Turkey Day

Let us get back in the car - AGAIN - and drive to Cocoa Beach for Thanksgiving. This was our first holiday with the extended family from Germany, and Mommy was really excited about it. We all pitched in, it was a little crowded around the house and with three kids, chaos quickly arose. We took the kids to the beach for a little while, can you believe it was actually over 80 degrees in the end of November?

The turkey turned out perfect, one of the best ones yet. We all ate and enjoyed ourselves. Thursday late eveneing, Aunt Daniela dragged me out for Black Friday shopping, our new tradition. We did not get a lot of great deals, but it was great sister bonding time - and good people watching. On Saturday, we went to the annual Art Show - one of Daddy's favorite things to do in Cocoa Beach.

Another Girls Weekend

We went to Ft Myers, just us girls, to visit and enjoy a weekend away. Alexandra and Hailey enjoyed playing together and we all had a great time. Tante Heidi and Onkel Dieter happened to be visiting from Germany, so they also came to Ft Myers with Oma. During the day, we played at parks and shopped. Another great weekend with the family!

New York City Rockets

Alexandra and I went down to Ft Myers to visit with Aunt Daniela, Hailey, Oma, Tante Heidi and Onkel Dieter for a long weekend. Aunt Daniela had gotten free tickets to see the New York City Rockets Christmas Special so the girls are in for a real treat. The show was on Saturday, but Alexandra was so excited she asked about it constantly.

When we got to the show, there was so much for them to see before we even got into the theater. They had such a great time and both loved all the "dancing Santa's."

What is 26.2 miles between friends?

He did it! After months of training, Robert completed his first Marathon - in NY! What a great place to be. The crowds where unbelievable, I have never seen this many people in one place. Robert left the hotel around 5:45am to go wait in line for his starting time, which was not until 10:15am. It was nice and cold, so he was very bundled up.

Since we had some time to kill, I went to NJ with Stephanie, Jo, his sister and Izzy to The Cake Boss. The place was completely packed but I got Robert and congratulations cake to enjoy after the run.

We made our way back towards the finish line and I was so nervous I was going to miss him. I kept getting text messages stating when he crossed different marker points and it was getting late. With thousands of people separating us from the finish line, I knew I had missed him. I decided to climb up this rocky area to get a picture of the run, it was right around mile marker 26. I looked over and there he was. I could not believe it. Nathan and I started screaming and Robert looked over. That was a great feeling.

Robert finished the race just under 5 hours, at 11 minute 18 second miles. What an accomplishment. He has now decided to run multiple marathons and is signing up for the Disney one in January. I guess there are worse habits to have.

Happy Halloween

It is that time of year again, and the kids are looking forward to the candy. We went trick or treating at Gamma's house this year. Our friends Rob and Melanie joined us. Alexandra was dressed up as a ladybug and Anthony was a very scary Pirate! He was too cute and loved walking up to the doors with Alexandra. After a few houses, Anthony was getting tired but not Alexandra. She walked up to each house, "trick or treat" and made sure to grab extra "for her baby brother who was too tired to walk." We had a great time!

Vocabulary Expands

Anthony has mastered a lot of new words over the past few weeks. Just to list a few:

- Yellow, "Hello", Oma, Alexandra (not that clear yet), Outside, Sit Down, Bye, Nose

He is turning out to be just as much of a talker as Alexandra. He points and says thing constantly now. He loves walking through the house and pointing to the pictures. I guess it is true that boys just talk a little later in life. Anthony is very adventurous. He loves to climb on things, follows Alexandra everywhere and will try to do just about anything she does. I find myself always saying "Alexandra - does that set a good example?"

First Day of VPK

Today was Alexandra's first day of VPK. Where has the time gone, I can not believe she is so big! She was not overly excited, to her it is just another day at "school" since she is doing VPK at daycare. Of course, for Mommy it symbolized so much more than that. My little Angel was growing up - way too fast. She got dressed with minimal stress in the morning and was off.

Daddy dropped her off and I picked her up. When I got to the daycare, Ms Marie (her old teacher) told me that "I have a very dramatic daughter." Please, tell me something I don't already know. She was telling me that Alexandra gave everything away by her facial expressions - hopefully this holds true for years to come because right now - she is horrible at lying.

We got home and worked on our first "homework project." She had to decorate a star with a picture of her family and color it in. This was a family project - and she kept telling us "You have to work on this with your children." I think she is going to be a teacher, or instructor of some sort - she is very bossy.