110 with Rachael and Ben: Storytime, Shopping, Partying

We're living it up on our Friday adventures, I'll tell ya! Today we indulged in our bi-weekly storytime and read Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. After securing an arm's full of books, we headed to do some shopping in advance of the turkey-cookie-making project for Rachael's class. We capped off our morning with a stop at Ben's classroom for the Thanksgiving party. This week, Rachael's class performed a little song and dance about Thanksgiving while 12 parents with cameras galore watched adoringly.
What was evident is that Rachael is not (yet) a performer....she was interested in being in the front row, smiling sweetly, but refusing to do anything that the teacher was directing.

Ben's class had a nice cookies-n-milk party to celebrate the Turkey day happenings.

The final picture is the sample of the cookie that I helped the friends in Rachael's class to make in honor of Thanksgiving -- lots of fun!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Mommy goes on girls' weekend

So, for the first time since before Rachael was born (and in reality, probably since bachelorette party days in 2005), I went on a girls' only weekend! Thanks to my bestie, Shannon, and her hubby who had this idea that a girls' weekend would be great fun for Shannon's birthday....we were off on an adventure. Now, here's the caveat: we were supposed to go in July. But, Mom had a flare that sent her to the hospital and sent me packing for PA. Shannon graciously re-scheduled the weekend....to the weekend before my birthday! What fun it was to celebrate both of our birthdays, even if, it was supposed to be about her!

To say we had a great time is an under-statement. I also want to especially thank Mike who helped to make it happen....I couldn't have done it without his total support and excellent daddy-expertise. He's a true rock star!

110 with Rachael and Ben: Crashing Nana's girls' week

So, I did it. This mom took her 2 1/2-year-old and her 3 3/4-year-old on a trip. ALL.BY.MYSELF. Well, OK, just for the ride down...it was 200+ miles and 4 hours. And, they were GREAT. I got what I came for within the first 3 hours that we were there.....magnificent beach time with the kids and Nana...Gammy and Aunt Barb, too.
It was 75 degrees in November...what more could I ask???

Trick or Treat!

Our Halloween celebration was definitely full of treats and not too many tricks! The day itself was a 70 degree day, which made for an easy 'kick-off' party in our garage. We had 10 families together with 20 children total! It was a lot of fun and a great way to start the evening.
Nana was able to join us this year for the celebration; having a grandparent present always makes parties doubly fun. She even dressed up!