SnOw Thankful!

From birthday to Turkey-day. 60 degrees to snow.
November to December has sure been a whirlwind.

Thanksgiving at my house consists of 400+ people and 20+ turkeys.
Yes you read that right. Another benefit of a family-owned restaurant/banquet facility.
HUGE holidays. (which also means always working on holidays, too. Not so much a benefit)
Families from all over the area -even those from 'away'- call months in advance for reservations, and we do all the cookin' for them to come in and have a nice meal and go home to enjoy the rest of the day- without all of the usual Thanksgiving day cleanup. What most of them don't realize though is that they are missing out on the best part of Thanksgiving.
LEFTOVERS. Which WE do get to partake in. And lots of them. The restaurant also has turkey stock that will last until next fall.
Soup anyone?
With the coming of Thanksgiving and the winter season, that means no more weddings until April. (funny, no one ever gets married in the winter in the Northeast. Hmm..) Now it's Christmas parties galore.
Red and green. Tinsel and trees. And my favorite... snowflakes.
Speaking of:
Say hello to first snow, '09-'10! We here in the Northeast were blanketed with just the perfect amount overnight, and woke to a beautiful winter wonderland! (was it really 65 degrees just a few days ago?)

Have I mentioned that snow is one of my most favorite things? I used to stay out until all hours of the night as a child playing in it. Even to this day I'm not afraid to get into a little bit of snowfort making. The smell of the crisp cold air. The frostbite on your fingers and toes. And a little hot chocolate to warm up with afterwards. I think a snowboard and a ski-slope are calling my name...
I'm just so thankful for snow! (until it's lingers into the Spring months like it does up here in the Northeast, that is)
I'm also thankful for my iPhone and being able to take pictures anywhere. Though they will never come out like the super-mom-photographers here in Blog-land!

A roomate of mine and I took a day trip to Freeport, Maine for a little Christmas shopping today. Nothing says Maine like L.L Bean. Freeport itself is a beautiful town, and with a snowy backdrop like there was today... even the scenery on 95 was gorgeous. If you've never been to the Bean, you should definitely go at least once. It's a piece of Maine history, and you're guaranteed to find something great. I can't say exactly what I shopped for in case of spying blog-reading eyes, but I did score something "wicked good"! Yessuh!

The famous (and giganticus) "Bean Boot".

&

L.L Bean's Northern Lights Celebration

I suppose I should rest up. I have my first - by myself - overnighters with the little people this week while their parents are away on a vacation together. God help me keep on schedule and keep all of us sane while they are away. (I can do it right? It'll be good practice. Or maybe it'll cure that ticking clock that I've been hearing lately? Help me put it aside for a while until I'm really ready?)
Who am I kidding? I'm Super Nanny. I'm Mary Poppins. I've been prepared for this for weeks. I've got movies and gingerbread people to make. Veggietales and cookies will certainly make for smooth sailing. This will be a piece of cake. Or maybe a leg of a gingerbread pirate...

Wish me luck!

Two-Seven?

Someone turned the big 2-7 earlier this week.

No, it certainly couldn't have been me, could it?

Wasn't it just yesterday that I was toddling around in mud puddles?

Or in 8th grade winning the State Champs trophy for my middle school soccer team?

How about not even being 21? Still working at my first pre-school gig? (the one that I started at 16... the one that made me realize my love for children... the one that was a huge part in the path that lays ahead of me in life?)

Where did 24 go?

And 25?

How about 26? Has it really been a year since just turning 26?

I suppose it has. Though it really doesn't feel like.

Time really does fly as you get older. (granted, I'm not afraid of being older, as most of my friends are already in their 30's, I'm just simply wondering where has the time gone?)

I've watched myself grow. I've watched little ones grow. I've certainly felt that feeling of "I can't believe 'so and so' is so big/old! It seems like yesterday that he/she was just *insert younger age here*. Wow I'm getting so old!"

So, 27, eh?

Here's to another year. Hopefully just as great as the last. To living and (still) learning. Loving and laughing. And growing - because I think even at 99 I'll still being doing a little bit of that.

(Here's also to my Mom, for making my 0-27 possible!)

*I'll try not to mention that my home state failed to give me the present that I had been asking for on the day of my birthday. Who has a birthday ON voting day and doesnt get what they wish for, anyway? I suppose when that time in my life comes I'll just move to a different, more understanding, state. Right?*

oops... I guess I did mention it.

Leaves and Halloween

Earlier this week (at the beginning of the kids virul/pnemonia sicknesses) we went for a walk to do a little 'Leaf Peeping'.

Last year we tried making collages with the leaves we had collected, but realized that after a day or two the leaves dried up and soon started to crumble and fall off of the papers they were glued to, leaving a mess on the floor.

So this year, I became a little more creative, and took a cleaner approach.

Contact paper. It's a little tricky trying to get all of the 'bubbles' out... but it looks like stained glass when hung in the window and the sun is shining through! I've even sent a smaller verson via snail mail to New York. That'll be the real test I suppose. Here's T admiring our work. (I didnt even ask her for a pose like this... she really is admiring it!)

*place a piece a contact paper -sticky side up- on the table. Place leaves (either all brighter side up, or all brighter side down) onto the sticky-ness. Then cover with another piece of contact paper, smooth out the bubbles (it's easiest to start in the middle and work your way to the outside) and then cut off the excess edges with scissors. Easy, mess-free, and quick!*

And onto Halloween. A night of tricks and treats. (thankfully, only treats around this area... it's a really small town!)

Every year I spend it 'downtown' at a family members house helping to be a candy-hand'er-out'er. And to help take credit for the amazing decorations. Though really, I can only claim just one jack-o-lantern:

I call it "in honor of the week I had with two sick children".

The rest are all done by family, each doing a few every night.

*Sorry for the out of order photos... I can't figure out this photo uploading for the life of me!*

And Finally: after freezing for 2 hours during trick'or'treat time... I caught up with some friends and was able to get a pic of me with this sweet lil one! (the first time I saw her I was sick so I wasnt able to get too close...) isn't she just precious?!

Pumpkin Time!

It's that time of year....
The air is cooler.
The ground is covered in a blanket of leaves (soon to be snow).
The stores are filled with costumes and candy galore.
Pumpkins are making their way out of gardens and onto porch steps. (and some into pies!)
Here's ours for this year.
(the kids', that is. I'll be posting pics of my fam's 30+ pun'kins soon. YES, you read that right... Living in a restaurant business family means never taking any holiday lightly!

What you can't see here... is that the kids were already dressed in their pajamas when I put coats and hats on them to go outside for our ritual of pictures with our pumpkins. G happens to be in shorts. I think this is his shivering pose? lol

Thanks to Martha Stewert for the Christmas light/Jar idea! It works great!

Let's see how this works...

I've been wanting to try this out for a while now... I have a lot of photos that I think would be great to share with those outside of my F*acebook world (which is where I've previously been putting all of my albums for friends to see). This week I had a couple of really good fall days with the wee ones, and thought "why not start now?". So, here it is. Photo Blog #1! (maybe eventually I'll figure out how to make this thing all pretty like the rest of you bloggy people? any input would be great! *hint hint*) All of these were taken with my iPhone. Not too shabby, eh? A few blurry spots (I think I need to take a q-tip to the lens maybe?), but overall I'm impressed with my new techy gadget!
Disclaimer - One of the wee ones is missing from this shoot due to being at school during the second day of hiking, and was fighting against having his picture taken during the previous days' hiking adventure. He would have rather have been at home. "I just want to go to bed!" How often do you hear that out of a 6y.o?


I've been calling this album:
Fall(ing) is Like This...