Gingerbread Houses in Pittsburgh

Before Christmas, Jill, the girls and I joined my sister-in-laws for lunch. After lunch we checked out the AWESOME display of gingerbread houses around Pittsburgh. Many schools, churches, scouts and various other organizations entered a gingerbread house and they were amazing. I couldn't decided which ones to share, so I shared almost all that I took pictures of, but understand there were 100's that I didn't take pictures of. Such a fun display to check out.

Here the girls are with Aunt Sunny checking out the first window filled with them. (Aunt Michelle is in the background too)

Need to check my blog, Santa??

The indoor display. These seemed to be the "better" ones. But let me tell you, they were all great!!

a ribbon winner

This one was out of this world!!

One of the girls liked this one.

Such detail!

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

Noah's Ark

Probably my favorite. Would have been Jude's if he was with us, I'm sure.

Girls wanted a picture with it, to show Daddy!!

All the fans in the stands were jelly beans. Such a cute idea!! (and the football players were teddy grahams)

123 Sesame Street

Elmo made out of noodles and cheese curls and various other edibles.

I think this was Sarah's favorite. It was the Pittsburgh Incline...filled with Santa's reindeer.

Overall, it was a great day, a wonderful tour of the city, and a beautiful display of gingerbread houses. This just might have to become a yearly tradition. (if Aunt Sunny is up for it again...she made a great tour guide)

Tour of Pittsburgh

Before Christmas, Jill, the girls and I went to Pittsburgh and had lunch with my two sister-in-laws. Michelle was able to join us for part of the "tour" but then had to return back to work. Sunny was able to show us around and let me tell you, my girls enjoyed that day SO much!! Here they are with Aunt Sunny!! (This trip was probably one of their biggest highlights of the year...you would have thought she took them to New York City or something)
A close up of them and the Winter Classic sign.

These are the Macy's store windows. Everything in each window this year is made out of paper, and tells a story. The story is printed beside the window. It was cute, and the girls really enjoyed hearing the story and checking out the windows.

It was basically a story about a little girl questioning Christmas and Santa Claus (if I remember correctly)

Thanks Aunt Sunny for a wonderful day, and some great exercise.

And since my mother-in-law reminds me of just how YOUNG I am, she sent a very nice email explaining what was REALLY being displayed in these windows. Here is a link that explains it. It was about "yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". Thanks Jill for clearing that up. :)

Random

Here is a placemat that Miss Sarah colored. She has become so neat at her coloring. And here is one that Mary colored...very nice as well!

Our dining room table (before the train took it over)

Mary's Gingerbread house she made at school.

Very Exciting

Before Christmas, I spent some time with Jill and learned some basic things about using a sewing machine. I made a few little projects for the girls which was fun, and I got hooked!! So began my hunt for a reasonable machine to learn on. A few nights ago, we were out as a family, watched a great movie (Secretariat), had dinner and went to the mall. We checked the big stores and would you believe Sears had one on closeout. It is a Brother, has many simple features and was just what I was looking for, so Jude told me to get it. I had in mind, just what I wanted to make...

I found this pretty material that I picked up as a remnant, and I had a matching solid brown (that is super soft).

This material is so shimmery that it was hard to get a good picture to show the pattern, but trust me, it is pretty!!

And this is what I made...a camera strap cover. By no means is it prefect, but it was ,my first project on my new machine and I am pretty proud of it. Trust me, it has plenty of flaws, but it is mine, and it saves my neck from the heavy camera and I love it!! Now that I have made one, watch out...I plan on working hard to get better at it, and making lots of fun strap covers.

My camera and its new strap cover.

Sarah took this one...she cut me off, but thats OK because I told her to focus on the camera and strap.

And this is Mary's picture. (you know if you let one take a picture, you have to let them both)

So if you sew and have any advice, good websites, blogs or anything like that, please share. I am really just teaching myself as I go and would love all the help I can get. It is fun, and my ultimate goal is to be able to make a dress for each of the girls. I'll keep you posted on my projects. (I have since made a door snake for our back door to keep the draft out)

Some of PawPaw's gifts

A few weeks before Christmas, I was in MC and swung by Aunt Rita's to pick up the gifts she had picked up for my Dad for the girls. I put them under our tree when we got home, and they were getting the best of the girls, so I decided to let them open one. This is what they picked.

You can't tell she is excited, can you?
Coloring has become her favorite thing, and these were really cool marker stampers.

Mary was having a little trouble getting into her package.

And very pleased once she got it ripped open...a cute little doll which we now call Pippy.

Thanks Dad!!! (and Aunt Rita)

Bike Time

Sorry, I know these are old (but not that old) but I still wanted to share.
Mary has a "big" bike, so Sarah gets to use the old big girl bike (with training wheels). This was her first time ever on a big bike. (She has always used a tricycle) And she did GREAT!!
Mary is great at riding two wheel bikes, but this one is a hair tall for her, and she doesn't have the confidence in stopping on it, SO Daddy got to run beside her so when she was ready to stop, he could help her. :) She sure gave him a workout!

My baby is growing up!

Gained some confidence and wore out Daddy!

Having this big parking lot so handy is the greatest thing. As you can tell, it was a cold day, but there wasn't any snow so we could enjoy it.

Grandma's visit

We picked mom up from the airport around lunch time, so we decided to stop to lunch. Cracker Barrel was just the thing...the girls LOVE Cracker Barrel and so does mom. She got them these nice travel bags with the Texas logo on them.

A soccer ornament for both girls.

Woohoo...hand sanitizer!! (love Mary's expression on this one)

Happy with all her gifts

Grandma couldn't wait, so as soon as we got to the house and got her settled in, she let them open their Christmas gifts.