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!