Sledding

We took the boys sledding this morning. They actually went sledding in our back yard last year, but this time we loaded them up and went to one of the local hills to take a crack.

At first, Aiden (green) wasn't so sure. He had no idea what was going to happen.


Eventually, we got up the hill and Dada was waiting with the sleds. After a few minutes they caught on and were excited to go down.

Here is Brody and DaDa:


Here is Colin and DaDa:


And us all together:


I didn't get a close-up, but you can also see our au pair (Susana). This was her first time sledding ever. I don't know who had more fun--her or the kids :)


And the best way to get back up the hill? Have Dada push you of course. (Brody is getting pushed and you can see me with the other two in the way way background).

ismas and claw claw

We recently celebrated Christmas (ismas) and the boys were very excited when Santa Clause (claw claw) brought them new toys. Here they are playing with their new train table (A,C,B,and Dada):



They started ripping the train tracks apart, so we decided to put those away for now. But they LOVE playing with the trains and the cars.

Next we skyped with Grammy and Papa so that they could watch the boys open their Christmas presents (Aiden closest to Christmas tree, Brody to Aiden's left and Colin to Brody's left)--if you look close enough you can see Grammy and Aunt Amie watching intently:



And Christmas wouldn't be complete without eating homemade gingerbread cookies with icing :) (B,A,C) They LOVE these cookies. They are still talking about them. I blame Grammy. She spoiled them by bringing them their first gingerbread cookie ever back in early December when she and Papa visited.



If you haven't been living under a rock the last few days, you know that the east coast was slammed with a pretty severe blizzard. Knowing that it was coming, I took the boys out for a bit of an adventure on Sunday morning. First we went to momma's work and ran around in an pretty empty building. Then we went to Dunkin' Donuts and ate glazed donuts (mmmhhmmm donuts). Then we spend about 36 hours couped up in our house going mad. I was so happy when the blizzard warning was lifted.

(Colin, left, Aiden, right)


(Brody, way ahead of them, running for the car)


And this is what our house looked like post-storm:

The big boy potty

Tonight, I was sitting calmly on the couch with Brody reading "Hello Calico" when I heard some slightly more joyful than usual noises coming from the bathroom. So, I walked over and what did I see? Aiden and Colin with their hands IN THE POTTY. I guess this is where I should be counting my blessings. They have been potty trained since mid-September ;)

My favorite part of today was being snowed in and having Aiden sit on the counter and watch me make soup and smell each vegetable as I was putting it into the pot. Half an hour straight of Aiden-momma one on one time. Colin and Brody demand their one on one time. With Aiden, I make time because he is a such a happy kid he would never let me know he needed it.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays. We have been missing from blogland for quite a while, but I hope everyone is well and the holiday season is joyful for you.

Below is our 2010 Santa photo. Dada, Aiden, Mama, Brody, Santa, and Colin.


We *tried* to get the picture with just the boys, but the boys were having none of that. We all had to sit next to Santa together. Thanks Grammy for the cool Holiday vests. Aiden especially liked that his had a truck. Colin loved the penguins on his and Brody was thrilled that there was an entire Christmas tree on his. It is super fun to hear them try to pronounce all of the new words: Christmas, Santa Claus, Snow man. They generally drop off the leading and trailing sounds, so I feel like a language detective most days, but it is so much easier to understand them than 6 months ago (about the last time I posted!). Guess what my New Year's resolution is?