Holiday Baking

Erin helped me make the rolo turtle pretzels by helping to unwrap the candies and placing the candies on the pretzels.

How to Watch Football

The best way to watch football, with a pizza picnic in front of the TV!

Note:We realized that we watch a lot of football when Sammie referred to intermission during a show as half time!

Christmas Take One

We exchanged gifts with grandma great before she left for LA. Sammie still says that her embossing set if one of her best gifts and Erin loves to play and sing with her baby. Thanks grandma great!

Jingle Bells in Greek

Sammie's Christmas Program

Sammie's school Christmas program was last Tuesday and it was fabulous! I loved how they had students playing the piano accompaniments while the choirs sang! Of course, Sammie's choir was the best! Erin was having fun watching Sammie and was waving to her while she was on stage. While we were waiting for Sammie to preform, Erin had fun playing in yiayia's purse and found some sticky notes for everyone to wear on their foreheads. Thanks to all of the grandparents and great-grandparents for coming to support Sammie! I love that we took up a whole row!

Here We Go Brownies!

We just beat the Steelers, the defending Superbowl champs!!!! Go Browns!

Chritmas Preparations

This weekend we took the girls to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Canton Player's Guild. Erin was nervous about the lights going off, but seemed to mostly enjoy the show. Sammie always loves seeing live shows. At intermission, Sammie leaned over and asked if it was half time. Obviously, we watch a lot of football! The girls also helped me to decorate our Christmas tree. This year's tree features our new angle and star and does not include candy canes or garland. We were really nervous about the kitten's reaction and didn't want to tempt them with too much fun hanging from the tree. So far, so good though! All of the cats are interested in the tree, but there have been no climbings and they have managed to only knock 2 bulbs off (knock on wood)!

O Christmas Tree

We found our Christmas tree this year in a record setting 15 minutes! The weather was perfect and the girls enjoyed helping cut down the tree and hauling it back in the sled. What a wonderful family tradition we have started! We were even featured on the front page of the Times Reporter! Click here to see the article and picture.

Thankful!

We are so thankful for our family and friends, for family meals around the table, and for the all of the blessings in our lives! Thanksgiving was spent with my mom's family here in Canton and then George's dad's family in Cleveland. The girls had so much fun playing with all of their cousins. Sammie even found a TV zombie twin in Cleveland!

Catching Up

So much has been going on! We had another showing last week, but they were looking for more of a backyard. Parent teacher conferences were last Wednesday and Sammie had a good report! She had a little bit of a rough start but has been adjusting well to her new environment. We were relieved when her teacher did not start the conference with a comment about Sammie talking too much! George and I are so proud of the work she has been doing! I took advantage of the warm weather this past weekend and put the Christmas lights up, but they will not be turned on until after Thanksgiving. We took the girls to see the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Erin kept calling it the meatball movie. It's nice that Erin is old enough to go to the movies now and we're hoping to take them more often. Erin is blossoming so much lately. She's talking more than ever and is participating in Sunday School, Greek school and daycare. We've also been working with her to have her blankie and suck her thumb only when she's sleeping. It started out rough, but with the help of her teachers at daycare, we are to a point where we rarely need to remind her to take her thumb out of her mouth! The girls and I took Nana to Glazed and Amused for some girl time. Erin painted a cat magnet and a fish for home and a butterfly magnet for Nana. Sammie painted a turtle jewelery box for home and a palm tree magnet for Nana. Nana painted a bowl for Papa's birthday. Sorry no pics! I forgot my camera at home. We also celebrated Yiayia's birthday by cooking and bringing dinner to her house. This week will be just as busy! Tomorrow we are heading to Cassandra and Sergio's to see how they've settled into their new house and Friday George and I are heading out of town for his boss's wedding while the girls head for a sleepover with Grandma-Great, Nana, and Papa.

And the Answer is...

Big Smelly Bear!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Erin has been reading a book in daycare that she really likes. She would tell me the story at night when she was reading me a bedtime story. I have been trying to figure out what the name of the book was for 2+ weeks. We were both frustrated with each other because I couldn't understand what it was she was saying. Well, I finally figured it out at dinner the other night and there was much celebration. Listen to the video and tell me if you can figure it out. It's not as simple as it sounds ;) (I'll post the answer tomorrow.)

I Learned Something New

I've always wanted to know how to do this cool effect with my pictures, so I googled it and got to work. It was easier than I thought it would be! This is my first attempt and I think it turned out pretty well!

Fall Evenings

It was perfect weather for a bonfire Sunday evening. The girls sat around and enjoyed their dessert after dinner while George and I bagged up the leaves that were raked into piles before dinner. We're hoping there will be a few more fall evenings perfect for family gathering around the fire pit!

Halloween Booty

I think it's safe to say the girls made out this year! The eyeball glasses were also a trick-or-treat item and one of Erin's favorite new toys. She calls them her sunglasses :)

Trick-or-Treat Take 2

This take featured grandma-great's neighborhood. There were lots of young families out and lots of houses participating. The kids had fun despite the nip in the air and got more candy than we know what do to with! We ended trick-or-treat with a stop at yiayia's house.

Night at the Booseum

Friday night I took the girls to the McKinley Museum for their annual Halloween event. It was a lot of fun! The kids were able to trick or treat throughout the museum while checking out the exhibits. They also had a scavenger hunt and several crafts the kids could participate in. We ran into Lindsey, Giovanni, Nikki and Antonio. Erin loved that her cousin was there and walked around with him holding his hand. It's so cute to see how close the two of them are. The girls decided to go through their closets and pick out a different Halloween costumes for the Booseum. Erin was a princess and kept calling Vanni her king. We all had a lot of fun will probably go again next year.

Whose Face is That?

The girls exhibit many of the same facial expressions as their beloved Aunt Angie, but this is definitely an Uncle Matt face!

Pumpkin Fun

We finally got a chance to carve our pumpkins and finish decorating our house for Halloween (although Canton City's Trick or Treat has already passed). Not a ton of decorations but cute none the less. The lighted spider web is new. Sammie helped me hang it and decided where to put the spiders on. Erin looked at it when we were lighting the pumpkins and said she was freaking out over the spiders! She's really had a thing with spiders this year. There's always a spider hiding somewhere or chasing her around the house.

All in Row

This is what Erin was doing while she was waiting for trick-or-treat to start. She was too excited to sleep so she started playing with all of the baby dolls in her toy box. After driving them all around in her car (the landing), she stated lining them up. We never figured out why, but it was cute none the less!

Pumpkin Cake

This is the cake I made for Jill and Brett's party Saturday evening. I actually made the cake from scratch instead of a box! ;) It turned out really cute (and yummy) so I think I'm going to make one for Thanksgiving as well.