Gingerbread Housing

In the past I've thrown some pretty elaborate Gingerbread House Parties. I hadn't done it for a few years though and was really excited to do on again in New Jersey. Fortunately being in Young Women was a perfect opportunity. We only had a small group, three girls, but it was still a lot of fun and the girls really put a lot of work into their houses. They looked adorable! The two pics directly below are Sarah and Sabrina trying to get a cookie from their foreheads to their mouths! A few days later my kids (including Myles), decorated their own houses. I really just wanted to let them do their own thing and see their imaginations run wild. I love seeing what they come up with when decorating. They did a great job.

Birthday Boy

Glenn turned 31 last November. I often feel like the poor guy gets jilted out of a real birthday because it often lands right on Thanksgiving, but we do what we can. We spent the evening at home with cake and ice cream and had the Parishes over to celebrate with us. It was a nice evening, and check out the gift basket I made my man!

Skating Party

As it turns out, Woodbridge has a pretty amazing YMCA. Not so great for working out, but awesome for community events and gatherings.  They have a huge skating and ice skating rink for parties and lessons.  A few months ago Myles invited us to his birthday party and it was a pretty great production.  Lots of skating, pizza, cake, arcade games, singing and prizes.  The kids were in heaven.  We are sure going to miss our great neighbors!

Eric and Sheri in the middle, Myles, the birthday boy, in the center.

Thanksgiving 2012

When we first found out that we were moving to New Jersey, the first thing my friend Kelley said was "come spend Thanksgiving with us in New Hampshire!"  I pretty much took her up on that offer immediately, and luckily Glenn's schedule made it possible to go.  I'd been in New Hampshire with Kelley's family before, and I couldn't wait to get another dose of Kane food and hospitality.  These people are as welcoming and giving and a family can get.  We had such a relaxing and much needed weekend away.

We left Wednesday night, picked Brian up at the airport in Boston (note to self, go back to Boston, even in the dark it looked cool), and got into NH late that night.  The next day we cooked and talked, and drank gallons of diet coke.  If that's not a dream day in my book, I don't know what is.  Dinner was delicious and it was an incredibly relaxing day.  The night we took the kids to see Wreck It Ralph, it was adorable.

The following day we all slept in, relaxed some more, ate leftovers and then it was time for us to hit the road.  I was bummed that we couldn't stay longer, but it was SO nice to spend Thanksgiving with family, even an adopted one!

 The gorgeous view across the street from the Kane's house.

Halloween Festivities

Considering the fact that Sandy pretty much wiped Halloween out for the East Coasters, we still had plenty of fun Halloween partying. The majority of that came from our fun and very well planned ward Halloween party. It was also the first Halloween party in FOUR years that I didn't have to help plan at all. Very nice.

We saved a ton of money on costumes this year.  Jayda was happy being a witch with clothes and props that we already have.  Skyler was DYING to be Yoshi this year.  At first I was really worried, most Yoshi costumes I could find were at least $30.  But, we were able to find a green hoodie and Glenn worked his domestic magic.  Not too bad I'd say, and Skyler was thrilled!

Myles dressed as Batman and came to the party with us.

Claire and Carla being Vulcans.

Pumpkin bowling!

Had to get a pic of Yoshi and Mario.

Sarah, Claire and I.  These are my girls, I'm crazy about them.  We're also in the YW presidency together.

Our decorated trunk, don't you love it!

Worn out kids after the party.

A few days later we went to the Saldanas for dinner and cookie decorating.

Brazilian Dinner in a Pumpkin.  Claire served her mission in Brazil and is an amazing cook!  This was SO delicious.

A few days later we carved pumpkins.  The most entertaining part of the night was watching Skyler do his best not to puke every time we pulled seeds out.  He can't handle anything with a squishy gross texture.  We may have gotten some laughs at his expense.

The day the hurricane hit I had Myles over to decorate cookies again.  The storm hadn't gotten bad yet and I was feeling confident that we had already seen the worst of it.  Oh how little I knew.

Happy Halloween!

Random Picture Catch Up

Below are a collection of random pictures that don't really belong to a category of their own. Bear with me as a play a very disorganized game of catch up...

We put Jayda in a ballet class at the Y that went on every Fri night.  She really liked it and always came home twirling and dancing around.  However, none of us are convinced that ballet is her passion.  We'll probably keep trying other things for now.

For a while I got really into movie parties.  I'd pick a movie and plan a meal that corresponded.  It was a lot of fun for me and the kids.  For our Mulan night we had some friends to join us.  They were much more interested in playing than Mulan, but it was still very fun and worth it.

Afternoons with three kids can sometimes feel very LOOOONG.  Having fun activities definitely helps.  During Halloween the kids decorated pumpkins.  Very fun.

 

I believe that these are the two pictures I managed to take during the hurricane.  I was not feeling very fun and nostalgic, so the camera didn't come out much.  You'll notice the onion rings on the stove top.  Not the most ideal way to eat, but it worked.

This was our HEAVENLY day in Philly during the Sandy shenanigans.  Tiff and Chris let us charge all of our electronics and we let the kids blow of some much needed steam at BK.  It was so nice to see a bunch of our old friends too.  It made me a bit homesick for Philly.

Our Thanksgiving craft with the kids.  Turkey heads!