Tom comes to town

Grandpa Tom paid us a visit earlier this month.
He was welcomed back to town via a case of wine and a black convertible!
(courtesy of the Hutchison's).
He was also welcomed with warm temps and lots of sunshine,
a nice change from the freezing weather and snowstorm he left behind in NJ.

The girls were thankful for a lot of quality time with their Grandpa Tom.
We visited the Dallas zoo.
It just so happened to be a great day to go - we watched elephants eating apples,
monkeys jumping, climbing and swinging,
a gorilla picking his nose and "going potty",
baboons mating (try explaining that one to an inquisitive 5 year old!)
and of course we hand fed the giraffes again.

We checked out one of the popular hamburger bars in town,
and we enjoyed an adults' dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Mi Cocina.

Kelley and three of her kiddos paid us a visit while she was in the area.

Tom met Lexi's teacher and classmates,
he was a babysitter extraordinaire, a bike riding companion,
a playground buddy, a meat loaf master,
a football playoff couch-side cheerleader along with Vic and I,
and a regular at the LA Fitness gym and Dunkin Donuts.
He and Ryleigh really hit it off this trip,
and she spent many a day saying, "Come on Papa,"
and ensuring that he was right on her heels wherever she went.

After a week with us, he headed up to Plano to visit with Bob and Cheryl,
and to see him off properly, we all had one last hurrah at Javier's
this past Sunday evening.
It was a lovely visit, and we hope he'll repeat it again soon.

Hello, 2014

Our last night back home was spent at Wendy and Carl's,
ringing in the New Year with the LaRose and Hanks families.

 Vic and Ronnie (my grandmother) have always been great buddies.

Can you believe she just celebrated her 97th Birthday?!

It may look like all we did was stand around and take family pictures.

But, actually, we had great fun too.

We made home-made pizza pies.

We played games.

Lexi and Courtney serenaded us. 

We had some hard core ping pong and foosball match ups in the basement. 

And we had all the essential for toasting the new year.  

Ronnie is a woman of many talents, but taking a picture with an iPhone

doesn't happen to be one of them.

That, or she's sending a strong message to the men in the family

 Three competitive ladies battling it out at Twister

 Look who learned to loom.

He spent much of the plane ride home making bracelets for Lexi

(when she wasn't busy getting sick all over him!)

We had a pretend countdown and celebrated earlier in the evening,

champagne glasses and all,

but Lexi couldn't fall asleep and rejoined the party.

5's not too young to watch the ball drop, is it?!

Her very first sleep over.

Fitting that it was with her beloved Cece.

We had a wonderful visit back up North and were thrilled 

that despite it being a bit exhausting, 

we got to see so many of the faces we love most. 

The trip home was not seamless, however.

Lexi got sick right on Vic…twice!

Our plane was delayed three hours.

Ryleigh basically missed her nap and was oh so fussy. 

But...we made it back before the big snow storm that closed airports for days. 

Look for the silver lining whenever possible :)

Homeward Bound

December 27th brought our return to the Northeast. 

The girls were super excited to fly over New York City en route to EWR. 

Our first stop was to visit my childhood best friend and next door neighbor,

who was in town for just a few final hours once we arrived.

My girls got the chance to meet her sweet little son, Bryce,

and open some presents with him.

Having my children meet the child of a life-long friend

seems like a pretty great way to start out our visit home. 

Ashley was also able to join us for the reunion!

The next stop was Nanny and Grandpa Mike's house - 

which was our home base for the next few days.

We spent our time baking cookies, wrapping presents, having tea parties 

and watching"The Sound of Music"

The girls were very excited to wake up the following morning for Christmas #2

Wendy, Carl and the kids joined us mid-day,

and Lexi didn't leave her cousin Cece's side for 7 hours or so!

Look who's the proud owner of Kit, one of the American Girl Dolls who

"looks just like me, with my short hair"

These are the most fun piggie banks around.

The girls have already started saving for their next trip to Disney

"Oh boy!" trains! 

Ryleigh now has her very own set of Thomas and friends.

She spent hours driving them around their track

Who doesn't love Lulu?

Santa may have brought Lexi a Rainbow Loom,

but it was Courtney who taught us all how to use it.

We are now drowning in bracelets and the mini rubber bands. 

Two of our very favorite gals

No trip home is complete without a spin around the block 

in Grandpa's old Land Cruiser. 

The kids have a ball driving, honking the horn and waving to neighbors

These four are growing up so fast.

Nothing makes their parents happier than seeing their close bond,

despite the many years and miles between them!

Matt and Courtney have so much going on between school and all their activities,

but they always drop everything to entertain their young cousins,

and they do it without hesitation.

What wonderful role models for our little ladies. 

The LaRose ladies

The kids table

Our next stop was Grandpa Tom's.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with the Hamilton side of the family.

Cousin Emma may not know Lexi's name,

she has taken to calling her "Big Ryleigh", 

but she sure seemed to love playing with her.

Grandpa with his girls

He has deemed Ryleigh a real sweetheart and told us,

"She is a true fun time", and we certainly agree. 

Proud uncle - first time holding baby Scarlett

The next door neighbors came over for a visit as well

And, we were so thankful to welcome Grandma Connie for a few hours

She has had a difficult year health-wise, 

but you'd never know it from her smile and spunk.

We missed seeing Terry and Don.

Sadly, our travel schedules didn't align this year,

but we send our love to them both!

Ryleigh was extremely interested in the baby.

Wherever Scarlett was, Ry was never far behind. 

It was really a delight to see her sweet and doting nature…

and can we talk about how cute those pig tails are?! 

The following day brought us back to Fairfield, CT 

to visit our old next door neighbors and then our closest friends. 

Here, the girls are with John and Sue.

They were so happy to be back in Sue's kitchen, hunting for treats,

playing with Coco the dog and bringing chaos and cheer to their home.

From there, we ventured over to the Emmott family's new home in town. 

Lexi and Ella had a wonderful reunion,

and it was great to see the younger siblings in on the action this time around. 

We had a lovely, though much-too-short dinner with them 

and Eric/Adrienne.

Great to see that we can always pick right back up with this bunch,

and that we can always count on a really fun time. 

We certainly miss them dearly in Dallas. 

We pulled back into Sparta around midnight,

and put two very sleepy girls to bed. 

The next morning, we welcomed my high school friend, Lauren over.

She and I snuck out for a quick lunch in the Plaza. 

It was great getting the chance to catch up in person, 

and to hear about her new adventures and plans for the year. 

Next up from our whirlwind trip…New Year's Eve and the long journey home.