12/15/07-- Chucky Cheese again.....

Amanda's has been asking to go back to Chucky Cheese since we took her the last time. She loves it there. After a day of running errands for the holidays I figured it was a good way to girls a little treat and blow off some energy too. Mike was not thrilled with the idea--but understood it was for the girls. Abbey was able to ride the merry go round by herself (they rode at least 15 times) Amanda loves the ball toss machine--it is her favorite. Although by the end of the night she loved the water squirter game--so do I! This time Amanda wanted to go into the party room to watch Chucky and co. sing on stage--she wasn't scared. The girls had a good time. There were a lot of people there. I figured everyone would be holiday shopping--not there, well I was wrong. Not to mention 3 birthday parties. The girls had a blast and we accumulated just over 400 tickets which won two mini crayon sets with notepades attached and a couple other little silly things.

12/9/07--We got our Christmas Tree today!

Amanda wanted to put the star on top!

12/8/07--Santa

Today we accomplished another yearly tradition: visit with Santa. We usually go to the Riverside Square Mall (Rte 4) in Hackensack. It is a great mall with the best Santa! They usually give out Boyd Bear ornaments to the kids too--but this year I guess they are cutting back--the kids each got crayons and coloring books. I prefer the bears--since I love Boyd Bears oh well. Abbey was super scared--so Santa left --I mean hid! then came behind the girls for the photo--very smart on their part! I guess they must get a lot of that. The photos shown are pictures I took--the official photo i haven't uploaded yet. Then we went shopping and couldn't get Amanda to leave Pottery Barn Kids! She was having so much fun playing with all the play kitchen sets, tea sets, esp. the other kids. Good to know for next time--leave her and Mike in there and head to the stores with Abbey or by myself!

12/8/07--Cousin Kayleigh's 3rd Birthday

Today we went to Tumble Bee, Emerson to celebrate Kayleigh's third birthday. So much fun--sorta like the little gym but with different equiptment. Jumpy things, ball pit, trampoline, two big slides, glide across the room on a clothesline in the air (not sure what the proper name is for it), lots of fun. I got a kick out of my daughters trying to eat cheetos with a fork.

12/7/07--Kiddie Kandids

Not the best way to spend a Friday evening in the snow--but it was fun for Amanda. We decided to take the girls to get their holiday portraits done this afternoon since Mike was off from work--well we drove up to Paramus and they said they were booked at the photo studio. I spoke with them and told them how many photo cards we needed and they made an appt. available to us {KK is usually a walk-in studio but during the holidays it is a mix of walkins and appts} (come on--we are frequent customers-I was so happy it worked) --although it was for 2 hours later. Amanda's classmate/friend Amelia and her sister Sophia and brother Vaun were there as well so the kids were all running around Babies R Us playing and having fun with all the toys until we were called in to take our pictures. Thankfully we only had to wait about an hour and 10 min. rather than 2 hours. We are very happy with how they turned out. We will keep you all in suspense until you get your Christmas cards.....hahaha!!! I will however share a photo of the kids playing.

12/7/07--Rockettes

Today we went to NYC to see the Rockettes. It is an annual tradition for us. New show this year for their 75th Anniversary. It was awesome. They gave out little stars that light up and Amanda actually wore her 3D glasses this year! Both girls behaved so well. Abbey kept moving to the music and Amanda was happiest when the little ballerina came out to perform to the Nutcracker. I brought cheerios and pirates booty for them to munch on as well as Abbey's bottles and they were happy as can be. Abbey even fell asleep (albeit it was her nap time). After the show we went to see the tree at Rock Center--it wouldn't be Christmas without doing it. Then the girls each took a nap on the ride home. Ahh peace!

12/1/07--Gingerbread House

This evening we did a family project! Literally we needed all the help we could get to erect this little house. I thought when purchasing this house that all we needed to do was decorate it--no such luck. We needed to put the house together first and then decorate it. It is supposed to dry undecorated for 2-3 hours--not in this house with two impatient little girls ready to decorate it, esp. Amanda! From the minute we got home today she whipped it out of the bag and insisted we start the project immediately! Next time, I will make a cardboard cut out or something to hold the house up underneath it. Ours is just held together by the icing--thanks to Daddy holding it together while Amanda started to decorate it. The girls are posing for a photo with the finished product: our family gingerbread house.