Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year, especially since it was Jack's first. It all started on Christmas eve with Grammi helping Everett make gingerbread men and women for Santa Clause. Uncle Danny and Aunt Claudia joined us for dinner. After that we opened a few gifts including their traditional new jammies.


Everett loves his Lightning McQueen jammies.


Jack got a new pair of Dinosaur Jammies. Here he is playing with Aunt Claudia.


The boys helped Pappi make a fire in the fireplace and we settled in for some present opening (tearing into).

Everett opened up a present from his Godparents, a very nice helicopter sweatshirt that he wore all night.


Jack received some very nice presents from his Godparents (Uncle Danny and Aunt Claudia) including this Leapster light up ball.


After a very full night both boys passed out and we had to take them home so that Santa could come. The next morning was a lot of fun. Santa found the house thanks to the food that Everett left out for the reindeer. Santa drank all the milk and took a bite out of the cookies. He left some nice presents as well. Here is Everett enjoying his new Ipod.

...and Jack with his stacker toy.

Santa made Everett an easel too with a Blackboard on one side and paper on the other.

It was a wonderful Christmas in Old Saybrook.

December in NYC

We took our annual (since last year) trip to New York City with Katie this last Saturday and had a blast. There was a big storm in the forecast, so there weren't too many people in the city. We took the train in with Katie and Paul and hit all the festive spots. Here is Rockefeller center with the tree.And the ice skating. FAO Schwartz

M&M world.

Window displays on 5th.We also got some lunch, hit Toys R Us, St. Patricks, and a few other "hot spots" before getting back on the train for home. I think the boys had fun, but I couldn't tell...Once we got home, we were snowed in for a few hours while Daddy cleared off the cars. We decided stinky Poli needed a bath, so here I am giving said bath with a little help.

Just some pictures

A shout out to Dad who is in Chicago for training this week. These pics are for you!! We had a great night in the bath tonight. Don't worry, I covered anything inappropriate.

And here is the Christmas present we made our niece, Caroline.

And just a picture of the boys fooling around.

And the new traditional ending.

Me- "Ev, you ready to go to school?"

Everett - "Lets roll!"

School days

Everett went to school today!! He absolutely loved it - so much so that when Mommy went to pick him up he hid under a table so that he didn't have to leave. It didn't work, but all the teachers found it pretty amusing...Mommy didn't laugh. Here are some pictures of his first day with his new friends (one of which he claims ripped his ear off).

And here is a picture of the infamous tree. In this section you can see a toy as well as Ev's awesome homemade Christmas ornaments.

The fine print: Mommy went back to work for 45 days for the Coast Guard, so Jack tried out daycare today. He didn't like it, so we will not mention it again and will work to forget this period of time.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

We picked up a Christmas tree this week and finally got around to decorating it this weekend. I do have to say it is beautiful. Well I guess it is beautiful if you look towards the top of the tree where all of the ornaments are. The middle of the tree is pretty empty and the bottom hosts all of the unbreakable ornaments in a big clunk right in front. I even saw some stuffed animals and other toys in there for safe keeping I think. So if you are expecting all of these things, then I suppose it is beautiful! So here are some pictures of the boys in front of the tree prior to decorating. This one is pretty good.

In this one you can see the control slipping. The dog is sitting, as ordered by the finger in the left hand side of the picture. Not too bad.

And here is Everett going for the headlock and Napolean staring off into space. I believe this move is called the bone crusher. Merry Christmas!!

We also decorated the boys room. The new nightlight is extra Christmas lights. Mommy finally moved Jack out from our room and into the boys room the other night to the delight of Everett.

And just some other randomness. Here is a picture of Jack's naked time. He is cruising along on the furniture pretty well these days. He can also stand for a second or two at a time. One f my favorite things that he does (besides the adorable smiles) is that when he wants to be picked up, he will crawl as fast as he can toward you, lower his head and then use it as a battering ram to get your attention until he is cuddling in your arms or on your lap. adorable.

And Everett, seeing Jack's naked time, also had to have some of his own and has taken to removing his clothes. Here he is washing the dinner dishes. Let me know if this makes you want me to stop inviting you over to dinner

And to close, the latest one-liner from Everett.

Mommy - "Everett you are in time out for pushing your brother."

Everett - "Oh no, I suck."

And here is Everett doing some dancing.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving here in CT. Well there were a few moments of unhappiness, like when Jack fell and bit his tongue. Oh the hazards of learning to walk...But all in all it was a fabulous Thanksgiving. We had a few visitors including Aunt Danielle.
And Bailey. And there was lots of doggy love.

And brotherly love.



and Mommy love (the best kind of love of all).

The whole family. (minus Everett who won't slow down long enough for a picture)And Everett actually made this year's awesome centerpiece.

And another quote for the history books.

Me: Everett, what are you thankful for?

Everett: Ummm, I just thankful with cake!

Well at least he is grateful for something.



And last but not least it seems that Jack would like to make a liar of me. As soon as I posted last week about him refusing to crawl, he decided it was time. So the first video is the before: wounded soldier, I am being fired upon in the combat zone belly crawl. And below that is his new big boy crawl.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Boys to Men

The boys are growing up so fast I can hardly keep up, and I see them 24 hours a day. Jack is eating semi-solid food and teething crackers. He can also crawl, pull himself up and walk a bit while holding on. He spends his entire day pulling himself up on various pieces of furniture to check out the new view. Everett has learned how to stall, how to tell jokes and play pranks, and most of all that he is his own person and he does not need to listen to anyone at anytime. His new view is from the time out chair. But he is still adorable and has the best one-liners ever. Example, "Oh no mamma, the democrats are coming!"


Some good Photos of the guys hanging out.

Jack is getting so big - he is catching up with me.

And Here is Jack standing up and walking a bit.



Various pieces of furniture that he stands up with. He does still refuse to crawl most of the time, instead opting for the wounded soldier combat belly scoot.



Here is Ev "helping" rake the leaves. I guess he did help more than Mommy...


And here is one of Everett's great pranks. Daddy fell asleep and Everett put stickers on him. Daddy deserved it because he decorated a van in much the same manner in his earlier years (20s).