Happy Birthday.

This guy turned 37. 37! Even though today is officially Mike's birthday, we celebrated yesterday. I don't think he wanted to be reminded that he had to work on his birthday. We all pitched in and made breakfast (Mike usually makes it on Sunday). Alex made the eggs, Helen made the orange juice and toast, Jimmy made corn beef hash and I made the rest. After breakfast Mike wanted to open his gifts.

Helen made her own card. I am so proud.

Alex wrote a birthday letter and drew a picture since Mike said "hand-made gifts are the best."

Will helped open presents. Mike got the crab traps he picked out weeks ago. New baking sheets and cutting boards (since we needed them). New socks, aftershave, The Clash of the Titans DVD (the original), Almond Joys and a new lunch container from Planet Box.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the house and then headed out for an early dinner at Cariera's. After a quick shopping trip at Publix we came home for cake and ice-cream.

Helen was so happy she was able to push Mike's face into his cake. (He did the same thing to her on her birthday.) We hope you had a great day and we look forward to the next 37 years.

Thank you.

So much to be thankful for around here. These are the cards I made for those who sent us Christmas gifts. The patterned paper is from Becky Higgins Project Life kit and the stamp is from an old kit by The Scarlet Lime.

So thankful I have this little guy to keep me company all day. (What will I do when he starts school?) He's wearing his favorite Christmas gift...the Backyard Explorer vest. He always asks me to put it on and go outside with him to go "hunting." Anytime, buddy. Anytime.

Ringing in the New Year.

We spent New Year's weekend in Vero with Yiayia and Papouli. Jimmy and Mike put on an awesome fireworks show. They said next time they're definitely getting more!

We also had a fire on the beach. We made hot dogs and s'mores.

On New Year's Day we had breakfast at The Lemon Tree and then walked to the playground.

Uncle Nick came over later that night. He and Will had a great time playing together.

Good-bye Vero. Until we meet again...

Christmas 2010.

We celebrated our first Christmas in our new home. It was just the six of us. Very simple.

The kids woke up early, as usual. They unwrapped their presents in record time. (I was barely able to get a few photos.) I love this one of everyone together.

Jimmy's number one gift was a new BB gun. Now that he has 5 acres to explore he needed more fire power. Yes, that's an old 4J's shirt from when I was younger. I explained to the kids that in my family all of our first names started with the letter "J", so we called ourselves the 4J's. And we had a boat called the 4J's at Sea.

 I guess that's why I came up with our nickname, The Land Six.

Will's number one gift was a Backyard Explorer vest. It has all of these pockets and hooks. It came with tools for digging, a lantern, binoculars and a compass. He wears it all the time and hardly takes it off. A few times he's even fallen asleep wearing it. A true backyard explorer.

Alex's number one (and two) gifts were the Harry Potter LEGO train and the Halo LEGO set. He's still really into building with LEGOs. It's amazing all of the little details they come up with now.

Here's Helen with all of her loot. I think she would have a hard time deciding which was her number one gift. She had a lot of fun playing with her Magic Fabric Studio. You take some fabric stickers, place them on the tray, then put a foam piece on top, cover it with more stickers, put it through the press and then out comes a mini "stuffed" animal. She thought it was the greatest thing that something flat could turn into something 3D. Oh, to be seven again!

Mike spent most of the day cooking. For lunch he made spanikopita, pigs in a blanket, brie wrapped in puff pastry and crab-stuffed shrimp. For dinner he made roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, squash casserole, green beans with prosciutto, sauerkraut and rolls. Needless to say, we had leftovers for the next two days. Now comes the part I hate...taking down the tree and putting away all of the decorations. Can't we just leave everything up for next Christmas? It's only 354 days away.

The Big Apple.

We survived our trip to the Big Apple. We arrived on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, the airport wasn't that crowded and no one got stopped for a pat down. After a short pit stop at the hotel we spent the afternoon at Central Park. Jimmy and Alex remembered climbing on the big rocks when we came five years ago. Not to be outdone by her brothers, Helen said she remembered too. (She was two years old.) Will had a blast climbing and running everywhere. It was hard to keep up.

We also couldn't resist playing with the leaves. We don't get the change of seasons down south.

On Thursday we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Helen and Yiayia were right up front while the rest of us were a little farther back. Will wasn't too impressed with the parade. He was happy to sit in the hotel lobby with his juice and blanket. I think it was a little too cold for him.

This girl loved it.

The end of the parade when Santa rides in on his sleigh.

Alex and Yiayia warming up in the hotel before we head out for dinner.

Our delicious Thanksgiving feast. Helen requested one of the drumsticks.

Papouli carving the turkey. (Low lighting, no flash, blurry photo, precious memories.)

Friday morning we set off once again to Central Park to explore the zoo.

We met a polar bear...

and stopped for a snack.

Later that night we saw The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. It was a great show! The kids were entertained the entire time, except Will who was fast asleep until right before the end.

Afterward we headed off to Times Square where we met Spiderman...

and got our picture on the giant screen. We're in the top left: Papouli in black coat and white hair, me with Will on my shoulders and Mike next to me. Yiayia and the kids are somewhere nearby.

I wonder what these two were talking about...

We arrived home on Saturday. So good to be back to our routine. It was a busy, but fun four days. Now we're in the midst of Christmas preparations. The tree is up and the house is as decorated as it's going to get. The kids have made their wish lists (which consist of every toy in the Toys R Us catalog) and hung up their stockings. All that's left to do is shopping, wrapping, mailing cards, food shopping, cooking, cleaning, more shopping, more wrapping. On Thursday, Jimmy has a chorus concert at school. Yiayia and Papouli will be joining us. Looking forward to some good Christmas music.

Fort Christmas.

Last Sunday we decided to take a drive. We didn't know where we were headed or what we were going to do. We got on 417 and headed North, then we decided to get on 50 and head east. We remembered that Fort Christmas was located on 50 in the town of Christmas. We had been there only once before several years ago with Jimmy's Boy Scout Troop. It was a beautiful sunny day and a little cool. Perfect weather. 

Any road trip we've taken (to Louisiana, Maryland, Georgia) we've always had to stop at forts and battleships. Both Jimmy and Alex are interested in anything battle-related. The fort here has three buildings which you are able to go inside where they have artifacts and photos on display.

Helen wearing one of her "given by Yiayia" outfits.  

I didn't know they had public phones in the late 1800's.

The rest of the park had several period houses so you could see what life was like back then. The kids couldn't believe how small they were and were amazed at the fact that everyone slept in one room.

                                                               Alex getting the dishes done.

After the tour we headed over to the playground. Mike had promised the kids we would stop at the gift shop before heading home. Unfortunately, they were closed so we decided to get ice-cream instead.

I think yummy ice-cream is better than a gift shop souvenir any day.

Now, we are busy getting ready for our trip to New York to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We went once five years ago, so it will be interesting to see what Jimmy and Alex remember and to see it again through Helen and Will's eyes. Looking forward to a memorable trip!