Our First Snow Storm

The first real snow storm of the year arrived just in time to give us a white Christmas! Jocelyn wasn't too mobile during the winter last year, so this was her first experience trying to make her way through the drifts. We think she liked it!

We started out with some technical difficulties, trying to keep the mittens on...

But once we got those issues licked she was all set to make her first snow angel (and a lot more excited about it than the photo suggests).

Success!

Making her way through knee-deep snow (for her anyway) was another story...we had to call in the reinforcements to bail her out a few times.

The little man had what amounted to a Bumbo seat made out of snow, and was watching all the action unfold...

...and even though the snow was a little too light to try to build our first snowman, he seemed to enjoy himself!

Santa 2009

Grammy helped get the traditional Santa photo this year while Poppa was working. The kids were surprisingly unafraid. I think because Jocelyn, who cried immediately last year after sitting upon Santa's lap, had the opportunity to watch a number of children ahead of her prior to her turn with the big guy. And the little man just rolls with it these days ~ he could have cared less!

Making Christmas Cookies for Friends and Family

Jocelyn helped decorate cookies yesterday morning before they were delivered to friends and family...

She loved the green sprinkles best...

But ultimately decided to give the red sprinkles a chance as well...

Grammy jumped in to help...

And the sprinkle container was a big hit ~ look at the concentration happening!

She certainly seems to like helping out!

And here is a result of her very hard work!! Some of you may recognize them!

And all the while, the lil' man could have cared less! He was asleep the entire time!

Gingerbread House by Grammy and Jocelyn

This was what Grammy and Jocelyn worked on one day last week. Nice Work!

Happy Birthday Grammypot!

The lil' man was having fun with Grammy on her 64th birthday...

And so was Jocelyn!

Pepere had his share of fun...

And so did Poppa!

Jocelyn is still unsure about the whole singing happy birthday and blowing out candles...

However, she still loves the cake...

And sharing time in Grammy's lap!

Ian tried cake for the first time...

And was quickly reaching for more!

And after cake was done, the party toys came out...

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Demolition

We reached a big milestone this past week when the Oak Street house finally came down. It took about a month to get the various utilities to come out and cap off the feeds into the existing house, set up the new structure for enhanced feeds, and then get the town's approval to take the existing structure down. Here's some video of the demolition in progress - this is a slighly extended version of a clip I had shared previously.



The next step in the process is to lay the foundation for the new structure, which should take place sometime over the next week or so, assuming the next phase of the permitting process moves as it should. Fingers are crossed that we are able to lay it down before weather really becomes an issue.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Turkey Day 2009 we visited Grammy and Pepere's new house in Wellesley for breakfast before heading to Nana's to celebrate with extended family in the afternoon. Grammy and Pepere were excited to see Jocelyn and Ian all dressed up in their holiday outfits and the little ones were excited to play with the toys Grammy had set up for them in their new playroom.


At Nana's in the afternoon we had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner as always (well, those of us that are eating solid food anyway; the little man had some strained peas and bananas) and Jocelyn continued her love affair with mashed potatoes and gravy but not with turkey. A work in progress.


Somehow we ended up with very few blog-worthy photos despite taking over 200 shots during the day (thank God for digital cameras). While this is partly (OK, mainly) due to our skill as photographers, I think the fact that the kids just do not sit still for very long these days also plays a very big part. The shots below show that we may be in for some tough sledding getting a good picture for our holiday card this year!

Happy Halloween!

What a beautiful fall day for trick-or-treating! Jocelyn dressed as a bear. We were hopeful she would go for a costume with a headpiece (she hates hats) and we talked her into it by telling her she was dressing up as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" from one of her favorite books to read at night.

Ian dressed as a pumpkin and was tolerant of his headpiece too...

...for a while anyway, until he decided he preferred Pepere's hat.

While our house is being torn down we are renting in a neighborhood where they had a Halloween parade, in which all the kids in the neighborhood marched down the street together before trick-or-treating started. Before the parade everyone got together for a group shot that was pretty darn cute.

Jocelyn wasn't too sure what she was supposed to do once the marching started and pretty quickly was bringing up the rear.

Of course, that didn't stop her from hamming it up for the camera...

...while Ian was just hanging out, soaking up the scene.

Jocelyn also discovered that she loves playing with all the leaves on the ground (last year at this time she wasn't quite mobile yet). She was a ball of fire, running on to lawns while we should have been marching in the parade with everyone else.

And here she is heading home after a long hard day of playing, marching and collecting treats. :)

Childrens Museum

Julie's sister Jenn and nephew Zachary came up for a visit last weekend, so we took them to the Children's Museum. It has recently become one of our favorite places to hang out. Julie and I decided to get a membership a couple of months ago - it is some of the best money we ever spent. It pays for itself within just a couple of visits, you can visit during members-only hours to beat the crowds, and the kids just love the exhibits. We highly recommend it for anyone with young children.

Jocelyn loves the climbing ramps near the museum entrance. They alone are worth the price of admission. Even if it means that I need to play sherpa because she is a bit small to be in there by herself!

Zachary was able to get a bit further on the ramps - all the way to the top I think, with Pepere hot on his tail to make sure all was well...

It's a little difficult to make a graceful exit, as we both learned!

Ian isn't yet able to full take advantage of the interactivity of a lot of the exhibits, but is fascinated by the bubble chamber. I think he would hang out there for hours if we let him.

He did, however, take full advantage of the opportunity to hang out with Grammy and Auntie Jenn and I think loved all the extra attention.

Overall it was a great way to let the kids have fun while we all caught up. Good times had by all.