{we're baaaaack!}

Well, we made it back from our annual trek to New York. The weather dictated much of what we were able to do, but most of the trip went according to plan. We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's briefly on Friday night and then headed to Mima and Grandpa G's Saturday morning. From there we went to the Strong Museum of Play with Mima, Grandpa, Elizabeth and Brandon. Just like last year, Gerard had a blast. Morgan seemed to enjoy watching all the people, and I know that she'll join in the fun next year.






After the museum, we went back to their house and opened our Hanukkah/Christmas presents. As usual, we all got great gifts. Mima drove all over Western New York to find me all the Wizard of Oz figurines from McDonalds to go with my very cool Wizard of Oz themed Hanukkah this year. Big Gerard got his Guitar Hero 3 (I'll never see him again, I'm afraid). And the kids got great stuff as usual.







From there, we drove to see Nani and Poppy downstate. Randy and Jo-ann came for dinner Sunday night, but Jenny was working and Lauren is away at college. Maybe we'll see them this summer. Gerard just loves Nani and Poppy, and they let him get away with just about anything! He made himself right at home -- he had toys in every room! Aunt Sada drove in from Boston and stayed for the night. It was great, because we don't get to see her that often. She brought the most thoughtful presents, too -- both Gerards got personalized Steelers jerseys, I got very cool Burberry sunglasses and Morgan got a beautiful David Yurman Jewish star necklace. The Amazon gift certificate we got her pales in comparison!


We also drove down to NJ to see Aldine, Jeff, Eliya and Noah. It was really nice celebrating the last night of Hanukkah with them. Eliya even shared the menorah-lighting duties with Gerard. And the highlight of that visit (according to big Gerard) was that he and Jeff played Guitar Hero. They're like big kids.... and they wouldn't share with the little kids! That didn't stop everyone from joining in on the fun, though -- luckily they had guitars for everyone!












Since we were in the area, we also drove to Peekskill to Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Morty's graves. After all, they hadn't met Morgan yet!

From there, we rushed back to Buffalo to beat the storm that was heading downstate. Luckily, we had no problems driving and we got to Grandma and Grandpa's on Wednesday night. Thursday night we had dinner with Laura, Derek, Christian and Noah. I can't believe I didn't bring my camera!!! The boys had fun as usual, and Morgan was a little angel (except for the not eating part, but that's probably because she's getting teeth!)

Unfortunately, that's where the fun ended. We were supposed to stay until Sunday and Aunt Debbie was supposed to fly in on Friday, but the big storm changed all that. We quickly packed up the car and left Friday morning and told Debbie not to come. Turns out we made the right choice -- LOTS of snow, wind and sleet would have made for a VERY difficult (if not impossible) drive today. So, we're home and we stayed in during the storm and watched the Steelers lose today. Don't the boys look cute in their jerseys from Aunt Sada? (Use your imagination -- I blurred out the last names on the backs of the shirts.)







And now it's back to the same ol' stuff. As long as it doesn't snow any more tonight, Gerard will have preschool tomorrow. It's my day to work at school and big Gerard is back to work, too. Coming back from vacation is always tough.....

{happy hanukkah}

We made latkes yesterday! We played Dreidel (again and again and again and again). We listened to Hanukkah music. We may be the only Jews in town, but we sure know how to celebrate! We even had Darci and her gang over for their first Hanukkah dinner tonight. It was fun sharing with them and we all enjoyed their company.

Here's Gerard hard at work making his latkes:








And in case anyone was afraid the kids were deprived, here are some pictures from the first night of Hanukkah. Eight presents from Mommy and Daddy. Eight from Grandma and Grandpa. Eight from Aunt Debbie. I'm just wondering who is going to buy us the bigger house in which to store all this stuff...









And by the way, as a science teacher and an educated person and a human being NOT living under a rock, I was absolutely shocked when I saw this video from The View. Did Sherri Shepherd not go to school??? I am NOT commenting on her thoughts about evolution (I COULD, I assure you). What shocks me to the CORE is the fact that she didn't know that the earth was round. Huh? Huh? You've GOT to be kidding me!!

And on that night, goodnight, and Happy Hanukkah!

{catching up}

Wow. Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but we've been busy as usual. Here are the highlights from Thanksgiving....

The whole gang was here and everyone helped out with dinner. Aunt Debbie made a yummy pecan pie (big Gerard's annual request) and Grandma made her mushroom and barley risotto. Grandpa helped Gerard make his turkey cookies (and sample a few candy corns in the process).




And as usual, we all might as well have been invisible to Gerard once Grandpa arrived. Now don't get me wrong, he loves spending time with Grandma and Aunt Debbie (and with Mommy and Daddy, to a lesser extent) but there's just something about Grandpa. Perhaps it's that Grandpa wrestles with Gerard. Or plays ANYTHING he wants. Or plays ball in the house even though Mommy says not to. Whatever the reason, Gerard just LOVES Grandpa.




Here are some other pictures from Thanksgiving:








And since Hanukkah starts tomorrow night, we've been playing Dreidel and tomorrow we're going to make latkes with Ami G's secret family recipe (don't worry, I'll never tell!!!) I'll take some pictures and post them when I can.

That's about it for tonight. I'm tired....