Celebrating Advent the Icelandic Way

This Sunday our wonderful friends Bjorg and Fanney invited us over to celebrate Advent with them. She had all kinds of goodies! 

gingerbread cookies

 hot chocolate made with real chocolate from Iceland

and even surprised me with a darling birthday cake!  

They have become some of our very best friends here.  That is one of the reasons we love living in New York. We have been able to get to know so many different people that have blessed our lives in so many ways.  It has also given me a greater desire to learn more about different countries and their cultures as they share a little bit of theirs with us!  Chase and I hope to make it to Iceland one of these days!  

Greatest Birthday Ever!

I feel so happy today and lucky to be me on my 28th Birthday!  First off It has been a hussle and bussle of event the past few months and therefore my first wish for my birthday was to slow down and enjoy the day.  I wanted to be able to enjoy my kids and my wonderful husband by spending simple quality time together.  I wanted nothing more than to just sit down with them, visit, and be together as a family without anywhere to be or a million things to do.  And the day was just that, absolutely perfect!

 Chase and the boys made me breakfast in bed

Then we went on a family run

Way back when I set three goals depending on how pregnancy went:

1.) To try to run through October.  That went much better than planned so I kept on running and went for goal number 2

2.) Nov. 24th, Chase's Birthday!  I really did not think I would be able to do it but once I made it that far and felt pretty good I felt hopeful to be able to reach my "wishful thinking" goal...and DID IT!

3.) Run on my Birthday! 

The boys rode their scooters 3 miles and we all celebrated once we reached the end!

For me that was the greatest Birthday present ever!  

Then we came back and watched a movie, took a big family nap, played games and finished by decorating cupcakes!  Can you tell by all of our outfits that it was a very relaxing day!

After the boys went to bed Chase fixed me a very delicious dinner

He did not tell me that I needed to dress up for the occasion

Thanks to my sweet and wonderful family I had a great birthday and am excited to be 28!  Even years are always so much better than odd!

Happy 6th Birthday

Chase was so excited for his Birthday this year!  He has been planning it for months now.  I would frequently find papers around the house with his Birthday plans written down on it and who he was going to invite.  As you can see he wanted a Batman Party!

Here is Jayden helping me make the cake 

After school we let him open a few presents from the family before his party started

 Chase's Birthday Party

He invited 10 of his good friends from school and church.  

We celebrated with Pizza, Popcorn, and a movie

With a room full of 6 year olds it seemed like total chaos to me but he thought it was the greatest party ever!  

What a handsome boy!

Happy Birthday Chase!  We love you!

Oh what fun...

A few weeks after we got back from our trip to Virginia Jenny, Jon, the Croz man and E-train came out to visit!!!  So much fun showing them around the city and this crazy place we call "home."  I loved it!  You would not believe these 5 boys and how much fun they have together.  They truly are best friends.  It is so fun to see them all interact, laugh, and do what boys do best, be loud crazy and borderline obnoxious!

Showing them around New York City

Our first stop was to see Santa at Macys

Then we took the boys to the big Toys 'R Us store down in Time Square

Riding the ferris wheel

M&M world

Down at Rockefeller

I was worried about taking all the boys down here on a Friday night during the holidays but the crowds were actually not too bad and the boys had so much fun seeing the tree!

Lincoln Center

We went to a fantastic Magic Show for kids 

The boys laughed and laughed through the whole show and have since been asking to go to another magic show.

Walking through Central Park

Although it was an extremely cold day, I forgot how much I love walking through the bottom of Central Park at this time of year.  

Can you believe there is going to be another boy in the mix soon!

FAO Schwarz was the busiest place we visited.  There was a line wrapping around the building every time we passed it.  

Playing the giant Piano

This was at the top of Ethan's New York to-do list

Jackson and Crozier as Hulk and Iron Man

Sunday we had a little family night and made manger scenes

They turned out a little goofy but the kids still had fun putting them together

The boys exchanging Christmas gifts

Brotherly Love

Last night with our wonderful family

So sad to say goodbye but it was so much fun having them here and getting to spend special time together especially during the holidays.