Happy Birthday, Rob

Wishing Rob the happiest day ... we love you so very much!!

Rob is going to have the best celebration dinner with all of his ladies ... plus a Princess, Prince Charming and the step-sisters. What Dad would want it any other way?

Having a blast at Disney. Aren't these ears adorable? Good thing RaRa and PopPop gave us loot these things are pricey!

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We wish you a Merry Christmas ... and a Happy New Year!

Our bags are almost packed, the anticipation of Christmas and Disney World is almost too much for us to handle!!!! Emma is grinning from ear to ear that when she wakes up tomorrow morning not only will Santa have found a way to deliver her a special toy but we will also pack up our family for a big road trip to Orlando, Florida to the ever so magical Walt Disney World.

I have not been since I was 12 -- with my sister and my Nana! I was still so little so it is all such a blur, therefore I am equally just as excited as our girls! We will absolutely be posting updates on facebook and the blog along the way. Please send good vibes that we have planned ahead enough to provide lots of entertainment and snacks galore for the girls and that they will sleep well along the way!

Tonight we are ready to celebrate a Merry Christmas Eve, full with a Birthday dinner for Michael. We are making Mike and Marie's Mussels and a plan to open a wonderful bottle of Reisling wine ... we will stop over Rob's Aunt and Uncles and enjoy some tasty treats and then send the girls off to bed with "visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads" ~ or more like visions of wrapping paper and sugary sweets! On Christmas morning we will let Emma wake up RaRa and PopPop and then rip through the filled stockings ... anxiously awaiting Auntie April and Timmy's arrival! Then it will be a wonderful exchange of presents -- AHHH, it feels just like it did as a kid -- I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!! It's such a special time where for these moments there can be no stress, you just take it in and say "this is Christmas" whether the house is clean or in shambles - family does not care and the magic of Christmas makes it all ok.

Wishing all of our family and friends a wonderful Christmas, hope you are filled to the brim with love and joy.

Still plugging along

The Fall training schedule has come and gone and to my surprise it was actually really satisfying! We started out with simple 2 mile runs every other day and quickly progressed up to a 5K road race, a relay marathon, and with the winter weather upon us I am committing to three 3 miles weekday runs, and Sunday morning runs ranging from 6 to 8 miles plus swimming 2 nights per week (remember this is a Swim Bike Run event!). I am actually looking forward to this commitment. I have learned in the past few months that I am truly a competitive person. Some of you may have already known that, but I actually thought I was just a motivated person ... well truth be told, to be motivated I guess competition has to be a part of that. Though I do want to state ... I do NOT get upset when someone does better than me, I am quite impressed when they do and it actually pushes me harder because when I see how their hard work has paid off I want to feel that same sense of accomplishment. So, though I like to compete it really isn't competing against others ... it's just the rush of competition that gets me motivated. I have also found that I much prefer running in a group, I am a team player, I function much better having someone beside me ... maybe it's the socializing but it just feels so much better to run with someone. Though I do want to give myself credit, there have been a lot of solo runs and I do well and I get a lot of good thinking done during those times but I definitely know my best performances are when I am part of a group ..., I also realized that I thought going from 6 miles to 8 miles was going to be "no big deal" and ... well it actually is. I have been cruising along on my 5 mile runs and then jumped to 6 easily so the very next week I opted to try for a long hilly 8 mile run (keep in mind it was 6:45 a.m. on a blustery 20 degree New England Sunday morning -- with no signs of sun poking through the clouds! And I had maybe a glass or red wine too many on Saturday night!) Well at mile 5 my legs were screaming at me -- the quads were stiff, almost felt frozen ... so I chugged up a very long (but really beautiful) hill and met my fellow runners at the top, they started to bear left and I let them know this runner needed to bear right back towards my car. I did finish 7 miles that cold cold morning but it wasn't as I had thought, it was hard! So that is my next big challenge, progress from 6 miles to 7 miles and soon be able to cruise through 8 ... I will let you know when I get there.

Preparations

It's the most wonderful time of the year ...

We have been having a blast getting all of the preparations to celebrate Christmas, Emma is starting to understand traditions and the spirit of giving. I won't give up her signature gift, but she's already written out the tags and put bows on all of her gifts to her family.

Julia is doing a great job mimicking her big sister ... she is already scribbling away, even took a pen to our playroom wall last night!!! I was right there ... this second child has guts! She will get into EVERYTHING she can and look right at you with a devilish smile ... we will have our hands full with that little lady.

Here are some pictures of the girls projects and fun times over the last few weeks.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Shopping w the ladies

All smiles

Tap tap tap

Emma's dance class

Our little tap dancer! Emma is really enjoying tap and ballet class - it is so cute!

How sweet it is ...

Wishing Sara & Matt a very Happy 10th Anniversary!

Yes, you read that correctly -- 10 years! I do not know how it is possible that we are old enough to have some of our best friends celebrating TEN years of marriage, but it is remarkable. I still fondly remember raising a glass of bubbly at their sweet December wedding. It was the first time I saw Rob get teary-eyed, standing at the end of the aisle as the best man to Matt, I remember watching Sara walk down the aisle and Matt smiled with pride and then his eyes filled with tears of love and joy ... and I glanced over at Rob and his eyes were also filling up. It was one of those breath-taking and really pure moments. We have been fortunate enough to be by their side through much of the wonders of our lives -- 5 births between our families and many many wild dinners and family outings galore! So today we wish you both the sweetest day and send Cheers for another fantastic decade!

In the spirit

We are swinging into the Spirit of the holidays. We started decorating the house, we tried to sit on Santa's lap to share our Christmas lists but neither girl was fond of the jolly bearded man! Here are some sweet pictures, hope you are all enjoying your weeks leading up to the holidays.