a belated but Happy Thanksgiving

Christy had to work on Thanksgiving, so we drew out the celebration.... Thanksgiving feast with friends last weekend, Thanksgiving song and potluck at Nicholas's school, the parade, football, and finally, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night.

 Thanksgiving window decorations

 oreo turkeys... great idea, Grandma!

 Nicholas at his preschool Thanksgiving celebration

 making pieroghies

 Claire modeling her Thanksgiving dress

 the turkey!  done in the roaster, freeing up the oven for other yummy things like sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie!

 We pulled out the wedding china, and even Nicholas got to eat off of it!

Claire's favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner was the roll, but she tried some sweet potato and green beans, too!

We are very thankful for family, friends, job, home, pets, and so much more!  We wish everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Happy First Birthday, Princess!

We can't believe our baby girl is a one year old!  Claire enjoyed a visit from Grandma and PapPap, pieroghy filling, and her first piece of cake.  Yum!

 cheese and potato balls, can't go wrong!

the cake

 checking with dad to see if it's ok...

 trying to figure out what do do with all this sticky stuff on her hands....

 tasting it... mmmm that's good...

 going in for the whole piece....

 all gone!

 Nicholas enjoyed the cake too

 presents!

 Minnie mouse card, and cute Christmas outfits and pj's from Grandma and PapPap

 Thanks for my owl fleece and hat and my Nalgene sippy cup, GG and Grumpa!

 Nicholas wanted to open and play with Claire's present too.... we had to hold him back!

yay, so much fun!

Nicholas likes Claire's new toy too!

meeting cousin Nathaniel

Claire and Mommy took a quick trip to Colorado to visit Aunt Katie, Uncle Jeff, Frisco, and their new arrival-- baby Nathaniel!!!!  We had a lot of fun and even took Claire and Nathaniel to their first art museum.  Can't wait until the cousins are a bit older and can all play together.

 Cousins!

 Aunt Katie reading to Claire

 Aunt Christy!

 Claire loves Frisco!

 the stairs provided endless entertainment

 at the art museum

great kid's area at the Denver Art museum

Happy Halloween!!!

Frankenstorm largely bypassed DC, in comparison to parts of New York and New Jersey and elsewhere on the East Coast, at any rate.  We are keeping the families hardest hit by the storm in our prayers.  We had four days without power and it was cold and inconvenient, but we are all safe and the house and cars did not sustain any major damage.  

We did not let Frankenstorm ruin our Halloween fun!

 On Sunday, before the storm hit, Nicholas and mommy went to the neighborhood Halloween parade, led by students from the marching band at the local high school, all in costume as well.

 Nicholas liked his Thomas costume until he saw the other kids and decided that a Superhero would be a better fit--hence the Thomas-turned-cape

 the band performed part of its half time show

 and the kids got to play in the leaves

 Nicholas loved getting to see the instruments.... he already wants to play tuba like his daddy

 Happy Halloween from the Machak Family!

our little pumpkin

 we decorated the front porch

we managed to carve three of the four planned jack-o-lanterns

We can't believe it's November already!!!!  We are really enjoying feeling somewhat settled and able to enjoy the fall festivities.  After the storm, the weather went from 75/80 degrees to COLD.  It's starting to actually feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.