Sandy...

We are as ready as we are going to be for Sandy to come through our area. Food, water, flashlights, games to play, electronics charged and most important of all we have each other.

There is no school today for Sarah or Brayden and probably again tomorrow. As of right now (8:30 a.m.) we just have lots of wind, no rain yet. We have never had any flooding in our neighborhood, so I am not concerned about that. They say there will be a lot of power outages and for several days, so please pray we don't lose power.

I am reminded of Philippians 4:6-7 - Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

Controlled by peace this morning and thankful for it. Will post again once we are on the other side of her.

New York City...

On Saturday morning, PaPa and MeMe left to head back to North Carolina, and we headed into New York City to see some sights.

We started at Chelsea Market where the Food Network offices are located. On the ground floor are all sorts of food stores and markets.

You didn't know I started my own bread company did ya?

This vendor has over 20 different kinds of delicious balsamic vinegar you can sample and purchase, as well as different salts and olive oil. Ever tried dark chocolate balsamic vinegar?

I have officially fallen in love with crepes.

Making our Nutella crepe. As Rachel Ray says "Yum-o".

We all snacked on 4 different kinds of crepe - Nutella, Four Cheese, Ham, Pear and Brie and Cinnamon Sugar.

We have got some beautiful kids.

Next...Empire State Building. We dropped Michelle and the girls off so they could take a ride up. Looks like they had a beautiful view.

Grace (13), Claire (9), Sarah (11)

While they were at the Empire State Building, I enjoyed spending time with my two favorite guys at Rockefeller Center, Lego Store and Toys R Us.

The fall colors are so beautiful.

Brayden got to meet up with the Incredible Hulk (in Lego form).

After meeting up with Michelle and the girls we took them to the Rockefeller Ice Skating rink, which had just opened that day. What a special memory to say they have ice skated there. They spent about 40 minutes on the ice.

Last stop after ice skating was Dylan's Candy Bar. Two floors full of all kinds of candies and a special cafe on the top floor. Thanks to Aunt Michelle they each got a special container to fill with their favorite candies.

We all enjoyed the day and headed to a Jersey diner for dinner where Brayden drew for us his interpretation of Justin Bieber. I think it looks exactly like him. LOL!

PaPa's Surprise...

PaPa told Brayden he had a special surprise for him when we got back from apple picking.

A gun! Brayden was so excited. It is a simple suction gun, but you have to start somewhere. PaPa taught him how he needed to load it and how to position it to shoot.

When he hit the target they celebrated!

We in turn surprised PaPa by celebrating his birthday (a little belated) by getting him an iPad. He was so surprised. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him with it.

Happy Birthday to you!

Some of his favorite people.

Apple Picking and Pumpkin Patch...

Two weeks ago while PaPa & MeMe were here they went with Brayden and I apple picking in Warwick, New York. Sarah had just gotten back from youth retreat the night before, so we decided to let her stay at home with Daddy to sleep in and relax.

It was a beautiful crisp morning and we got a FULL bag of apples.

We found a tree full of beautiful red apples and PaPa tried to hoist Brayden on a limb to grab them, but he was a little unsure so down he came.

I was determined to get these red beauties, so I hopped up and picked them myself.

Love spending time with my parents.

MeMe, does this look like a good one?

We all tried our fair share of apples to see if we liked the variety.

PaPa, MeMe and Brayden with our wagon full of apples and a pumpkin for Sarah.

The fall colors just starting to pop.

A couple of days later Brayden and I went on his class hayride and pumpkin picking field trip at a local farm.

It was a chilly and rainy day, but thankfully it stopped raining for us to pick our pumpkins.

Brayden and a couple of his classmates talking about the big pile of dirt they saw across the field. Boys. : )

Love, love being able to share times like these with my boy.

Afterwards enjoying cider donuts with the class.

A fun day for my preschooler.

Spiderman Birthday...

We celebrated Brayden's 5th birthday with a Spiderman party on Thursday night.

The Birthday Boy...

Brayden and his favorite Superhero.

Decorations...

Brayden's personal Spiderman cake

Fellow Spidey Friends...

Aunt Michelle, Grace and Claire arrived from Florida that very day. They each wore their favorite superhero shirt in honor of the birthday boy.

PaPa & MeMe

Aunt Susie, Uncle John, Sammy and Stephen

FaFa & Grandma

Todd and Samantha

Daddy & Mommy

Sarah

The Smith family was also there with Brayden's friends Levi, Ella and Trinity. We somehow missed getting pictures of them.

So many fun gifts...

Happy Birthday Boy...

Brayden had a fun night and loved all his gifts. He is already talking about his next birthday party. This mom just wants to enjoy this year of being 5.