Alec's 5th birthday party

In our family, the 5th birthday is a BIG one where we invite lots of friends and go do something special we wouldn't normally do. This was our last 5th birthday celebration and Alec chose Fun Fore All in Cranberry. His theme - Green Lantern (a good guy superhero....the cake is in the shape of his symbol.)

Alec invited friends from his homeschool coop preschool, Sunday school, and our Maryland friends came also!

Blowing out candles,

spinning the birthday wheel,

and a group picture (I think we were missing Gabby!)

Our wonderful friends from Maryland!

And one of the guests hit the jackpot....1,000 tickets! She was able to do some Christmas shopping in the prize store!

Alec and his best buddy from Pennsylvania....

and his best buddy from Maryland! Everyone had a great time.

PACyber Old Economy Christmas tour

A nice way to begin the Christmas season was to have a tour of Old Economy and learn about German Christmas traditions. We heard a story about the leaning tree, saw a variety of Advent houses, learned the history of hanging stockings, and saw simple, yet beautiful decorations.
Singing "Jingle Bells" with real jingle bells was fun!
To end our tour, Belsnickel grumpily greeted us to a Christmas party, complete with cookies, drinks, and a peek into his "naughty and nice" book to make sure all the children were listed in the "good" category (they were!). What fun!

The Wonder of the First Snowfall of the Season......

A reason to love western Pennsylvania.......

it is perfectly acceptable to wear your Steeler jersey to church on any given Steeler game Sunday....which is almost every Sunday from September to almost February, depending on how the team is doing. This makes my 9-year-old a very happy young man!

Alec is 5!

Alec had a wonderful birthday and it is hard for Darrell and I to grasp that our baby is 5! Birthday tradition at our house is that you get to choose all the meals on your birthday, so here was Alec's menu:

• Breakfast - Bagels with Nutella
• Lunch - Macaroni and cheese
• Dinner - Chicken nuggets and french fries.

Dessert was rootbeer floats with chocolate ice cream! Since Alec's birthday is so close to Thanksgiving this year, his birthday party (and birthday cake) will be December 4th.
Alec was excited to open presents from family....thank you to Aunt Carla for some new legos....
and to Aunt Sheila for a new DVD.

Alec continues to bring so much joy to our lives and we are thankful for our Thanksgiving baby! Happy Birthday, little guy!

Random pictures

Fall yard work is well under way.....Evan is now big enough to help drag garbage cans full of leaves all the way down our steep yard.
It was time to bury "Miss Juliette", Ann-Marie's faithful tomato plant. She produced wonderful tomatoes right up until the end. Ann-Marie insisted upon the burial spot.
Comet has a biscuit problem....sometimes his "stray" mentality still shows through.

lazy, rainy day

the last three days
have been filled with
a long family bike ride in unusually warm November weather
a school night sleep over
gymnastics
and several playdates.....

so today brings
rain, cold, and dreariness
sleepy children and dog
sharing a heating vent

it's good to slow down every once in awhile