We Did it Again!

We got our elf on again this year. I think we have gotten better. Take a look at our great moves!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/d68Ytquy3TlmK0ya

Lumpy - Not the 8th Dwarf

As some of you know, Connor has been in and out of the Doctor's office testing, observing, measuring and wondering what the heck he has growing in the back of his neck. We first noticed it the beginning of September. Took him to the Dr. and they felt that it was just a swollen Lymph Node. Told us to measure it and just keep an eye on it. Long story, kind of short... it began growing pretty rapidly and after testing for everything and all results coming back negative, we were referred to an E.N.T. There, the Dr. took one look at it and decided it needed to be removed right away. The week after Thanksgiving, Connor went to the hospital for the outpatient surgery. It went very well and they sent the lump off for a biopsy. Turns out that it was a very rare kind of cyst. Thank God! Here is my sweet buddy on his big day. He did great! What a brave boy.

Waiting to be checked in with his class mascot, Gator Grace. Connor also packed Milo his monkey to keep Grace company while he was away in surgery. Soooo sweet. The lady that checked us in gave Connor his ID bracelet and made one for each of his little stuffed friends too. He was so tickled by that.

Giggling and enjoying all of the attention.

Starting to get a liiiiiiittle nervous.

ALL DONE! Up and ready to talk our ears off. I would say he is back to normal!

When Connor wasn't looking, Sam took off with Gator Grace. He knew that her week with the Hutchinson family was just about over and soon she would be spending time with another one of Connor's classmates. He was very sad to see her go, but got in a few hugs and kisses before she left.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! What a blur though. I just got back from my NYC trip and now it is Thanksgiving. I'll be honest, we have had Connor in and out of the Dr. office trying to figure out what the heck the lump on the back of his neck is, so I was here for Thanksgiving physically, but mentally I was not. I just wanted to get through Thanksgiving so we could move on to take care of Connor. Don't get me wrong, we had family and friends over to our house, I of course enjoyed their company and all of the delicious food, but it was still a bit of a blur for me. Every year while Mike's brother and his family are here for the big turkey day, my sister-in-law Meg has been gracious enough to take pictures of my kids for our Christmas card. While we waited for the bird to cook, we got the kids dressed in the great sweaters Mi Mi bought for them, and away Meg went snapping their photos! Here is a collage of my favorites from the photo shoot.

NYC trip

Well... here they are! Some of you have heard me talk about my big trip to New York City. If you have no clue what I am talking about, I will fill you in. One of my best girlfriends Heather, invited me to go with her on a business trip/girls' trip and I just could not pass up the opportunity. I had not been there since I was a little girl, so I was VERY excited to get to see the city as an adult. We headed out early in the morning and drove all the way there. From the moment we arrived it was GO! GO! GO! We checked in to our hotel, threw our dresses on and went to get our five star treatment. Once our hair and makeup were done to perfection, it was time to head to a Gala supporting the Big Brothers, Big Sisters foundation. Here are some pics from that night and then I will go on to share the rest of the pictures. It was so much fun! I had the time of my life!

We are all done up and ready for the Gala!

 

Time for my close-up? Holy RED LIPS! I would have never done this on my own, but I actually ended up loving it!



 Beautiful Table Scapes, beautiful food, beautiful people, beautiful evening. The Gala was held at the Cipriani.

Lynn Swann! Yes, the former Pittsburgh Steeler was there co-hosting the Gala. He is a huge Big Brother, Big Sister supporter. He was kind enough to stop for a quick photo with me. My family was so excited when I told them about this. We are HUGE Steelers fans as well as Lynn Swann fans! Nice guy and funny too!

 The next morning, we were up and ready to run to a couple of meetings and then grabbed some lunch at the Carlyle. Lunch in style for sure. Oh... and when I said that we ran to a couple of meetings, we REALLY DID RUN! The hustle and bustle of the city had us walking, running, taxi catching and talking over loud noises all the time. I was definitely out of my element, but enjoyed every bit of the trip. I found myself exhauseted, sore and without a voice by the time I got home.

While Heather was at another meeting, I visited FAO Schwarz. This is a Huge and incredible toy store! Shown here is a toy soldier made entirely of jellybeans! Amazing!

Another impressive find at FAO was this Chewbacca made entirely of LEGOS!
The Santa below was as well, and both were larger than me!

This is just some weird person on stilts, dressed as the Statue of Liberty. I saw lots of weird stuff like this, but mostly I met a lot of cool people and saw a ton of cool places. My photos don't do them any justice either so I am going to stop with this one.  You really need to see everything in person to appreciate how massive it all is, how much history is all around you when you are there and go with a guide like Heather, who used to live there and can show you all of the things really worth seeing. I can't wait to one day go with my family. I would love to go with Mike, just the two of us and then at some point bring the kids too. What a great city!

Party at the Park

We went to a really nice park today to play and celebrate our friend's 2nd birthday.

What a great idea. The kids had a blast!

 Happy Birthday Ashleigh!

 

Umstead Park

Mike took the boys hiking!  They went to Umstead park, enjoyed a beautiful Fall day and a picnic lunch. It's great now that they are getting old enough to participate in activities such as that. Good times making great memories!

Halloweeeeeen

Not real great, but got a few pictures of the kids dressed up for Halloween and various related events.  If you have been following my Blog, and you happen to remember... Sam wore this Hulk costume last year as well. A little small, but still fits! We have so many costumes that either came from cousins, or we just happen to have because my boys like to dress up so much! I got all of them out and just let the kids take their pick. Costume choice number one was for their school parade. As you see, Sam was the Incredible Hulk and Connor was Mr. Incredible.

 Sammy was invited to a little costume party. Today he felt like being a pirate! Arrrrrrgh!

Sam's class was a little hard to pose for a good photo.

 This is Sam's buddy Ryan in the Army fatigues.

 Connor's class. His teachers are so much fun. Look at those M&Ms!


Mr. Incredible here to save the day!

 Every year Mike and I have a big Halloween Party. As most of you know, his birthday is also on Halloween, so we go all-out! Lots of friends, neighbors and family joined in the fun. Connor and Sam dressed as Hulk and Mr. Incredible again. I was the Octomom. Mike was the Grim Reaper. Jen and Matt were Snookie and Pauly D. Ryan was an old time bartender, J.T. was a cowgirl and Deb was a Do-Wop girl in a poodle skirt. Yes! Deb and Gracie flew in from Atlanta to surprise me! I was surprised for sure and we had so much fun all weekend! Unfortunately I didn't do a good job this Halloween keeping up with taking pictures. I could just kick myself because there were so many great costumes! Jen won the costume contest though. Yea Jen!
The next day was trick-or-treating. Gracie was a bumble bee, Connor was a member of the SWAT team and Sam wore a different Pirate costume. Fun! Fun! Fun!

Soccer Season Ends

We all joined my nephew Nicholas and his team for Pizza and trophies! He is a great little soccer player!
Here he is with proud Pop Pop.

Proud Grandma AND Pop Pop!

Proud Daddy/Coach and little brother, Max! The rest of the family was around too.
Probably enjoying the pizza!

 John and Hunter were in town and got to join in the fun too!

Micro Soccer

This year Connor participated in Spring AND Fall soccer. He loves it so much and as I have said before...he is very good at it! We all get such a kick out of watching this little guy. No Pun intended! I can't wait to see if he continues with this sport and what position he ends up playing. Right now he is playing all of them! The faces he makes are priceless and at times he even growls to intimidate the other team. It is so funny!

This season Connor and his best buddy Lukas FINALLY got to play on the same team together. These boys have known each other since they were weeks old. It is so cool to see them grow and play together.