Merry Christmas to Me!

Happy in my Big Girl Bed!

Wednesday!

Mmm mmm good. One of our favorites, DJ vs. Nature aka Andrew Neerman will be here on Wednesday to play some of his fave post-punk, dream pop, and other yummy minimal disco and interesting dance musics. This will also be the after party for a very special collaborative trunk show that's happening around the corner at our BFF's, Salon 22o. Go see what's happening in the early eve over there and come on by later for the tunes and cocktails!

Pack it up Pack it in Let me Begin

Snowed In!

Luckily we were able to get the UHaul a day early before the roads shut down from the snow. Since we got the trailer early, Chris spent the day yesterday loading up, and now we are almost done packing. Here's what it looked like around here yesterday!

Today the kids got out for a short sled ride, but it ended up being a little too windy.

I don't think we'll be leaving anytime really soon! We had hoped to leave mid-day on Tuesday, but we are pushing that back to Wednesday now because of the snow.

Jake and Samantha all bundled up and ready for the snow!

Since it was too cold and windy outside, we brought the snow into the nice warm house to play.

Christmas Wrappings

We've had a lot going on over the past week in preparation for Christmas. We were able to spread out the fun of seeing friends and family over the course of several days. I feel like the kids have been unwrapping gifts for the past month! We are taking a lot of unwrapped gifts to NC for the kids to open there as well, so the fun will continue! Here's a little "wrap-up" of what we've been doing:

Nearest and Dearest

We were very fortunate to move to a town in CT that was not only home to Mammo and Papi, but lifetime friends of Chris, the Lobans. I've gotten to know the whole clan over the years, but it wasn't until we were pregnant with Samantha and Ethan did Amanda and I really become great friends. Something about babies and blogging made us fast friends. It really hasn't hit me yet, and I don't really like to think about saying good bye to such wonderful friends. This isn't just about me and Chris; who are we kidding here; Samantha will miss her best bud Ethan the most. We had our pizza Friday on Thursday last week to celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts. As always, fun and laughs were plentiful.

Jake and Noah playing peek-a-boo from the back of the chair.

The kids tolerated a pre-unwrapping photo for a few seconds.

Noah couldn't keep his eyes off the gifts!

Ethan, Jake and Sam play in the bench

Brunch with Santa

While I stayed home to do some packing, Sammy and Jake his the country club's brunch with Santa. Papi, Mammo and Daddy tagged along. Samantha will tell you that Santa arrived in a golf cart without his reindeer (why? because he wanted to go golfing of course!) Jake was a little less afraid of Santa this time.

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. We started out by going to church, but after Chris and I both ended up in the hallway with an active, chatty child, we decided to leave early. At home we enjoyed a delicious dinner with Mammo, Papi and Sessa. We also had a visit from Chris's Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha and their pups. Jake loves dogs and gets so excited anytime dogs are near. Samantha not so much.

We left "cookies" for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. We also left Santa a note making sure that he knew we are moving to NC, just in case he wanted to make a stop there too.

Christmas Day

Who doesn't open their Christmas presents in their bathing suits?

The kids have been enjoying getting dressed in their bathing suits and pretending to go to Mexico these days. Jake has been substituting a bathing suit for some puffy plastic training underwear. In the interest of his mental health as a teen, I've omitted a photo of this spectacle. We enjoyed a great Christmas afternoon/evening with the extended family. Here are a few photos of our fun.

Preparations Begin!

Logitech with new ergonomic wave design keyboard

Logitech announces a new ergonomic keyboard that will be in store this August for only $89, pretty cheap, and now we ask what does it do?
Not much new fancy stuff, but instead a cool design focused on some ergonomic technology. The Logitech keyboard is shaped like waves, so the keys are arranged along a wave-like pattern that ripples across the keyboard. This design is supposed to account for the fact that your fingers are not all the same length, thus the keys the keys near your little fingers and your thumbs rise up to meet your shorter digits. The other feature is the gradual arc of the key tray.
If I must say so, I really like the design, kind of futuristic and also much like a classic keyboard, so I would buy it if my other keyboard would ever break down.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

My face book post to Chris today:

"Happy Birthday to the best husband I could ever have. My wish for you is that you always look toward the future with the hope and excitement that we are feeling now; maybe the love and support that you so readily provide to others come back to you tenfold; may you always have laughter in your life. Thank you for the hope, love, and laughter you give us every day. I love you!"

I bet you couldn't have imagined that your 36th year would have been spent living with your mom and dad. But, here we are, and it is paving the way for many more wonderful years to come! I tried to get the kids to do something cute on video today, but it just wasn't happening! I knew right from the start of the day when we called to wish Chris a happy birthday and I was the only one singing that it was going to be like pulling teeth with them today. Song or no song, I love you, they love you and we are very excited to celebrate your birthday today!

New Chapter = Great Expectations

As I celebrate 36 years today, I am grateful for my family and friends.  I am especially excited as last night marked the final day that I had to come home to lonely hotel bed (or empty house).  Next chapter includes the opportunity to see my lovely wife children (who I love a great deal) on a daily basis!

Thanks to all for the Birthday wishes.  Looking forward to a magical 2011.

More Mexico

There are way too many fabulous photos from my trip to Mexico, and equally as many funny stories. All I will say here is that we had an absolute blast! A wedding gave us ample opportunity to answer the questions "How do you all know each other/Allegra?" We mainly answered "We all went to BU" and then exchanged knowing glances and a chuckle because we knew that I did not actually go to BU. It was just easier to explain that way. After this vacation, we are voting for destination weddings for the rest of our friends from here on out! Here's a little overview in photos.

My first glimpse of Mexico from the plane.

We stayed at the Dreams Riviera Resort and it was gorgeous!

I'd highly recommend it to anyone who was debating a trip to Mexico.

Sharing a beer.

This first night was complete with disco tech club dancing at the hotel.

We were entertained watching the dancing skills of other hotel guests.

Special effects also included a smoke machine.

Dinner our second night.

(Em, Lauren, Lori, Allegra, Amy, Em)

Hanging in the pool.

Mr. and Mrs. Newman

Post wedding fun:

I was really disappointed to get this tiny piece of cake.

It looked like maybe someone had already taken a bite.

Sadly it was delicious and I just didn't have enough.

Setting Up Camp

It's killing me that Chris is getting to hang in NC during the week and getting things in order at the house. I am so anxious to get there and help with the unpacking and setting up! Yesterday he sent me a picture of Samantha's big girl bed. I sent him down this week with the bedding we chose for her (she actually got to make the final choice). We are moving her to a big girl bed when we get there, and she is very excited. She was practically jumping up and down when she saw this photo! Just to start out we are going to have her sleep on a mattress on the floor, and then she'll graduate to a bed off the floor. This bed isn't quite complete, as we are waiting for a pillow sham to arrive, and when we put the bed up on a frame, a bed skirt will enter the picture as well. Hopefully Samantha will be just as excited about it when she is actually sleeping in the bed!

Bubbles!

Man, this is going to be such a nice one. Wonderful, warm family time before Santa comes and takes everyone out of town. Come on by if you've ever been curious about any of these folks. They're all amazing, and making really beautiful music right now. Definitely one to remember.

Tick-Tock

Have you seen that counter over there to the left? yup...LESS THAN 10 DAYS!! Right now as I type, Chris is driving his car down to NC, doing a solo 9 hour drive. Lucky him gets to fly back mid-week and then do the drive all over again with me, Sammy and Jake at night either next Tuesday or Wednesday. We are starting to pack up some boxes, but it is really hard to pack much, since the kids play with their toys every day and wear their clothes, etc, etc! We'll get there, slowly, but surely!

Family Photos

I seem to always have a running list of blog posts that I don't want to forget to write. Sharing photos from our recent family photo shoot being one of the posts. As you might recall, Mammo and Papi celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in November, and we had a family photo shoot to commemorate the occasion. We couldn't have been more excited with the outcome of the photos. They were taken right in the back yard! Here are some of our favorites from the day:

The whole clan:

Our family photo;

we didn't get a great one because both kids were sick

Avery was the star of the day:

Sammy

Jake

Mammo, Papi and grandkids

Me and Chris