2 Holidays Down, 2 More To Go...

We began our holiday festivities with our annual trip to visit Otto The Ghost! Ryan didn't want to go this year, so we just took the girls.





We somehow managed to get through Halloween with everyone being happy with their costumes! It wasn't all that easy though! Ryan had decided all along that he didn't want to dress up, he wanted no part of it. We were fine with that as both Mark and I are not big fans of Halloween, but we were trying to convince Ryan to wear something just so that he wouldn't be the only kid at his school parade not in a costume. We tried to talk him into wearing a Yankees shirt and hat and going as Derek Jeter, but no, he didn't want to. We tried to talk him into wearing his cowboy costume from this summers camp show, but no, he didn't want to. We even tried to persuade him to wear a suit jacket, tie and fedora and going as a business man, (or a gangster!;) but no way, he kept turning us down. So ok, whatever, it wasn't meant to be, so we decided to drop it.

Then on Sunday night, Oct 30, around 6:30 pm, he changed his mind. He decided that he wanted to dress up for the parade if he could be one of the Mario Brothers characters. The only problem with that was, we didn't have a Mario Bros costume! So he and Mark went out to shop! I can't believe they actually found something at that late time, but they did, and our boy was HAPPY!

I arrived at his school in time to see Ryan LEAD the parade! He's so funny!


Next it was onto the girls school to watch their parades too! They're so cute!



After school they all posed together before heading out to trick or treat!
Here's Ryan as Wario before we gave him the inflatable belly!

and here's a couple of "after" pictures!



Our next adventure was a grown up night out for us in NYC. I was lucky enough to again win tickets from a radio station to go see another awesome concert. This time it was Peter Gabriel (whom Mark and I both adore) playing at the Ed Sullivan theater where the David Letterman show is taped.


He sang with a 46 piece orchestra - and it was incredible!!! You can view the concert here: http://petergabriel.com/media/article/2525/peter-live-on-letterman/





November 12th marked our 16th anniversary, and since we had just had a night out alone, we decided to share our anniversary "date" with the kids. We took them to one of our old favorite bar/restaurant that we used to hang out at often when we first started dating.

The only issue with that was, it was a Saturday night and the place was packed! We had to wait a little bit for a booth! So no problem, we all took seats by the bar, just like old times! LOL

Within minutes though, our table was ready and we all sat down to enjoy our favorite eats! The kids really enjoyed the place as much as we do and it was really cool to share something of "our past" with them! :)



Then, this past weekend was Thanksgiving. Since my siblings alternate this holiday with their inlaws every other year, on Thursday it was just us and my mom. Grammy cooked us a delicious turkey dinner and we toasted to our health and happiness.

We also tried to capture the perfect shot of the kids with Duffy for our Christmas card picture - that did not go as smoothly as we had hoped! ;) Why I thought having props involved in addition to the dog would be a good idea is beyond me! LOL


The weather was so gorgeous for the rest of the weekend, we decided to keep trying for that perfect shot that we didn't get earlier. So we hit the park:


and multiple playgrounds:


and then back to Grammys for another photo shoot with the poor dog!

I may not have been able to get the "perfect shot" of the kids and the dog, but I was able to catch some "perfect shots" of the beautiful sunsets we've been witnessing.




We are busy now trying to get ready for Christmas and all that goes along with it. We are hosting both of our families here at our house this year, which should be very cozy! ;) We also have big plans for New Years Eve that I am so excited about. I'm really looking forward to enjoying the magic of this season with my beloved family. And hoping that everyone else has a wonderful holiday season spent with their loved ones too!