It's Christmas time in the City

It had been a few years since we enjoyed New York City at Christmas time and we were really interested in trying out one of the Christmas markets this year.  Knowing very well how crowds can be on the weekends I decided to pull the kids out of school.  It was a perfect day to do it, the temperature was fantastic.  We took the train in and Lily was very excited...after all the times wanting to join Daddy as we drop him off at the station to head to work.

 The train brings us right where we want to start.  Macy's

 We loved the Charlie brown displays this year

 Santaland

 Bryant park

 Rockefeller

 Lily felt moved to dance by the tree.  I love her!

 My favorite thing about the day was that it wasn't rushed.  As we were walking past St. Patricks Rachel asked if we could go in.  Of course!

 Christmas market in Union Square.  Just walking in and taking in all the smells and surroundings...made the trip worth it!  We ate LOTS of delicious food and treats.  It reminded us of Europe and made us so happy.

 Lily's overtired cookoo mood

 A very successful day!

Holidaze

With the impending move I made sure to get a head start on Christmas preparations and I had the kids make their lists before Thanksgiving.

Lily's was perfect...

 Love her spelling

 I liked Rachels attempt at doing her list in Spanish

 Tommy's soccer team Dynamo was undefeated.  He was SO proud

 Incredible sunset after church.  Our church switched our meetings around and we ended up getting out at 4:40 pm!

 We escaped to the Pocono mountains with our friends the Simmons for our Thanksgiving break.  It was very relaxing and fun.  We all loved the arcade and someone was always playing it.  Those catchy tunes were taking me back to my childhood.  Donkey Kong, Galaga...all the classics.

 Thanksgiving dinner!

 Time to pick out a tree.  Our annual tradition at the Carlson Tree Farm.  Tommy's enjoying that wonderful pine scent.

 We found the perfect one

 Our favorite part of it all is getting the hot chocolate and cookies after

 Christmas time should = snow...but not for us this year

 Great little helpers

 Best of friends

 Tree house library Donut Shop.  Seriously.

 She pick up on everything

 We visited a local church that put on a fabulous recreation of the birth of Christ, with real camels and everything

 Warm weather in December!

 Ward Christmas party

Boston

We had incredible fall weather and enjoyed lots of park days

We started looking for a house back in the spring, we were looking in areas all around us in New Jersey and then started zeroing in on Pennsylvania when we started comparing taxes.  We found a house that was perfect, put in a contract and that night I had extreme anxiety...we backed out.  We found another one and then the inspection turned out to be a nightmare.  We decided to give the hunt a rest through the summer and then picked it back up one day in the fall.  This was the second house we saw and jumped on it.  We brought the kids after all the inspections were done and everything was clear for launch.  Much to our surprise (since she had been resisting the idea of moving the most) Rachel loved it, and Tommy has had a hard time ever since.

Jake had meetings up in Massachusettes and we decided to join him since school was off for a couple of days.  We visited a nearby estate with our friends and just enjoyed the day.

 It had been a while since we did the Freedom Trail downtown.

One of the kids' favorite time of the year

 Being crazy one night...or isn't it every night?!

 Our good friends in the neighborhood invited us over for their Indian Diwali celebration.  It is a festival of lights.  I felt very honored.  The girls dressed in their beautiful Indian dresses and all the kids had a blast with the sparklers and flower bombs.

 The Cotsen "tree house" library does it again...with a tree house.  Always amazing!

 And a date with Kate :)