut down our Christmas tree. I love this tradition. This year we went to Bauman Farms and got a beautiful tree. It was a great day for it - chilly, but not freezing. Afterwards we had everyone back to our house for a late lunch - of course, we had the traditional one pot dinner. Mom & Dad Presutti, Katie, Mom & Dad Farrell, Kris, Aidan and Brian all joined us this year. Later in the evening, Paul, the kids and I had fun decorating the tree, listening to Christmas music and drinking egg nog. I just love this time of year.

Happy Halloween

What a great night for trick or treating - the weather was absolutely beautiful - especially after having snow earlier this week.

We carved our pumpkins this afternoon, since we didn't have a chance to do it all week. We usually will carve them at least the night before Halloween, but I swear we had something going on every night this week. The timing was actually perfect though - it gave the kids something to concentrate on while they waited to go trick or treating. Here are our masterpieces :)

Poor Alli was sick today - she even stayed home from school. She has this nasty cough and has been running a slight fever. We gave her some medicine so she could at least do a little trick or treating.

This year, Emily dressed up as a devil, Alli as a black cat and Joey as Elmo (the girls wanted this). They all looked so cute. I guess Joey had quite a bit of sugar even before trick or treating - that boy was on a sugar high and was just running around in circles whenever I tried to get his picture. It was actually pretty funny.

The kids made out pretty well with the candy. It was so cute, Em & Alli dumped it out and went through it when they got home - I totally remember doing that as a kid.

Hope everyone had a Happy & safe Halloween.

Fieldtrip to Wickham Farms

Today Alli's class went on a field trip to this cute little pumpkin patch called Wickham farms. They have a lot of great things for the kids - hayride, apple picking, pumpkin picking and even a smaller corn maze (it's not actually corn, but I can't remember what they called it). In the warmer weather, they even have a miniature golf course. Alli seemed to have a lot of fun with her friends and I was glad Joey and I were able to meet up with them. I really love seeing her in school - she's adjusting so well and making lots of new friends. The only bad thing was Joey made me carry him the entire time - I thought my left arm was going to fall off. I don't know what's going on with him, but he is constantly wanting to be attached to mommy (even right now as I'm typing this, he is sitting on top of me rather than next to me).

Anyway, back to the field trip...here are a couple of pictures:

Annual Pumpkin Picking trip

Sunday we went to Stokoe farms for our annual pumpkin picking trip with Paul's family. We went with his parents, sister, cousins Steve & Lorraine and their kids Rachel & Pam. It was a perfect fall day - the sun was shining and there was the perfect amount of chill in the air. Stokoe farms is so much fun for kids and adults - we did the corn maze, the bike races, the bee line, the wheel, pumpkin chucking, the slides - pretty much everything they had. It was a fun afternoon.

And as always, we went back to Paul's cousins' Anita & Dave's house for pizza. The girls love playing with their cousins (I think they would be 2nd cousins) and all of Anita's barbies - she has quite the collection.

Happy Birthday Paul!

Happy 37th birthday to the best husband, friend and father anyone could ever ask for. I Love You!

Doing my Civic Duty

Yesterday I was summoned for jury duty. I had to report downtown bright and early at 8:15am. I spent most of the day, just sitting around reading my book - which was nice since I never get so much uninterrupted time to just read. My Uncle Glenn was also summoned the same day, so I had some company in the morning. He lucked out and got to go home at noon though. I, on the otherhand, was one of 50 selected to go to a courtroom in the afternoon. I was a little excited about - it was my first time actually seeing any part of the judicial process (other than what I've seen on tv).

It was interesting to see the inside of the courtoom and listen to the judge and attornies question the jurors. There were way too many breaks though with just more sitting/standing around. I didn't end up getting selected for the jury, which I'm happy about (Joey ended up getting sick the night before so I wasn't going to be able to have Leslie and my sister babysit him afterall - I didn't know what I was going to do).

Someday, I would love to be on a jury and see the whole process from start to finish. It's just so hard right now with the kids so young and me being home with them. I'm now off the hook for at least 6 years, so it should be a little easier the next time I get summoned.

Poor Jo-Jo is still sick with a fever. I hate it when my babies are sick.

Glamour Party

Today, we had a birthday party with all of Alli's friends from kindergarten. She wanted a glamour party, so we asked Auntie Kris if she would help out, since I have no hair styling ability whatsoever (I'm lucky I can get a decent ponytail for the girls).

So, we had about seven girls over and my sister did fancy up-do's for the girls with some glitter spray in their hair and then put some light make up on. My mom and I did the girl's nails - my mom painted and I put on some little flower decals my sister had found. The girls all seemed to have fun getting glammed up.

Afterwards, some of the girls did a little fashion show for us and then Paul took them all on a hayride. That has become a tradition at Alli's parties. It was a fun afternoon - and not too exhausting for Paul and I :)