alexa's surprise going away/birthday party!

 as soon as our friends knew we were moving, they so kindly asked to throw alexa a going-away party.  we pretended to be having one of our mother/daughter book club meetings-our final one before we left.  alexa has always wanted a surprise party, and she truly had NO idea this was in the works...

we walked into the house and there was complete silence, and out jumped 25 SCREAMING 6th grade girls!  alexa was stunned to say the least.

 such a cute candy bar

our sweet friends soomi, danielle & betsy threw the party

alaine, josie's mom, did the adorable cake

the girls made a video for alexa...lots of tears and laughter!  it was such a fun party and the girls all had a ball.  alexa will miss them all so much but knows she will stay in touch!  so sweet.

kira turns 8!

this little doll got baptized.  it was schedule for the last weekend in august, and then hurricane irene decided to descend upon the east coast.  although church was cancelled, we decided we just had to go ahead with kira's baptism.  we had everyone in town and she couldn't wait!  

kira did so much to prepare for her baptism...we filled out her baptism book, she asked tons of questions, we had numerous family home evenings about baptism, read baptism scriptures and talked about the importance of now being accountable and gaining a testimony.

she was glowing!

 uncle jake and aunt emily.  uncle jake baptized alexa and we were so lucky to have him baptize kira as well.  i spoke during the little program, as did scott.  alexa gave a great talk and aunt emily gave the sweetest talk as well!

 our awesome cousin josh flew in for the special day....
little did he know he would possibly get to brave a hurricane!

grandma and grandpa reynolds

 kira's baptism program

 all of the family that was in town...in addition to us, our cute friends 

the doffermyres and the ures were there.    

they are the best for coming to support kira.

i think everyone else was too afraid to come out in the storm!

kira & makenzie

 friends      

 the after-party at our house...lots of food for not a lot of people!  in the end, hurricane irene was the storm that never really happened where we lived.  we taped our windows and stocked up on water though, and waited and waited.  nothing.  oh well.  we had a fabulous baptism weekend anyways!

taylor swift

seriously.

 yep.  these are my girls with taylor swift.  

 and she was real.

and so adorable, sweet, beautiful and GENUINE.  everything you hope she would be, because your daughters love and adore her.  


she is all of that and more.  


we were in a room waiting to meet her, still not believing our luck (while meanwhile our 5 year old was being sassy and saying OUT LOUD, "i don't like taylor swift.  taylor swift is mean" as i am covering her mouth as quickly as i can get over to her, as taylor swifts crew of people is looking on....but this is the same little gal who said to nhl commissioner gary bettman, after he asked her if she was having fun at the nhl all star game and she said "no, this is so boring").  


she just appeared from behind a red curtain and came right up our girls and gave them the biggest hugs, asked their names and talked to them for about five minutes.  she then asked what she could sign for them, and asked if SHE could get her picture with THEM.  she is so cute and i, too, am an even bigger fan than i was before.  


alexa had such a star-struck moment (similar to the reaction i had when i came face-to-face with john stockton in secaucus, nj many years ago...)


she was just completely overwhelmed that THE taylor swift was standing in front of her, hugging her and talking to her.  scott said in all of his moments with his job-meeting athletes, etc.-that alexa's reaction was by far his greatest moment.  cute.

the moms (and mother-in-law)                 posing by the stage before the show

curran, ellie, alexa & emma....they were beside themselves.  i swear i have NEVER heard screams like i did coming from these girls in the suite that night.  this was the highlight of their year!   

the concert was the week of thanksgiving...

so close to when we were moving, 

and it was such a perfect last hurrah!

our little gymnast

Kira, our little gymnast, had the show for her gymnastics team, the summies in early december.  this was such an adorable show...not to be missed!  in fact, it is the ONLY reason we didn't move over thanksgiving.  she was absolutely DYING to be in the show and of course we decided to postpone our move a couple of weeks so she could participate!  

We were so proud!  she moved up from pre-team to the copper level, which means she would have started competing in january.  she is so determined and such a hard worker and it sure showed during the summies show-especially her balance beam routine-fantastic!  

at the end of the final show, the coach said, "and we have someone we would like to say goodbye to.  she has only been with us two years, but she will be so missed...kira can you come out here?"  we were all so teary and all of the coaches were crying!  they made her an amazing scrapbook of her time on the team and had an enormous cake and goodbye party in her honor.  so sweet!  

what an amazing program.  we are so lucky kira was able to a part of it!  

we LOVE the SUMMIES!

 waiting for the beam

 floor routine

 head coach, tracy.  the coaching staff of 10 is amazing with the girls and not one member of the team ever complains about the many hours of practice.  these coaches make it so much fun!

 some of her best friends, anna claire and caroline

 alexa and her good friend cassie

kira and another one of her best friends, sabrina

december 30

i don't have a great birthday-december 30-when everyone is SO over the shopping, wrapping, gift-giving and just over the holidays!  
then along comes my birthday.  at least i have a twin brother that shared in my misery all of these years :)  i begged my mom for YEARS if I could change my birthday.  In my mind, the perfect birthday was June 16...i have no idea why i liked this date, but i always have.  my mom would tell me that first, i would have to get jason to agree to it, and second that i would have to SKIP a December 30 and wait until June. 


Wait 1 1/2 years to get presents?  NO WAY!  


so i am stuck with December 30.  my sweet family always makes sure to spoil me and treat me like a princess.  this year, i even got to celebrate with my mom and dad for the first time in 16 years!  so my mom had to make me the traditional 'candy bar poster'...so cute!  i have decided i need to start this tradition with my own girls...so fun!

my cute family and my Carvel cake (an east coast thing!)






oops...forgot to turn the picture!

nursery school hayride

one of my best friends, stacie and i chair the nursery school hayride every october and it is such a fun event! this is our 3rd year chairing and the kids have a ball, the parents love it, and the cider donuts are to die for!

fall is my favorite time of year.

eliza and sutton

stacie and i

on the hayride

i love this school and will miss it so much! so will eliza!

was it REALLY halloween? not for us!

This year was like no other...we had a huge snowstorm (12") on the Saturday before Halloween. This is typically one of our family's favorite days of the year!

It is usually a perfect fall day, with the air crisp and the leaves changing. Perfect sweater and hot cider weather!

but instead...a snowstorm in October. It literally crippled our town. In-town trick-or-treating was cancelled, another fun Halloween party (with an outdoor haunted house!) was cancelled, and ultimately the mayor cancelled Halloween.

Surely something like the mayor canceling Halloween only happens in books and movies, but NO, it happened here.

Halloween was rescheduled for Friday, November 4. How do you move Halloween?!?!?

the girls were super sad since it would be our last Halloween here and our street is so cute and fun with the party and parade and all...but since the house who usually hosts had a tree hanging on an electrical wire, ready to fall on their house, they were out for hosting!

So the snow came, the trees and power lines fell, and it looked as though a tornado had ripped through our cute little town. It was like nothing i have ever seen in my life. The town was deserted and we lost power for 7 days. We were fortunate enough to stay in a hotel for the week, but had friends who hunkered down in their homes for the week. We hooked up a generator for our sump pumps and each day on our trek back to gas the generators, the thermostat read 43 degrees! We couldn't possibly stay here....schools were cancelled-"snow days"-for 5 days! We have already used up our snow days! the talk of the town was when we were going to get our power back...if i never bail out another sump pump in my life, i will be a happy gal!

thankfully, our church did a "trunk or treat" so the girls were able to get dressed up two weeks before halloween! it was a great party! but even the school parties and parades were cancelled...

on the actual holiday, we met some friends at the mall to have lunch at cheesecake factory and trick-or-treating at all the stores. better than sitting in a hotel room!

here are my girls in their costumes:

kira as a witch

eliza as goldilocks

alexa as a 70's chick

it will be a halloween we'll never forget!