Saturday, December 8, 2012

Festival of Lights (x 2)



So far this year we've made two trips to the Cincinnati Zoo Festival of Lights. The first was a little early in the season with more sunshine than twinkle and the second was the full family trip the day after Thanksgiving as tradition dictates. Sure we didn't last much more than an hour that second time, and sure we caved and traded in the little light wands for the giant flashing light swords, but it was still filled with holly jolly (frozen baby) goodness. See...


































Giving Thanks, 2012


This year we hosted a house full of family for an extended Thanksgiving celebration. We have SO much to be thankful for this year - not the least of which being our new home that we are so excited to share with anyone who wants to come enjoy with our family of four.

Thanksgiving this year was filled with really yummy food, everyone chipping it to make it a feast and Louie keeping big and little tummies full all weekend.  We realized our dream for a fire pit in the clearing of our backyard (a good year earlier than we thought it would happen - thanks to DD and his little helpers). We crashed our sweet neigbors' swingset while they were out of town.  We turned our swingset into a leaf slide. We fed snacks to silly little girls who turned the dining room table into a secret fort. We talked to Uncle Denny who lives across the pond, while sipping wine fireside. We rode scooters (and crashed scooters) and then decided to abandon them on our dead-end street to spend a good while trying to catch the remaining autumn leaves as they came floating down to the ground. We marveled at the Thanksgiving sunshine - then froze our buns off just 48 hours later. We played games. And we caught up. We spent time hanging out, catching up and telling stories.  All in all, it was Thanksgiving - just like it's supposed to be. Good stuff people, good stuff.

Here are some of the highlights! ENJOY!







Hiding under the table waiting for Grandma & DD to arrive


THANK YOU TIO AND DD FOR THE LAWN-LOVE!




LOOK AT LYLA GO!!!













My beautiful Mama










SO PROUD of their fire pit!










My cool Daddyo

And here's the story told again, this time courtesy of instagram.







Grandma under the pile of laundry

Beba practicing what Jack taught her

A Two-Schneiders cocktail to close the weekend