Santa Train

Thanksgiving at Grandma's House was wonderful as usual. Uncle Ed drove up to join us for a warm and cozy holiday weekend. It was nice to spend a few days not doing anything in particular other than spending time with family.

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and bundled up to head out into the snow (!) and ride the
Roaring Spring Santa Train.
It was so much fun to ride the circa 1920's train through the Pennsylvania countryside, singing Christmas carols, and visiting with Santa.
This was Soren's first trip on the Santa Train, but it was Will's third.
I think this just might be becoming a tradition.
I'm sure that will be a comfort to the boys as I'm dragging them on to the Santa Train when they are teenagers.

Wild Lights

In years past, I had read other people's blog posts about
Wild Lights at the Columbus Zoo.
My thought was always that the people in the pictures looked pretty cold. Not that I consider myself all that wimpy about cold, but still. We took advantage of the warm-ish weather last weekend to kick off our holiday season and finally take in the Wild Lights.

It was fantastic!
Though I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if the weather was freezing or (heaven forbid) actually snowing.
And another pleasant surprise- there was a very handsome Santa and we got our annual picture on Santa's lap checked off the Holiday To-Do list.

Stadium Cake

On November 13th, the Nittany Lions played the Buckeyes.
Though Ohio State didn't give JoePa his 401st win, the weekend was still very festive on account of the
Twentieth Annual Stadium Cake.
We went down to the stadium to visit our friend Jen as she and her family displayed the cake it took them a week to make, slice it up, and pass out pieces in exchange for donations to a scholarship fund.

Jen gets ready to wield her cake server.

Fans begin to gather.

My camera battery died before I got a picture of the Smiley boys enjoying their cake. I managed to get us all pieces that had tiny Penn State fans on them (little blue and white dots of icing).
They were delicious.

Boo at the Zoo (or Halloween Burnout)

It seemed like the Halloween celebrations went on and on, so by the time October 31st finally came along I think we were all a little burned out.
But we decided to partake in one more festive event: Boo at the Zoo.

First, Will refused to wear his costume.
Then, when we passed the first station where they were passing out candy treats I asked Will if he wanted to go over and he said,
"Don't you think I have enough candy?".
(That was actually a Proud Parent Moment for me)

One good thing was that the zoo was not that crowded. So you know those animal statues that are all over the zoo that you can never get a good picture of your kids on because there are always 10 zillion other children crawling all over them? Well...

Trick or Treat!

Got Milk Chocolate?

The Fourth Annual Trick or Treat Extravaganza in the 'Burbs
commenced last Thursday. The excitement kicked off with Vannessa's spooky yet tasty Mummy Dogs.

Then we stuffed the kids into their costumes and tried to keep up while they made the rounds of the neighborhood, gathering treats, and terrorizing the good people of Westerville.

Then it was time to bundle up next to the fire pit and chow down!

Thanks, Rich & Vannessa, for another
Spooktacular Halloween!

Caught in the Act

Why did God make babies so fond of sucking on lemon slices?Was it so their parents would be endlessly entertained by the funny faces they make?