last night with the Silvia's and my big girls day out!

Rich cant stand when someone is quiet or looks like they are not having fun, so poor Sydney caught his attention...he made her put on his new hat, she was so not impressed...I know all she wanted was to play spoons ;) 

one of the fun things about Shawn & Stacey, they love cribbage...so do we...so it is always a competition! Well he wanted to get warmed up and thought he could beat poor little Nanny...boy was he wrong!!! Ha. She creamed him 3 games in a row...did I mention he hates loosing ;) LOL  

So Rich and I headed upstairs to play with Stacey & Sydney, I am so not competitive, I just like to have fun, but the game was on! 

So after a fabulous dinner, we provided dessert...

Vanilla Ice Cream topped with BACON!

If you have never tried it, you must! Just look at these faces

Sammy loved it so much she kept adding bacon! 

this guys never smiles in pictures, but he was smiling now! 

Even Nan loved it and guess what...it's gluten free! 

Brenna trying to look like a teenager but look at her bowl....empty! 

You have to try it! and please let me know what you think.

The perfect combination of sweet & salty!

So Sunday I got the opportunity to go out with my girlfriends! We usually do lunch and a movie, but no theater was playing the movie we wanted. So we took a box of wine, headed to the new casino!

We went in, remembered we forgot to have the wine first, headed back out to the car, had a glass of wine and headed back in to throw our money away....

This was the best part right here! 

This was the stressful part  =/

But like my friend Tanya said, yeas we all lost a little money, but we had fun and made a lot of memories...worth it? you bet!!!

I am so lucky to have such great girlfriends in my life!

And on the way home a gift from above too!

Parade, Elk, Christmas Tree!

Sat morn off to our 1st Christmas parade!

It was pretty chilly and I didnt have a blanket in my car (yet) so I, most impressed with myself, brought out their booster seats and had them sit on them to keep a little warmer ;) Yay mom!

Stella will go up and hug anything....we thought we knew this guy, turns out it wasnt who we thought, oh well, Stella was happy and Brenna was cautious ;) 

Yay Shriners! one of my favorite parts, they started the figure 8's right in front of us...how there wasnt an accident I have no idea... but fun to watch! 

And last but not least, Santa! Who I am trying not put as much emphasis on this year, but to remind the girls he is fun, but only for fun, the true spirit of Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus!  

These guys only live a few miles up the road from us, but we never get to say hi! we are usually on the go and running out of time. Well, not today!  

Daddy was out hunting while we were here, we (unfortunately) were the only ones who saw a rack 

And finally Sat afternoon we were able to go get our tree...I have become the get-your-tree-Friday-after-Thanksgiving type of girl so waiting till Saturday afternoon was torture! 

So George Hayes, he owns the huge lawn mower business at the end of our road, is known by most as a kind of cranky, grumpy old man...well let me tell you, he is a sweet and super generous kind man who loves our little girls! Rich called to ask if he was sell trees again this year, and he said why dont you come cut one down yourself! Then he asked Rich if he was coming alone or if the girls were coming too! He was so happy to hear we were all joining in on the fun!! 

we were so excited  we have wanted to do that for years but never knew any where close to do it. Well across the pond we went! He is very particular with everything he does, so no doubt his trees were perfect! 

we told him what we were looking for, he found the perfect one and... 

Rich & Stella started cutting!

Stella couldn't believe she was able to use the saw too! 

walking back to the truck, he said well, Merry Christmas! we were so thankful for the fun experience and asked how much we owed him, he said again, Merry Christmas! How sweet, so I ran up and gave him a hug saying Thanks and he said ok thats fine, I just dont want a hug from that guy ;)

Third & final Thanksgiving: puppy style!

Our neighbors Shawn & Stacey (that bought the house across from us) from Mass. came up for Thanksgiving! What a treat! Not only are they a TON of fun! they brought up the 8 Portuguese water dog puppies who were now 6 weeks!

Immediately the girls fell in love =)

Between 2 families, the 8 of us ate like kings & queens!  

And got right back to the pups to help digest! 

Stacey holding Stella

She is a Mainer at heart from the most northern town in Maine, almost to Canada! She is a hoot, and has such fond memories of growing up in the Maine woods!

out door potty break! Who ever gets these puppies will get very nicely trained dogs! The Silvia family spends a lot of time training and working with them!  

Even Rich couldn't put them down!

Stella & Sammy (13 year old daughter) Such a sweetie 

Group photo time! 

Then a little later we taught them about the game of spoons! totally getting into it, screaming and diving across tables...what a blast! Even for Sydney (15 year old daughter) who tried not to smile, was laughing and didnt want to stop playing ;) 

Back to our home for the night, Brenna just cant get enough puppy love! We had Onyx & Buddy for the weekend while mom & Pop were in NY...they are such good dogs too! 

Hey Panda, or should I say Hay Panda!

At mom & pops neighbors farm, they made this! And we were the first guests to stop by for a pic once she was finished! 

This is how Brenna rides down our road!  

Whooo are you Thankful for? I love making place setting crafts with the girls! Thankfully we have our super fun neighbors from Mass to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with!!! 

We have oh so much to be thankful for!!!