5 more years!

Congratulations to Richard for winning his re-election for Setauket Fire Commissioner. He now has another 5 years of being my boss!!! LOL

The case of the missing cookie...

Our Friends David and Marlo own the Rolling Pin Bakery in Setauket. Every year during the holidays they have a Cookie Tray making party... they put together 450 2lb cookie trays!! This year the girls and I stopped by after the holiday parade... The girlies had so much fun. Katie was helping carry trays to Marlo so she can weigh them.

Kate (pictured above) is a long time employee of David's and was so patient with the girls. She put them to work... and then loved working with her.
Above is just a small bit of what was actually wrapped. Below is Marlo at her weighing station :)

Sarah besides babysitting for us sometimes also works at the bakery.... we love you Sarah!


My little worker bees.

Parties and Parades

UGH... out of order again!!! so this weekend has been soooo busy with parties and parades. Every year in town they have Electric Holiday Parade, this year Allison's daisy troop marched. It was her first parade and she had a blast!
On Saturday we went the Port Jefferson Fire Dept childrens christmas party.... Rich's dad is chief in PJFD and he invites his grandchildren. They always have wonderful entertainment for the kids followed by a visit from Santa who brings gifts for all the kiddies. Sunday morning SFD Engine 9 (Rich's company) has a childrens christmas party also... also ending with visit from Santa who brings gifts. Below is a picture of my neices on Santas lap at Engine 9's party.

Mommy, Allie and Katie with Santa :) I am holding flowers- they were given to me as a thank you from the company because for the last 5 years or so, I have done the shopping to help Santa out.
More pics from the Parade... the girls on the sidelines.

These are good friends of ours - Jon and Tracey Sullivan with their 4 month old cutie pie Hailey.

I know the is pic is blurry.... BUT it was soooo soooo funny. During the PJFD party Rich was called upon to participate. Now if you know him you will find this hysterical... Because of all people Rich is the least likely person to want to do this. He is so quiet, and reserved. The girls were laughing so hard when their daddy was up there with the funny hat on.

Here is Allison receiving her gift from Santa at the Port Jeff party.
And Katie getting her gift.
Here is my neice Samantha receiving her gift from Santa at the Engin 9 party. This is her 1st christmas and its going to be so much fun.
Here is Hailey Sullivan on Santa's lap.... so so cute!

2nd Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party

This past Friday night I hosted the 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Decorating party!! We had so much fun... last years was sort of improptu- but this year we were prepared. Tons of candy and lots of friends made for a great time. I realized that I didn't take many photos- I was too worried about the total mess that was happening in my dining room. Below is a picture of Katie, Allie and Sarah. Here is Matt and Jennifer (with a pre-constructed house- thank goodness after last years fiasco), Marlo with Sidney and Benjamin.

I never took pictures of the final product... and Katies house has now crumbled because she put too much candy on the roof!!! I am so looking forward to next year!

A week behind and pictures out of order...

ok... so for some reason I cannot get the pictures to be in the right order... but oh well. Last weekend (Dec 1st and 2nd) we had some fun decorating trees. Both of the girls are part of Girl Scouts, and each troop had a tree to decorate in Stony Brook Village. Every year they have a nice tradition of putting up lots of little Holiday trees all over the village and organizations sign up to decorate one. On Saturday we decorated with Katie's Brownie Troop (the pictures with the sun shining!!) and then followed up with a trip to the movies to see Enchanted with Jill, Christopher and Natalie. I LOVED this movie... and totally recommend it. On Sunday we were back again with Allison's Daisy troop (the pictures with the snow!!) It was so pretty down in the village with the little bit of snow we had.
The picture above is of Katie and her friend Hannah... they have known each other since Hannah's mom Karen and I had them in Mommy and me together when they were 2!
Daisy Troop #405!!!
Katie, Hannah, Allison and Hannah's sister Ava (who is Allison's best buddy)
Below is pictures of us at the movies...

I love this picture of the girls... and of course I had just ordered my christmas cards the night before!

Ava and Allie decorating their Daisy tree


These are the phots from Saturday...

It was so cold... we had hot chocolate for the girls. It may have been sunny, but it was windy so it was soooo cold.
Brownie Troop 2197!!!
(OUT OF ORDER) this is a pic from the movies with Chris and Natalie

Christopher Joseph Lotten

Doug and Erica welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby boy yesterday at 11:12am! He weighed 6lb 12 oz and was 19 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing great! I am soooo excited for my brother and his wife, I cannot even express :)

If I click my heels three times maybe I will be home faster...

Tonight is my last night in Kansas City, MO. I have been attending a class for Communications Center Managers sponsered by the NAED and Fitch & Associates. I have met a absolutely terrific group of people and have learned so much from my classmates and the faculty. I will have to return to Kansas City at the end of January for another week. We have been assigned to groups of 8 and are required to do a research project to be presented to the rest of the class in the second week. I was voted to be the project manager for my group.

Tonight as I sit here in my hotel room... I am desperate to get home. I received the horrible news that one of our dear friends passed away this morning. Jimmy Hubbard was and will remain one of the best people I know. Please keep Cindy, his wife and their three children Jennifer, Sarah and David in your thoughts and prayers.

It has been a long time since I last posted... even though my plate is very full, I am going to make an effort to post more often.