Thanksgiving in Virginia

Thanksgiving 2011
Springfield, Virginia
Halle (7) Costa (5) Crew (11 months)

This year, with us being "East Coasters" and The Mersiowsky family living so close in Virginia, the rest of the Contreras Fam decided to join us out east for Thanksgiving. Papa, Grandma, Uncle Artie and all three of his boys, AJ, Niko and Gabey flew out and spent the holiday with us. It was fabulous! We had so much fun, all sixteen of us under one roof for 5 days...oops sorry seventeen of us! Cousin Veronica was also there;) The kids did great, everybody got along and we all really enjoyed each others company.

Crew's First Thanksgiving! He LOVED it.
Big smiles



SO big


After he ate, we put him in his clothes....he cleans up nicely!




I went shopping on black friday, my first time ever! Nise, Mom, Artie, AJ and I braved the crowds and headed for the Base, where Nise gets great deals because they're military. I was excited I found a few things for Erik! Now my babe will have a few presents to open under our tree;) Most of the weekend was pretty relaxed, just catching up, drinking wine and lots and lots of eating! I just LOVE the holidays!



Crewey pie fell asleep on his Nina
Cousin Ally loves to give kisses!
There was LOTS of time on Grandma's lap!


Saturday we did decide to get everybody out and do a little sight seeing. After we all piled into two vehicles, we were off. Double checking, then triple checking to make sure we had all the kids! I totally envisioned "Home Alone"...seriously. I can't even imagine! There's so many of them now. We headed down to the Georgetown area, got a coffee at Dean & Deluca, and then walked around and checked out some of the monuments. We even braved going out to dinner. Yep. All seventeen of us, with a baby in tow! We found a Fish Market that had a huge table for us and we barely even had to wait. Great day with all of our family!






It was so hard to say good-bye, we had such a great time. We had some pretty sad kiddos:( We can't wait to see everybody again soon!

Student(s) of the month

Yep, that's right......Halle and Costa are both students of the month for October! Erik and I are so proud of our kids, they are doing awesome. Halle has had 3 spelling tests so far and has got 100% each time! Two more and we're going to Red Mango for frozen yogurt(her pick)! We're pretty excited;) This time, they picked McFlurry's....mmmmm. Congrats kiddos! We are over the moon proud of you! We love you both so much.

With their certificates and mcflurry's

She just loves him

Last week, Halle's was going to a birthday party for her friend, Angelo in her class. As she was leaving with her dad she says to Costa...."Don't worry, Co....even if I'm not with you, I'm always in your heart."

I just wanted to remember this....it was the sweetest thing!

Little Chef

Halle decided she wanted to sign up for an after school cooking class! She started yesterday and made us some delicious pumpkin loaf;) Can't wait to see what surprise she makes next week!

And, speaking of little chefs Halle and Costa pretty much made dinner the other night....with a little help from me;) They're such great helpers!!!!

Ballerina girl

Halle told me she wanted to do ballet this year, and she wanted to be in the Nutcracker .....I knew this was going to be hard to pull off living in New York! Everything is outrageously expensive! But, I knew I had to explore all my options before telling her it wasn't going to happen. I was so bummed out after looking into it , just like I'd figured, it was going to be WAY too much for us. Sometimes I get so sad because our kids our getting older and I want them to be involved in things and our situation limits this! I decided to try one thing before I gave up and googled Nutcracker in New Rochelle. I was amazed at what I found! Why didn't I do this before?!? There was a tiny little article in this magazine called The Loop. It said that the Ajkun Ballet Company out of Manhattan was going to be returning in the Fall to invite children to participate in the Nutcracker for December 2011! Could this be TRUE? I couldn't believe what I was reading.....and the BEST part...FREE! Well, they said they would like each dancer to give $35 to help with the dancers fares to get to and from Manhattan on the train. Um, I think we can handle that;) Seriously? What a gift from God......he totally takes care of us! Just when I get sad or think ...What are we doing? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? He shows me in some way or another that we are exactly where we are supposed to be and it's all going to work out! I was pretty much jumping up and down! Yeah! My baby would get to do what her heart desired;) So she goes to practice every saturday, and she's going to be in 3 shows for the Nutcracker. Her group is going to be in the Second Act, the little Bon Bon dancers. Two of the performances in New Rochelle and one in Manhattan! SO exciting! Even more exciting is Uncle Alex and Aunt Les will get to see her perform here in New Rochelle. Exciting stuff!

Sal and Veronica visit the BIG city!

It was a super quick visit, but we were excited to see them anyway! Veronica and Sal stayed the night with us last friday night before they headed for their big night in the city. The kids were so excited to see them when they woke up! We enjoyed a nice breakfast together before they had to go. Sal had never been to New York, so they splurged on a nice hotel for one night so they could try and see as much as possible in the 24 hrs they had here!

The kids were sad to see them go and wished they could stay longer, so we decided to meet them in the city on Sunday and have lunch with them before they left. We went to Lombardi's, a super yummy pizza place. We had a little bit more time, so we decided to take a walk to check out the Brooklyn Bridge. The kids, Erik and I hadn't done that yet so it was a fun outing! Thanks for taking time to visit with us in your short amount of time you had Ron and Sal! We love you guys and can't wait to see you again soon.....

Crew ate pizza for the first time! Of course, he loved it!

Silly kiddos
Crazy looking building


View from the bridge

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!