Family Weekend Recap

I know, I know, I've been slacking on blogging about the Holiday Weekend with the family, but here is a little recap of our fun!
Black Friday was a blast as usual . . . Karl and I got up at 430am and headed over to Walmart to get our 46" Samsung TV. The place was INSANE, but thankfully no one was trampled to death (apparently someone in NY was, how scary!) We got our TV no problem and proceeded to stand in line for 45 minutes . . . I had the camera but forgot to take pictures, oops! Then we headed to Target to try and get a car DVD player, but we weren't at the front of the line and by the time we reached the electronics counter they were gone =(. We came home by 630 and then Wendy and I went out for round two, the mall. By noon I was exausted and called it quits! I am happy to report however than Nonni in Florida was successful in procuring a car DVD player from Target down in Tampa =)


A little later in the day we all headed out to a local "cut your own" tree farm -- I had my heart set on cutting our own tree, Griswold style!! =) Once there however it didn't take me long to decided that I prefered the Frasier Firs way more than the White Pines, and since the Fir doesn't grow in Tennessee they were precut from North Caroline. So we picked a nice Fir tree and took it home for decorating.


There was also much present opening this weekend . . . Grandma and Boompa brought lots of Christmas presents from home and we opened several of them so that they could watch the joy on Hailey's face (brought on by the fun wrapping paper and tissue paper more so than the actual presents! They could have saved a bundle by just wrapping empty boxes!!


Grandma bought the cutest little outfit that has a trap door on the bum . . . ADORABLE!

Today we ventured down to Nashville and visited the Opryland Hotel. It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, we walked around all the decorations, and had lunch at the Irish pub, where we learned Hailey LOVES lemons . . . she's her daddy's girl!


Finally it was time to say bye bye to Grandma and Boompa who have a long drive back to Virginia . . . we had the bestest time while their visit lasted and cannot until we see them again!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Birthday, Oh Happy Day!

What an exciting day! Hailey, Jersey and Molly's first Thanksgiving, Mommy's first time making the turkey, and a big 27th birthday! Here are some moments from the big day, we're so happy that Grandma and Boompa were here to celebrate with us!

mmmm . . . Turkey Time

The Sondermann Girls, say CHEESE!!!


Cutting Mommy's ice cream cake, yum! (atleast one of us is looking at the right camera!)

Ghosts, Goblins, Ghouls . . . and Nonni and Papa??

It's Halloween . . . a time for the witches and werewolves to come out, and apparently for Nonni and Papa to come and visit!! Our late night visitors arrived at 330 am after a LONG drive from Florida. Hailey woke up momentarily as there was a bit of commotion when Nonni, Papa, Maddie, Abbey and Lilly all arrived, but after filling her belly on milkies she promptly went back to sleep, as did the rest of us!

This morning everyone was chipper and excited to see one another. Papa cooked breakfast, and for the first time Hailey had some real foodies for breakfast (normally we only have foods for lunch and dinner, but since she's a big 6 months the doc said to let her have 3 meals a day!) Nonni was more than willing to feed the baby, and we even tried out the sippy cup -- water with a touch of grape juice, yummy! Shortly after breakfast however mommy remembered there being a recall on Nuby products and as it turns out our super new sippy cup was among the products recalled -- guess we'll have to find a new one!














While we're on the subject of Halloween I thought I might share some photos from Hailey and my pumpkin carving adventures with Christine, Pete and Jay two nights ago -- check out the awesome pumpkins!!

And a quick shot at Halloween last year -- Cali the Ballerina Princess was our only child then, here she is celebrating Howl-O-Ween at PetSmart . . .