Sugar Shack-yum!

There is a new local donut shop around the corner from our house, we thought today was the perfect day to try it out! It was like eating dessert for breakfast! So good!

Christmas in Cville (#3)

Even though they had opened up plenty of presents already that didn't stop the kids from being equally excited about our third Christmas Day. It was our first Christmas with the newest Rettig (well Ertel) and that brings the grandkid count to 4. Nana and Poppi were thrilled to have us all together for Christmas.

The cows

Walking down the road a bit to visit the cows is a favorite past time of the kids (and poppi!). So shortly after we arrived in Charlottesville for Christmas #3 we headed out on our walk. The cows were overly friendly this time, showing us all sorts of bodily functions! (ick)

Playground fun

It was time to get some fresh air and play outside. The weather was so nice so we took the kids to the local playground near my parents house. They had fun as usual. Sean enjoyed trying out his new walkie talkies that he received for Christmas.

Christmas day in NC

As usual Nama and Poppy spoiled us all! The kids got a whole new slew of toys and gifts and were excited to play with them all!

Nama and Poppy's House-Christmas Eve

After our family Christmas in Richmond we drove to NC to spend a few days with my family, including my grandparents who drive from Buffalo each Christmas to spend the week with us. On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of decorating sugar cookies. The whole family helps, which is necessary since my mom makes so many cookies! Of course there is a fair amount of sampling along the way!

After that we head to an early Christmas Eve Service at church around 5pm, but not before family pictures around the Christmas Tree. We also exchange home made christmas gifts and have a huge appetizer dinner! We've had this tradition for so many years I cannot remember anything different. We stuffed ourselves with all sorts of delicious appetizers and desserts before heading off to bed to dream about Christmas (again!)

The Whole Fam!

Santa Came! Richmond Christmas 2014

The kids slept til 6:45 am which we considered to be a decent time to wake up on Christmas morning. They came down stairs excited to see what was under the tree. Carter was so happy with her new barbie house and once Sean opened his Santa gift, he was equally excited (an arctic lego set). After we unwrapped all the santa and family gifts we had our usual CHristmas day breakfast-Daddy's famous french toast, bacon and fruit. Yummmm! After playing for the morning and packing for our trip we hit the road to NC around lunchtime. Onto the next stop!

Carter is a little grumpy in the morning, can you tell?!?

Tacky Lights and Christmas Eve Dinner

Our tradition of Maggianos and tacky lights continued for another year. After a delicious dinner we made our way through the west end to all the great stops on the tacky light tour. Although, we realized that not many compared to our own street! After we got home the Sean picked out some cookies for santa and poured him some milk. carter fell asleep in the car during our light tour and she was a bit grumpy (shocking, I know). We read the Night Before Christmas and the kids both fell asleep quickly after we tucked them in. I know they were so excited about Santa visiting that night. Luckily, he had agreed to come a bit early to Richmond since we travel to NC on Christmas.

Santa came!!

Homemade presents and homemade cookies!

We had a couple days of baking and creating home made gifts. Carter made a plate for my grama, her G.G. (great grama) and I made some homemade snacks for my grampa for his gift (granola and chex mix). So we had a busy kitchen because we also made all sorts of home made goodies to bring along to our families houses. The kids loved helping and sampling!

Cubscouts Caroling

Sean's cubscout troop visited a local nursing home to sing some Christmas Carols. It looks like the residents enjoyed their visit.

Tacky Light Run

As I posted before, Tacky Lights are a huge thing in Richmond. They've even made a Tacky Light run that goes through several neighborhoods with great lights. Our close friend's house is on that run and so we went to their house to tailgate and cheer on the runners. It was a lot of fun. The kids played outside and watched an outdoor movie and we hung out around the campfire (to stay warm!). The runners were all decked out in costumes and all sorts of cool lights! We saw Santa and the grinch running and lots of Elf on the shelf runners too!

Tacky Lights in the neighborhood

Sean's best bud and his sister were with us for dinner one night. I took the four of them for a walk down our street which our kids called a "winter wonderland". In Richmond, there is a quite popular trend of "tacky light" displays. Our block of neighbors have put together quite a display and we join in each year. There is a total of 7 houses that are lit up quite nicely. The kids love it!

Short Pump Fun

Since it was so nice outside we decided to do some shopping and hang out at the outdoor mall close to our house. There were Christmas characters around to take pics with and lots of other fun to be had. (Carter was having nothing to do with the characters!)

Later that day, we worked our Christmas card assembly line! Sean helped me with all the steps and Carter did her own helping. Some of you will notice that she drew you a picture on the back of your card. So cute! 

They built a massive Castle!

Thanksgiving 2014

We headed back to Cville for a nice long weekend for Thanksgiving. Once again the kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins and spending time at Nana and Poppi's house. We had our usual turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning and Sean decided to join us for the last .5 mile. Dan and I got some great Christmas shopping done on black Friday and even got to squeeze in a movie!

Then we came home and decorated the house! The kids loved opening up each and every ornament! Carter rearranges them daily!

Boat Racing at Cub Scouts

Sean has really enjoyed being a part of a cub scout troop this year. He looks forward to the weekly meetings. During this meeting, the held a boat race for the boats that they had previously made. He also earned his first badge. He is pretty proud to wear his boyscout uniform!

RJ's Bday

We visited Cville for the weekend to help celebrate RJ's first bday. We were happy that we also got to see Anne and baby Elliott! The kids really enjoy playing with RJ and Elliot!

Fun at school

As I've said before, Carter's school sends me pictures of her at least once a week. It is a nice treat to have her sweet face in my email inbox!

Ridge Reaches Out!

One of my co-workers came up with the idea to help support some of our needy families. We rallied together as a staff, donated lots of food, packed up over 400 lunches, and then headed out to the neighborhood to hand them out. The rain, cold, and wind didn't stop us! I knew I wanted my kids to be a part of this because they need to understand that not everyone has what we have. Sean was a super helper! He helped stuff a lot of lunches! He even stayed out in the rain and cold to help us pass them out. Carter did her part also though she didn't really understand what we were doing. It was a great family day for us and a great day for the staff at my school. We've had some sad news lately and doing something great for our kids and families was just the thing we needed!