Cape Cod for Christmas

Ethan was actually cooperating with me and the camera on Christmas Eve! I wanted a picture of him by the tree so he went and stood by it. I turned off the flash so it wouldn't blind him thinking maybe that's his problem, but this is as close I could get to a picture of him looking at the camera. I love this sweater! I think it makes him look like a Muppet.



This picture pretty much sums up our Christmas Eve drive to the Cape. Steve had to work but got out early...with the rest of Boston. It took us 3 hours to get to Great Grandma Nancy's house but it was well worth the wait.



For as long as I can remember, we've been going to Grandma Nancy's house for roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and tapioca (my favorite!). Steve has only participated in this tradition once in our 9+ years together so I was very happy to share it with him and especially Ethan. The high chair he is sitting in here has been there through the ages, probably starting with my dad all those years ago. He was being "cute" and eating with cheese servers instead of real silverware.

Ethan has been opposed to getting dressed lately. He fights us putting shirts over his head and he kicks his way out of pants when we try to pull them on a lot of the time. Sometimes it's just easier to wait until he comes around or is too distracted to fight.

I think this was Ethan's first Christmas present this year. There have been so many by now that it's difficult to keep track!

It wouldn't be Christmas (or birthday for that matter) with Grandpa Cliff without some presents wrapped in newspaper.

One of the reasons we love Christmas with Great Grandma Nancy so much is that you never know what you're going to get! As sisters, Jamie and I are used to getting the same thing in different colors. However, this year, GGN couldn't decide which color to give which of us so she gave us one of each color and let us decide. We've so far decided to keep one of each.

Ethan got this great toy boat and wouldn't put it down. Even for dessert. He was having gingerbread with real whipped cream but only eating the whipped cream.

We spent the night at Grandma Jan's and Ethan was thrilled to find presents in his stocking the next morning! I have to pause and acknowledge Ethan's stocking that was knit for him by his Great Grandma Peg. She has made one for every grandchild and more in her family and Ethan is very lucky to have his own. (Steve has one too!).

Since the stocking is bigger than he is (gee, thanks GGP!), he needed a little assistance getting at all of his presents.

Despite the fact that Ethan got more Thomas the Tank Engine paraphernalia than I even knew they made, he most loved his firefighter set from Auntie Jamie.

And then he opened his basketball hoop! We couldn't set it all the way up until we got home, but Steve was happy to play backboard for a few shots.

You really need to see the video to fully appreciate this next present. Unfortunately, Ethan got a hold of the memory stick adapter for the computer and it has disappeared into the depths of our living room somewhere. I had loaded the pictures but not the videos so you'll just have to wait for those. In the meantime, this is a picture of Ethan through the window of his Thomas the Tank Engine tent!

After brunch together, Steve, Ethan and I hit the road for Logan and our flight to Atlanta. It was a very long day but we were happy to see Uncle Jared and Pop-Pop at the airport. Ethan started getting presents as soon as we walked in the door! More on that in the next post.

Goodnight for now...

Happy Hanukkah!

Tonight we lit the menorah with Ethan for the first time. He started trying to blow the candles out as soon as we lit them! We tried to explain that they were Hanukkah candles not birthday candles and then he cracked us up by singing "Happy birthday dear Hanukkah". It was kind of confusing to him to let the candles burn all the way down but he eventually gave up on blowing on them.

Happy Hanukkah to all!

Fun in the Snow!

I am happy to report that Ethan was a new man after his nap yesterday! Seriously, he was in a ridiculously good mood. After lunch we bundled him up again to head outside for more fun in the snow. We're not sure if it's because he was more comfortable this time (I had a scarf on him this time and we swapped his too big waterproof mittens for his fun fleece mittens) or because Steve was playing with us instead of running the big loud snow blower, but whatever it was, Mr Man had a blast! We were all snow covered by the end!





He fell in the snow and I was worried that would be the end of it but he was laughing until he couldn't get up. Which of course I took a video of...






After sliding down the stairs with daddy it was time for a sled ride around the yard.





It looks like Steve was pulling him pretty fast by the look on his face but I'm pretty sure it was just the cold.



When he was done with being pulled, it was time for him to pull. I love how stuffed he looks when he's walking!





He loves to hand us things with a "here you go". Apparently that includes snow.





We all made snow angels in the front yard.





Now it's snowing again! We've got at least another 5 inches already. Here was our front walk after Friday nights storm...



And here it is just a few minutes ago!



It it truly a winter wonderland outside. The trees are all covered and the snow is so fluffy. Not good for snowmen, but lot's of fun!





I just came back in from shoveling what Steve couldn't get with the blower and I cannot believe how much snow is out there. 2 feet at least. I'm exhausted! At least I worked off a few calories. We've been baking and cooking all weekend! Now I'm looking forward to 2 days at home by myself. I'm taking vacation, but day care is open...how sweet it is!

Snowed In

We've had out first snowstorm of the winter! Unlike last year, employers and employees everywhere were prepared to get home before it got bad so people's commute time didn't quadruple. By 1:30 we were all home with the grocery shopping behind us, and by 2:00 the snow had started falling. It was pajama day at day care (I had E there for a few hours so that I could take care of a few things) so little man didn't get out of his PJs all day!

This was the view from our door on our way to bed last night. It was really cold but it was so quiet and peaceful and we loved being warm and cozy inside with the lights on the tree.



We couldn't wait to get Ethan outside this morning! We did wait until 10 or so to let it warm up a little and it took me about 20 minutes to get him geared up, but we were out not too long after Steve started snow blowing. Ethan did think it was pretty cool but the wind really was cold. I need a scarf for him next time.



The snow in the front yard was a lot deeper than in the driveway and Ethan wasn't too sure what to make of that.



Then he thought maybe it would be fun to play in after all.



And then he decided that it was not fun at all and that I needed to pick him up and not put him down again. I was so disappointed! He refused to help me shovel or to let me pull him in his sled. He's too heavy for me to carry around very long so we pretty much just headed back inside.



Here's Steve in action with his big, bad, brand new snow blower.



After we got inside, took off all of our layers, and calmed down (there were lots of tears over the whole event), we decided to bake cookies. We picked out a chewy chocolate oatmeal recipe and he was a great helper as usual. The most fun part of cooking for him is opening the drawers and pulling out all kind of things. He found his medicine spoon and a starter spoon from way back.

Here's some video of him helping me put the cookies on the cookie sheets. He was very serious about it. I didn't let him see me throw all of his hard work away and start over...

He's now taking a much needed nap. He couldn't even stay awake for lunch. We're not sure if his apparent exhaustion caused the trauma or is a result of the trauma, but we're going to try to take him out again later. Wish us luck!!

Our First Christmas Tree

We saw our first snow of the season last Sunday. It was the perfect day to go and get our tree! This is our first year to get a tree as a family. We didn't get one last year because we were travelling for the holiday. That was a bummer so even though we're travelling this year too, we got a tree of our own.

Ethan found this hat in a drawer and insisted on wearing it...backwards.


After a lovely breakfast of bagels, we went to Boston Hill Farm to pick out a tree. There were trees all over the place but E was only interested in the wreaths. He wouldn't let us put a mitten on his left hand. He kept telling us it hurt, but we think he just wanted his finger handy. Or in this case to man-handle the decorations.

After we paid and were all loaded up, Ethan took off away from the car towards the open lot. Steve had to go get him because he was having a hard time hearing us. That happens a lot these days... ;-)

When I went to get him up the next morning, he looked at me with this silly grin and said "Christmas Downstairs". This really struck me because it was so innocent of him to call our tree Christmas. It made me realize that Christmas to him is the lights on the trees and the songs on the radio and they bring him such a pure joy. He's too young to understand the religious aspect or that Santa brings him presents. There is nothing greedy about his excitement over the season and we are going to try to keep it that way.

I know he looks really bored in this picture, but he really does love having a tree in the house! I don't know how we're going to get him to let go of it when the time comes. He goes straight for it in the morning and insists on having the lights on all the time.

On Friday GJ, AL and I took E to see Santa Claus. He didn't scream or cry at all but he was awfully skeptical of the man in the red suit.

Wilmington Tree Lighting

Last Saturday the Town of Wilmington had their tree lighting ceremony. It was a lot colder out than when we were in Boston a few nights before, but we all bundled up for the occasion.



Ethan was in awe over the size of this Santa!



We met up with The Krangle Family and Ethan and Katie were so excited to see each other. It really is ridiculous how into each other they are! Although I have to say that Ethan was looking everywhere for Caleb this night too.




The dads.

It wouldn't be Ethan and Katie without a little lovin'!

Ethan loved watching the ice sculptor. We had a hard time keeping him back behind the rope because he wanted to be in the action. Actually, he just wanted the really big chunks of ice. He had fun picking them up and throwing them on the ground like the bigger kids were doing. We played a little ice soccer too.

We left pretty quickly once the trees were lit. Katie wasn't interested in keeping her gloves on and her hands were freezing! Ethan likes his mittens with the airplanes on them but they're a bit too small. We have new ones on the way...