december 20th - smiles

Lucy has continued rockin’ the plaid this week, which in retrospect, makes all days somewhat run together. Gramps and Grandmum came to Princeton tonight to celebrate Christmas with us. We had dinner at Alex’s favorite...Witherspoon Grill. Lots of fun exchanging presents and playing with the kids. We are collectively down several bottles of wine and a pair of earrings, but a great night celebrating. 

december 19th - six more days

Gemma the red-nosed reindeer has arrived and is ready to celebrate Christmas. Less than a week until the big guy comes...

december 18th - into the plaid

Miss Cheryl is excited each day to see Lucy’s outfit, and today did not disappoint. Alex and Gemma have to help distract her in the mornings because she absolutely HATES getting dressed. The result is always amazing. 

december 17th - spreading cheer

Lucy has inherited many Christmas outfits and is getting her money’s worth in this run up to the holiday. Every day gets a little cuter. 

december 16th - leftovers

We had a fun morning of opening some of Lucy’s presents that she did not get to last night and taking it easy. Headed back to Princeton in time for the kids to have lunch and Mommy and Lucy to help Beeps with some wrapping. Alex and Gemma got to go with Daddy to see the new Grinch movie at the theater. Gemma loves popcorn...if you can’t tell....

december 15th - caleb wins christmas

It’s Christmas on W Charlotte Street and Alex and Gemma helped Grandmum make their traditional chocolatey-pretzel desserts. Somehow we ended up with chocolates that had to be eaten immediately. By 2pm each of them had 375% of their daily value of sugar. After Lucy destroyed the pantry, she found the seceret kid spot under the table and likely left a few surprises under there for safe keeping. 

december 14th - seriously?

Can either of these be cuter?

december 13th - festivities continued

Lucy got in on the action today with a holiday party of her own. She IS the star of her classroom, so she stole the show. Ms Cheryl got her a little piano that she loves...mommy and daddy would have opted for a silent toy. After the party, we went to hang out in Newtown with the Dreby’s for our annual Shady Brook light show extravaganza. We all piled in their minivan, which required moving 4 car seats into our trunk temporarily. Awesome tradition, lots of fun and giggles, some work for Uncle Todd. Hearing seven kids reacting to lights at the same time is a requirement...at some point we are going to be renting a bus. 

december 12th - celebrate!

Gemma’s holiday party at school was lots of fun. Daddy got to help her make a cool ornament and they even had some sock ice skating for the kids to break a bone or two. The kids serve cookies that they made earlier in the day and Lucy made an appearance. 

december 11th - snowlady

Lucy is all smiles and has now been trained to give the camera some love. Those cheeks and dimples make you just want to slap her cuteness. 

december 10th - christmas-y afternoon

Lucy is a bit under the weather again today so Daddy got to take Alex and Gemma shopping after school. Hot Chocolate from Bent Spoon was pretty delicious today...we also were feeling festive and made some snowflakes to hang on our back door. 

december 9th - SANTA!!!

Lucy either loves Santa or she’s not old enough to understand she should be frightened by the experience. All of them were excited to spend some one-on-one time with the big guy. Santa played a little cany cane race with Alex abd Gemma while we were standing there, so they were feeling pretty special. 

Daddy got tickets for Alex and Mommy to go see ‘A Christmas Carol’ today at McCarter Theater. They had lunch together and then went for a special day. Mommy has written a spectacular review to be published in the New York Times. She was mesmerized. 

december 8th - birthdays everywhere

So many birthdays today we had to pull over in a McCaffery’s parking lot in Newtown on our way to the next party for a 5-minute nap. We started off at Pump It Up for Ryleighe’s birthday and then moved over to PA for Sienna’s birthday. At least the second party had booze. Lots of fun and sheer exhaustion by the end of the night. 

december 7th - parents’ night

Gemma and Lucy’s school gave Mommy and Daddy the night off (mostly) tonight so we could go out for a quiet dinner at The Peacock Inn. They got to wear their pajamas all day and Gemma went all out. Alex even got to go and hang out with some of his old friends, eat pizza, and watch movies. When we went to pick them up Mommy went down to get Lucy, but Daddy saw her first. Apparently, she refused to go to bed with the other babies and just hung out with the big kids all night. Tomorrow should be fun!

december 6th - advanced

Alex and Gemma helped make cards for all their cousins Christmas presents. Alex did a really awesome job. Lucy is ready to go on a walking pilgrimage...she is officially our earliest walker out of the three kids. A record previously held by Alex, she now has a two month lead on him. 

december 5th - so big

This year has flown by and this one is what we have to show for it. Crazy that just last Christmas we were getting prepared for her arrival and guessing when she would hatch. Mommy was (snoring) prepping to give Alex and Gemma the best Christmas ever while carrying her all day and getting kicked all night. This face is worth every second. Especially for Daddy, who slept through it all;)

december 4th - lucy

Lucy is a celebrity at school. Everybody loves her and teachers actually gossip in the halls about visiting her each day in her classroom. It must be her inviting wave tht everyone loves. She must be the class comedian...cracking herself up here. 

december 3rd - jersey bound

Before heading back to Princeton, we had to take advantage of our hotel pool and get a dip for Alex and Gemma. Daddy’s vacation fail-safe to find a hotel with a pool...if things go south, the pool leads to smiles every time. We made great time on the way home since Daddy is like a driving robot after this weekend. It was great to be back and all the Christmas spirit kicked Mommy into decorating gear. Our house is looking pretty amazing and it is hard not to feel Christmas-y. Alex and Gemma requested shrimp for dinner tonight and at every bite. We think they are showing off to Ralph the Elf, who has arrived from the North Pole to monitor their present worthiness. They were very excited to see him and read his note. 

december 2nd - springfield, ma

We left North Conway on the early side this morning so we could make it to Springfield in time to visit the NBA Hall of Fame. The ride was rough, with basically ten feet of visibility and torrential rain the entire 3.5 hours. We got into town and went directly to lunch at the Hall of Fame before exploring the museum. Alex was super interested and pointed out everything Michael Jordan (Daddy’s favorite). At the end of the tour, you could play basketball...Alex was sold. We shot hoops for a while and Gemma even had to go back in after she bought a pink souvenir ball that was “more her size.”  We went to dinner in town at a really old fort that has been a restaurant since the 30s...possibly still the original chef. After dinner, we went to Forest Park on the other side of town for a Christmas Light display. The kids got to ride in the front, Gemma got to steer the car...highlight of their day.  Check another box on the parents of the year trip up (and down) the northeast corridor.