Happy Turkey Day...and other fun things!

As I mentioned last week, we had a GREAT time in NYC for Thanksgiving.  It's so much fun getting to spend such quality time with some of our favorite people!  I'll let the pics do the storytelling :)

One of the few times D actually wore his backpack...he convinced me to let him bring it...and then, per usual, I ended up carrying it the majority of the trip!

Sleeping like a baby on the plane :)

On Thursday morning, Nicki and Dylan (they let Chris crash the party!) woke up for their breakfast date and went to check out the balloons.  Always the scammer, NiNi managed to convince the people to let them right up next the balloons :)



Making sweet potatoes with NiNi...although I think D inherited my lack of love for sweet potatoes :)

Dylan associates NYC with lots and lots of parks!!  Probably because we've been to a bunch of them already!  Here we are working off some energy while Uncle Chris stayed back to cook!

Fun with Lindsay!

Homemade apple pie (NiNi and Chris even picked the apples) with Uncle Chris!

NiNi, Grandma, Lindsay and I went to Elf on Broadway while D had a boys night with Grandpa and Uncle Chris!

One of D's favorite things...the subway!

Ever since our last trip to NYC, Dylan has been wanting to ride in a carriage!  It's in his NYC book and we saw the horses last time.  Grandma, D and I enjoyed a very nice ride with our horse Luke :)  After the ride, we had a ton of fun playing in Central Park!

D has figured out how to take self portraits on my phone...



Close to Chris and NiNi's apartment is a ping pong club.  NiNi had shown it to Dylan when we were walking one afternoon, so of course he HAD to go there!!  People have probably been to NYC thousands of times and never had that experience :)

After ping pong, we went out for dinner.  The Christmas decorations were up and the restaurant was really good! 

I love the way NiNi and Grandma are looking at D in this picture...and I think it's pretty obvious he's eating up the attention!

If you look at the bottom right of the picture, you will see the massive dessert we ordered.  It was good, but the best part was when D decided he should put some whip cream on NiNi's nose (he may or may not have been encouraged by Uncle Chris!)



More park fun...and of course a pretzel (also in the book, which makes it a must do!)

Dylan and Uncle Chris love playing ball in the apartment...here they are playing some combo of racquetball/ping pong :)

On the way home, we didn't fly direct, but we did get to fly to Chicago with Grandma and Grandpa!  It was SO nice getting to travel with them...I was even able to read my book on the plane while D and Grandma played!

So tired...but fighting to stay awake on the plane to watch Curious George!

After NYC, we went over to Josh, Beth and Collin's to help celebrate Collin's 2nd birthday and to meet Baby Adam!!!!  It is SO cute to see Dylan and Collin play together!  And Baby Adam is so cute!!!

This is how you open a present, quickly, Collin!

Last Friday was my last day of freedom before starting back at Sprint.  Alyssa was in town, so we enjoyed lunch and some playing with her! 

After lunch, we headed to Crown Center and Lego-Land!

D loves raking leaves!  And jumping in them!  I have some really cute videos of Dylan dive bombing into them!

Decorating the "Disney" Christmas tree with Andie!

We went to Keira's first birthday party on Saturday as well!  It was at a local arcade/amusement park.  We had a GREAT time and were so excited that Matt, Jody and Kylie Stump were there as well!  It's been a while since the kiddos have played together, but they immediately became attached at the hip!  It was SO cute to watch!

These three pictures crack me up...we told D to hang out to Kylie...then Matt decided that his hands should be on her shoulders not her hips :)  I guess that protective Daddy instinct starts at birth :)

A few other random pics...

The Silly Uncle Billy horse is strong enough for all 3 kiddos!

KC park fun with Maggie :)

Ella and Maggie got bunk beds last week.  D and Ella think its so fun to play catch with the stuffed animals!

Last night, Ella and Dylan were coloring.  Ella decided it was time to teach Dylan how to color within the lines (a skill she is practicing in pre-K).  Right after I took this picture, she got another piece of paper for Dylan and drew squares on it for him to practice on his own worksheet.  It was absolutely adorable and reminded me so much of Andrea!  In fact, at one point Ella told Dylan that she could teach him everything from pre-K so next year he would be all set.  I'm pretty sure by the time I started kindergarten, Andrea had me doing 3rd grade worksheets :)  Looks like it might be genetic!

Another Christmas card preview...I can't imagine 3 cuter kiddos!