Catch up time - November and December

Wow - where did November and December go. Apologies in advance for the long blog and photo dump...I'm sure you're not busy getting ready for Christmas or anything. We started early November with a quick trip to Disney with Princess. Jimmo is not quite ready to take on Disney, but we look forward to this adventure some day. Nana and Uncle Muscles watched Jimmo while we were gone and did very well taking him to school and caring for him. Here is a short photo album of our trip. (Click on the picture of Tigger to see the album)

Disney 2008

Thanksgiving came quickly. This holiday, like most, is one of our favorites. Our family has so much to be thankful for and we enjoy focusing a holiday on being thankful for every blessing we've been given. We have been hosting for over 5 years now and truly enjoy spending this time with family and friends. We had a great time with our friends the D's and missed our other friends the E's very much. Here are a few shots of the men partaking in the cooking traditions and the girls before bedtime. And of course my friend K and I did the Black Friday shopping experience the next morning. We decided to be reasonable and meet at 6AM. Lots of fun, oh and great deals.

And this brings us to December. First we started off with celebrating our little girls birthday. We're still in denial that she's actually 5. She wanted to have a Gingerbread party - and WOW was that a lot of sugar! Imagine five little girls making Gingerbread houses covered in every piece of candy imaginable. Both sets of Grandparents were down for the first time ever, which was quite exciting for her. And of course Uncle Muscles came, now that he is local. She had a wonderful time and is already making requests for next year. Hmmm who does she take after? (Click on the below picture to see all the pictures)

5th Birthday

Gran Gran and PaPa were down from New York for most of December. This was a fun treat to share our Christmas traditions with them. This past weekend we had both of husband's sisters and their families down to celebrate Christmas. It was a cousins dream - they played and played.

Lunch at Five Guys

Singing Happy Birthday Baby Jesus - all the cousins

A trip to Mount Vernon to see it at Christmas time

Jimmo had his school holiday party. Since I last wrote, two new children have joined his class. Both children are verbal, which is great for Jimmo to have the example. So now there are 5 children to 1 teacher and 2 aides. Still amazing ratios. He continues to love school. In the morning as soon as I say, "it's time to go to school", he goes right to the garage door with excitement. His smile is from ear to ear at the Kiss & Ride drop off area where the teachers greet him. Here are a few shots from his Christmas party.

Decorating cookies (gluten casein free of course) but Jimmo was more interested in eating them. This is one of his classmates and his speech therapist and her daughter.

Dad helping Jimmo make a shaker plate. Here they are stamping it for decoration Santa came for a quick visit
Working on a door hanger with Mom

And finally - the best part - party food!

So we've had a busy season but we're looking forward to Christmas Day. Jimmo is fighting a cold and fever right now, but we should hopefully, with a little prayer, be all better for Christmas!

May the blessings of Christmas remain in your heart all year long.

Merry Christmas!