Wow, I can't believe that an entire month has gone by since my last post! We have had a wonderful/busy January this year. Gabe was doing an elective in Hematology/Oncology this month and has most of his weekends free. So, we were very lucky to catch up with lots of great friends. One weekend we spent in NH catching up with friends in the upper valley. Another weekend the kids and I went to Boston to visit one of Noah's little friends who's family is also going through the first year of residency. I have not been great about taking pictures, especially when I have both kids by myself, so the pics are limited, but I did get some none the less.

The 2nd from the bottom is of Noah playing with his train on the track he put together all by himself. One of Noah's new favorite things are puzzles. He is unbelievably good at them. His incredible attention to detail, that at times can be frustrating, serves him well in this area. The bottom picture captures well how much the two boys really do love playing with each other:)

Winter Fun

We were able to spend a long weekend up north with family over the new year, during which time I got a GI bug and didn't think to take my camera out of it's bag the whole time... oh well! We did get Noah out on his snowshoes which, despite his delayed gross motor skills and his fear of trying anything like it, he did really well. These pics are from when we got back and found our yard filled with heavy sticky snow. Noah wanted to build a snowman, but what he really meant was that he wanted Gabe and I to build it while he ate as much snow as he could.

Christmas 2009

We were very lucky this year to have a WONDERFUL Christmas! We were able to stay at home with the kids, Gabe got 4 days off, and we were able to have lots of our family here to celebrate with us. Noah finally got the concept of what Christmas was all about this year. We spent Christmas eve as a family, went to the Christmas pageant service at our church, then over for soup at Gabe's boss' home. On Christmas Day we may have set a record for the longest time to open presents... 3 days!! By Sunday morning we were forcing Noah to open the last of the presents under the tree so we could take it down. The up side was that he really enjoyed every gift and insisted on opening and playing with it right away. And I mean everything, he even insisted on taking a pretend nap in his sleeping bag. We then had lots of family here for a great Christmas meal and company. Needless to say, I only remembered to take a few pics, the last several were actually 3 days later when all of the presents were finally open.

James' First Meal

Since James has officially turned 6 months, we thought it was probably time to start feeding him solids. These are some pics from his first attempt which went surprisingly well, except for the fact that he is insisting on feeding himself right from the start... oh what is to come...

Florida Trip- December 2009

We have had a wonderful family vacation in Florida. While there was an impressive cold spell up north we were enjoying sunny and 80 degree days. In retrospect, we accomplished a lot given the fact that we have a 6 month old who still isn't sleeping through the night and an almost 3 year old who acts "like a 3 yo". Not to mention the fact that both boys were sick, which just got progressively worse as the week went on. Although, I must say that Great Grammy and Grampy did get to experience a brief glimpse of what it is like to ride in the car with James:) These pictures are just a brief highlight of our adventures... we went to the Clearwater Aquarium, Busch Gardens (twice), and our hotel was right on the beach, so we tried to take advantage of the beach, pool and shuffle board court. Can't wait for the next vacation!!

Florida Bound!

That's right... in just 2 days we will be boarding a plane for the sunny south:) Noah is beyond excited to ride on a plane, swim and play in the sand. This is the first year he has been able to verbalize and understand where we are going and what we will do when we get there... it is so cool to watch him get so excited about things. He is this was about Christmas too, so this year may be the most fun yet. Equally as amusing is to watch James get excited when Noah does... you can tell that he has no idea what is happening, but figures if Noah is excited then something fun must be coming:)

Christmas preparations this year have been so fun!!! It is so great to be able to "teach" Noah about Christmas. He is such an eager learner. He helped me put the outside lights up on that 65 degree day last week while James was napping. I wish I had been able to get some pics of him in his long sleeved shirt and santa hat, pulling the lights back and forth across the lawn. I also learned that Noah knows how to quickly climb a ladder:) After the lights were up all he would say is, "oooh, pretty lights, they are so pretty". Noah has been watching the Charlie Brown Christmas and the Curious George Christmas movie almost daily. Like George in the movie, he keeps a santa hat on his bed and every time he wakes up he puts the hat on and says, "is it Christmas yet?". Then when I tell him no, with disappointment like George, he puts the hat back on his bed and gets up... very cute!

I don't have any new pictures to post b/c it has just been the kids and I here for a while, and everyone has been sick. Gabe is finally on day 15 of 16 straight, so we are VERY glad to have this vacation coming. Gabe hasn't been to Florida in almost 7 years, but I think more than anything we are all just looking forward to some good family time in the warmer weather:):)

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving this year! The weekend started off with a very fun visit from the Pelkey crew (minus "Unlce Brynan", which Noah hasn't stopped asking "where he is?") on Tuesday night. Because of our crazy schedules we had our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night. It was a great time to be able to spend time and good food with family. One of the top pictures is of Noah reading his Thanksgiving Prayer book, which he had memorized more than I had realized... it was very sweet:) As it turns out, the best part about a Wednesday Thanksgiving is having a very relaxing day on Thursday!! The bottom picture is of Noah and James impersonating Gabe... watching Charlie Brown's Christmas... this is why we don't let them watch tv often.

Big Trucks & Bowling

The kids and I recently had a great visit in E. Millinocket. The top pic is of Noah and Grampa riding in Uncle Jon's "big truck". Noah got to ride in the "front" seat, my dad said that Noah was so excited he just talked the entire trip to Millinocket to drop the truck off. The middle picture is from our visit with Great Grammie Civiello. Noah enjoyed playing with the toys that both daddy and grampy used to play with, and James very much liked all of the attention from everyone:) The bottom picture is from our trip to the bowling alley... Noah had a blast, hopefully he will get a little stronger and be able to get the ball down the lane soon (thank goodness for the bumpers!).