I Survived!!!

The Annual Cos Fam Jam Christmas Festivities have officially concluded.  Grammie and Pop fly out this afternoon thus ending our lodging responsibilities.  I sure hope we get good reviews on Yelp from all our guests!  All told, it was a GREAT week with our families.  Lots of fun memories, lots of silliness, lots of good food.

Saturday KJ had a volleyball scrimmage in Frederick.  They played well but the coaches are still figuring out who goes where.  And that's what scrimmages are for.  KJ was the setter on her high school team, on the travel team they're trying her out at liberaro.  She's such a good, all-around player.  She'll do fine where they put her.

We left directly from the game and headed to my MIL's.  It was about 7 PM when we got to the home and had a nice visit before heading to Lynn's for pizza with Lisa and the kids.  Poor Kyler was horribly sick but Kayleigh was her usual silly self.  We spent the night at the Sheraton (gotta love being in the hotel business!  We haven't paid full price for a hotel room in years and years!) and headed to NYC after a great breakfast.

We met Joe, Laurie, Paige, Britt and Dan in front of FAO right at 11 AM and had a wonderful, low-key day.  We walked thru FAO, all along 5th Avenue, St. Patrick's Cathedral and had lunch at Rockefeller Center.  We walked around Times Square and headed over to Columbus Circle to see the decorations at the Time Warner building and we walked around the Christmas Mart and found our favorite waffle kiosk.  We walked around Central Park and played for a bit in the playground.  We left the city around 5 PM and were in our house by 8:30 PM.

Monday I had a doctor's appointment and did a few things around the house.  Monday night Cosmo and the girls went to the Caps game while I picked up my parents @ Regan.  I hate driving there and always get lost on my way back.  I wish they would just fly into BWI!  Tuesday I did my grocery shopping while T drove my parents around for last minute errands.  Wednesday the girls baked and wrapped presents all day and KJ went to Christmas Eve mass with my parents after our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

We probably started opening presents around 8 AM and had our favorite sausage casserole for breakfast.  I don't know why I only make that once a year.  Russ and Barb arrived around 1 PM, Joe and Laurie and Paige arrived around 2 PM.  The ham was HUGE and delicious but, as usual, I burned the crescent rolls.  I was SO mad!!!!

Friday we headed into DC and went to both the National Archives and the Museum of American History.  I hadn't been to either museum since the first time we lived here.  The Archives were amazing and I loved the First Ladies exhibit at the American History museum (I especially loved the china patterns!).  The weather was spectacular and we ate lunch outside at the cafe at the National Gallery of Art overlooking the Sculpture Gardens and the Ice Skating rink.
http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/visit/ice-rink.html?from=home-page
We met Matt and Kristin at Carmine's for dinner and had a wonderful time catching up.

Joe and Laurie were walking out the front door Saturday morning when my bro and his fam pulled up in the driveway.  The timing was perfect.  And thus, Round 2 began!

My mom made her famous broccoli pasta for dinner and we just relaxed all day.  I never got out of my pajamas.  I was very, very tired and took a quick nap after lunch.  My brother brought his dog Toby and Trixie wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.  I mean, she actually sat on the couch and turned her back on him.  She wouldn't even acknowledge his presence.  In all fairness, he's still a puppy and she had never had another pet in the house before.  She was just like, "My house, my humans.  Be gone."

HoliDaze

Hope everyone had a wonderful, happy, safe holiday spent with loved ones!  We had such a great time in PA and NY and although I love to travel and be with my family, it's kind of nice to sleep in my own bed. 

We took our time driving up to my brother's last Saturday and woke up early Sunday to go to church w/ them.  My parents came down and we all got to see Mr. B and my cousins John and Rachel in their Christmas performance.  Afterward we had my mom's side of the family Christmas gathering and it ended up being a really nice day so the kids broke out the lax sticks and had a throw around.  After lunch and presents we went back to my parent's house but stopped at Candy Cane Lane on the way. We were absolutely exhausted so we slept in a little bit on Monday and the girls went sledding during the day.  At night we played a fun game of Mexican Train and my aunt and uncle came over for a bit.

Christmas morning was low-key until the kids came over.  Miss C got an American Girl doll and lots of fun accessories.  Mr. B was really into his Lego's this year.  T got lots of monogrammed stuff and lots of AOPi things and a Tory Burch bag, KJ definately had a Hello Kitty Christmas.  Cosmo and the girls took great care of me and bought me the big lens for my camera.  I was THRILLED and couldn't wait to try it out!  After lunch the kids (and Uncle Cosmo) went sledding again and we shot off some guns (Mr. B got a .22 for Christmas and let everyone shoot off a couple of rounds).  Pop got out the pistol too.  KJ was very, very accurate with the .22 and T did better with the pistol.  As girly-girly as my girls can be, they also like getting down and dirty.  It's so funny.  I swear, KJ looked like Miranda Lambert with the .22 in her hands. 

We headed out to NY bright and early Wednesday morning and ended up spending the night at my mother-in-laws because the weather had gotten pretty bad.  We also did a trip down memory lane and showed the girls our first apartment, our first house, my parents old house and our high school.  Thursday we made our way into Mid-town and spent a wonderful, wonderful day doing the touristy thing.  KJ made us all go into Chanel, Dior and Michael Kors and was dying to go into Tiffany.  Cosmo ended up buying his girls trinkets at Tiffany -- hey!  It's all about that blue box!  We did Rockefeller Center, Times Square, FAO Schwarz, a little walk through the Park, the windows on 5th Ave, Bryant Park.  You name it, we did it.  Friday morning we went to The Cake Boss's bakery in Hoboken and the original plan was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and have pizza at Grimaldi's.  It was a little colder than we thought and spent more time than we had anticipated at the Freedom Tower.  On our way home we stopped to take some pics in Battery Park and got some gorgeous shots of the Statue of Liberty at sunset.  No matter how many times you see Lady Liberty, it's still a thrilling sight.  You can't NOT take a picture.  Gets me every time.