Christmas Eve

Aunty Barbara and Uncle Larry (our beloved Tia B and Uncle El) came for Christmas Eve. We met them in the NYC for a rainy visit to the holiday windows and tree in Rockefeller Center, and then went to see the Rockettes in the Radio City Holiday Show!

Back at home, we enjoyed time together and a festive holiday dinner before we headed out to church for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Pageant, Holiday Cookie Baking

The girls participated in the pageant at our church:

And we did our annual holiday cookie baking party:

Winter Concerts

We had the pleasure of a winter concert marathon between Fer's 7th grade orchestra concert, both girls performing in the choirs for their grade at the all-district choral concert, and then Wendy's 6th grade band concert. They did wonderfully and we were so proud. A few pics below:

After Fer's orchestra concert:

Wendy on stage at the choral and band concerts:

(far right in the second row)

(first one in the middle row, playing clarinet)

Holiday Visit

The girls' good friends Apple and Milli came to visit from NYC for a holiday sleepover in what is becoming a December tradition. On Saturday the four girls put up one of our trees, helped wrap presents, watched a holiday video while I baked cookies and made peppermint bark and finally all of us went to see Elf at the nearby Paper Mill Playhouse, which was a great production and full of cheer and pep. On Sunday, we all went to church for the service and pageant rehearsal, and then in the afternoon went caroling at a nearby nursing home and the home of one of our parishioners, finishing up with an open house for cider and cookies at our place. Truly a weekend to get into the spirit.

Fun on Saturday:

Caroling on Sunday:

Church Decorating Night

One of our Advent traditions is Church Decorating Night in which we have a potluck, craft ornaments and then decorate the sanctuary.

Crafting and dinner beforehand:

Here are all the kids in front of the decorated tree!

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a wonderful time seeing family in Virginia. It was Brian and Marykate's first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and a wonderful chance for all of us to be together. The girls loved being with their cousins and having an ongoing sleepover with their cousin Jasmine, while Chris and I slept amazingly in what we call the "sleep study" guestroom downstairs!

Terrill took the kids to the Air and Space Museum:

And the rest of us stayed home and enjoyed looking out at the snow!

Halloween 2014

Halloween, my least favorite holiday. Really. It was redeemed somewhat by the extreme cuteness of Fer's M&M and Wendy's Orange Witch costumes, but still, a holiday that focuses on enormous amounts of sugar aka poison and has fear as a theme is never going to be my favorite. Fer for the first time went off with her friends to trick or treat and she really enjoyed doing that. Wendy continued the tradition of going to the costume contest in town, followed by pizza with our neighbors and then trick or treating near our house. Both girls enjoyed the unlimited candy consumption policy of the weekend following Halloween, and then were pretty amazingly cooperative selecting out their favorites to consume over time while donating the rest to Parkside's service project. Onwards to Thanksgiving, thank God.

Backpack Pals

We have really appreciated the chance to participate as a family in a local service project called "Backpack Pals" which seeks to provide weekend food for schoolchildren in our towns who qualify for free breakfast and free lunch. Once a month we gather with other families at a local food pantry and work together to pack bags of food that are then delivered to the schools for distribution. The guy who runs the project is amazingly positive and energetic with the kids, and Fer and Wendy are always happy to be there and help out.

Papi's Birthday!

We had a great day celebrating our beloved Papi, just as Chris likes it, low key. The girls and I gave him tickets to a brunch at the Cornell Club where his advisor was speaking about Cornell history, he had a chance to relax and nap, and then for the evening he and I went out for drinks with friends and then to a benefit for the Community Coalition on Race, the organization responsible for the amazing integrated community that is South Orange/Maplewood. Our group was somewhat bemused to find that we were the young people at the event, but we did our best to live up to it on the dance floor.

Chris opening his birthday chocolates from Gigi and Grandad with Wendy there for quality control:

Fer's 1D Movie Outing

A belated birthday celebration for Fer -- a trip into NYC to see the one-day-only One Direction concert movie. She had a great time reliving the joy of seeing them live in August, and, as she put it, "I cried more in the movie than I did in the concert." Which I think was meant to be high praise.

First Day of School 2014

So proud of our 6th and 7th grader! Very exciting (and only the tiniest bit nerve-racking) to see them both heading off to Middle School.

Fer's Birthday Dinner

We went out for Colombian to celebrate Fer's birthday -- yummy as usual! Happy, happy birthday to our dearest Fer!!