I thought it would be a fun night out for Mom, Amy and I to take a cooking class together. So I did a little research, found a local place and signed us up. Unfortunately, the class was a total fiasco – unorganized, horribly mismanaged and worst of all there really wasn’t any teaching or learning. The three of us tried to make the best of it though and enjoyed each other’s company and the absurdity of the situation. Mom made ginger poached pears, Amy made a rustic tomato and carmelized onion tart and I made apple crisp. Mid-class Mom was asked to help out another attendee make roasted vegetable napoleons (apparently the two chefs running the class couldn’t be bothered). At the end of the class we ate what we all had cooked – there were 11 of us in the class – the food was ok, nothing great. Needless to say, we won’t be returning. At least we had each other.

The day after Christmas Aaron and I hosted what has become our annual brunch for my entire family. We cooked up a big meal – Aaron’s famous latkes, tomatoes stuffed with sausage, egg casserole, fried donuts, fruit salad, bagels, yogurt filled strawberries, etc. “Entire family” now means 15 people and it looks like Aaron and I are going to need a bigger dinning room – but we all squeezed in had a great afternoon together. We opened presents and played with the kids. My siblings tried to get all their children to sit still, all in one spot for a photo – which was quite entertaining (see the photo above). I included a series of these photos in the album. We do love being able to host everyone at our place.

Here the album of our Christmas photos. We spent the morning at home, opening our gifts from each other. Then in the early afternoon we went over to Amy and Joe’s. My parents and James, Chrissy and Alice were there as well. We spent the rest of the day opening gifts, assembling or playing with toys and eatting of course. Santa gave Justin a light up stegosaurus lawn ornament (photo below) – which took quite a bit of assembly but was very well received and there were of course plenty of Legos to put together as well. We had a happy holiday and especially enjoyed being with the kids.

A couple of weeks ago we went Christmas tree hunting with my mom, Amy, Joe and their boys. Aaron and I had decided to skip getting a tree this year (I was feeling lazy) – but we thought it would be fun to go along anyway. It was a mild day (temperatures continue to be unseasonably high) and so it was nice to be outside, walking in the woods. After a thorough search we got two trees – one for Mom and one for Amy and Joe. We then went back to Amy and Joe’s house and played outside a bit with their boys. Later in the afternoon we helped them decorate their tree. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday. I took the above photo of Amy and Aaron at the tree farm. See how they are laughing together – probably at me – usually means they’re up to something…

For Thanksgiving we made our usual trip down to Washington DC to spend it with Aaron’s family. Travel was actually remarkably easy and smooth. We had great visit with the whole family, except for Molly who is studying abroad in Israel this semester. Her presence was definitely missed. We continued our tradition of making center pieces out of dough – although this year we just did two large cornucopias, and no animals. Emily and I made one of the cornucopias and Aaron and Lisa made the other one, which was entertaining to watch – they are siblings after all. Rita made the decorations and worked on the fine details of the cornucopias – as pictured above. We had a great time catching up with everyone and of course eating all the delicious food. Here’s a small album of photos from our visit, mostly of the cornucopia project.

In November the whole family traveled down to Connecticut to celebrate Alice’s first birthday. The party was held at Chrissy’s grandmother’s house – who just happens to live in the same town as our grandmother (talk about coincidences) – so we went down a couple of days early to visit with Nonnie and Becki. As you might imagine, it was a casual affair, but Alice was surrounded by lots of family from from both sides all there to wish her a happy first birthday. I’m told Chrissy spent days ahead of the party baking the cake, which as you can see in the photo above was no grocery store sheet cake. I think maybe Amy and Chrissy should open a bakery together specializing in kid’s birthday cakes! Happy Birthday Alice!

Aaron and I hosted our first sleepover with Justin a few weeks back. We all had a blast. We got a new Lego set at the toy store, went out to Fuddrucker’s for dinner and even got to sit in the car booth. He’s a fantastic kid and we feel lucky to be a part of his life.

We hope everyone had a great Halloween. We thought you might enjoy seeing some of our nieces and nephews in costume. Lia and Ella are still a bit young for trick or treating, but their parents got them into the Halloween spirit by dressing them up as pea pods. Alice dressed up as a duck. According to James, she is close to walking and it’s tough to get her to sit still these days, even for a quick photo. Justin went as a red hot rod. Amy and Joe bought a car kit, but then spent the weeks leading up to Halloween working on Justin’s specified modifications – adding windows, a trunk, a hood and supercharger, etc. And Brian went as a Tyrannosaurus Rex – which seems like a good match given how fast, strong and vocal he is as of late. Hope you all enjoyed the holiday.

Last week, we revisited one of my favorite fall traditions, the Topsfield Fair. We went with Amy, Joe and their boys on a cool evening after work. It’s fun to see what Justin remembers from year to year. They of course rode the merry-go-round, the train and the cars. And this year Justin was ready for his first grown up ride – the ferris wheel. We also did our best to sample as many of the fair’s delicacies as our stomach’s could handle. Between the group of us we consumed a polish plate (featuring pierogis, potato pancakes, golabkis and kielbasa), corn dogs, cider donuts, clam chowder, a steak skewer with yucca, popcorn, chicken fingers and hot cider. We also saw a variety of animals – all sorts of chickens, geese, ducks, llamas, goats, sheep, cows, a clydesdale, alpacas and racing piglets. One of Justin and Brian’s favorite exhibits continues to be the model trains, so we spent some time checking out that display as well. By the end of the evening we were all bundled up in sweatshirts, jackets and hats – but we definitely all enjoyed ourselves.

In September Brian turned two. Amy and Joe had a small family cookout/party at their house to celebrate. Amy made one of her fantastic and creative birthday desserts – this time it was cookie monster cupcakes, complete with blue coconut fur. They were pretty impressive AND delicious. We spent the afternoon outside on the swing set, drawing on chalk rock, chasing frogs – following Brian’s lead…needless to say, it was a fun day.