Princess Riley turns FIVE!

Our princess turned 5 yesterday! It is hard to believe that 5 years have flown right by! I was talking w/ my Aunts at our Herr Christmas and my Aunt Joanne stated that she has loved all the different stages that she has shared with her girls but now they are to the age that they are beginning to leave home and she said that this is the one stage that she doesn't love as much but she is learning~I know I have a few years before that happens but I am sure they will fly by quickly and I must remember to love every minute of being her mom!
She is going to have some friends over on Saturday for a Royal Luncheon (which is only fitting for a princess) so I will post some photos of that.

For her actual b.day we celebrated with dinner at Willow Valley (she wanted mashed potatoes, corn and cake) and much to our surprise Willow Valley was hosting an indoor carnival with tons of inflatable bounce things and carnival games~we of course had to go! It was fun and at the end of the evening we walked around the duck pond to look at all the lights. As I was tucking her in bed she told me that "she felt 5 now".

For Christmas Riley got a Mommy & Me cookbook and she eagerly picked out these cupcakes for us to make and take to our New Year's Celebration with the Hostetters and Swarrs and Dixon's.

They were fun to make and the kids were able to help!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Herr Christmas

My dad's family gets together every year for Christmas. Here are some photos of that great evening!

This is my Uncle Bob, Aunt Judy, Daniel (red shirt) and Mark. My aunt and uncle are getting ready to head to Narobi, Africa with MCC! Please keep them in your prayers as they adjust to Africa and have to set up a new office and home!


This of course is Uncle Ryan! He taught the kids such fun things when he was home like how to sneak cookies...


This is Riley with my cousin Rob's little girl Mary Kate. The two girls love to play together and it is nice they have one another at these large gatherings. This year when it was time for us to leave Riley stated to Mary Kate, "I don't know why my mom is making me leave, because we are having such fun."

This is one of the highlights of the holidays! I have such fond memories of playing w/ cousins and cookie days and our annual Philly shopping trip to John Wannamakers (which I wish was still around), so this is always a fun way to catch up with everyone!

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Christmas day starts at our house with us enjoying the kids opening their "santa" gift (our kids only get one gift from Santa, which is placed in their rooms under their little trees and they are allowed to open them without us being present if they want~this also buys us a little more shut eye...). After all the present opening is complete we clean up and head to my parents for lunch and more presents...

2008 Hess Trucks from MawMaw and PawPaw...


Santa brought the Baby Born I can Swim Doll this year (and yes, much to my surprise, she can swim...)


Riley and JD exchanged gifts this year...this is them checking out what they got for each other.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

In our tradition of Christmas Eve we celebrate with Jimmy's family~his parents come over and we just enjoy the day of exchanging gifts, eating a big meal at lunchtime and then just lounging around.

Sibling Love...

Christmas with Nana & Pop

Isn't she cute?

Hope your Christmas was great!

Preschool Christmas!

This year Pequea Preschool held a small Christmas Program that the 4/5 year olds and the pre-K class participated in! They sang some songs and dressed in costume! Here are some pics of Riley portraying an Angel...

Handprints!

I miss you when we're not together
I'm growing up so fast
See how big I've gotten
Since you saw me last?
As I grow, I'll change a lot,
The years will fly right by.
You'll wonder how I grew so quick
When and where and why?
So look upon these handprints
That's hanging on your wall.
And memories will come back of me,
When I was very small.
Riley's hands - age 5

JD's hands~age 6

Santa Saturday!

This past Saturday we trekked to our annual Santa destination~The Strasburg Railroad! This is an annual event that we started with my best friend Nicole and her family back when the boys were all infants and we are now in our 6th year! The kids have so much energy and excitement over seeing their friends they can hardly stand it! This year we added a day of activities for the kids that included lunch, decorating cookies and making Christmas ornaments!

These are the cute ornaments that Nicole made with the kids...she is so crafty! JD and Riley had to hang their ornaments front and center on our tree, rather than on their own little trees!

JD decorating his cookies...

Such skill and concentration...Tyler was putting his cookies out for Santa (who Tyler insists is 45 years old...)

Here are JD and Riley posing w/ Santa...

Riley and her cousin Emily eating apples that Santa passes out...

Here are JD and the boys (Isaac (L) and Jackson in the middle), we had taken a picture like this when the boys were about 1 year old~I can't find it in my back pictures, but my how the boys have grown! On a side note, JD was sharing with me the other day that Jackson is now 7 and Isaac and him are 6 and Riley is turning 5~I said I know you are all growing up so quick....he turned and looked at me and said, "Mom, don't worry, I will still come visit you and take you to the beach." Riley informed me that she is NEVER leaving home.

What would you do with out best friends??

I hope that you have enjoyed the brief photos of our great day and hope that you all have cherished times with friends and family this holiday!

ANTICIPATION!

Okay, so Thanksgiving has come and gone and we still marvel over all that we have to be thankful for! Jimmy came home from work the other day and just looked at us and said how grateful he is for the blessing of his family!
I titled this post ANTICIPATION because we have so many things that we are anticipating right now~Uncle Ryan's safe arrival....(the kids can't stop talking about when Uncle Ryan gets home and we get to celebrate with him....). Jimmy and I are anticipating what our gifts will be from JD, he shopped at a Secret Santa workshop so.......we will be sure to post photos. I also added a few pictures of things.

These are Uncle Ryan's favorite cookies and I posted them to insure that he will be coming home because I will not be shipping cookies this year....(they are a Peanut Butter Cup cookie...the kids seem to have taken a liking to them, maybe Uncle should hurry home...)

This is the Nativity set that I grew up with. My mom made this years ago and I cherish it and love to tell the kids about each person as we get it out...

This is just some photos of me trying my hand at the whole fruit and greens arranging...I'm not sure how long the fruit on the wreath will last but it is hanging in there for now

This is my favorite...

And last but not least, our larger than life Christmas tree. I was helping friends at a Christmas Open House and gave Jimmy and the kids the task of finding a Christmas tree....Riley giggles and says she picked it out, once I got past the size (and purchased more decorations-400 lights are on the tree) it seems to fit in our family room, just fine! And yes Virginia, it touches the ceiling.

Hope everyone is enjoying their blessings! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!