December 2, 2006 | Mama Smith

weekend with aunt diggy

My youngest sister Emily was able to hitch a ride up to Philly for the weekend. We were so pumped to have her to ourselves for a whole three days. Brighton being the most excited. Any extra attention he can gain, the better, in his book.

Today we went on a 3+ hour excursion to find the perfect Christmas tree. Well, make that the cheapest Christmas tree. We were all excited about driving to a Christmas tree farm out near Frenchtown to saw down our first freshly cut Christmas tree…until we saw the price tag on the “cut-your-own” trees. Let’s just say that even the 1 hour drive wouldn’t convince us to pay that much. So we waddled our bundled up selves back into the car and headed over to our favorite orchard down the road to enjoy an apple cider donut and load up on a 1/2 peck of apples. Just to make the whole trip worthwhile.

Then an hour later we ended up stopping at the Christmas tree lot one mile from our house that we purchased our tree at last year. We now have a beautiful 7’ tree filling our house with that perfect fir smell, for a mere $25. It’s the adventure that counts though, right?

Here are some shots of a day’s worth of adventure.

At the orchard…

B contemplating whether the moldly pumpkin is worth tasting or not. “It can’t be any worse than rocks, my other favorite chew toy?”

Bundled for the December weather that literally arrived overnight

Kids learn to stand up in the funniest way (this is for Matthew’s GranManur who got a special kick out of this over Thanksgiving)...

And here’s a few more from the weekend. The first is B’s debut carousel ride at the local mall. He like watching other kids ride it more than he liked being on it himself. Especially when that horse started bucking up and down…

“Hmm, Hey Mom, I think I want to keep her. Can we?” (I think Brighton wishes Emily would become a permanent member of the family. I actually think he’d wish the same for his Mimi, Tini, Aunt Callie AND Uncle John.) “Just no babies or anyone like that. Especially no boy babies. Got that, Mom?”

Em’s artistic capture of the Christmas lights

Tackling the spoon with a vengence. Only a handful of noodles actually landed in the bib! I’m even brave enough to now give him his own yogurt in the mornings…making my life a lot easier.

Playing hide & go seek with Aunt Diggy…behind the glass candle. Hmm, very tricky Brighton. Maybe if you cover your eyes we won’t be able to see you either!

There are a bunch more under the Photos page if you care to keep browsing.

And I also have to send out a Congratulations!! to the Helms family, who just welcomed the fifth addition into their family this morning, beautiful little Emma Claire – sister to Anna and Josh. This is my college friend, Maryanne’s, third baby. Way to go chica!