Leaf Fun

Yesterday, we took our family picture for our Christmas cards. It was a little chilly outside, but we made it through, I think that there is at least one good shot in the 100 or so that we took! Towards the end of out shoot, Arabella was getting silly as it was close to nap time and she was overtired. She decided to have some fun in the leaves. It was adorable! And, I know I have said it before, but I LOVE my (new) camera...there is no way I would have been able to grab these shots without it!

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend I joined 9 of my friends for a Girl's Weekend in Burlington, Vermont! My friend, Ayse coordinated the whole weekend and it was so much fun. We had a great time shopping, eating, drinking wine and staying up too late...I guess a suite with a fire place will do that to you! My friend Laura picked my up Friday morning and we headed to Plattsburgh, New York - after crossing the Border, we hit Target first. It is hard to believe, but we spent about 3 hours there...it was wonderful to be able to shop without any interruptions and to take our time. We had full carts by the time we reached the registers! After Target, we stopped at Panera Bread to keep our shopping stamina up and then headed for the ferry that would take us from Plattsburgh to Burlington via Lake Champlain.




After the ferry ride, we went straight to Burlington to meet the rest of the girls for a pedicure party and then dinner. It was so much fun and dinner was great.

Sadly, I forgot to take out my camera to take pics almost all weekend! We slept in and then had a day full of shopping on Saturday. As you can see from this picture, we all did some damage (I am happy to say that I came in under budget!)
We relaxed in front of the fire with a few glasses of wine on Saturday night...we didn't have energy for anything else since we used it all up on shopping!

On Sunday, we slept in again and then packed up everything for the trip back home. We hit a few more stores on the way back to the ferry. We had no issues at all at the Border...I think it was one of the easiest crossings ever, in a car full of shopping bags, the agent didn't even ask us how much we spent...and we were both (way) over our $400 allowable limits!

Laura's car packed to the gills!
I didn't just shop for me, I picked up a few things that Arabella needed - socks, hats and mitts - and a few Christmas gifts too! In case you wanted to see my haul, it is below - Jay you might not want to look any further...
Books I scored at Once Upon A Child - they were 50 cents or a $1...seriously, too good to pass up when Arabella loves to read!
Two of my favorite scores - shearling lined Ralph Lauren driving shoes for $30 and a fun winter hat that I can't wait to wear...now if it would only get cold!
Most of the haul...it includes Christmas presents - a few staples from Target are missing from the pictures - overall I did a great job shopping and staying under budget! Now I just need to clean out some space in my closet!

Wordless Wednesday

Trick-or-Treat

I loved seeing how excited Arabella was all day today! She could barely contain herself and was so full of awe and wonder. I had to remind her that she needed to take a nap today so that she could go trick-or-treating after dinner. I actually let her sleep longer than normal since I knew she wouldn't be in bed at her normal time. She could barely sit still for dinner as she knew it was getting closer to the time for trick-or-treating. Finally, when it was dark out, it was time to go. She was so adorable, practicing her "Hoo, Hoo" when she showed Jay her costume!


Jay and I took turns taking her out since she wanted us both to go...but one of us had to man the candy at home. And speaking of candy, she got way more candy and loot that she is going to be able to eat. I haven't exactly figured out what I am going to do with all her candy, but we are not going to let her eat it all. I may send it to Operation Gratitude who then sends it to the US armed forces.



Happy Halloween, my baby owl! Mommy had so much fun with you tonight and I am glad you enjoyed every second of it!

Happy 3rd Birthday Christopher!

Over the weekend, we celebrate with Christoper at Zig Zag Zoo in honor of his 3rd Birthday! (Many, many thanks to June (Christopher's Mommy)for having his party at Zig Zag Zoo - it was nice to just let the kids run wild and the adults were able to socialize a little bit more than at a normal party!) And she picked the best time to have it too...4:30 pm...after nap time and before dinner, which we enjoyed at the party. All the kids were well rested and there we no major meltdowns. It was Toy Story themed and all the kids, and the adults, had a great time! We hope you had a fun Birthday party, Christopher! Thank you for letting us celebrate with you!



Arabella sandwich with Cynthia and G!
Happy Birthday Christopher!!

The Great Pumpkin Ball & Chinese Lanterns

On Friday night, we decided to go to the Montreal Botanical Gardens to check out an exhibit that closes tomorrow. I have been wanting to go since last October when I found out about it - so this year I made sure we went. And I am so happy we did! We had to fight traffic to get to the Gardens, and then wait in line for about 30 minutes, but it was worth the wait. We had to bundle up...I finally broke down and took out our winter coats and gear...but the coldness didn't have any affect on us and our spirits! I wanted to get there before sunset since it would still be a little warmer out since as soon as the sun sets, it cools off very quickly. And I wanted to be able to take pictures without the flash or a tripod. We checked out the Chinese Lanterns which were outside in the Chinese Garden. They were beautiful! Arabella loved the bright colors and was excited to move from one lantern to the next. She is turning into quite the little explorer and just is so full of wonder!

Waiting patiently in line...

Then getting silly from the candy she and Jay ate in the car!









After then Lanterns, we went to see the Great Pumpkin Ball. This exhibit was inside but I was a little bit disappointed as it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. But that is OK - the best part was Esmeralda, the witch. Arabella was enthralled by her - she told stories and talked to the kids in French - I was actually able to pick up on parts of what she was saying! Arabella was afraid of her at all but was shy when she tried to talk to her.





I would love to try and grow this ornamental eggplant next summer...


We had a great night and enjoyed ourselves. It was the prefect way to spend a Friday night!

Halloween Is Almost Here

Last week, Arabella was so excited to see more and more Halloween decorations popping up in the neighborhood. So she asked if we could put up some more...I usually just do pumpkins, no huge yard decorations going on here...but I looked to see if we had anything in the Halloween bin in our storage area that might be left over from a old Halloween party. I found some of the fun spider web stuff and Arabella was so excited. I told her that she had to wait for Jay to get home from work to help put it up...she couldn't wait, as soon as he walked in the door she was asking him to help her! So he quickly changed and then went outside to put it up before the sun completely set and it got too cold! She was such a great helper and she put all the spiders in the web by herself! Great job Arabella (and Dad)!

Playgroup Pumpkin Picking

A week ago Friday, we joined our playgroup for a morning at another pumpkin patch. It was the day right after we went with preschool, but Arabella was just as excited to pick out another pumpkin and have more fun stoping through the fields with her friends! It was a cold and windy day but we bundled up and still had a blast.





After pumpkin picking we headed back to the barn for apple muffins and cider, delicious! Then it was time to visit the animals before heading home. Arabella loved the draft horse, he was beautiful.




It was a fun morning with friends - we are so happy to belong to such an amazing mom and tots group!