Decorating the Christmas Tree

Now that it's after Thanksgiving, it's officially acceptable to put up the Christmas decorations!

Ian was really excited to start putting up Christmas lights. I was ready to get started too! It's a lot of work!
Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for us, sending a rare California rain shower our way.

Pumpkin Pie Soda and Pumpkin Spice Popcorn

It's that time of year when everywhere you look, pumpkin has invaded all the foods. Besides the regular pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin muffins, I found a couple interesting items that I was happy to try.
First was a Pumpkin Pie soda.

And next was a pumpkin spice caramel corn. 

First Christmas and Thanksgiving in Michigan

There's only a few more days for us here in Michigan, but there's still plenty to do!
On Tuesday, everyone was prepping for the praise giving service at church. As people started leaving in different cars to go to church, I saw Ian over on the side on the exercise bike. I asked him what he was doing and he said "Riding ducky to church." Cute.

Frankenmuth Michigan

It takes a lot of work overnight to get your hair looking like this in the morning.
Ian woke up really excited because he knew we were headed to a Christmas town today in Frankenmuth!

Flying to Michigan for Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we're headed to Michigan to celebrate with the rest of Theresa's family!
We told Theresa's parents to meet us at our house at 6:30am to head to the airport. At 6:23am I was suddenly awoken by Theresa saying "Joe! We slept in!"
I immediately recognized it as a Home Alone moment and would have started playing the "Rush to the Airport" music by John Williams if I had had the time.

Luckily we had mostly packed the night before and were able to get the kids ready quickly.

Halloween M&Ms, White Candy Corn and White Boo-tterscotch

Happy Halloween! There's a couple special flavors this year and because I've got a great co-worker, they dropped them off at my office, knowing I'd love them!
First up are the White Candy Corn M&Ms.

Disneyland Festival of Holidays

Happy Sunday! Well today was supposed to be a relaxing day at home, cleaning the house and just getting prepped for the week. Well once everyone was awake, Theresa asked "Do you want to go to the Festival of Holidays at Disneyland?" Umm. Yes!
This little boy was certainly excited too! He turned 3 just a couple days ago, which means he finally gets his own Annual Pass! Now he has a card like Mommy and Daddy!

Dapper Weekend at Disneyland - Monday

It's been a fun Dapper weekend, but today is the day we check out. The kids were up early, so we cleaned up the room, called bell services to come take our bags, and headed out to the parks for early magic hours!

Dapper Weekend at Disneyland - Sunday Evening

After a fun Dapper Day of hanging out with friends, Theresa and I headed back to the hotel room. Once the kids were fed and asleep, T stayed with the kids while I headed back out to hang out with friends.

Dapper Weekend at Disneyland - Sunday

Dapper Day is finally here!

Dapper Weekend at Disneyland - Saturday

Day 2 of our Dapper Weekend. The kids did great overnight in the hotel room. After everyone woke up, we enjoyed some of the fruit and yogurt we'd brought with, then headed into the park to start our day.

Dapper Weekend at Disneyland - Friday

It's Dapper Day weekend at the Disneyland Resort. We've enjoyed celebrating Dapper Day at Disneyland since February 2013, and now that we have kids, there's a whole level of cuteness that is added. Ian trying on his clothes in the days before and looking so snazzy.

Alli learned how to walk about 2 weeks ago and is looking just too cute in her little white dress.