Visit with Santa..gone bad

On Lexi's day off from school this week, we went to visit Santa.
We had to pick up a few birthday presents at the mall/Target,
so I figured it would be a good afternoon for the time-honored tradition.
There should be no lines mid-week (in November, no less),
so off we went.
After a quick change into their Christmas dresses,
they were ready.
Or at least Lexi was.
Ryleigh took one look at the jolly old man in red,
and she was not a happy camper.
Each glance at his face brought on more tears.
I posted the photo on Facebook,
and here were the responses:

"classic!"
"Love it!"
"I like her sister's reassuring hand on her leg"
"Every family needs a picture with Santa with like this one!"
"So cute!"
"I agree with you Ryleigh, Santa is kind of creepy!"
"The first time I've seen Ryleigh unhappy!! She'll laugh about it in years to come..."
"This is adorable and so funny! They are too cute!"
"That's a keeper! Xmas card all the way"
"Roles were reversed in our picture! I admire Lexi's ability to smily through the noise"
"Omg that is priceless!!!"
"oh no! Santa for the first time is never easy!"
"I was hoping H-H would react that way instead we got "the puzzled" look. Too funny & cute!!
"This is so great!"
"Classic Santa pic - love it"
"Trumbull mall? We went to see Santa over the weekend. Evelyn made the exact same face as Ryleigh!"
"ohhh sweetie!"
"I love this! John thinks Lexi has a look that says sis you are ruining this for us...He's not going to come if you keep this up"
"That's awesome! We saw Santa today too and he had a very similar effect on Quinn"
Here it is, in all its glory

Oh yes, she was that upset.
I went and rescued my sweet baby girl...
after the photo was snapped for posterity, of course!
Big sister on the other hand was quite a fan.
She kept saying, "Oh, there's just one more thing"
and ran back to him to ensure he got her list in full.

Let the holiday season begin!

Giving Thanks...

For these two very special gifts

And their wonderful daddy - who's never too busy for play time

For fun had with cousins (big and small)

For proud Grandparents

For new milestones

And new adventures

And, for a holiday that celebrates these moments and more

That was our Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell

A Ballerina Birthday Party

It is birthday party season for the 4 year old set this fall.
Bounce U, Pump it Up, the Gymnastics Academy, The (art) Studio, SoNo Jam,
a Princess Themed Birthday Playdate, Joy2Crafts, Build a Bear...
it sure is tiring keeping up with a preschooler's schedule.
Whatever happened to a big 'ole party right in your parent's family room?
So, when it came time to plan Lexi's special day,
we decided to change it up a bit and settled on a sweet ballerina theme.

She had such a nice time at a ballet party last spring,
that we thought it would be a great choice for her big day.
(And I was loving the thought of not having a house to clean afterwards!)

Saturday was the day.
All the little ballerinas (including Tyler who braved a sea of girls to help celebrate)
gathered at the Connecticut Dance School.
In a stroke of luck, our old neighbor Miss Jeanne just happened to be in charge of the bash.

She played all of Lexi's favorite Disney princess songs,
led the kids in leaping and twirling, practicing their ballet positions,
dashing underneath a parachute,
and then, saving the best for last, she taught them a cute routine set to "A Little Mermaid".
All the moms and dads were invited in to see their grand performance.

It was so very sweet!
Our 4 year old had such a special day.
And, once the gang was all through with their tutus and twirls and treats

...she returned home for present opening, dinner and ice cream with Nanny and Grandpa!
Gosh, it's great to be 4.

Look who's 4!

It's a big day today...
A certain someone turned 4 overnight!

Ryleigh and I were invited to preschool today for a little celebration.
And, tomorrow is the big ballet birthday party
followed by dinner out with Nanny and Grandpa.
Let the festivities begin :)

Oh, and let's not forget little sister.
Look who's 11 months today:

she's celebrating with her first ear infection :(

Halloween

Happy Halloween from our sweet owl and our super fast Rainbow Dash

Turns out, it was a good thing Parker had her Halloween birthday party when she did,

because a day later Sandy hit, followed by this week's crazy snow storm.

It would be a long time before kids around here got to celebrate the holiday.

Lexi has been going through a big My Little Pony phase lately. 

So it was no surprise that she wanted to dress up like Rainbow Dash (the fastest pony there is).

There were no baby pony costumes,

so Ryleigh was just fine borrowing a friend's cute little owl costume.

Back to school

First order of business around here was this:

I was born into a political family
and majored in Government (at a college that Thomas Jefferson founded)
So it's no surprise that I get excited each and every time I visit the polling booth.
It was even more special today to have two little helpers in tow.

And now I am SO ready to stop listening to Chuck Todd every night during dinner.
I'm also SO ready for school to reopen tomorrow...
for the first time in a week and a half!
Lexi normally has Wednesday off,
but she will go dressed in her Halloween costume
and ready for the class party.
Because Sandy may have reared her ugly head,
but Fairfield is determined to celebrate the holiday -
at school tomorrow and around town on Saturday.
With our normal routine thrown out the window,
we've been trying our best to keep busy around here.
First up was the great clean up.
Even Lexi was called upon to pull her weight
Though any time there was a pile of leaves to play in,
we lost our little helper.

And while there might not have been school,

there was still fun with the 4's class.

One brave mommy - who got her power back after just one day -

invited all the kiddos over to play 

(and their moms over to shower, charge phones and do some laundry).

About half the class turned out, and their basement may never look the same

A certain someone started standing on her own for a few seconds at a time

She also likes to sneak off and start climbing up the stairs.

I think another gate is needed, 

because any time I look away for a second,

Ryleigh is scooting around the corner and making her escape

(possibly from her sister?!)

We had our first build-a-bear party, followed by a birthday lunch at McDonald's.

It was only Lexi's second time eating there (in her life),

she was more excited about birthday cake than the world's best fries,

go figure. 

And rounding out the fun was a trip to the library followed by 16 Handles 

with one of our oldest buddies.

She actually chased Tyler around the library castle 

asking if he wanted to marry her! 

Instead, they settled on a leaf fight

And now, it's back to the "grind" we go