happy new year !

we hope that 2013 leaves you with lots of fun memories

and 2014 will bring many more

Merry Christmas ..

Merry Christmas from my family to yours !

ice ice ice baby ..

just enough ice to be pretty .. 

not enough to make the power go out !!

tizzy ...

elf has gotten himself into a bit of a tizzy ..

snow day ..

we were out of school last week for snow ..

we love snow days !!

we started with a very happy breakfast ..

cash then got bundled up and went to work about getting some firewood for a fire ..

he loaded it on the sled and then pulled the sled up a hill and onto the patio .. 

he make several trips .. we had a nice pile of wood when he was done .. 

ellie and i however .. we stayed inside where it was warm !!

we made cocoa cubes ..

we melted white chocolate ..

mixed in some broken up candy canes .. 

and poured it into an ice cube tray ..

you let the chocolate harden and then add a cube or 2 to some warm milk ..

then you sit by the fire and watch your kids play outside in the cold !!

ag ..

one of the top 3 reasons for going to new york was to take molly to american girl ..

ellie and i had big dreams of letting molly run wild in the bitty baby section saying oh aunt jenny

i would love this .. and look at this ellie .. bitty baby needs this to .. 

and then we would follow molly and say oh yes sweet molly you must have that and this to ..

well .. that isnt' exactly how it went .. 

but as you can see molly did get a few things for bitty baby ..

and thank goodness we brought cash along so that he could carry the girl's purchases ..

hoboken ..

while in new york we took the train to hoboken ..

why would we go to hoboken you ask .. 

because that is where carlo's bake shop is ..

cake boss !!!

this was on ellie's list when we went to new york for the marathon ..

we didn't quite make it there then so it was top priority this time ..

we had to stand in line for 47 minutes .. 

jeff was the official time keeper so i am certain of the minutes ..

when someone walks out they let more people into the store itself ..

there is a "bouncer of sorts" .. he motions you to come in and then hands you a number ..

i was excited once we made it into the bake shop ..

thinking that things will start to move much faster ..

not really ..

they were on #5 when we got inside .. we were #20 .. 

after waiting another 51 minutes we walked out with 

turkey cupcakes, chocolate dipped cannoli's and sugar drop cookies ..

cash carried the bag for a bit .. after the 3rd high swing in the air i took the bag back ..

poor turkeys .. 

they were worth the wait if you ask the kids and i ..

not so much if you ask jeff .. 

more importantly .. ellie got to scratch that off her bucket list !

the rocks in central park ..

right outside from the central park zoo are these huge boulders .. 

when you stand on them you have an amazing view of the city .. 

we love rocks to !

central park zoo ..

while we were in new york we visited the central park zoo .. 

this is the clock from the movie madagascar .. 

cash had to have his picture taken under the clock ..

not sure why 

we caught the sea lion show ..

they are such entertaining little animals ..

the kids want one for the pool ..

you know .. to go along with the dolphin that they want to ..

i love the zoo !