Kitchen renovation so far

Okay because adding pictures on this blog sucks, they're a little nuts. But here are before and after shots of the two sides of our kitchen. I have to say that looking at them side by side it doesn't seem that different, but I assure you that the old cabinets were small, dirty, and awful. We're loving the extra space (cabinets to the ceiling and extended counter tops) and the more attractive look. The floors have yet to be done. Hopefully soon, especially since the floors are the main reason we started this nonsense.

Below is the nonsense I was talking about. We lived with a whole set of extra cabinets in our kitchen for two week because our first contractor never showed up. I'll spare you the details of all that, mostly because it still nauseates me to think about. But thanks to my father-in-law we still got it done in time for Thanksgiving.

At least the kids enjoyed the fun that packing up the kitchen and emptying the cabinets provided!

Thanksgiving 2011!

Thanksgiving was a close-call this year! Our kitchen was finished getting remodeled on Tuesday. I promise there will be a whole post just about the kitchen complete with before and after pictures soon. But it was finished just in time and we couldn't be more thrilled. Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Tuesday and we had a fun couple of days getting ready. Then Nonna and Pop-pop arrived on Thursday and stayed through the weekend while Grandma and Grandpa left on Friday.

We girls all made the center piece and name cards. It was super fun. I think the adults had more fun than Gianna!

Of course there was lots of time for playing. 

And posing for pictures in Gianna's school hats was fun for everyone!

The kids both tasted pumpkin pie for the first time. They weren't super impressed. 

Mark spent a lot of the weekend in this doll stroller for some reason. I predict it's demise will come very soon!

Gianna made delicious ginger bread with Nonna!

And she won the wish bone contest with Daddy. 

And she helped decorate the tree on Sunday. Phew, busy weekend!

Mark is 2!

November 20th was Mark's 2nd birthday. I still can't believe my baby is two! We started with a visit to Santa, hence the Christmas-y outfits on the kids. Time with Santa was apparently not on Mark's birthday wish-list. But after that trauma, he very much enjoyed all his balloons, presents and cake. (P.S. He had his 2-year appointment shortly after his birthday. He's 35.5 inches tall and 33 pounds, both 90th percentile-ish.)

And here is a video where Mark almost sets himself on fire. He's fine, just a little melted wax on his face. We're good parents...really.

Family time!

Back in November we went away for the weekend to see Doug's brother's family in PA and then on to Binghamton to see more of Doug's extended family. (We thought we'd be escaping the disaster that was our kitchen remodel, but it turns out it hadn't even started yet...but that's a whole other post!)

The kids and I spent a lovely couple of days with Elizabeth, Bella, and Jack. The kids all had a great time playing and eating together. Then Doug joined us Friday night and we all went to Binghamton in the morning. The first stop was Grandpa Ray's house.  Miraculously, I was able to get this shot of him with all the kids and no tears. I was stunned.

We had a great time catching up with lots of family and look forward to seeing them again in the winter.

Natural History Museum

At the beginning of November, our friend Kelly was visiting NYC. We were able to see her on Saturday by meeting her at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. There are no pictures of the great start of the day which was tipping the double stroller over in the middle of a cross walk: picture both kids completely upside-down and not able to be seen under the tipped stroller and screaming. Luckily, the only real injury sustained was to Gianna's front tooth. The tooth is now gray, but the dentist says there is no damage to the tooth, so losing the tooth in a few years will cure that problem. Anyway, where was I. Yes, the museum. It was very cool. The kids loved the dinosaurs and we were thrilled to see our friend!

Merry Halloween!

Like much of the east coast, our Halloween began with a weekend of snow! Gianna wanted to go out and play when the first flake fell, we managed to hold her off a bit, but she loved it! Mark needs more gear before we'll let him out, but he didn't seem to mind staying inside.

Gianna got to dress up for her school parade and party. She was very excited to be Sleeping Beauty. It was so cute to see all the little 4-year-olds dressed up. They almost froze to death, but they were smiling anyway!

After the parade, we went inside for the kids to sing us some songs. It was adorable. Poor little girl next to Gianna had a little stage fright. Gianna on the other hand was really into it. Cracked me up!


Then in the evening we went trick-or-treating in our friends' neighborhood. The people in this photo had the right idea: fire pit, pizza, beer and giving candy from lawn chairs instead of answering the door every 30 seconds. This, by the way, is the best picture I have of Mark the dragon. He wore his costume several times in October, but on the day it mattered most, this was the best dragon he could be. He loved trick-or-treating though. He knew all his lines and really grasped the "get candy" part. 

Gianna and Olivia, the queen. They had a great time together. 

The girls were all business. 

Remember the Alamo

So earlier this year, Doug opted to fly coach instead of first class (for work) back from Europe. For the "trouble" it was for him to slum it like the rest of us, Continental gave him $1000 travel voucher. So we decided to go somewhere as a little getaway: San Antonio, TX. And we couldn't be happier with our decision. We LOVED it! As soon as we got there we gorged ourselves on Mexican food, which was delicious. Then after a nap (our flight was early), we headed to the Alamo (a very short walk from our hotel).

Then we headed to dinner on the Riverwalk. This was our view. The weather was pretty warm during the day, but by dinner time there were cool breezes and zero humidity, it was beautiful!

After dinner, we took a river boat cruise in the dark in a boat like this. They tell you about all the sights. I'd love to see it at Christmas time. Every tree along the river was in the process of getting completely covered in lights. 

We headed away from the Riverwalk the next day. Our first stop was the San Fernando cathedral. It's very beautiful and holds the remains of Davy Crockett and other Alamo defenders. Although, upon researching this fact just now, apparently, there is some question about the validity of this claim.

We went back to the Riverwalk in the afternoon after a morning in the markets. There are lots of nice waterfalls like this one. 

Doug climbed to the top of a tower built for Hemisfair in 1968. I thought this picture he got of St. Joseph's church was pretty cool. It's surrounded by a shopping mall. Too funny.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time. It was so nice to relax and spend some quality time together. And we couldn't be more grateful to Grandma and Grandpa spending the weekend with the kids, who apparently did very well without us!