Gabe's Florida Visit 2013

Gabe took a long weekend to visit Grammy Grammy and Grampy Grampy in Florida. The top pictures are the view of Clearwater Beach from a roof top lounge called "The Crow's Nest". The bottom two pictures are taken while visiting Grammy Grammy at the rehab hospital.  Gabe really enjoyed his time visiting with his grandparents & mom.... although the highlight for his was his first every pedicure:) 

Random Silliness

I don't really know what to say about these pictures given that they pretty much speak for themselves:)  This is a nice summary of an average day.  Some chaotic crazy moments when all you can do is laugh and some really sweet moments are mixed in with the pictures omitted here... the fighting and crying;) FYI- Audrey was not harmed in these pictures despite all that love she is getting from Ben...  

Lily Ann Arrives!

Meet my beautiful new niece, Lilly Ann!  She was born 5/28 weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 20.5 inches long... exactly the same as Audrey... weird... I think we should be worried at the duo they are sure to make Amy and Dennis;)  Here is also my beautiful sister who doesn't look at all like she just had major surgery... seriously, I am so jealous.  Everyone did amazing (including you Dennis), thanks for letting me be a part of yet another amazing birth experience!

side bar: I will leave out the story where I got up at 3 am to be there on time and had a moment of panic when leaving the hospital in a sleep deprived state unable to find my car thinking that I had been towed because I may or may not have inadvertently parked in a handicap spot... don't worry, it was a false alarm :)

Memorial Day 2013

This weekend marks the start of a very busy week.  Grammy and Grampy Civiello came to visit and we are heading to Bangor at the beginning of the week for the arrival of a new cousin (more on that later;)).  We had a great visit with Grammy and Grampy who took the kids to the Children's museum and played so Gabe and I could get some much needed packing done.  We took a day trip to our new house in Wilton to check things out and everyone handled the ride well.  Monday we headed downtown for the memorial day parade before heading north.  The kids love parades and this one did not disappoint... except for the pushy teenagers next to us who took all of the candy... Noah and James shared a mini tootsie roll.... they were happy, but seriously.

Noah Plays Tennis

This spring we gave Noah the choice of many activities (Tball, gymnastics, soccer, etc.) and he chose tennis.  He is so excited about tennis, but he is not great... it was painfully obvious that the other parents took this very seriously and had likely been training their children for a few years now... this was Noah's first time holding a racquet;)  He had a blast playing and more than anything he probably enjoyed the one on one time he had with daddy who brought him to the lessons:) 

Mother's Day Weekend 2013

 

Since it has taken so long to get these posts out I have forgotten a lot of things... especially if I didn't get pictures.  So I apologize now for leaving out things that we really did enjoy:)  This weekend I spent most of the weekend packing.  Sunday afternoon we took the kids to Smiling Hill Farm's "barnyard" which has expanded significantly this year.  As always the kids enjoyed feeding the animals and climbing on the really cool wooden structures.  This year they have a petting zoo...  Ben is a hugger.... the last three pictures are a series of what happened when he had the uncontrollable urge to hug this sheep.... I thought I had this on video, but I don't.... the last picture is missing here most likely because I would have been an irresponsible parent if I had snapped the picture instead of preventing him from being trampled... In the last picture you can see the sheep trying to stand as Ben squeezes her... he fell over backwards and learned that most sheep do not like Ben hugs;)

Noah's Mexico Night

This year the kindergarten class at Hall School studied a until about all things Mexico.  This all finished in a celebration night at the school. The kids sang songs, danced and recited poems from Mexico.  Afterwards Noah got to show us his books, piñata and other mexico activities he had completed.  The night was finished off with some great Mexican snacks:)  Great work Noah, we are very proud of you!! (I forgot the camera at home and only had Gabe's phone, so we didn't get many pictures, but James had lots of fun taking photos of himself;)).

Circus 2013

We were lucky enough to receive some free tickets to the circus thanks to Grampy Grampy in Florida.  The kids had a wonderful time and really enjoyed watching the circus and eating the cotton candy with Grampy & Grammy Civiello, Trey, Aunt Amy & Uncle Dennis.  Audrey (true to form) slept the entire time and even gave Grampy some good cuddles on his birthday:)  Happy Birthday Grampy and Aunt Andrea!

Audrey at 1 Month

This sweet girl has turned one month and what a whirlwind it has been.  She continues to be a easy, laid back baby. She will go anywhere and as long as the car is moving or she is being carried in the Moby wrap... she will sleep through anything. Her brothers are so in love with here and will do anything to keep her from crying, except stop cuddling her..... she seems to be handling all of this extra love just fine;)  I realize that the hat and jammies don't match, but for not being able to smile yet her expressions are great in these pictures!

April Vacation Part 4: Visit to the Upper Valley

Gabe had the weekend off and we had an open house planned for Sunday afternoon, so Gabe and I got the house once again ready to be shown and left Saturday morning to visit friends in the Upper Valley. The kids love playing with Oliver and Isaac and had a great time exploring the woods despite the freezing temperatures. James and Ben had an especially fun time playing with noodle, and Noah has decided that he really doesn't care of dogs. We had a wonderful visit with friends that are moving away and we may not get to visit so easily for a while... we can take all of these kids on a road trip to Washington State right;)  Audrey got lots of love while we were there and Gabe and I got to relax a bit with two other adults around!  The kids are exhausted and we are exhausted after such a fun filled week... hopefully Noah won't be too tired at school this week!  Oh, and our house went under contract this weekend so we are keeping our fingers crossed that all goes smoothly.