Santa Baby.. A Purse Please!

Elsie has had an obsession with purses and shoes for some time... 

but today at Target it took the cake!  Every bag we passed she 

picked up until she couldn't carry anymore!!  I had to re-shelf them 

"mom style" on the sly before we reached the check out!! :)

Future Bag Ladies Annonymous

Ben's Santa Letter 2011

This our little Benney's Christmas wish list... I thought it was so

adorable I had to post it.  To clarify the 'bullets' he is referring to are

for the nerf gun :)  

A "Cooky" Tradition

The kids and I have been making a different Christmas cookie every sunday in December

We leave half the dough for monday and the girls bake them for FHE

It's been pretty neat, the kids get to help on sunday and then Sophie and Nadia

get to put their new found baking skills to test the next day!

Last sunday we made some very special cookies... a family tradition.  I told

the kids when I was little I made these with my mom every Christmas... Ben 

quickly corrected me and told me I actually made them with 'grandma' :)

We added a peppermint icing to help hold more of the crushed candy cane!

Everyone loved them and it was great to carry on this fun, yummy cookie tradition

with my own kids.  We even used the "Cooky Book" that my mom gave me, 

the same one she used when I was a kid!  

My Favorite Time of Year...

Some holiday photos... In preparation for the big day!

Picking out our tree on Thanks Giving weekend...

Santa was there to cut and trim the tree!!

Our Stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Everyone wanted their turn to put he star on!

First Nadia...

                                           

Then Ava...

Elsie changed her mind... :) 

This strange ritual of bringing a big poky thing from 

outside to inside was a little too much for her!

Ben wanted to pose with the final product... 

Fake smile and all!

I need to remember to put an update on here...

Elsie has 'undecorated' the bottom half of the tree over the last few weeks!

Nadia's Field Trip

I was lucky enough to get to chaperone Nadia's 3rd grade class to the Science Museum of VA!

We had so much fun, and saw a great movie about Ancient Greece at the IMAX!!  It beautiful and made us feel like we had traveled across oceans and time!

Eating our lunch

Nadia's 3rd grade class

Sophie's DARE Poster

Sophie is entering this "Just Say NO To Smoking" poster into the 5th grade

DARE contest.. wish her luck.  I'll keep you posted on the results!

The Cutest Little Four Eyes

Nadia put on her first pair of glasses today and said...

"Wow!"

"I can see the clock!"

Nadia had a ton of fun picking out the style to give her that

smarty pants look to match her spunky personality...

What Sophie Wrote..

Sophie's Letter to her 5th grade class

A Masquerade Ball

Sophie, Nadia and Ava celebrated Juliette Low's birthday!  

Sophie's Girl Scout troop hosted a masquerade ball in her honor, here 

are the girls behind their masks... can you guess who's who??

Happy Halloween 2011

It was much anticipated in the Galitsky household and after countless hours of preparation, costume shopping, candy shopping, pumpkin picking, scary book reading, and front porch decorating, Halloween finally arrived... Ben just kept asking, "today we really get to go trick or treating?"  He couldn't believe it was finally here... the whole night he kept saying, "I love Halloween!"  Oh to be a kid again... 

Elsie Belle figured it all out this year!  By the third house she was trying to trade her "not so full" bucket for the neighbor's candy bowl!  She kept up with the big kids and sometimes lead the pack!

The dressed up gang

TJ handed out our candy... the kids started at our house of course.  TJ brought out his guitar and played in between the trick or treaters.

We are just loving our new neighborhood more and more... everyone came out to the street and set up canopies and bonfire pits... it was fun to visit with everyone and have a safe halloween!  The kids headed down our street first and then we headed off to other parts of the neighborhood.  We even went to three houses that had "haunted" backyards... and of course to the kids delight gave out BIG candy bars!

Yikes we thought Halloween was scary ... this photo of Ben was taken on November 1st!!

A Visit From Grandma and Grandpa - We Love You and Miss You - Come Again Soon!

We had so much fun having grandma and grandpa for two whole weeks!!

It was hard to let them go,  but the memories are wonderful...

Grandpa played all the old songs he played when I was a little girl...

Ben got cozy with grandma

We roasted marshmellows and made smore's around the fire...

We took a trip to about an hour west to see Thomas Jefferson's Montecello, Charlottesville, VA

Michie Tavern, built in the 1700's

Picture overlooking Charlottesville, VA from Mitchie Tavern

Waiting in line for our tavern meal.. it was worth the wait!

After we had a yummy lunch we headed to to the old mill which is now a general store... shopping yea!

Boys waiting for the girls... We love to shop... They love to wait!

We had fun tasting some delicious heirloom apples at a cider mill near Charlottesville

TJ can't resist being himself...  :)

We spent the evening in downtown Charlottesville.  The kids loved this butterfly bench...

And the highlight of the day for TJ, a chalk board wall near the market square, placed there as a tribute to the 1st Amendmnent (tj's all time favorite amendment).  Where he proudly exercised his rights!

At the end of the first week, we rented a house on Sandbridge Beach, and explored the Outer Banks.  

The kids loved exploring the beach with Grandma and Grandpa at their side

Grandma helped make sandcastles..

We decided to explore the Outer Banks and ended up in a great little area.. Nags Head, NC.

We had dinner at a little place on a fishing dock, with live music and a warm Island Breeze...

The kids could even play on the beach below us while we finished up our dinners..

Grandma, the girls and I got some really great shelling in... 

Elsie had a HUGE shadow :)

Look at that awesome shell Nadia found...

My little water baby... Elsie Belle

At last... a visit from Grandpa is never complete without a game!  And a lively one at that.. in the end everyone had fun and learned that you just can't beat grandpa... whether he's playing or not :)

It got so heated elsie had to watch from outside :)

Grandpa had to take several smoking breaks...

It was a wicked game of Monopoly, played on a 1% board (inside joke) 

Last but not least...

Grandpa.... WE MISS YOUR DINNERS!!!