Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

For the first time ever Gabe and I both had Thanksgiving and the few days before and after off.  What a difference that makes for a fun and relaxing time!  We were very fortunate that everyone was willing to come to our house for Thanksgiving, and aside from a snow storm on Wednesday, the time we got to spend together was fantastic.  Everyone arrived on Thursday and we were able to play outside for a bit in the morning.  It was so warm that no one really needed snow suits, except keep their clothes from getting wet.  Trey did really enjoy himself, despite what the pictures may look like, but he seems to have an aversion to taking a group picture with his cousins:)  Dinner was pretty relaxed with good food and pie... Trey loved the fruit salad best... which was interesting since N & J refused to even try it.  Instead James opted to eat only the "candy" in the turkeys that Nanny made for the table. 

On Friday morning Amy, Gabe and I took a quick trip to Target for some surprisingly pleasant black Friday shopping (we decided we were too tired to stay up and go at midnight the night before).  The middle pictures are of James and Trey sitting on the couch watching Curious George's Christmas movie.  Trey is trying to play with James's hair, to which James wanted no part;)  Since we had some help watching the kids and it was so warm out Gabe and I took on decorating outside for Christmas.  I can't remember decorating in just a light fleece, but we did it and I am so glad that it is done.  I still refuse to turn the lights on though until December 1st.  Friday night we all trekked downtown for Portland's Christmas tree lighting and Rick Charette concert.  The kids got to meet and chat with Mr. Charette in the library before the concert... Noah was pretty excited!  

On Saturday morning it was still warm, so we packed up the kids and met Grammy, Grampy & Aunt Andrea for a hike at Wolf's Neck State Park.  There was no beach combing this time though because the tide was so high... not even a remnant of beach.  It was a very nice hike anyway and I am not sure the kids even realized we missed out on that part. On Sunday Uncle Jme and David stopped in for a visit on their way back north, it was so nice to see them (and get rid of the last of the cheesecake)!! We spent the rest of the day relaxing and getting chores done around the house.

Last Gardening Day 2011

Last weekend we took full advantage of this beautiful fall weather!  Our first stop was to our garden to dig up the last of our crop of carrots.  Both N & J were great helpers and I think that they will both really enjoy the garden next year.  The next day we loaded up Noah's bike and headed for the East End Beach trail.  He did so well!!  At first I thought that we wouldn't make it more than a few hundred feet b/c he kept stopping "for a rest" and was going so slow, but he eventually got his confidence up and rode the whole way to a bakery in the old port.  He did so well that on the way back Gabe and I had to run just to keep him in our sight.  After our run/walk/bike ride we "hiked up the mountain" (as James calls it) to the playground and the kids had a blast getting out for exercise in the  beautiful weather.  Noah was so wiped that he started asking to go to bed at 5:30 that night!

Here are the pictures of our finished golf tee turkeys.  Left to Right: Jen, Noah, Benjamin, James, Gabe (made by Noah).  No one wanted brown paint, so we embraced the creative process;)

Making Turkey

Yesterday we pulled out the paints. It has been a while since we have used paints because I didn't fully trust Noah and James to not make a huge mess.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Noah was so clean (I had to convince him many times that it was ok to get paint on his hands, that it would wash off easily) and James did such a great job listening and keeping the paint on the paper... or his face.  We are taking on  a project of making turkey's made from baking soda modeling clay and golf tees.  We got to the drying stage yesterday and will have to finish painting them today or tomorrow... more pictures of the finished project soon, I hope!

The top picture really shows just how big Benjamin is.  I thought that it was just me getting sucked into the "oh you have such a big baby" comments from strangers, but this morning we had his 2 month checkup... The comment of the morning from his pediatrician to the med student, "Wow, I wasn't expecting him to be so big".  He is 25.75 inches long and a whopping 16 lbs. 12 oz.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  For those of you needing a frame of reference here- N & J were around 12-13 lbs and 23 inches long, or, the goal is generally to double your birthweight by the time you hit 4-6 months..... he was 8lbs. at birth...  So, apparently I have super milk... He should be able to sleep through the night now right??

Lastly, The bottom picture is of Noah holding his latest piece of personal mail all the way from Uganda... He was pretty excited Hil!!  This beautiful drawing is now hanging above his bed:)

Veteran's Day 2011

Yesterday we took a very fun and very exhausting day trip to Brewer to meet cousin Trey, Nanny and Grandpa.  The first thing we did was to attend the Veteran's Day parade.  Grandpa came with us while Nanny and Trey stayed home for a nap.  It was cold and windy so everyone was bundled up, but it wasn't raining as predicted.  

The parade was a really cool experience. My dad has always instilled in all of us kids a sense of patriotism and the importance of respect for the flag, country and service men and women. I have been to many parades and events like this with my dad over the years, but have never experienced such an emotional and prideful thing as this one. First off there were many, many veterans, active service men/women, ROTC and boy scout troops marching in the parade, so that was neat to see that. Then, one of the boy scout troops (?packs, I am not yet familiar with the boy scout system:)) was marching by, noticed my dad in his air force hat and each boy walked over to him, shook his hand, and said, "Thank you Sir, for serving our country"... So cool!!! Occasionally things happen that I very much regret later not taking pictures of, and this was one of those times.  

After the parade my parents and I took the 4 boys to the Children's Museum where they ran themselves ragged.  We went back to Trey's house to have a nap and pizza.  Just before leaving for home we met Jacob and went to the Maine Jump which is a big open space with several bounce houses and other inflatable play areas.  Noah was pretty tired by this time and became surprisingly adventurous. He climbed up the tallest slide all by himself! He then got scared of the slide and Jacob had to help him climb down, but he did it which is huge progress. All in all a very fun and very full day!