Decorating Grammy's tree

We decorated 2 trees in our house, 1 tree at Grandma Rooney's house, and a 4th tree at Grammy's house!!  Savannah loved the "boobie girl" ornaments (see if you can find them in the pictures ) and wanted some for her teachers (at her *very* Baptist preschool). We decided they would like angel ornaments better. Grammy -- who is typically very picky about her tree decorating -- was very patient with Savannah's decorating style ;-)

Firehouse Xmas Party

When Mommy was a little girl, she went to the Middlebury Firehouse Xmas party every year. This time, the kids got a chance to go and see Santa arrive on the back of a firetruck!  When someone yelled that Santa was here, Savannah took off, pushed the door open, and stood on the sidewalk as Santa pulled up in the firetruck!  After the party, we wandered around to visit the firetrucks and ring the bell (just like Mommy used to do!).

Gingerbread Village

We were lucky to catch the last day of St. George's gingerbread village this visit!  We met Kristine & "Baby" Elizabeth (who is 3, but Savannah insists she is still Baby E) to see the village (which is a fundraiser for the church), decorate some gingerbread cookies, and to see the house that Elizabeth made  Savannah literally drank the frosting for her cookie -- hellooo sugar high!!

Christmas #2 in Connecticut

The day after arriving in CT, we went to our annual family Xmas party that we celebrate at the nursing home where Grandpa Rooney now lives. The kids got to see lots of their cousins, do some crafts, play the organ, and had a surprise visit from Santa! Gage is definitely not afraid of Santa this year!

Christmas crafts -- cookie ornaments!

We have lots of cookie ornaments already, but why not make some more?! We now have LOTS & LOTS of cookie ornaments on the tree(s)! 

Christmas #1 in Pennsylvania

While visiting the Rapp family in PA, we had our FIRST Christmas (of three this year!). Savannah loved her Barbie gear and Gage loved his batcave & batmobile- and the paper spiderman sunglasses that didn't have any sides to keep them on!

Playing in Grandma & Grandpa's yard

We went out exploring the yard, creek, and the "back 40" (the woods behind the house) one rainy day.

Warming up in Oil City, PA

While visiting Grandma & Grandpa in Oil City, PA we stopped by the coffee shop for some hot cocoa and coffee.  Savannah gulped down a hot cocoa with marshmallows, Gage just entertained the old ladies around us and nibbled a scone, Mommy got an espresso, and Daddy got the biggest cappuccino EVER. Seriously...how could someone drink THAT much coffee?!?

The Great Pumpkin

We spent a cool fall morning at Denver Downs outside Clemson with Savannah's best friend Kelsie and her family. We were excited to spend the morning at the farm this fall - it has been a favorite of the kids since we moved to SC. We had fun at the hay bale maze, giant corn ball, rope swing in the barn, ducky races with the old pumps, a "cow train" ride, hayride, and some crazy fun like pumpkin launching and corn cannons!  Savannah must have hugged Kelsie a thousand times while they played, Gage loved playing in the spiderweb (shocking), and after we "lost" the girls in the round bale maze Gage pretended to have binoculars to help find them. He also was a complete gentleman when Caitrin had trouble stepping off the spiderweb net -- he kept offering her his hand to hold so she could step out of the web - so cute. We also had a "who can find the smallest pumpkin" contest -- that means "cheap parents want to pay as little as possible for pumpkins" - clever, hmm?