Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

We've had a couple great snow storms already and it's only December. I think this winter wants to make up for last year's mild winter! Thursday I had a FUN four hour drive home from school in the midst of what's known as a WHITE OUT which means it's snowing so hard you can't really see much beyond your front bumper. Then Sunday, church was canceled due to another snow storm, this time teh snow came with winds too! FUN FUN! All I can say is we're definately having a white Christmas in New England, but we'll be headed home to Virginia where we hear the temperatures have been in the 70s! CRAZY!

Here's a shot of some of the aftermath of the storms around our house. More pictures will be coming so you can feel like you are here enjoying the weather with us. Oh and to top it all off...only ONE SNOW DAY so far! Not even a delay...like everyone keeps saying "welcome to the north".

Dad's trip of Firsts

Well Jess's dad finally made it to Boston. His FIRST trip, he'd never seen Boston even though he grew up just hours away in New York. We were excited for his visit since this was also the FIRST time he would be staying with us since we've been married. Another FIRST, seeing our house of course. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

He arrived early Saturday morning after a long drive up. Saturday we spent relaxing and catching up some. Sunday we all headed to church and then took a trip into the city for the afternoon. Dad saw Fanieul Hall and Quincy Market and of course ate some New England Clam Chowda! Then we headed to the North End to see the North Church and grab a canolli along the way. It happened to be a frigid day...but dad kept reminding us to get used to it because we live in the north now! Monday was actually our FIRST SNOW DAY of the year so dad got a REALLY good taste of New England weather while he was up. We made him some of our favorite recipes...Hawaiian Chicken and Chicken Adobe and then he made us one of his favorites, Joe's Special. It was a great visit full of long talks and catching up on the important things of life!

*The picture is of us in Boston.

Anna and Jess's Boston Tea Party

So after a most festive Thanksgiving, Anna drove back to Boston with us to spend the weekend. We started out the weekend as goofy sisters will with lunch and a shopping trip.
We found these hilarious fighting holiday pens and made sure to buy a few because they were so entertaining!

The Reindeer gave Frosty a run for his money in the fight.

Go Rudolph GO!

Anna treated us to a yummy dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant and the Boston Tea Party began...you'll understand soon.

The next day we headed into Boston for the day. We started out at Faneuil Hall for lunch...New England chowder of course! Then we followed the Freedom Trail through Downtown Crossing and the Boston Common til we reached Newberry Street stopping at shops along the way. Then it was time to stop and warm up at a posh cafe to continue our Boston Tea Party.

Here we are enjoying our pot of tea at TeaLuxe.
Can't have tea without CRUMPETS! What's a crumpet? We decided it's like a combination of a pancake and an English muffin. Very interesting, but tasty too.

Cheers to our Boston Tea Party!

We spent Sunday at church, where I lead worship for the first time and then we had crepe wraps for a less than ordinary lunch and finished some Christmas shopping.

Anna is now an official Red Sox Fan and we'd like to welcome her to the Red Sox Nation family. We ended the night editing Anna's college essay and enjoying our first go at making fondu or should I say FUNDO.

It was such a fun filled visit and we certainly won't soon forget our own Boston Tea Party!

Happy Turkey Day and 90th Birthday

This year we headed to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and a 90th surprise birthday celebration. After the surprise we enjoyed a delicious meal with choices galor at my uncle's country club and we enjoyed time catching up with our cousins who we hadn't seen since Andrea's wedding a year and a half ago.

Here's Papa being surprised...it took him a few minutes to catch on to the fact that not only were we celebrating Thanksgiving together, but my uncle was also throwing him a birthday party!

Papa thought the cake was a large card and even tried to open it until he realised it was a cake covered in icing with a picture of him from back his soldier days.

Nana was so excited to see everyone together for the holiday and to honor Papa on such a momentous birthday.

The girls are all grown up and the boys have been a fanstic addition to the family.

We ended the night sharing stories and catching up over a home cooked turkey at my uncle's kitchen table. It was a wonderful time spent with family and we were so thankful to be there with everyone, especially our Nana and Papa!