Oktoberfest

Erik and I finally got a "day" date in the city without the kiddos. Erik was super excited about this German bar he had heard about and their Oktoberfest. After we took the train, the subway, then waited over an hour to sit down at the restaurant we were finally enjoying ourselves! The beer mugs were gigantic, my husband was in Heaven;) The german food was amazing, too. It was our first time trying spatzle, a noodle dish. We tried some other things but I have no idea what they were called;) It was a beautiful fall day so we opted to sit on the patio.....it was so nice but we were missing out on the big party that was taking place inside the bar! Every time I went in to go to the bathroom I got a peak of the band and the crowd going crazy, dancing on the bar (literally). Everyone that worked there was speaking German also. SO much fun! Adam, Marguerite and Nader came to have a beer with us. My good friend Brianna from high school now lives in New Jersey so she came to hang out with her husband, Curt and her parents were in town too. Fun to catch up with them!

Apple picking with the Canter family

The Canter's invited us up to their country house to go apple picking! We've really been looking forward to our first real "Fall" and all the fun stuff that comes with it. Erik had to work friday night so we headed up saturday morning and went picking that afternoon. The kids loved it! Even Crew was biting into an apple, they were delicious!

Halle with Marguerite and Adam
Of course, Costa has to start pitching all the bad apples to his dad!

Costa with Mr. & Mrs. Canter (Adam's parents)
Mac and Cheryl


That night we enjoyed a delicious dinner, as usual and some wine. Adam surprised the kids with fireworks again, they get so excited about this! It's so nice and relaxing there, we really enjoy it. Such great friends to invite our little family to do such fun things with them. On the way back home on sunday we stopped by the Farmers Market that Adams Mom and Aunt sell their goodies at. We walked around for a little bit and then enjoyed some good New York pizza;)

The Market

All she wants for Christmas

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

Cutest baby

Yep, we think he's pretty cute so I entered him in the Kathie Lee and Hoda "Cutest baby contest'

What do you think?

mmmmmm.....I just can't get enough;) Want to eat him up!

Look what he's doing now

Oh my goodness, I went into his room to get him and this is what he was doing....

STANDING! NO! It's too early for my baby to be doing this!

That was 2 days ago...and now he's trying to stand up on everything! He's so proud of himself, I LOVE it. I can't help but laugh with him when I go to lay him down and he immediately stands up and starts laughing at me;)

New city, new school

First day of Kindergarden

First day of Second Grade

The day is here.....first day of school;) 2nd grade for Halle and KINDERGARDEN for Costa. I can't believe it! We have all been anticipating this day for awhile now! We have had a lot of fun, and it's been an exciting summer moving to the big city... but the kids and I were ALL very ready for school to start. I'm just so used to having my routine and having them home 24/7 for 4 months straight is a LONG time. I love my babies more than anything, but mommy was starting to go a little stir crazy in this little 2 bedroom apartment, and I think they were too. I'm very happy with the decision to send them to Holy Name of Jesus, a Catholic School, although it was pretty stressful up until last week, figuring out it if is was going to work out or not. Luckily, they have an angel of a principal, Mr. D'Angelo and it all worked out and I feel it's the best thing for them. Halle's pretty excited to make her First Holy Communion and Reconciliation this year!

They were so excited, so cute. Another new school! SO much excitement, but lots of nerves too! I asked Halle if she was nervous on the way, she looked at me kinda funny and then a few seconds later she said..."yeah, I guess I am kinda nervous mom, my tummy feels funny." I told her it's normal, sweetie, don't worry. Mommy's kinda nervous too! It's hard to be the new kid, again. My sweet girl, she is so strong. No nerves for my Co (at least he didn't show any;), just lots of excitement to meet some new friends!

When we got to school it was pouring rain, and we had no idea where to go. It was madness with all the kids, teachers and parents trying to get where they needed to be. A teacher almost bumped into me and asked me what grades the kids were. She quickly grabbed Halle and said "I'll take her where she needs to go"....and then directed me where to take Costa. It was so quick and chaotic, I didn't even get to kiss her good-bye. I took Co to his classroom to check it out. We immediately found his desk and he was pretty excited. Shortly after, Costa's teacher came walking in with some of his classmates. I knew I had to get back to Halle and say good-bye. I felt comfortable that Cost was good, so I kissed him and told him to have a great day! I found Halle's classroom, and she got a big smile when she saw me walk in. Her teacher was actually running late due to the weather, so I hung out with her for a few minutes. When it was time to say bye she got a little sad:( I was strong this time! (Last year I was a total wreck! Must have been those pregnant hormones) I gave her a big hug and a kiss and told her she was going to have a great day and meet lots of nice people. Her teacher was super cute and very loving so I knew she'd be ok. My poor Hallers, I hate to see her sad! I prayed her day would be good...

When I picked them up they were ALL smiles! Halle's teacher said she was fine after I left. YEAH! Good day for everybody! Phew!

The night before school started, we did our toast and CHEERED to the new school year with some sparkling grape juice! A little tradition I started last year;)

Last days of summer

Summer's finally coming to an end. It's kind of bittersweet. I am so ready for the kids to go back to school, but I know once the school year starts time flies and I see them changing and growing up too fast!

We had planned on heading to Virginia to visit Uncle Jeff, Auntie Nise and the cousins one last time before school started. We were really bummed because we were going to go the weekend the Hurricane came through and had planned to stay for 5 days....well that plan got thrown out the window. We were all so crapped out. We didn't know if it would work out for us to go Labor Day weekend, but last minute it looked like we could make it happen! Erik and I decided to be fun and surprised Nise and the kids (we told Jeff so they wouldn't go anywhere;) We waited to tell our kids up until about an hour before we left so they would keep the secret too!

It was a pretty low key weekend, just hanging out at their house. Oh, and school shopping for my kids! Thanks Nise for coming with me! We did manage to sneak in a little mani/pedi, a trip to Starbucks and a little lunch at Chipotle. It was nice to have some sis time without all of our crazy kiddos! On friday, Nise and I took the kids to this really cool splash pad while Jeff and Erik golfed. The kids were in Heaven, and the weather was perfect for one last day in the water. Even Crew had fun....I let him crawl around and explore the water spouts.






Uncle Erik/ daddy had the kids rubbing down some ribs the night before we made them.....they thought this was pretty cool! Starting them young! Good job kiddos! The ribs were amazing. Oh, and how could I forget?????? Derek came to visit us!!!!!!!! YEAH! We were so excited to hang out with D, it's been so long! Erik was pretty happy too because they had their fantasy football draft saturday so they got to be together. Oh boys and their football!

We were introduced to Beyblades!


Super fun weekend, with great company!



When we got home we had a few more days before school started...I had promised the kids I would take them to the Smurf Movie, so we did that. It was super cute and really cool that it was filmed in New York City! It was fun to see familiar stuff that we've seen recently since we got here. Halle also had wanted to do a fort and watch a movie...one of her favorite things to do. It's a little tight in the apartment, but we made it work. So we did the fort and watched Rango. Have to keep my promises! Now, we can OFFICIALLY start the new school year;) We are ready.