Tis the Season.......

FOR MAKING SNOWBALLS..........A winter wonderland!! 1st snow in Boston!

Innocent right?!?!

A picture with Dad, and yes that snowball is headed my way! A picture with Mom!

He didn't have so much fun when the snow got in his mouth!

He did have so much fun throwing the snow in the air and batting at it!

Logan slipped on the wet floor and came crashing down!!

No worries he got up and was just as happy as could be!!!

FOR TRIMMING THE TREE........ Dad is wonderful to fluff the trees for Mom......

Logan was so excited...Can you tell??? Turing out the lights and decorating the trees just from the Christmas light's light was something we did when I was little. I wanted to carry on that tradition in our family.......

Logan giving Dad a kiss from his Rodolph ornament before hanging it on the tree!!
His nose even lights up (Another cool gift from Grandma and Grandpa Shea)

Mom had to help with a few that were just too hard to hang.

Logan concentrated so hard to make sure that the hooks went on the branches so perfect.

Logan hanging his new ornament from Grandma and Grandpa Shea. Grandpa made this little metal airplane. It even has working propellers. I love how creative and crafty he is, and I love even more that he passed that gene to my dear husband.....

FOR BAKING GOODIES & MAKING HOMEMADE GIFTS........ This picture was a part of my white elephant gift. I had Logan eat a few bites of the candies in the box of chocolates. When they opened the gift this is what they saw, and of course a half eaten box.

Logan helped me make cupcakes for his playgroup party!!

Strike a pose......

Yes I made this, and yes it was hard!!! Dustin wants a bigger stocking every year! He must think he's a good boy, but I beg to differ.......
(My dear friend Melanie helped me, and was very patient while she corrected my mistakes!!)

FOR CHURCH CHRISTMAS PARTIES..... We may have cried in Santa's lap, but we still got candy!!!

Logan told Santa he wanted tools, so he better pay up!!!!

Apparently he hated being chased by the little girl wearing a Santa suit. (I hope he feels that way in 15 yrs)

Waiting to see Santa. ....

FOR CHRISTMAS PARTIES WITH FRIENDS.......

A Christmas party with all our close friends. It was a great night, where we were able to let loose and be ourselves. We feel truly blessed!!

See even adults like doing silly things, like climbing through a glass table!!

Tots with their eyes all aglow!!

Famous gingerbread men. Ok well maybe they are only famous in my family, but gees they are so good!!! (no I did not make this one, although I would love to take the credit)

Lots of yummy treats!!!

Voted best white elephant gift. All of us girls were drooling. (Vampire Diaries oh so good!!)

Silly faces!!! We played a game making reindeer antlers with hose and balloons. Great fun, which results in a great pictures!! (I love the web for ideas)

FOR TIME WITH THE FAMILY........

This will be our 1st year to do Christmas with just the 3 of us. We are very excited, and feel so blessed to have Logan and each other. Logan truly helps us feel the spirit of Christmas in our home away from family. We miss our dear families, and love you all very much. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Thanksgiving & New Moon

These are the group of friends we hang out with from our complex. Well minus the lucky couple who went to Disney World over the holiday. Anyways we had a wonderful Thanksgiving thanx to the new acquired family we have in Boston.

Us girls were like a couple of kids on Christmas Eve the whole week before New Moon's premier. Of course we got tickets opening night. We sat in the directors box where you have assigned seating and waitresses to bring you food. So no lines and no getting up to get snacks. I loved the movie, but I think the best part was seeing how excited Melanie was that they came to get your order for the snack bar while you were sitting in your seat. She wants to go back just so she can order food!! The movie was of course everything we were expecting and more. They really stayed true to the plot of the book. I wanted to see it again right after the credits rolled. I can't wait until the DVD is out.

Gangster

Logan makes a terrible gangster. Right after I applied this awesome tattoo to his little arm he demanded that I take it off. He even started to tear up. I guess he'll never be a gangster, but hopefully he'll be my cute little missionary someday!!

Precious Moments

Today Logan and I were rushing to the car for an appointment, so I told him to climb into his car seat quickly. It's always a hassle because he is in the "do it myself" stage. So he climbed in and stood in his seat, but in the mean time he throws a toy in the back window which he feels he needs to retrieve right that minute. (4 minutes pass) I asked him to sit down quickly because we were in a hurry. He did the squat sit. (1 minute passes) So at this point his legs were under his body, but he was just about sitting. This is when he realized he was stuck. I started pulling his shoes because they just weren't sliding down the fabric (remember we are in a hurry 6 minutes ago). With one huge tug his foot came loose, but not before he totally kicked me in the face. At this point Logan starts laughing hysterically, and of course even though it hurt I was laughing too. Sometimes it's just good to laugh at yourself. Here is the convo that followed...

Logan said, "I kick Mommy in the face".

I replied, "Yea, it was funny, but it also really hurt".

Logan said in a endearing voice, "Aww, Mommy come here and let me kiss it".

He puckered those lips as big as he could and planted a wet slobbery kiss right on my throbbing cheek. It really was a tender gesture.

I told Logan, "Thanks bud, you are so sweet".

Logan again in a tender voice said, "See, all better now".

I just can't help but love this kid.......

Funny Words

Dad is studying is anatomy words, and Logan thinks they are so funny!

Conquered

Have you seen anything so cute as this little man in his undies. Logan has been a potty training dream. It took just a day to get the concept, but 2 weeks to master it. We've had a few accidents along the way, but I think it's safe to say he's done "training". Last night I woke up at 12:30am to "Mommy, Mommy!!" I went into his room and said, "What's wrong Logan?". He said, "I need to go pee pee." He went potty and then promptly back to bed. I was totally impressed. He's been waking up dry at night and during naps for the most part. I'm so glad that this task is a check mark in his book. YEAH LOGAN!!!

While you were out!

Do these boys look like they miss their parents?

(Dustin and I were babysitting)

Little Monkey Man

Thanks Claire for helping me realize that I totally forgot to post my little man in his Halloween costume. How pathetic. Anyways I'm not so proud of my lack of creativity this year, but what can I say I got this costume for $1 at a yard sale. He is of course still cute because of his sweet little face. These are a few pictures of Logan and his friend Hudson trick-o-treating before the party started. We just walked around to the doors of our friend's apartments.

More October

These are just some random activities we did in October. In the top left are our Mickey Mouse cookies to go with our Mickey Mouse play date. Jace was staying at our house while his parents were on a date, and Hudson came to hang out with his mom. We decided to have a Mickey Mouse party. We made these cookies, ate Mickey Mouse nuggets, and watched Mickey Mouse Club House. I think the kids really enjoyed themselves, and of course I thought it was great. The other pictures are of the boys playing at this indoor play area for kids under 5. They had blow up bouncers, movies, and tons and tons of toys. Afterwards Ashlee let the boys ride the merry go round 2 times. The picture of Logan with his finger up is him saying "1 more time". He adopted that phrase from Hudson when they want to do something again. I love that Logan has friends, and even more that I enjoy the company of their moms.

This picture actually goes with the Russell Orchid's pictures in the last post, but I forgot it. Cher was pretending that she found a bug and that it was sleeping in her hand. Logan was going "shuuuuu" because the bug was sleeping.

October

We love Fall! It's been a fun and exciting month full of bright colors and cooler weather. Not to mention lots of fun adventure. This is Connor's Farm. It's actually this really cool market where they have organic everything from juice, breads, produce, to so much more made right there . It also has an Orchid where you can go pick your own berries, and apples. Like I said they literally have EVERYTHING. Outside they have like a 30ft high wall full of pumpkins for Halloween. They also have a little hay maze and corn play pit for the kids. I think we spent 2 hours or so there just letting the kids play. The really enjoyed climbing on all the pumpkins, and of course we got pictures for the small price of gum. I love the bottom right picture because Logan was talking and Hudson didn't like it so much so he covered his mouth and told him to be quiet. KIDS!!!
These are pictures from Russell's Orchids. It's this huge apple orchid with 60 different varieties. You go there to pick apples, play with farm animals, and they also have a play ground for the kids. There's a little shop to buy treats where we got the yummiest apple cider. I wrote captions under each picture, but to elaborate the farm equipment is run on organic apple diesel, so every time it passes by it smells like apple doughnuts. This is where we picked pumpkins for the kids to decorate.

I got paints at the local Stop N Shop (very popular grocery store in Mass). Logan and Jace painted their little pumpkins for Halloween. Maybe next year we will carve, but for now painting was just up their ally!

Date Night! Sounds great huh? Well Dustin and I have a deal with some great friends where we take turns babysitting kids. It's a really nice solution to having no family around to give you breaks. So this night we went to Salem, Ma (yes the famous town of the Salem witch trials). I enjoyed every minute. What's Halloween without one night of spooky treats? So we went to a 3D haunted house called Salem's 13 Ghost. I think Dustin's favorite part was the pirate's plank that you had to walk across. The water looked so real so you were so careful not to fall in. Everyone in Salem dresses up when they go just for fun. Well in the top left picture with the Frankenstein, we got quite the surprise. I saw the "statue" and said he we should get a picture with that and I started walking toward it. I paused and said well wait someone walk up to him and make sure he's not real first, and right at that second he started walking toward me. Yes I squeaked right in the middle of downtown Salem.



Last but not least here are pictures from the wonderfully planned and executed Halloween party we went to. It was Halloween Survivor (like the TV show). There were a series of 5 games that we played. I think Dustin and I were out by round 3, but still enjoyed every minute. Great costumes, trick or treating for the kids, and fun relay races, make up the perfect recipe for a great Halloween.