Tiny Prints Christmas Cards!!

As I was blog-hopping this morning I noticed that one of my favorite stationary sites, Tiny Prints is offering up 50 free Holiday cards if you blog about them.  Yippee!!!  I love Tiny Prints and usually find myself drooling over their website for their latest and greatest baby announcements, Christmas cards, or calendars.  They are seriously one of the BEST stationary sites in my eyes!  Recently, we used Tiny Prints for a baby shower announcement for a friend of mine and it couldn't have been more perfect for the occasion!  Their products have this custom look that is unforgettable and their prices are so reasonable.  Today as I was browsing, I noticed so many adorable Christmas cards with their colorful, designer looks.  It was nearly impossible for me to choose a favorite!  I absolutely love Tiny Prints and can't wait to order our Christmas cards from them this year!

Decisions, decisions.....

There are so many beautiful cards to choose from.  The above card is one of my favorites.  I love how the pictures are layed out and the use of simple words to describe the season. 

Then there's this cute one.  Who doesn't love the modern spin on the Christmas tree?! 

This chevron/diagonal stripe is absolutely fabulous.  And I'll take that adorable baby too!

I love the bright colors in this one!  The snowflakes, stripes... it is perfection.

Tiny Prints did such a wonderful job this year of making the holidays just a little bit brighter with their beautiful designs!  If you love a certain card and want more info on it, you can click on any of them to be taken directly to their exact location on the Tiny Prints site.  Go take a look, you will love what you see!

 http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm  

  

New York, New York!

Saturday we had tickets to The Lion King, so we checked into our hotel (the gorgeous, Sheraton), ate lunch at a cute little deli next door to Carnegie's (we didn't have time to stand in the crazy line), and then walked to theatre.  As we were walking we stopped at some pretty famous along the way.  Timesquare was one of our stops.

We loved it!

I was going to get a picture with Minnie Mouse for Ansley and Woody stopped me on my way.  He roped me in and I couldn't get away (and he needed a breathmint REAL bad)!  Unfortunately, I didn't realize you had to pay for pictures with these characters...shucks!  Sorry Ansley!

On to the Lion King!!!

What an amazing musical.  They were so inventive in how they captured the feeling of the movie.  It was such a great experience!

After the Lion King we made a stop at FAO Schwartz to see if we could find Ansley and Brynn a little happy.  The store was a DREAM for any child!  There were 3 stories of toys, books, candy....you name it, they had it!  Jason and I thought this Lego statue was pretty cool!

Sunday was the big marathon day (the whole reason for this New York trip).  We stayed in the city that night so the boys could get a good nights rest and also because the ING shuttle left from the Sheraton that morning.  These boys got treated like ROCKSTARS by ING.  They had a huge charter bus to take them to the race site (with 4 people on it), a heated tent for when they arrived, and food/drinks for when they were finished running (we even got to join them).  They had it made!  We saw the boys at mile 8 in Brooklyn and mile 22 in Harlem (thankfully Jason was able to call us to let tell us where they were at).  It was so awesome to see how different the city was in all the burroughs. 

This picture is NOT good, but I was trying to do the video camera too.  The boys are on the far left of the runners and you can barely see Ryan.  They are rocking the orange ING shirts. 

This is one of my Harlem pictures...Ryan is the only one that made it.

Here they are after their big race!

Marissa, Whit, and I got one with our boys

Me and my STUD!

New York was truly so much fun!  We were able to see and experience so many great places in the city, watched a fantastic musical, stayed in a fabulous hotel downtown, and watched the boys run one of their dream marathons.  It was amazing and we can't wait to get back to the city that never sleeps!

Our Love For the Concrete Jungle, NEW YORK!!!

If you could see me now...I'm rocking out to the JayZ and Alicia Key's song, "Ohhh in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, these lights will inspire you!"  I love that song!  And they sure do.  It's an amazing city.  We just returned from a packed week of sightseeing and marathon excitement.  It was a blast! 
On day one we went to the breathtaking Central Park for lunch in the Boathouse. It's the iconic restaurant that can be seen in several movies including 27 Dresses (which I will be watching soon now that I've been there!).  It was a relaxing setting snuggled on the Central Park lake surrounded by the beautiful fall colored trees and people floating by on rowboats.  The atmosphere was magical! 

Our view on the porch was beautiful! 

And my food was too! 

Jason and his usual fish dish.  Aack!   

After lunch we took a tour of Ground Zero.  It was quite a sight.  The last time we were in New York it was maybe 6 months after 9/11, so the site was still in devastation.  However, now the north and south memorial pools are built where the towers once stood.  It was so surreal.  So many innocent lives were taken that day and the hum of the falling water into the memorial pools really helped us all to reflect on the sacrifice that they all made.  Also, the pools really put into perspective how remarkably high the Twin Towers were.  They were giants!  Right now, construction is underway for the Twin Tower Museum, which will house items recovered from the site along with the names of each precious person lost.

The museum 

Later we decided to view some of the historical parts of the city.  Lady Liberty was up first.

Jason and I at the harbor near the Statue of Liberty.   

Then on to Rockefeller Center, which was absolutely gorgeous all lit up at night 

And yes, I skated (in rental skates that scared me to death, they had no edges)!  

Our train rides back to New Jersey were relaxing after a busy day of sightseeing.

The next morning we went to see the taping of the Today's Show with Al Roker and Ann Curry. They do a little segment outside that we were able to watch.  While we were watching them, a young girl asked Whitney and I if we wanted to be on the Kathi Lee and Hoda show.  We of course said YES!  She asked if we had any questions for them and Jason piped up with one for Kathi Lee (he wanted to know if she would ever consider running a marathon).  So we jetted over to the studio for our    

 big break (Ha!). Little did we know we would be making fools of ourselves in front of all of America. ;)

Jason and I outside the Today's Show

Taping their segment 

Whitney and I so excited to meet someone famous! 

Our big debut on live TV.  The best running man you've ever seen!

Sarah Haines, Whitney, me, and Jason

Not only did we get on TV, but Sarah Hughes (Olympic Figure Skater) was on the show that day (what are the odds?!).  She was skating at Rockefeller Center for the start of the holiday season.  It was so special! After our big morning, we headed for Canal Street for some good, cheap shopping while the boys went to get their packets for the race. 

On our way home (running to catch our train at Penn Station), we decided to take a quick picture outside of Macy's.  The tree was so pretty!

That was it for our first couple of days.  Another post of New York coming soon!

New York...Here We Come!!

Jason, Ryan, and our friend Aaron will have the priviledge of running in the New York City Marathon this weekend.  It has been a dream of Jason's to one day do this....so we're off!!  See you in a week!

Halloween Night at the Underwood's

Jason and Ansley headed to our church block party at the Underwood's last night for an evening of hot dogs, cotton candy, hot chocolate, popcorn, games, and a Veggietales Halloween movie. I had to work until 7 so as soon as I got off I headed to Jackson to see my little Snow White in her cute costume. Of course, I could barely catch the stinker, she was busy running around the hay bales with her friend Sophia and keeping close tabs on baby Brynn. Half the time she couldn't keep her shoes on and her hands were like ice from running in the cold air. She is a mess!

Regardless, we all had a great night and can't wait to do it again next year!

Here's a few pictures from the evening....

Ansley in her Snow White outfit...she was so proud of it.  She wanted to show everyone who she was! 

Brynn (the little pumpkin) and Ryan 

 Sophia (Nursey) and Ansley 

Ansley found a lawnmower and mowed the Underwood's grass for about 45 minutes!  Who wants candy when you can mow?! Ha! Looks like I'll be purchasing one of these for Christmas! 

               

Tinsel!

We've had a pink feather, but now we have pink tinsel!  It gives just a little sparkle to her hair and what's so funny is that everyone tries to pull it out (they think she's got something in her hair that doesn't belong and then they realize...it's attached! :) Ha!)

She sat so patiently as Dani put it in her hair.  Still no haircut (momma just can't do it yet)...just accessories!