Christmas Tree Farm- 2012

We found the GREATEST Christmas Tree Farm in Germantown/Mequon.  It's call Trees For Less.  And, what the name lacks in character the farm makes up for two fold.
We pulled up to a roaring fire, a Merry Christmas Hut with snack and fresh Hot Cocoa, and a hayride.  The girls had a ball picking out the perfect Spearman Fir and even Coko got to join the fun.

Halloween 2012

So... I finally downloaded all our Halloween pix! I must warn you- this is a LOOOONNNGGG post with a lot of pictures from the entire Halloween week.

It was a great weekend complete with a corn maze with friends, trick or treating and pumpkin illumination in the city and a party at our house for trick or treating in the hood.

First of all- we tackled the local corn maze with our great friends.  And, while we did loose one another more than once, it was fun and the girls got to take some pumpkins home for carving (which we never actually did- oops!)

Right from there we went Trick or Treating in the City.  The girls had the chance to carve pumpkins the week prior (this we did) to help decorate the town.  The night ended with The Great Pumpkin Illumination. The girls pumpkin is right up front!  It was a cold night, but tons of fun and a nice way to kick off the spirit!

Last, but definitely not least, we had a pre-party and after "bar" here for neighborhood "walk and wine" trick or treating with all our new friends and Maia! I even joined in the fun with my standard vampire costume!

You can see we had one tired pumpkin by the end of the night.  I think we are still cleaning the basement and finding candy wrappers!!  What a FUN FUN FUN night.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is the first year for as long as I can remember that I'm not hosting Thanksgiving- a bittersweet reality of living close to our family- all of whom already had traditions in place. And, since my fondest memories of Thanksgiving surround spending the morning in the kitchen with family and friends, I decided to enlist the girls in making our famous spiced cranberry sauce and a whole lot of baby food- batches and batches. So many, in fact, I'm short on ice cube trays.

I do love to cook and today's the day that Daddy takes over and allows me all day in the kitchen- after his bike ride of course;). I just couldn't let that pass me by. Lucky for Emi and her care givers- she now has many months of baby food on hand!!!!!

If this happens next year I'll consider volunteering my time to homeless shelters. Just didn't plan ahead enough this year.

Here are my little helpers:

And the peanut gallery:

Tis the season

Home from New Orleans

Daddy was away for a long weekend with the guys. All the girls were happy to see him.

Checking out Daddy's Amla Mater

It's no madtown, but impressive in its own right. Plus, the kids LOVED the children's section of the library- a pretty cool feature for one of the states leading teachers colleges.