Then & Now: Thanksgiving, Birthdays & Tannenbaums...oh my!

The end of November is always a crazy and fun one for the Rapoza family. We've got not two, not three, but FOUR birthdays in one week, which is also the week of Thanksgiving. Jack gets to celebrate his cousin Kody and his Uncle Kris's birthdays on the 21st, his Grandpa Bob's birthday on the 23rd and his daddy's birthday on the 25th...wow! Happy Birthday to some of my favorite guys, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Then: The Rapoza Family at Kody's 4th birthday party.

Then: Grammy & Captain Jack

Now: The Rapoza Family at Kody's 5th birthday party (yes, that really is my husband, the penguin).

Now: Grammy and a terrified Jack meet "Happy Feet" (he did warm up to him after a minute or two!).

Then: Slept through the majority of Thanksgiving dinner.

Then: Kody keeps everyone entertained in the kitchen.

Then: Marc and Bob nearly burn the house down with their birthday candles.

Then: Kasey & Jack get some couch time with Grandpa Bob.

Now: Rocked his way through Thanksgiving.

Now: Kody keeps everyone entertained in the kitchen.

Now: The November Four manage to keep the candles under control.

Now: Kasey and Jack entertain themselves on the couch.

Then: Jack snoozes through Christmas tree shopping, snug as a bug!

Then: Daddy consults Jack for the tree selection.

Now: Jack watches in fascination as Daddy cuts down a tree.

Now: Daddy consults Jack for the tree selection while he's actually awake!

Yes, Michigan...The Feeling's Forever...

Jack and I were Eastern U.S. jetsetters over the first couple weeks of November. Five days after getting home from New Hampshire, we hopped on a plane for a quick trip to Michigan. We didn't do a whole lot, just spent lots of quality time with family (although I did get to see a few of my favorite friends). Marc wasn't able to join us on this trip -- he offers free haircuts to veterans each Veteran's Day, and this trip coincided with the holiday. We missed him, but I'm so proud of him for giving back to those who have served our country.

Although our time in the mitten was short, Jack and I managed to squeeze in a few of my hometown favorites. We had beautiful weather one day, so we were able to spend an afternoon playing at Marshbank Park with my mom. The days the weather wasn't so nice, we spent the afternoon at the West Bloomfield Library. One morning was spent at 12 Oaks Mall visiting Santa, although I doubt Jack even realized what was happening. We also spent a lot of time visiting my grandma. Her health wasn't the greatest this fall, and she is now in a nursing home trying to get her strength back so that she can get back home. Jack and I enjoyed our meetings at her temporary home, and hope to see her back in her own place for our next visit.

As always, thank you to my parents for putting us up, watching the little guy so I can see old friends, and making my childhood home always feel like "home". Jack (and his mommy) miss Maimee and Bopba, and can't wait to see you again!!

White Mountain Family Vacation

Marc, Jack and I took our first multi-family vacation over the first weekend in November, to the White Mountains up in New Hampshire. There were a total of five families - 10 adults and 7 children - and I am happy to report that it was a success! The only downfall was that it was the ONLY weekend in North Conway when NOTHING was open. Apparently the entire town closes down in preparation for the winter holidays, and the first weekend in November is when they switch gears from autumn festivities to Christmas. Thankfully, there is plenty of natural beauty in the area, so you don't need to rely on manmade theme parks for a good time. There are also a ton of outlet stores, which...although they annoy me to no end, are kinda fun to hit up once in awhile!

Breakfast with the kiddos!

Thank you to the other families involved for including us in this year's New Hampshire adventure. The three of us look forward to doing it all again next year! (Just maybe on a weekend when there's a little more action!)

Jack and the "deahs" (behind the fence).

You have no idea what cute looks like until you see a mini-donkey.

Jack shocked us when he saw the horse and said "neigh"...guess he IS learning something from all those farm books!

Then & Now: Halloween

Then: Jack turned two-months old on his 1^st Halloween, and of course he seemed so big to me at the time. Of course I now realize that this is totally ridiculous, but then…I thought he was practically a grown-up! At any rate, he was a great sport on Halloween and let us dress him up in a Jack-o-Lantern costume and drag him around our neighborhood with his big cousins, a tradition that I hope remains for years to come.

How YOU doin?

Now: Well if I thought Jack was a big kid at his 1^st Halloween, imagine how I felt this year, now that he’s a fancy 14-month old, walking and talking! He was a good sport again (although he wasn’t too crazy about the hat part of his costume) and let us stick him in the skunk costume yet again. We thought of getting a different costume for trick-or-treating, but our Little Stinker really does make a perfect little stinker! We were able to continue the tradition of having family join us for Halloween festivities, and are so grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives. And such crazy kids! There is never a dull moment when these three boys get together!

It was quite a shock when Captain Jack Sparrow answered the door at GG's house

48 Hours with Grandpa Carl

Not even matching grandpa/grandson hats could bring any luck to MSU.

What a lucky month of October for the Rapoza family! First we had Grandma Carol here for a visit, and this past weekend we had another special visitor from the mitten…Grandpa Carl! Delta had a last-minute special on airfare, so my dad bought his ticket on Wednesday and hopped onto a plane on Saturday. The gorgeous weather that we had for my mom’s visit was long gone by the time my dad arrived. Instead of sunshine, he got a Nor’easter!! It worked out well, though…we were one of the only pockets of New England who didn’t lose power or get pounded by a ton of snow. We all had a great time sitting around the house, nice and cozy, watching Michigan State lose to Nebraska (that wasn’t so great) and eating yummy comfort food. I only wish the visit could have been longer, but we’ll take what we can get! Miss you, Grandpa, but we’ll see you in a week and a half when we head to Michigan!!

Playing with Jack in the "snow".

Silly goose!