Getting Our Christmas Tree

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to get our Christmas tree.  It wasn’t too cold and the kids had a lot of fun running around and looking at all the different trees.  Brad wanted one that was at least 12 feet tall.  We have a very high ceiling in our new living room and he was so excited to have a tall tree.  I felt like 12 feet was a bit over board, but it looked really nice.

Everyone was helping Daddy

It is always easier to cut down a tree with a 3 yr old sitting on your legs.

Cecilia, Vincent and Joel

When we got home Joel couldn’t wait to set up the tree and for Christmas in general.  It turns out that this year he loves Christmas.  We set up our little pencil tree in the basement and he was in Heaven!  Normally he doesn’t like when it is dark in the basement, but when the tree was down there he insisted that all the lights were off so he could see the lights on the Christmas tree.  He danced around the basement singing “Its Christmas night.  Its Christmas night!” Cecilia was quick to chime in and Vincent was confused by the fact that they were making up a song.  The excitement was contagious!

Our first year to ever have a wreath.

Large tree, a lot of lights and not a great ladder, and a husband who thinks the tree should have been taller.

All the lights up and the star!

It took a day or two before Brad got the lights up and I (with a little help from the kids) was able to get all the ornaments on.  It involved a very wobbly ladder and wishing I was taller than what I really am.  This was the first year we haven’t had to have baby gates around the tree.  We did lose a few ornaments, but it had nothing to do with the kids.  Most of the ornaments toward the bottom were rearranged by the kids (mostly Joel and Cecilia) more than once!

Vincent woke up early to hang ornaments on the tree.

Joel decided to join in the fun too!  He LOVED Christmas this year.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  Time set aside to thank God for everything we have with no pressure on finding the perfect gift.  Plus I get to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that I don’t see very often.  Oh, and eat delicious food.

Eddy, my dad, and Uncle Joe

Alyse, Azra, Jill and Aunt Mary

Cousins!

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the mass emails that go out before hand to figure out who is coming to Thanksgiving and what everyone is bringing.  Along with t-shirt orders and a little teasing back and forth.  We aren’t talking 5-10 emails.  There were 50+ emails sent in the first 24 hours!

A handful of Ruggiero Cousins!

1 of 6 delicious turkeys

Thanksgiving was the usual running around with cousins; older cousins, aunt and uncles telling stories and giving each other a hard time by the fire pit and grills, and people visiting in the house.  Plus the usual fight over turkey cookies!  It is really a great time and one of my favorite holidays.

Story time

The kids were all sound asleep in the car when we arrived, so we left them in the car and kept going back and forth to check on them.  I went back to check on them one time and Cecilia was awake and Vincent was missing.  She told me Vincent tried to undo her buckle and that he woke her up.  All probably true.  Vincent's shoes were still in the car along with his coat and he was nowhere to be found outside.  I went in the house and he was sitting on the couch with some cousins and chatting like it was no big deal he just broke out of his car seat and the car and didn't even seem to care where his parents happened to be.

Cecilia and Daddy

Nanno and Joel

Halloween Fun!

In previous years Joel didn’t care about Halloween at all.  He didn’t like it actually.  He would sit in the stroller with the shade down a hat on his face and ignore the fact that anything was going on.  This year he was looking at a catalog and asked what something was.  I told him it was a batman costume that you can wear for Halloween.  He started asking to “go to Halloween.”  We talked about Halloween a little and he was pretty excited about it.  It was then that I knew he would probably go along with my idea of everyone being superheroes for Halloween.

My 3 superheroes!

Their very cool capes!

The superhero family!  Vincent, Brad, Joel, Kelli and Cecilia.

Grandma Diane made us all capes (Vincent already had one) and I made sweatshirts that looked like superhero shirts and masks for all the kids.  I made a sweatshirt for myself too, but not Brad.  He told me he wasn’t going to be able to go because he would be in the field.  It ended up raining that afternoon so he was able to go with us.  He was a little disappointed he didn’t have a cool sweatshirt to wear.  I knew I shouldn’t have listened to him and just made one.

I love Joel's expression!

Joel with his teacher at the Halloween Parade.

We had all be wearing our capes around well before Halloween Day because the kids loved to wear them and pretend we were all superheroes.  Many nights (and days) we would run around the house in them and race, wrestle and pretend to save people and things.  In the morning Cecilia and I went to Joel’s school to see their Halloween Parade.  We were then invited to stay for the class party.  Cecilia was so excited to stay and play with Joel and Joel was pretty excited to have us.  There are only 4 kids in his class and Cecilia was happy to be number 5 for the morning.  I really enjoyed seeing how he worked in his classroom.

Joel and Cecilia waiting for a snack.

Cecilia loved getting to go to Joel's school.

Already to go trick or treating.

After School Diane, Brad, the kids and I went to a nearby nursing home that offers trick or treating.  It is a very popular spot!  The residents are all lined up in two very large areas and hand out candy to all the kids.  It is indoors (except for the long line you stand in to get inside), safe, the kids love it and the residents like seeing the all the children dressed up.   Brad was helping Joel at the nursing home and he said that about half way thru Joel realized what was going on and no long had to be prompted to say trick or treat.  He really seemed to have fun.  Cecilia figured out the routine rather quick but kept just throwing her candy toward the bag and missing and moving on to the next person.  I spent my time picking her candy up off the floor. 

Super Cecilia.

Super Joel!

Afterwards we went to Aunt Linda’s house to trick or treat.  The rain was letting up by then so we went trick or treating around her block.  Vincent and Joel were running from house to house.  Joel wanted to go in everyone’s house at first because that is the normal thing to do after you ring a doorbell.  We had a lot of fun.  Before we got back to the car Joel spotted a very large puddle and managed to jump in it before we could stop him.  He was in heaven!  He loves puddles!  After Aunt Linda’s house we drove to my godparent’s house to trick or treat.  Aunt Kathy offered them fruit just to tease them and my kids were more than happy to have fruit instead of candy.  

The bag was as big as her!

Vincent and the dog.

Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I really enjoyed it this year!  It was fun that all three kids enjoyed it and I didn’t have to feel like I was torturing Joel by taking him with us.

Joel, a dog, and Vincent.

Carving Pumpkins

I enjoy carving pumpkins with the kids.  I enjoy it a lot more when Brad is around to help.  This  year we only carved 3 pumpkins.  My grandparents bought the kids pumpkins and I never ended up buying Brad or me a pumpkin.  The kids all decided how they wanted their pumpkin’s faces to be.  Vincent wanted a Frankenstein pumpkin.  The other two just picked different shapes for the eyes, ears, nose and mouth.  I started off carving them with a knife because Brad wasn’t really acting like he wanted to help.  Then I think I made him nervous with my carving skills and he went and got the power tools and started carving everyone’s pumpkins.  He does a really great job!

A little pumpkin chaos.

Brad convinced Joel to touch the pumpkin guts!

Vincent cleaning his pumpkin, Joel watching and Cecilia too close to the edge of the table.

I think Joel was hugging Vincent.

Vincent watching Daddy carve the pumpkin with power tools.

This year I decided I was going to cook the pumpkin seeds.  I sorted them, washed them, put them in the oven, forgot about them, put the kids to bed, and smelled burnt pumpkin seeds!  It was a huge disappointment.  Vincent cried the next morning and wanted to go get more pumpkins so we could try again.  I told him we would do better next year!

Much easier to make fun shapes.

Vincent and his pumpkin.

Cecilia and her pumpkin.

 

Post pumpkin wrestling match...Brad looks like he is losing.

Our pumpkins lived on the dining room table, until they got moldy and gross.  Joel loved them.  He would sit and he meals and talk to the pumpkins.  He would talk about what shapes they had on them, which pumpkin belonged to which kid.  He even pulled them in close to his plate and had lunch with them one day.  He just really enjoyed the pumpkins!

Our 3 pumpkins.

Joel having lunch with his friends.

He really loved having the pumpkins on the table.