36th birthday and Christmas decorating

For various reason I had a really horrible nights sleep Thanksgiving night.  I woke up at 2:00 and did not get back to sleep until almost 4:00 am.  It was awful.  I was glad that Mark and I had arranged for me to have a nice sleep in for my birthday.  He got up just after 7:00 and had Jared and Lydia decorate for my birthday and make the traditional orange rolls for my birthday breakfast.  I got up around 8:00 and had some creative birthday balloons.  Mark had Jared come up with many math equations to equal 36 and they wrote happy birthday in multiple languages.  It was very Mark like which was fun.  Since I knew I was making a cake for dessert the day before I didn't really feel the need for more cake but Mark wanted me to have one for my birthday so I requested cake pops.  He kindly went all over town with Jared and Lydia trying to track some down.  He ended up with frozen truffle bites from Costco which were fine.  We all agreed that the pumpkin spice sheet cake from the day before was much better but it was really nice of him to search so hard and good to try something new.

Traditionally we put out all our Christmas decorations after we finish eating Thanksgiving dinner.  Since Thanksgiving came early this year I was leaning more towards waiting a few days but Lydia was not on board with that idea.  So we spent the morning decorating for Christmas.  It does feel nice to have it done.  Although as I was trying to decorate our mantle it did not feel nice at all. When I put away our decorations last year I put all the mantle decorations together but I could not get them to look right. It was so frustrating.  Eventually I just called it and we moved on to the tree.  I think I will hit up some after Christmas sales this year and see if I can't be inspired for some new decorations for the mantle as I am over the ones I have.  It all turned out well and we are all enjoying admiring how it looks.

A few weeks ago I spent a night looking up Christmas activities around town.  I was trying to find some new ones to check out and found some that sound really fun.  One was the annual tree lighting at Boars Head Inn out near Crozet.  It was Friday night so we bundled up and headed over there.  My Mom and sister were planning on coming but unfortunately my Mom had a terrible fall Wednesday while we were in DC.   She and Katie got here late Tuesday and the best weather was Wednesday so I took them into DC.  This proved to be an unfortunate event as she has been really laid up since that fall.  I feel so sad that she has been in so much pain and that her trip has not been what she wanted it to be.  So the four of us attended the tree lighting without them.  It was a great event, one that we would attend again and wished they could have joined us.  There were some old fashioned carolers, fie pits to warm up by, lights and luminaries, a big tree, hot chocolate and cookies, a visit from Santa Claus and carriage rides.  It was quite cold but we all enjoyed ourselves.  The pavilion it was held at had beautiful festive decorations and I loved seeing luminaries.

 


I mostly just like the luminaries in this one.  We were speculating on how many they put out so I asked one of the employees and he said at least 800.  It was beautiful. If it was a little warmer I may have gone on a walk to enjoy them all. But the carriage ride was fun and took us by them all.

We ended the night with new Christmas Pajamas and time to admire the tree.

Thanksgiving

I decided to approach our Thankful tree a little differently this year.  In the past I make one tree and have them write something every night.  This year we had a little grove of trees and I instructed them to write whenever they felt like it.  It worked fine but I think doing it daily helps them focus in on being thankful more which is the whole point.  Shortly after I put it up Lydia sat down and wrote out like 12 leaves.  Jared did not want to be outdone by his little sister and promptly sat down and wrote 13.  I guess it helped them? 

Crafts:  I found 2 new crafts to make which was great.  I decided to save these cute turkeys and use them as decorations next year too.  They were fun.  They both enjoyed making this Tee-pee village.  It was a great activity for them to do while Mark and I did some dinner prep.  They both got really into it and are planning on saving them to play with throughout the year.  

Earlysville Turkey Trot:  Jared and Mark decided to join me in the turkey trot this year.  It was fun.  I trained way more than they did and they both beat me.  I knew Mark would given his cross country training and the fact that he is 6'3 to my 5'4.  His stride is so much longer than mine.  I also knew Jared would attempt to run with Mark and stayed with him most the time.  Mark finished right around 30 minutes Jared around 31 and I crossed the line at 33.  Not an amazing time but I wasn't trying to be fast just run it all which I did.  It is always a tough course for me but I am always so happy when I run it.  I really miss my regular running schedule.  I have been trying to go after work but my heart just isn't in it.  I want to do it first thing in the morning but can't get back in time to make it to work on time.  There are numerous reasons why I feel this way. 1:  It's what I am used to. 2: I like to do it first thing then shower and get ready for the day.  3: I always felt like I was stronger because I made the effort to get up and be out the door before 6:30 am.  Its cold and dark and it made me feel tougher than other people. 4: I am not a natural runner and never look good while running. I don't think I need to look good exactly but some people just look like natural runners and I do not so I liked that nobody was out and saw me.  I am thinking I may just have to be a Saturday am runner only which does not lend itself to training for long races well.  It's a bummer and really getting me down. All that aside we are all happy we did the race.

While we were out running Lydia stayed at home with my sister Katie and my Mom who are out visiting.  They watched the Macys' parade and then we joined them in watching it when we got back.  As we watched I kept thinking about how I couldn't wait to go back one year soon! After some necessary dinner prep we played some games together.  I printed off some Thanksgiving Mad Libs which were a hit.  They were everyone's favorite.  We did a variation of going around and saying what we were thankful for with the help of popsicle sticks and then we taught them the dice game.   Our dice have been missing for a long time and I randomly came across them this week so my family was happy to play again.

Our dinner turned out great.  I always worry that the turkey won't cook all the way though but it turned out really well.  We had all the usual trimmings minus sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.   Our little family doesn't particularly like pumpkin pie (or sweet potatoes) so I decided to not bother making one this year.  I was talking to Katie about her favorite foods at Thanksgiving and she said turkey and pumpkin pie so then I felt bad not making one but I made the pumpkin spice sheet cake and everyone loved it.  Even my Mom who has the worst appetite since her health issues this summer.  They both asked for the recipe so it ended well.

Jared's thankful leaves: Mom, the world, Dad, food, outside, Jesus, my mind, Harry Potter, my body room, drinks, electricity, bed, candy, home, God, books, eyes, me, blanket.

Lydia's thankful leaves: family, Halloween, Jesus, school, loving parents that are on my side, house, trees, ice cream, blankets and stuffed animals, clocks to tell time, holidays, God, my birthday, the Earth, parents that love me, presents, Thanksgiving, and food and drinks,

Day Trip NYC style

Since Mark got his job at the airport we have talked about taking the early morning flight from CHO to La Guardia and then coming back on the late evening flight. Basically leaving around 6:05 am and returning at 10:30 pm.  In the 14 months he has been working there we have never been able to make it happen but this past Tuesday we did.  Mark really wanted to go to the temple and when he checked the flights they looked really open so we went for it.

Our tentative plan for the day was to both attend the temple, walk around the Museum of Natural History, stop by Times Square to check out the Lego Store and the Disney Store and visit Rockefeller Center.  Things really went pretty well.  It rained most of the day but there were still plenty of Fall leaves on the trees which made me really happy.  I have always wanted to see NYC in the Fall.

To get from the airport to the city we took a bus and then got on the Subway.  We are lunch at a little diner that was okay but not great.  Food in NYC is so expensive. That is the tricky part about going there.  Its awesome to be able to fly up and back there in a day but even then it's still an expensive place.  Also tricky is that you have to fly into La Guardia and it has way too much traffic for the size of the airport.  We got on our flight that night and then waited in line to take off for 35 minutes.  For every plane that took off 2 - 3 came in so we just had to sit around for so long and we were not the last plane in line.  We had the same problem leaving CHO.  We boarded on time here but because of space at La Guardia we had to wait on the runway for 20 minutes. The big bonus is that because we do have this option we don't have to try to cram so many things into our time there.  I hope we can go again and check out more places.  I would really like to go right after or before Christmas and see all the decorations.  We saw a lot last year but I wouldn't mind seeing them again.

It was fun to go spend the day up there and I'm so glad it worked out.  There were times during the day that I thought, I would really enjoy living here then later in the day I thought I would never want to live here.  We had just recently watched Night at the Museum for family movie night which made the museum extra fun.   Lydia told me that that movie is her favorite movie.


Museum Favorites:

Jared loved seeing this whale. 

Quick Grand Central Station stop

Manhattan Temple. The museum is about a 10 minute walk up the street from the temple.  After I finished in the temple Mark went in and Jared, Lydia and I walked to the museum without him, our trusty navigator.  It was literally up the same street but I felt pretty cool walking the streets of NY with my 2 kids.

 

Mark met us outside the museum and we got some dinner.  Because it was election day there were quite a few News stations set up in different buildings providing live coverage.  I kept mentioning this to Jared and Lydia and asking if they noticed the cameras.  There were some fun lights at Rockefeller Center which was right by the Lego Store.  We haven't been to any Lego stores and it was cool to see the special sets they had and their models.  I had read online that the Disney Store nearby in Times Square was fun so we stopped in there. Last year we didn't go into Times Square and Jared and Lydia could not believe how bright it was and how big the TV's were.  It was great to go in for a day and we were so relieved when we got to the airport with time to spare and seats on the flight.

Christmas and Election Day in one outing.

This castle was really pretty.  

A beautiful day

Due to rain on Friday night soccer was once again cancelled for Saturday.  Next Saturday should be the last day if the weather cooperates.  I originally wanted to drive up into Shenandoah to check out the Fall colors but the timing just wasn't quite right.  Mark had a baptism at 12:00 and had to be at the airport at 4:00 so the day was cut up weird.  In the end we headed over to the Monticello Trail which we hadn't been to in ages.  There was plenty of color to see on the drive over and on the trail.  It was chillier than I thought it would be but not bad.  It was great to get over there.

 

We came home and had lunch while Mark went to the baptism.  After lunch Lydia, Jared and I headed over to Pen Park after a quick stop at Dollar Tree.  We don't go to Pen Park much these days but I remembered from our first year here that there are really full colorful trees in the Fall over there.    Lydia really wanted to jump in leaf piles and it is a good place for that. We have plenty of trees in our yard but our grass area is so small that we can't quite make big leaf piles.  We played on the playground, explored the woods beneath the playground, played soccer and football, raked leaves and flew kites.  Mark drove over to join us after the baptism which was great. It was such a perfect Fall day.  There were 2 the guys there flyings kites and every now and then all three kites would be up in the area at the same time which was really fun.  I was so happy we could have such a beautiful fun day out in the perfect Fall weather.