Zombie Burger and more Santa fun!

After a day spent in the house decorating yesterday, I decided we needed to get out and about today.  The annual Festival of Trees and Lights was wrapping up today and with the proceeds of the event benefiting Blank Children's Hospital, it seemed like a win/win for us!  We needed nourishment before checking out the trees and lights....so Zombie Burger it was!  This is a fun local place with yummy and creative burgers AND shakes.  Paul ordered his burger and "hold the Zombie" which the waitress thought was funny.  Lillie ate  both of her grilled cheese sandwiches (imagine a circular sandwich the size of a pancake).  We HAD to get shakes - Paul's choice was a Cinnamon Toast Crunch (vanilla with the cereal included), Daddy chose a S'mores shake and mine was coconut cream pie.  Seriously yummy.....and we didn't eat much dinner tonight after such a big lunch!

I love the look on Lillie's face in this shot...check out the zombie in the background.

Cheese faces abound!

Paul decided he needed to try on Lillie's bib....funny little man.

Only one of the kids wanted to see Santa this time....Lillie cried so she stayed in the stroller.

Paul got to play a spin game and won a prize....a cheapo plastic spinner.

And the final stop was a ride on the train.  They were waiting "patiently".

 They sat in the engine - Paul somehow finagled his chance to ring the bell.

Decent behavior from both kids today - always a win!  For anyone keeping tally, this is the 3rd visit to see Santa.  Oh, and Paul watched Polar Express for the first time this season as well....gonna have to keep a tally on that one too!

Thanksgiving 2012

 We headed back to the QC for Miss L's first American Thanksgiving.  It was also her first time spending the night anywhere but our house.  We weren't sure how she would do - or how Paul would do with the new sleeping arrangements for that matter.  All was fine on the sleeping front - Miss L in a pack and play in the room that Paul used to sleep in.  Paul slept on a queen sized air mattress on the floor of our room in the basement.  So glad that the kids slept pretty well - makes a huge difference!  We only stayed for two nights as we didn't want to push it for our first time out of town.

It was a small Thanksgiving this year - just us, GranJo, Gram and Pa and Uncle Chris.  GranJo hosted and we had a lovely meal with lots of laughter.

I love this girl so much.

GranJo pulled out the connect the dots pages for Paul.  He had lots of fun connecting the dots and then coloring the pictures.

 Lots of reading....

 Paul got to be the stuffing maker again this year - last year was his first foray into Thanksgiving cooking.

 Sitting in their places and ready for dinner!

Hey Paul, there is a turkey on your head!

Everyone got into the turkey head action......

We had no plans for Friday so we were lazy and just hung around the house.  Gram and Pa found lots of old toys for the kids.

Someone is obsessed with wearing her sunglasses in the house.

Paul's class made the cutest Thanksgiving craft.  It says "Paul is so thankful for..." and then each kid had to list off what they were thankful for.  The teacher wrote in each thing on the tail feather of the turkey.  Here is what Paul chose:

• My house
• Chicken
• Mom
• Lillie
• Dad
• Food
• Toys

And we actually snagged a family photo in our casual clothes.....I will admit that Jason had to photoshop his own head from another picture so that we had one with everyone looking at the camera and mostly smiling.  

We certainly have much to be thankful for this year and while there were some tough moments during the trip (can you say screamy two year old and sassy four year old).  Hard to believe we are now about 3 months home.  Time certainly goes fast and even more so this time of year. 

Bonus trip to Jester Park

We have seen some amazing weather this month and have enjoyed all of our "bonus" time outdoors.  We hit up Jester Park - no coats required.

Cheeseball on the slide!

Sassy pants loves the swings.  She actually spent the entire time on the swings while Paul ran all over the playground.

He was obsessed with the nuts on the ground...he even had me stomp on one so he could eat part of one.  Goofball.

Loving the big kid swings.

He's a good rock wall climber.

 Busting out his Gangnam Style moves.....

 Hello......

Finally pried her away from the swings.

Man, it is tough getting both kids in the same picture!

Love her cheese face.  She breaks it out every time she sees a camera now.

Paul with yet another nut....at least they were standing a bit closer!

We are so thankful that the kids like to play at the park so much....and that we have so many great parks to choose from!

Santa visit #1

 I am completely against all of the Christmas hub-bub before Thanksgiving.  However, Paul gets so excited about Santa and his train at the mall.  Last year they debuted Santa's Wonderland on November 13th (although I didn't share the photos until after Thanksgiving).  This year it was November 10th.

Paul ran right up to Santa and hopped on his lap....such a big boy and such a great big brother.

And then Lillie joined the party....we were sure she would be scared but she was just fine.

However when Santa bent over to let Paul get off his lap she wasn't so sure about this Santa thing.

And then it was off to the Santa train.....we have a new Santa train lover in the family now.

I am sure this will be the first of many visits to see Santa and definitely to ride the train.  I hope Lillie continues to tolerate it.....we are so blessed to be gearing up to celebrate the holidays as a family of four.

Random cuteness!

Nothing better than weekend breakfast at Village Inn.....the kids do love their funny face pancakes.

Check out this cutie pie!

And someone got a hot chocolate treat....

And a random one...Paul pulled out his Thomas hat from several years ago.  Still fits!

Date night

Last Saturday Paul made it very clear that he wanted to spend some alone time with me...and so that is just what we did.  The anticipation was clearly exhausting as he fell asleep in the car on the way.....

His choice for our date....

After selecting his new books, he had to have a little train play time!

Paul picked our favorite asian place for dinner.  The owner was thrilled to see him!  Paul patiently read one of his new books while we waited for our food.

Started with a little miso soup....

And the moved on to sushi (Paul had a special sushi roll made for him with just rice and seaweed) and shrimp lo mein.  Everything was so tasty!

Everyone drinks their milk with shades on, right?

Best date night ever!