Last month it was a turkey and this month it's a Christmas tree. The school is keeping us on our creative toes. After some brainstorming, some fun stickers, tree branches, family pictures and construction paper we completed our second family project of the school year.
He was so proud to hand his tree in and he reported that he was the first in his class to bring the project back. Yay Charlton Family! (Anal Mommy!)
I wonder how many more projects we have coming our way this year??
No snow for the Holiday Parade this year either, but the kids had a blast. It was full of good music, great floats and of course...TONS OF CANDY for the kiddos. We set a record again with the amount of kids in our group!!!
It didn't feel much like the Christmas season, but as tradition follows, we loaded up and headed to Copenhagen to find the perfect Christmas tree on Saturday. Seth picked up the chain saw, carried it for about five feet and decided it was too heavy and let Dad take over.
No snow this year, but Seth was excited to get his mud boots a bit muddy. He is such a boy.
SUCCESS!
The tree wrapper was even working this year and the kids thought it was the coolest invention ever.
This particular horse was hysterical. Seth would goof around with him and then the horse would laugh and show his teeth. He was great!
I left out a few pics from Thanksgiving that needed to be shared...
Gram had to sit and rest after playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. Leah gave her a snuggle buddy to sit with.
Seth is so programmed to smile on key for the camera. This is such a great shot with Grandma Charlton.
I love it when our fridge is overflowing with the kids work. It makes me so grateful that they are happy, healthy and thriving kids! Leah is loving all the projects that she does at Judi's and Seth comes home with all sorts of things from school. I can't wait to open his backpack daily!
I think we enjoy Thanksgiving the most because we get to host it and we love to have parties and people over at the house hanging out! We started the day by watching the parade in our jammies, just chilling out on the couch. Before we knew it, Tom the Turkey need to be basted, seasoned and thrown in the oven!
Leah wanted in on this action of course, she LOVES to help in the kitchen.
I am in the mind frame for the holidays to go big or go home so here is course #1....appetizers!
We are so happy that Justin was with us this year!
We are even more excited that at 83 and 85 my grandparents could join us.
We also love that my in-laws join us yearly too!
Leah took right to Uncle J.
The main course in all its glory. Thank you to everyone for helping us pull this beautiful meal together.
We reconfigured the dining room to fit all 15 people.
My wonderful (hoarder) son created a man cave in his closet and Roland pulled out the original Nintendo for him. He is addicted to it and asked just about every guest to come see his fort and play Mario with him.
Last, but not least, course #3...dessert!
My grandma even brought the kids a candy bouquet which they loved of course.
Nummies as Leah would say.
This past weekend we were given a little turkey preview at Grandma and Papa Charlton's house on Saturday night. We were all together for the first time since last July and we were able to celebrate an early Thanksgiving together. It was great to get the kids together to play, have some wine and some delicious Thanksgiving dinner. It made me even more excited for actual Thanksgiving on Thursday. YUM!
Leah gravitates to the person with the best games on their phone. Brad was trying to bribe her with his games. It was too cute!
It was great to see the aunties too!
They don't look like siblings and cousins do they?? 
Last Sunday Roland took Seth to see Phineas and Ferb Live on Stage in Syracuse. It was a perfect boys afternoon and Seth really enjoyed the show. They left a bit early and were even able to tailgate in the parking lot beforehand and eat their lunch.
Such a grown up boy.
Just a little excited!
A smile to melt your heart.
It looks like it was a very lively show. Roland reports that Seth loved it, but didn't get up and dance like normal. He must have missed his dance partners!
After a couple of months of trying to align our schedules we were finally able to have our friends The Sweet's over for dinner. The kids all get along so well (and so do the adults) that we just had a great evening.
The newly 3, twins had a blast checking out all of the toys that were new to them.
Since chocolate fondue never gets old we brought it back for everyone to enjoy.
Lisa even made her homemade marshmallows that are to die for. Thanks so much Lisa!
Between the chocolate, sprinkles, fruit, cake and marshmallows the kids were beyond a sugar high.
Mr. Healthy bypassed the chocolate and ate the fruit straight up.
We were given a heads up from Seth's teacher that he would be given an award at the first awards ceremony of the year this Thursday. We didn't tell him about it, but inside we were both so excited to see what he would be given. We sat like proud parents on the bleachers as the entire school piled into the gym.
The assembly had four different types of awards which meant that four students from each classroom would get awards. The awards were in the following categories; Respect, Caring, Most Improved and Academic Excellence.
Seth was given the "Caring" award!
We were so proud of him as he walked up front and shook the principals hand in front of the entire school and about fifty parents. He was all smiles and is so proud of his award.
Maya was also given and award and Sophie too! 
