Disneyland

The week before Christmas I took Ryan and Megan to Disneyland to see the Christmas decorations and to watch the Christmas Parade. Ryan had never seen a parade before and totally loved it. I was afraid that he wouldn't sit and watch it but he was amazed by it and wouldn't look away. I was also really nervous going to Disneyland all by myself with both kids but luckily there were other parent's there to help me on and off the tram and other than that I did great. It wasn't crowded so in the 2 hours we were there we walked onto 5 rides and watched the parade. It was the perfect afternoon trip. This was Ryan's face throughout the whole parade. His favorites were the snowmen, the soldiers and he loved that Santa came at the end! Ryan loved trying on hats at the Mad Hatter Shop

Photo Shoot

We had a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago so that we could do our Christmas cards. Well it was the worst photo shoot ever. Ryan wouldn't smile, Christian would do this ridiculous grin and Dan was so mad the whole time he wouldn't cooperate either. When I got the images there wasn't one that I wanted to print for a Christmas card. We normally can get a couple of really good ones but my family didn't want it to happen this year. So enjoy these awful pictures. After it was all over I got a really good laugh from it.

This was definitely the worst!Luckily we took some updated pictures of Megan the same day and it made up for it because she did wonderfully!

School

Tomorrow will be Christian's last day at Howard Cattle. We have really loved this school and the friends we have met there. The last three weeks we have been making the commute back and forth and both the kids and I will be very happy once we don't have to do that drive. Also Christian is very excited cause school doesn't start till 9am so he thinks he gets to play video games in the morning (trust me that will not be happening but I didn't tell him that yet). We celebrated Christian's birthday at school last Friday by taking in cupcakes and then this week he had a Christmas program where he sung 5 songs for the 1st and 2nd grade children. I am so grateful that Christian has taken the move so well and is actually excited about the new school and meeting new friends.

Sorry the pictures are dark our good camera is broken.

Ryan was singing along with the kids it was so cute and Megan just loved hearing them sing!

Christmas Time

Since we have been back we have been getting ready for Christmas. Dan had an extra week and a half off when we got back so we were able to unpack some more and decorate for Christmas. We also bundled up and went to look at lights and had a Christmas party at church , where the kids got to sit on Santa's lap. The children put on a Christmas play and Christian got to play Joseph. Ryan has been really fun this year he loves Santa and is so excited every time he sees decorations or anything. I have so much shopping still to do but we are looking forward to a wonderful holiday.Our Little Christmas Elf!

Trip Wrap up

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent just hanging out. We went shopping at Target and Walmart getting New England sport team clothes for all of us. We got to see Aunt Erin's place and Uncle Jim and Aunt Mel's house. We played outside with Grampy and Dan's friend Ben and his daughter. We went to church and watch some football. Saturday night Dan got together with some of his high school friends and went out for dinner and to play some pool. I stayed at home with the kids and had a great time staying up late talking with Grammy and Grampy. Grampy had Monday off of work so we had a wonderful lunch with him then we went to see Great Grams who is in a Rehabilitation center because she broke her hip a couple of months ago. We had a nice visit with her. The Patriots played on Monday night which doesn't start till 8 pm out there so we let the kids stay up till halftime and then they had to go to bed. Aunt Erin came over for the game and we were all hoping that they would pull out the big win against the Saints, that didn't happen but we still had a great time.

We got Megan a Patriots cheerleader outfit and I think she looks so cute in it!

Christian spent the whole trip scaring Grammy every time she came home or into the room so the next picture was right after he had scared her. To keep the kids entertained we had movies going in the kitchen. Ryan loved the old Mickey Mouse movie and sat for an hour watching it!Tuesday nothing was really planned we wanted to rest and get some laundry done until Dan's Dad called us in the morning and told us that Wes Welker was going to be at a local supermarket signing autographs. Now Wes #83 from the Patriots is my favorite player, he is super cute a great wide receiver and has been on my fantasy football team for the pass two years. I had just bought his shirt on Saturday at Walmart so I was so excited to see him. He was there for charity you had to buy a $15 bag of food for homeless shelters in the area and then you got two signatures. We bought two bags so that we could get four signatures. We got a football signed for Dan's Dad, the program from the football game Dan went to with his Dad, a pennant for Christian and then a picture that Christian ended up giving to his Aunt Erin. It was so much fun to meet him, he was so sweet and was joking with Christian. It was a definite highlight of the trip for me. Also, there was a local news station there and we got on TV which made Christian so happy. We waited in line for about an hour but they had some mascots from local teams there so that kept the kids entertained and Christian even played football with the Lion. Ryan got bored half way through so he climbed into Megan's car seat and was acting like a baby it was really funny.Dan let me go up to meet him while he stood on the side and took the pictures. Notice the camera man filming us.Us on the channel 9 news at 5:30!Tuesday night Aunt Erin, Aunt Kelly, Aunt Mel and Enzo all come over to hang out with us and say goodbye!Christian and Ryan also spent the night playing games with Grampy. They have definitely missed Grammy and Grampy since we have been back. We had to leave at 5 am Wednesday morning so we said all our goodbyes on Tuesday night. I had such a great time and we don't get to see them enough so it was really hard to say goodbye. It was definitely one of the best vacations we have been on as a family the 11 days was enough that we got to do everything and hang out with everyone but not too long to be sick of it. Thanks to everyone who made our trip so wonderful!