Noah & Aunt Holly's Jeans

Well Holly, I wasn't going to make this it's own post, but it made me laugh, and makes Noah laugh at "how silly... I'm wearing those pants".  I think these pictures are fairly self explanatory:)  Thanks for the quick visit Pelkey's!

Thanksgiving week 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year!  Gabe had 5 days "off", but was on home call so we stayed in the Portland area and our families came to us.  On Tuesday the kids and I had a really fun cooking/baking day.  We made lots of bread, pies and rolls.  Noah has always loved to cook (and now James does too), but this was the first year he was more of a help than a hinderance in the kitchen... he is a great sous-chef... James on the other hand has a ways to go;)  On Thursday we had a great time visiting with family over turkey and pie.  Friday we went to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland and got to see Rick Charette in concert again.  Saturday we went to Aunt Andrea's house for a good brunch, followed by a long naptime for us and work for Gabe.  On Sunday the boys and I drove to VT for a day trip to visit with friends and share in a very special 4th birthday party at an ice skating rink.  Noah had such a good time that he still says thank you to God for it every night during prayers:)  The down side of all of this fun was that I took ZERO pictures!  So, enjoy these of our post grocery shopping robots and N&J cuddling after naptime. 

James's Swimming Lessons

James and daddy finally got to do swimming lessons together.  This was actually a really neat week at swimming lessons b/c there were very few people (being the week of Thanksgiving) and all 3 kids in James's class had their dads with them... really cool time for James and Gabe.  James is fearless in the water, even when we dunk him under, he tolerates it far better than most of the other kids:)  Both boys continue to do very well in swimming lessons, and Noah is just improving exponentially every week.  I was considering taking the January/February session off b/c the water is cold, but they both love it and and doing well, so I guess I will suck it up and embrace the freezing water in the freezing weather:)

Noah's swimming lessons

 Noah and James have been taking swimming lessons since September.  Usually it is just the kids and I, so it is impossible to take pictures, but Gabe got out of work early enough  last week to go with us.  As our luck goes, the heater in the pool was broken and James's class was cancelled, so I only have pictures of Noah this time around.  James was a super patient boy though...  James LOVES his swimming lessons and gets super excited to splash in the water... these lessons have made him fearless in the bathtub and other water though so we have to keep a much closer eye on him:)  At Noah's first week of swimming lessons he was scared to death... Gabe (thank goodness he could be there!!) had to sit on the side of the pool with him as he cried and refused to go near the pool... it was a very sad sight.  I thought for sure we would just be getting our money back and trying again next year.  That weekend we took him to the pool during open swim which he did well with us.  The following Monday I almost cried as I looked over and he was in the pool and swimming with his floaties just like all of the other kids!  I couldn't believe it!!!  He wasn't scared at all!  Now he is like a little fish and is pretty proud when the teacher allows him to show off his back swimming skills in front of the class.  They usually swim with a bubble belt and a noodle, but as you can see in the bottom picture, he is happy to swim with the bubble belt alone:)  

Halloween 2010- The Pumpkin & The Duck

 Here, finally, are the pics from halloween. Noah insisted on being "a pumpkin with a hat with a stem on  it", I tried to convince him differently with many "cooler" costumes, but there was no changing his mind, as it turns out he was right and it was a great costume... kids his age seem to want nothing to do with being a pumpkin anymore, so it ended up being unique after all.  Noah also picked out James's costume of being a "duck with a hat".  Thankfully for me both costumes were from the same pattern which made it easier to do.  It is so fun now that Noah is making choices like that (and a new challenge for us), I can't wait to see what he will come up with next year:)  

We had a great day and I think the kids really got the full halloween experience this year. We played in the morning, which was excruciating for Noah, then in the afternoon Grammy Civiello and some of her friends stopped by to see us, we went to a birthday party, and finally we went trick or treating.  Noah & James's friend Jonah came to experience his first halloween with us, though I am not sure how much he enjoyed himself;) The top picture is of what the kids insisted on watching all month... they had to get in one last episode before halloween was over.  James LOVED all of the candy even though he really didn't know what it was, he did very much enjoy "swimming" in it... I am not sure why, but that is just what he does now when there are lots of anything on the floor.