I'm baaacckkkk.....

Well I'm updating at least. Life seems to be going at warp speeds around here. It's a lot rinse and repeat if you know what I mean. Let me be honest, I love it and wouldn't want it any other way.

In fact last weekend Matt and I went to NYC to celebrate my 30th and our 6th anniversary. I we missed the kids so stinking much it was insane. We found ourselves roaming through toy stores when we didn't have little ones begging us to go in there. It just seemed normal to us. After four days away from them we were both so relieved to be home, in our little house with our little family. It's the furthest and longest that both of us have been away from the kids at the same time.

NYC was great. It was cold and Christmas-y and expensive! You want a Miller Lite? That will be $9. You want a burger? That will be $16.  Oh you wanted a cheese burger? That's $18! But that's NYC and we knew it would be pricey. We didn't know that we would see kids playing quidditch (the team sport Harry Potter plays in the movies). We didn't know we would end up counting the number of Snooki's we saw! We didn't know that Little Italy would be so quaint and festive at Christmas yet we would be told we couldn't order off the lunch menu at 2pm, and then we when ordered a pasta the same server didn't beleive us when we told him it was in fact on their menu and he would return moments later to tell us we couldn't order that because it would take too long to make! Yes, true story.

And seriously I felt like country come to town! Matt, who wears nothing but tshirt, camo shorts and sneakers most of the time, fit in NYC as if he were a native. I can't count the numer of times people stopped to ask Matt for directions. Apparently a dark colored wool coat with a scarf and casual shoes (not sneakers) are what you wear when you don't want to look like a tourist. So me and my North Face and sneakers stood out like a sore thumb, but that's okay because I was at least warm and my feet didn't hurt.

While in NY I surprised Matt with tickets to the Giants/Redskins game. Man was that C.O.L.D! Actually cold doesn't even describe it. Think 19 degrees with 20 mph winds. But they won, so it was worth it. Plus Matt loved every second of it.

The Kids:

Caedmon is getting taller. His 4Ts are getting too short. He's started to read BOB books by himself. It's amazing. He's had an infection on his bottom for a couple months. We've done two rounds of antibiotic and a prescription strength Lotrimin cream, but it still hasn't healed. Our pediatrician is stumped. We're doing 4-5 days of a steroid cream and if that doesn't cure it then we'll be referred to a Dermatologist. Luckily it's not painful for him (although it does appear it would be since it's so red).

Savannah is doing well. She's still wrapped up in her Princess world. She's decided she wants to grow her hair out like Rapunzel's. She'll pull her nightgown over her head and make it so that it hangs down her back as if it were her hair (which I remember doing as a little girl). My baby is growing up fast...too fast.

So, that's about it. Life's good. The kids are great. Christmas is coming faster than I'm ready for. Work is crazy. But we're blessed and for that I am grateful.

 Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty

 View of the lower end of the city and Financial District from the Staten Island Ferry (WTCs used be been seen from here, toward the left side of the picture)

 WTC Memorial

 The new WTC; they're building a floor a week basically. It will be 1776 floors tall upon completion

 Little Italy

 Meadowlands Stadium