Our Last Week in NY

Well, it is surprising how fast 3 weeks passes. It is still a hard thing to say goodbye. Sam and I have already been a little sad for the last couple of days. Over the last week we have all gotten sick... and when I say all, I mean, Ya-Ya, Poppy, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins! Yeah, that was a family friendly stomach bug! Here is the updates since Christmas.

TODAY: The day before we leave to go back to AZ... We have really tired these boys out.
New Years Eve - The Making of the Pies. Our traditional New Years Day dessert is my homemade pies. I had a helper this year. JT was passed out after all the sledding. I didn't get any pictures of the night with all the family... I stink!

Check out the messy chef... look on the floor!

All Smiles!

Kisses, too!

Sam can do it all!

New Year's Eve Storm = SLEDDING!

The boys were too excited to break out the sled Aunt Lisa got them for Christmas. When the snow started fallin' again, they were ready! And thanks to the other Ricci clan, Daddy was ready too. Not me... Even though I grew up in this, I don't find much enjoyment in standing in the freezing cold. Call me crazy?! So, I drove up and took some pictures then left!! :)

This is Hayden, Matt, Jake and Fred at the top of the hill.

I can't even tell who that is! And yes, for you Arizonians... this is a DIFFERENT storm on top of the one I already posted!! ahhhhh... Rochester, NY! Come visit!

This is Jake helping Sam get up the hill. It took a while!

The sled in the middle at the bottom is Matt and JT. JT had fun sledding but was a little tired of the cold. When you asked him about sledding he said, "My hands were COLD!"

Saturday, Dec. 27th This is what it looked like prior to the storm. Snow was actually melting... you can see some green! But the winds were getting up to 50 miles and hour and Poppy and JT buckled down for the storm by putting all flyable things in the shed.

A very proud little helper with his Poppy.

Get Together with Friends. We are fortunate enough to stay in contact with a few close friends here in Rochester, and we were able to see a few of them. Everyone got sick, so we made it a small gathering. Thanks Sarah and Jay! It was great to catch up! The boys had lots of fun with Jack.

Merry Christmas!

3 am. Christmas Morning. Everything is ready... FINALLY!

Santa CAME!!!

The Number ONE thing on Sammy's christmas list... Spiderman Web City.

The one thing on JT's christmas list... "Hulk Toy"

JT got his Utball Hat. :)

Ready. Set. Hike. Go Bills (A present from Santa... I mean Daddy)

This is from Sam getting his Indiana Jones shoes to complete his Indy ensemble.

Indiana Jones. Thanks Aunt Barbara!

The day after Christmas. Rockin' out.

Christmas Eve. The only picture I have is this family pic. Thank you Sam!

That was a great surprise!
Go Steelers! Just don't look too close to Matt or Cosie. :)

Winter Wonderland

As I said in my last post... we were buckling down for another storm. Well, it came! We have 10 inches and it is still snowing! The kids here even got a snow day! Of course the boys are not complaining. My parents live right down the road from Matt's brother. So, we decided to get on our snow gear and walk down to "Aunt Nita's" house for some snow fun. Well after 20 minutes of layering and snowsuits, we finally walked out the door. We traveled 10 houses down to their house and we were ready for some Hot Chocolate.

In this picture they look warm and toasty with hot chocolate...

Hayden, Sam, Cole, Anthony and JT.

After a couple of hours, we were ready (or so we thought) to try it again. It was FREEZING! I know I grew up in this, but really! Words can not describe the cold! You could barely see in front of you!

JT really liked eating the snowflakes.

He looks like he is in the arctic.
again, eating snowflakes. Too bad this is blurry because it would have been a great pic!

Sammy. It was hard to do anything but just stand there with all the layers.

Or fall down!

The View:

A Snow Fort with all the kids. That was cool.

JT slipped and fell right on his bottom.

All in all, it was a fun day, despite the frigid temperatures! The kids had a blast. And, now I am hoping it is out of their systems! I certainly do not want to go out in that again!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Blogging from Rochester, NY!

It is a balmy 29 degrees and we are preparing for a blizzard tomorrow. The kids are all hoping for a snow day! The kids are in HEAVEN! I have lost count of how many times Sam has dropped to the ground and tried to make a snow angel. We are still waiting on snow pants for him and snow boots for JT so we have not made a day of the snow yet, but I am not sure how much longer I can hold them off. Especially with the snow storm coming. If I were willing to bet, I would say we will be in the snow tomorrow no matter what gear we have.

Here is a picture of JT just to go to the car. Sam is not in the picture because he already ran out the door to get a snowball!

The cousins had their annual "cookie hookie day" today. They made some rice krispie treats to decorate like cut outs, peanut butter cookies and biscotti. It was considerably smaller because Aunt Barbara had to do it alone as I had a hair appt. (can't miss that) and Debbie and Lisa had to work. They looked like they had a great time.

JT eating Frosting.

Making Cookies

JT eating frosting.

Making Cookies

JT eating Peanut Butter.Note the pattern! :)