Emma's 8th Birthday

My baby girl is 8! She seems too young to be 8 yet she tries to act like she 18. ;)

She had a lot of fun this year. She got to celebrate 4 times! The first time was with our church small group. Ms. Jolie busted out party hats and a candle to make her feel special. She loved it!

The 2nd party was with our MA family. This was the first year they have been able to attend one of her birthday parties. That alone made it super special for her. We had pizza upstairs at Aunt Jesse and Uncle Jeff's house. We had all the family over and she received several awesome presents!

Her iPod Shuffle from Mom and Dad!

Bonding time with Uncle Rob

Her 3rd party was at school. (sorry no pictures)

Her 4th and final celebration was her actual party. She had it at Snip-it's Salon. She invited a few of her friends from church. All the little girls got their hair done, nails done, did a fashion show, and got to color a take home bag. It was a special time with new friends.

NYC at Thanksgiving!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we loaded up and went to NYC! We went to see Peyton, one of our favorite "big kids" from Ar. She was there to preform (Cheer) in the Macy's Day Parade. Peyton and Mrs. Heather let us tag along and spend their off day with them. The kids (and Matt and I) were so excited to see Peyton again! We'd missed her. We booked a room in the same hotel as her and booked tickets to se the Rockets at the same showing as her.

We got up and got ready and met them for breakfast. We had to walk because of the crazy traffic. We walked around a few blocks looking at stores and seeing sights. Emma fell in love with The American Girl store and begged for a doll. Garrett had to be dragged out of the Lego store. Then we walked to the Rocketts show. It was wonderful! Emma left saying "I want to be a Rockett when I grow up". After the show, we walked around some more. Peyton found some bling she needed at Tiffany's. Matt found his one Christmas wish at the Apple store. By then it was raining pretty good and we got soaked! We walked to a lunch spot and ate some warm soup. Then it was back to the hotel to chill with Peyton until it was time to drive the 4 hours back to Natick. :) It was a great time with two special ladies!

Garrett's 1st lost tooth

Garrett finally lost his first tooth! He was not excited about it being loose. He was so worried it would fall out in the middle of the night and choke him he wouldn't wiggle it or show it to you. I tried to explain that even if he did accidentally swallow it, it's too small to choke him. Yet, he still worried. So, needles to say we were all excited when he finally lost it! He lost it on the school bus one morning. It was pretty loose already and he was leaning forward and the bus hit a bump and he bumped his mouth on the seat in front of him. According to Emma he "freaked out" and was "crying a lot" because it came out like that. I was at his school later that day to participate in his Christmas Party and he was proud of it by then. He was ready for the tooth fairy! What I find interesting are all the similarities between Garrett and Emma's 1st lost tooth stories.

1. Both lost it because it was real loose and was accidentally bumped

2. Both lost it around Christmas time

3. Both lost it near Grammie and Jesse

Garrett put it under his pillow and woke up to $2!! (Emma only got $1 for her first)

Halloween

This year Emma dressed up as a Vampire and Garrett was a Blue Ninja. They were super excited about wearing their costumes to school! Mommy was glad their classrooms are only around the corner from each other. I went from one to the other and back again at least 4 times to be able to see everything they both were doing. :)

Here's a few of the highlights:

This was also the first year the kids have ever gone door-to-door trick-or-treating. Usually we have Trunk or treat at church and are done for the night. They were super excited to try this new adventure. Of course it snowed the day before so it was super cold! Welcome to New England! :)