Happy Thanksgiving....

My Favorite and My Best...

Happy Anniversary

to us...

5 crazy kids 

and he still

makes my heart skip a beat...

Preference...

Dre got asked to Preference

by a really cute girl named Grace.

Her mom and I were friends in college

eons ago...

It's pretty ironic that all these years later

Grace's family moved back to Utah...

 Dre and Grace happened to go to the same high school...

and she asked him to the dance...

AHHHHH.....

A picture isn't always worth a thousand words...

I was determined to get a Christmas card out this year...

so I decided to start early.

November being VERY early for this gal!

Last year, December got 

sooo CRAZY busy...

 that a Christmas Greeting

from the Snowden fam

 simply didn't happen.

I was...

too worried about everyone coordinating...

too worried about finding an awesome card...

too worried about getting a shot

 where ALL of my kids looked cute...

(you know there is always at least one child who's the "ugly one" by default.)

This year ...

I had grand ideas of how 

they would turn out...

Those ideas of grandeur didn't pan out so much.

If you have children 

and have ever tried to take posed shots of them...

you know my pain.

We were running out of light...

They were sick of smiling...

I was sick of saying 1...2...3...cheese...

through my clenched teeth...

I was fit to be tied...

They were fit to be tied...

Don't let the smiles fool you.

The second the flash went off...

instantaneous mayhem ensued. 

Elbows were being thrown...

she touched me...he touched me...

I'm hungry...I have to go potty...

They all should have been swatted and sent to bed...

(if that was the sort of mother I was...cough cough)

Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves 

for everything to "look" so perfect?

SIGH...

when will we learn???

Now I just need to find a great card....

(I have yet to learn the lesson)

Seriously???

Here is the caricature from 

our trip to NYC...

 

The resemblance is uncanny...

No??????

(Jen and I are switched from the above picture)

We appropriately titled it...

"Sexy in the City"

Why he put us all in cocktail dresses and go-go boots

with martini's and puppies in tow

is beyond me.

Oh...

 and apparently we're also in a band

Or...

thirty something year old mom's with lotsa kids!

Priceless Piece of Fine Art....

Start spreadin the news...

I just got home from a fabulous trip to

The Big Apple

 with some fabulous girls.

Autumn in the city...

SPECTACULAR. 

We laughed

We ate

We saw shows

We shopped

We got our caricatures done

We laughed harder than before

We skated

We got followed by a scary dude while we were getting off the subway at midnight
after Emily so generously offered up the location of where we were staying...

(or were we just thinking he was following us???)

Whichever the case may be...

4 girls

with no less than 6 huge shopping bags in hand

sprinting full speed 

down the dim streets of Washington Heights

at midnight...

A sight for sore eyes!!!!

The first of 3 different Daffy's locations...
Uh...excuse me ma'am... Do we LOOK like tourists????

@ Dylans Candy Bar

This was one of the funniest experiences ever. The guy probably hated us... we were laughing until we were crying!

Walking over to Brooklyn to eat pizza at Grimaldi's

Right after I bit it sooo hard on the ice...
The smile is forced...
I'm thinking
"my elbow is broken."
A 7 year old hockey player snow plow stopped right in front of me...
stared down at the OLD woman lying on the ice
shrugged and then abruptly took off skating backwards...
all the while keeping hie eyes intently focused on me
I'm thinking he was taunting me
GOOD TIMES

FAO Swartz

Emily being our brave tour guide
 sitting in the front (alone) with the freaky cab driver...

...Us other babies just along for the ride

Late night bakery stop...

Making new and lifelong friends on the subway

Being Broadway groupies with
"Nardo"
from West Side Story
(I swear I wasn't trying to chest bump him!)

One must always go to Central park
 when one visits the city
regardless of the rain...

Such a fun trip

Soooo sad to leave
4 girls + NYC = good times

Witches and Fairies and Policemen..oh my

Halloween is almost my favorite...

(just a smidge behind Christmas)

...Black and Orange...

oooo I love it!

It was a dark and stormy night

LITERALLY!

We didn't venture out to trick or treat

 until the rain subsided...

it was almost 8.

A few streets and the kids were done.

So was daddy...

as Halloween is not his favorite. 

The whole dressing up thing...

not his thing!

But he is a sport. 

Church Halloween party

We went to our fabulous friends 

The Jensens

"Annual Halloween Bash"

This year it was a Fractured Fairy tales gig...

Jack and Jill

(LITERALLY)

fell down the hill...

(Jack fell down and broke his crown...)

(and Jill came tumbling after...)

I googled "banged up and bruised"
make up tips...
Not bad eh?

Until next year....