Thanksgiving through December...

Some of the things we've done since Thanksgiving....

We weren't able to make it to the Breakfast with Santa that we usually go to, but thankfully Santa came to Miles school for their winter carnival. Miles is getting really excited for Christmas to get here. We have a new family member, Criddler, the Elf on the Shelf. He came to us at Nanna's house around Thanksgiving time and every day he watches over Miles and flies back to the North Pole at night to tell Santa is Miles has been good or not. I think he can feel pretty confident that he has made it to the "nice" list this year.

Along with the excitement of Christmas it also means we are that much closer to meeting the new baby sometime at the end of January (or as Mommy keeps saying, the beginning of February). Miles is going to make a great big brother and has already been helping out so much, especially when Mommy hasn't felt too good, or is feeling tired. We all can't wait for the baby to arrive (we'll start a new blog for the baby when it gets here, including the progressions of Mommy's expanding belly!).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!!

November so far...

Just thought I would put up some pictures from November so far...

Halloween Night!

Halloween Night here in New Britain can get crazy so we were prepared for a lot of Trick-or-Treaters since it fell on Saturday this year. Miles was much more interested and excited to sit on the steps and hand our candy than go and get any for himself. He commented on everyone's costume and how nice it was or how the girls had pretty princess dresses. He's just too cute!

It ended up starting to rain shortly before 8pm and we only got a few kids after that- in the past we've had kids come to the door as early as 5 and as late as 10! Needless to say we have some candy leftover, but I'm sure Daddy won't have a problem taking it over to the headquarters and disposing of it in the few days left till the election :)

Halloween Party at School!

Today was Miles' Halloween party at school and since we finally got a new camera, we were able to take some shots of the kids during the festivities. Miles and Mommy made Cream Cheese Mummies and Pumpkins for the party the night before (so many sweets, we thought it might be good to have something healthy).

Miles is a Bat this year- a scary bat, according to him. Though in line one of the girls said she was frightened by the scary sounds he was making, so he told her that for today he "could be a nice bat, and tomorrow I'll be a scary bat" (it was so sweet). The kids all lined up and went Trick-or-Treating from classroom to classroom and then came back to their room for the party. They ate snacks and played games and everyone had a great time.

Here are the pics- check back soon for the pictures form Halloween Night!

Updates and new pics!

So, Miles started at his new school the beginning of September. He is now at the YMCA in the pre-school program there and loving every minute of it. He has made a lot of new friends and continues to thrive socially and academically.

This past weekend we went up to the beach to help close for the winter. It's always a sad weekend when those shutters go up! It was cold and a bit rainy, so we decided to go out and get some pumpkins to carve. Everyone had a lot of fun- enjoy the pics!

Labor Day Weekend

Just some pics of the last beach weekend before fall...

Camping

About 5 years ago, before kids were a twinkle in our eyes we headed out with a bunch of friends to a campsite in Bantam and vowed to come back every year after that since we had such a great time.

We haven't been back since.

Until now... We took Miles for his first real camping trip to the same gampgorund this weekend, and though it was not the beer and food fest of the past we all still had a really great time.

We had planned to leave Friday afternoon, but Hurricane Danny had other plans for us. It rained most of the day Friday and into Saturday morning. Being the weather experts that we are and obsessively checking the weather forecasts on TV and several websites we decided we would leave around 11am and it would stop by the time we got there. We should really change jobs because we were right.

We set up camp and waited for the others to arrive. Our site was across from the lake and there was a great area in the middle with a bunch of trees and a rock cluster for the kids to play in. They really did a great job of staying close, but the adults were still able to relax and not have to entertain every minute.

Most of the time was still spent sitting around the campfire, doing a lot of eating, but maybe not as much drinking. We were able to take the canoe out a couple of times and play in the shallow parts of the lake.

Unfortunately with the rain and all not a single one of us even thought to bring a camera, so we have no pictures. We'll just have to do it again!

Week at the Beach!

We had our traditional vacation at the beach this year again, and we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. After a wet and cold June and July this year, we were bound to have a decent August! The first half of the week we had some incredible water temps and it was so clear and calm- much more lake-like than ocean. If you used your imagination you almost felt like you were in some tropical locale. The last half saw Hurricane Bill making his way up the coast and the waves were much higher and stronger, even causing the state to close the public part of the beach on Sunday. Miles told us on the way home that his favorite things were making pancakes with Nannu, finding the legs of the stinky crab, swimming in the tubes and going to the center. We were all pretty sad to go home and head back to reality! Until next year!

Happy 4th Birthday, Miles!

Yet again another year has flown by all too quickly, and Miles is now 4. Four years seems like such a long time, and yet it has flown by in the blink of an eye. Next year, Miles will be a big brother, and we're sure he will be a pretty great one at that! The last year has seen tantrums (from both parents and child), triumph (potty-training complete!), but most of all it has continued to be filled with love. Love for the little boy who wakes us up in the morning to snuggle and tell us he loves us. Love for the little boy who can do something to make you so mad and then smile and melt your heart to mush. Love for the little boy who seems to be growing too fast into a big boy. So here's to another year of fun, laughs, crying, memories, and love. We love you, Buddy!

Here are some pictures from the party we had the weekend before Miles' actual birthday. He originally wanted a "Prince" birthday party (Prince Charming, not the artist-formerly-known-as), but Mommy thought that making another castle cake would be too hard. So we decided on Spiderman, and Mommy made an even harder cake (Thanks to the help of Nanna and Auntie)! Miles was convinced that since he had his party he was 4 now and not on Aug 2nd, so anytime after that if anyone mentioned that he was "going to be 4" he adamantly stated that "I am 4!" Enjoy the pictures!

Swimming and Lake Compounce!

Here are some pictures from swimming at the Statchen's pool this past weekend, and our trip to Lake Compounce after school one day... Enjoy!

July 4th Weekend 2009!

We headed to the beach this weekend to celebrate the Fourth, hoping all the way that after 3 weeks of straight rain, the sun would finally grace us with its presence, and it did!!! Friday was an on and off day, but Saturday and Sunday were beautiful! Miles loves the beach and the water and especially the Center! They even brought back the carousel for the month of July, making it feel like it did so many years ago. It was tough to leave and come back, but we are all looking forward to spending the week in August at the beach even more!

New Pictures!

It's been a while since we have posted any new pictures, so here is the latest from Easter till now. Enjoy!

Skiing!

We haven't blogged in a while, so we'll have to back date a few things later. But this past weekend we went up to North Conway with Nanna, Papa, and Auntie to go skiing. We stayed at the Hampton Inn, which was nice since they had a water-park inside with slides and such (though no real pool to swim in). Miles loved it!

Though he has been a bit curmudgeonly lately (can't wait for 3 to be over!) we all had a great time tubing, skiing, shopping, and eating!

Although the ski adventure started out with a not-so-great private lesson (with a teenager who had no clue how to engage a 3 year old) it ended great! Throughout the "lesson" Miles wanted to go on the "flying chairs." We told him he had to get really good at his "pizza" (the snowplow ski position) first, to which he replied, "I AM really good!" So after lunch we decided to take him up a short chair lift and take him down between our legs. He did really well getting on and off the chair, and absolutely loved going down! He giggled the entire time! We took him back to the bunny slope for a few last runs. The curmudgeon came out and he didn't want either Mommy or Daddy to help or go up with him, and certainly no between our legs. He ended up going down all by himself and didn't want to stop!

So, enjoy the pictures and the videos!