Good friends and great times

This about sums up our time in South Carolina....we have spent 9 out of the last 10 New Years with our great friends Peck and Susan.

This is the first time we have been to the house they built in South Carolina.  It is simply AMAZING....

The kids are head over heels for the stadium seating theater which they can watch on this

of course Dora life sized is highly entertaining

I am enjoying this....for those that traveled to Italy with us for Peck and Susans wedding - this room totally reminds me of the castle that they rented and we all stayed in.

Only this one is filled with this

WINE!! 

Her collection is amazing and we have had great fun so far.  Their 7 week old baby is so cute - I love newborns so snuggly!    More pics to come!

Holiday recap

We spent Christmas in PA.....it was a nice and relaxing day.  Ryan and I cooked our first dinner, Santa came to visit, the girls loved opening gifts and Brianna is still telling us she is not on the naughty list.  Jackson ate the paper, Aly is in princess heaven, and Brianna got a new bike.  I got to go out for a run, while the girls played with their toys - it was so nice.

In true Aly fashion,,,she donned her Christmas dress in case Santa was around to see her.  Brianna was content in her PJs.

Jackson LOVED the paper...he could care less about what was inside.

Even the dogs got in on the action....Rosco also managed to eat the toast from breakfast and the remainder of the coffee cake today.....

Gingerbread, gingerbread, oh my......

Tonight we had our gingerbread party.....so much fun.  12 kids under 5, tons of frosting, candy and decorations.  I  made the houses last week,  then Jackson got sick, so we postponed the event.

Today it all was perfect.  Ryan was home to help with the preperation. The kids had a playdate earlier, so the house was not a mess, and it was so much fun. 

Jackson got in on the action......he just LOVED watching the kids...

We had dinner after the decoration, we fed the kids and then they watched the Grinch.  The adults got to eat with some peace....the kids had a blast. 

Hopefully an annual event!

Santa.....

Santa came to preschool......Brianna told him that her sister was on the naughty list and she wanted shoes.....SHOES...really...

Aly told Santa she had been really good and she decided that she did not want to wear dresses anymore....REALLY...for 2 plus years she has REFUSED to wear pants...just this week she decided that no more dresses...where can I find nice, cute pants for an almost 5 year old???

A few of the places I went seriously it looked like she should wear the outfit to a club.Skinny jeans, tank tops, IT IS WINTER!!!!!!

Apparently my Christmas shopping is not done.

Gingerbread and other ramblings.....

Here are the 11 houses...ready for decorating on Sat afternoon with 11 of our friends...they are still sitting in the same spot.  Jackson decided to start puking about 2 hours before the start of our festivities, so rather than getting a whole lotta preschoolers sick we decided to postpone....

Santa came to our neighborhood on Sat, Aly braved the cold weather to wave hello and then at the end of our street Santa took off his suit and drove the fire truck away...try explaining that one to your kid.  Aly did remark that she does only have a few more days to get off the naughty list....love the portable north pole!

Other than that we are getting ready for a crazy week.  The girls sing during the Christmas Eve service, we are hosting our gingerbread night on Wed.  While I am sad not to be heading to NH, I can't imagine packing the car again this week.  I just finished all of the laundry from our last trip.

No snow yet....hopefully we will have a white Christmas!

He is on the move.....

There was an ear piercing scream from the playroom today.....Aly was yelling, crying and carrying on....

Jackson had her tiara.....and her puzzle...their life as they know it is over.

Jackson is on the move.

an no joke, he is SUPER proud of himself.

Aly, we she is still sporting the Flamenco dress from Spain

and our Bri is just still full of sass!

Bring on the holidays.....

We are getting ready.....today we decorated our tree...the girls were so excited.  We brought out all of the ornaments from the past years....it was fun to reminisce about all the different years...

Jack thought it was fun to try to eat them!  Look at that smile

We are BAAAACCKK

We are so excited to be home from our traveling...can you tell????  This is how Brianna came down from her nap...the best part was she thought she was hysterical

Jackson is working getting ready to do his hair..the girls are in trouble because he is on the move..not really crawling but getting where he needs to

We are slowly getting back into our routine.  We are decorating for the holidays and getting excited for Santa to come.  The kids are constantly talking about Santa - it is super fun.  Hopefully this weekend we can get our tree and decorate it.

My workouts have begun to increase...I am slowly starting to build a base for the half ironman.  I managed to get some in while we are away..hopefully once January comes along I can get into a good routine.

Oh Iowa

We always end up at the Dr.s here and this year was no exception. Jackson got his first ear infection. I am pretty sure that we also brought a great stomach bug with us from the east coast....

Seriously, the first night Ryan was sick......then everyone else here followed....not to much fun..

We did get some visiting in...we were able to see all of the cousins...the kids had fun and we head home tomorrow...

I will post more pics tomorrow.