It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ahh, the fall. The changing leaves, the crisp cool weather, and ... of course, football. And with football comes tailgating. We love to tailgate and really enjoy trying different menus. This time, Tiff thought up the menu of ribs, and we had corn on the cob, apple pie, and all sorts of nice sides and desserts. After lunch, of course, Penn State feasted on Oregon State.

Enjoying the Sunday Gravy

With names like Sofia and Annabella Fanelli, it only makes sense that our girls would enjoy the gravy. So I was proud when my daughter not only was excited to hear she was getting gnocchi for dinner but also asked for a meatball to go with them.

Annabella, who is a better eater anyway, loved hers as well, but I am not sure whether she enjoyed eating all of it, wearing it, or both.











and even the dog got his share....

Why I Support Animal Cruelty

Early College Visit

We took Sofia and Annabella on their first unofficial college visit recently, when we took them to State College to visit Penn State. Actually, we were there for the Arts Festival, but we had to stop at the Creamery and the Nittany Lion Shrine. Sofia has a book in which the Nittany Lion visits both sites, so she was quite eager to see them.

Of course, once we got to the Creamery, the line was QUITE LONG. This picture only shows the part of the line that was outside. This was all after it snaked all through the Creamery building itself. Waiting in line with two little ones was sooo exciting!


Sofia was so excited. Not about the ice cream so much, but because there was a mural of the Nittany Lion on the wall. What 2 year old runs away from a bowl of ice cream to see a picture of the Nittany Lion?

Yeah, mine.






We then went on to Lion Shrine and waited in line again with Annabella and Sofia (who wanted to get in everyone else's pictures), only to have Sofia and Annabella cry and try to crawl away once we did get an opportunity to take some pictures.






All in all, it was a great time with them. Especially when Sofia turned to her mother, as we left the Creamery, and said, "Mommy, I'm going to go to school here." I don't think she even was prompted by anyone to say that. Maybe.

Anniversary Weekend

Last weekend was our fifth wedding anniversary, and we celebrated by going back in time. At least it seemed that way.

We spent a couple days and a night at the recently re-opened Bedford Springs Resort and Spa. Wow.

Everything was beautiful, and the spa was certainly relaxing. But I think the best part was the pace of the whole place. It really was like you stepped back about 100 years, not just because the decor looked like it, but also because everything was just slow and relaxed.

We had a great time, even if it did rain almost the whole time we were there. Looking at these pictures, who wouldn't?

Just For Me

Yeah, so this post is just for me. I certainly hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do, but there won't be much explanation for them. Sorry - it's just for me. :)

Birthday Photo Shoot

I already posted about A-bell's birthday, but we also wanted to share some of the fun shots we got from Annabella during the photo shoot we did to get that "one" picture for her special day. As those of you with kids will know, these pictures do not quite do justice in showing how tedious that process can be.....

Enjoy!

Annabella's Birthday Party

Although it now has taken me a while to post these, we did have a fun time with Annabella's birthday party a few weeks ago. It was a small gathering of family, and we all enjoyed watching Annabella dig into her cake, which as you will see already had been "visited" by her sister - hence the finger marks in the icing.

A-bell is becoming such a funny little person, and hopefully you will see some of that in these pictures of her enjoying the cake.