Thanksgiving 2011

This year's Thanksgiving was certainly one of the best that I can recall.  Of course, as we do every year, we started our day at the Feaster Five Road Race.  The kids each did the kids race and did GREAT!  They both ran the whole way and finished smiling, so it was a smashing success in my book.  They stuck around long enough to cheer their mom on at the start, and then headed home for breakfast and tubs while I ran my 5 miler with my friends Marcie and Gwen.  The race was great, and I had a lot of fun getting to run with the girls.

After the race I zipped home for a quick shower and cooking, and we were in the car well before "Alice's Restaurant" came on the radio at noon, heading toward Uncle Devan and Aunt Jen's house for a fantastic feast.  And a fantastic feast it was!  Jen and her parents, Devan, Eva, Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Kae, and the four of us enjoyed a great and relaxing afternoon.  Jen was a wonderful hostess, and put out a spread fit for an entire army.  No one went home hungry...except for Zachary who passed on most of the dinner items, stuffed his belly with cookies for dessert, and then asked Auntie Jen if she could please get him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a slice of cheese on top.  Lexi and Zach were happy to have plenty of time to play with all of Eva's toys, and it seemed as though Eva was pretty happy to have her cousins there to play with her too.  It was a wonderful day indeed.

Jen got her morning workout mashing 10 pounds of potatoes

Ahren and Devan

Devan, Craig, Ahren and Kaelan

Zach had a little quiet time with the kitty

Eleanor, Jen and Stan prepare the turkey

Zach and Grampy, crazy as always

"The Girls" playing before dinner.

Auntie Kae is always excited to eat.

Zach steals a bite of Daddy's leg

Devan pretended that he was going to do the dishes

Our Thanksgiving Turkey - We all wrote what we were thankful for

The boys, post pie.  It was hard to stay upright.

Auntie Kae helps Zach set up his  new train set that she got him for his birthday.

Sleepy mom and dad - it was a good day.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Zachary Thomas!

Dear Zachary,

Yesterday, you turned three years old on Thanksgiving Day and I'm pretty sure you're the happiest little three year old on the planet.  After months of anticipation - telling everyone you met that you'd be turning three on your "birfday", when I woke you up singing "Happy Birthday" and excitedly told you that you were finally three years old you said, "No, I two."  And you spent the rest of the day insisting to everyone you met that you were two.  Silly boy.  You can light up any room, and can make anyone smile and laugh at any moment.  You're fantastically funny with an amazing sense of humor, especially for a three year old. 

On Mondays and Fridays you and I get to spend the day together, just the two of us.  We go to gymnastics, shopping, play, read and eat lunch together.  It's fun to have some quiet one on one time with you, and really have an opportunity to watch you grow and change every week.  And at the same time, now that you're old enough to really keep up, watching you and Lexi play so well together makes my heart swell with joy.  Together you two will entertain yourselves with anything - reading (Lexi to you), blocks, crafts, dress up, and your personal favorite - making forts out of the couch cushions.

Last Friday we had a birthday party for you at Imajine That - your favorite indoor playground down the street.  We invited a few of your closest buddies - Tommy, Jude and Ronea, Vann and Gino, Morgan and her sister Marissa, and of course your best buddy Charlie and his brother John.  You had so much fun running and playing with your friends, eating pizza, opening presents, and of course having your Curious George cupcakes that you helped me bake and frost.  Daddy and I, along with Gigi and Poppy, had a lot of fun watching you enjoy your day.

Zachary, three years ago you came along and completed our little family and we will feel forever blessed because you did.  You are simply a spectacular little boy, and we all love you to pieces.

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Love,
Mama

A Weekend Away

This is a long overdue thank you to Grammy and Grampy for taking Lexi and Zachary for a two day sleepover a few weeks ago so that Ahren and I could go visit Tony and his fiancee Sarah at their house in Southold, NY. Grammy and Grampy, Lexi, Zach, and Lexi's class "pet" Norman all had a crazy, fun filled weekend while Ahren and I, Brian, Ali and Siddarth all spent a *wonderful* evening being wined and dined at Tony and Sarah's house. Tony and Sarah recently opened up a wine tasting studio in Peconic NY which features many wines that Tony himself made. So we were thrilled to have a chance to visit and taste way too much wine. The evening only got better when Sarah returned home and cooked us a fantasticly gourmet meal full of fresh veggies from their garden. It was heavenly, and only made us wish that our trip could have been longer! We'll get to spend more heavenly time with Tony and Sarah when they get married in the BVIs early next year, and we can't wait!

A family portrait with Grampy, Daddy, Zachy, Mama, Lexi and Norman, Grammy, Eva, Auntie Jen and Uncle Devan.

Tony pours us some of his wine.

Spezia by Anthony Nappa - Yummy!

Tony serves us the unbelievably tasty meal that Sarah "whipped up".

Brian and Ahren sitting amid the many, many bottles of wine we had at the table.

Falling into Leaves

What could possibly be more fun than jumping into huge piles of leaves in the fall? How about sliding into them face first? This is how the kids spent most of last weekend, and they had a BLAST! Daddy sets up this leaf pile for them every year and it's pretty much their favorite thing to do. Luckily for them (not so for Daddy) our yard looks like it hasn't seen a rake in years despite all the work Ahren put in over the weekend. So, it looks like the kids are going to get another weekend of leaf play! Lucky them. :)

The Halloween That Wouldn't End...Thanks To The Winter That Couldn't Wait.

What a wacky few weeks we've had in New England. About three weeks ago, when Gigi and I ran The Tufts 10K it was a very unseasonable 80 degrees.  Just two weeks later we had our first snow in New England, followed by our first serious nor'easter just a few days after that!  Hearty New Englanders we are, but it still messes with us a bit when we are shoveling before we even get out to trick o treat...and not only that, but to have Halloween postponed due to snow and no power is, frankly, unheard of in this area until this year.  Here's what happened.

Halloween should have been on Monday, the 31st.  However, on Saturday afternoon a huge nor'easter came our way dumping as much as two feet of heavy snow in some areas near by (but luckily only a few inches over North Andover).  We prepared for the storm in a way that we never have before...by carving pumpkins?  Not a bad indoor activity when you can't go outside due to pelting sleet...which ultimately turned to heavy, wet snow.

Lexi and Zach watch in anticipation as Ahren cuts open our pumpkin!

Zach really enjoyed pumpkin carving!

Lexi and Zach worked together to scoop out the seeds and pulp.

It was very exciting!!

While we carved and then slept, it snowed and snowed.  The weight of the snow on trees, combined with the leaves that were still firmly in place, caused many trees to lose branches, or fall over completely.  This knocked out power almost everywhere, caused a lot of damage, and made a huge mess. I was terrified the night of the storm, seriously concerned about trees falling on the cars, or worse...the house! Ahren and I were so lucky because since we only got a couple of inches of snow, we only lost a few limbs of the many trees that surround our house...however knowing that 2 inches knocked those limbs down gives you an idea of the weight of the snow!  Amy and Scott, in CT, got 11 inches and lost several trees and were without power for an entire week.  So, needless to say, it was a mess.

Lexi and Zach snuggle on the couch the morning after the storm.

Amazingly, we did not lose our power, but Great Gram did, so she came to stay with us for a couple of days, while Lexi gave up her bed to sleep on the floor of Zachary's room.  On Sunday everyone spent the day cleaning up the mess (what they could) but by Sunday evening it was clear that power would not be back anytime soon, and school and trick o treating were canceled. 

Luckily, the clean up continued and throughout the week power was restored to the rest of the town.  Trick o treating, as well as Lexi's Kindergarten Halloween Party were all rescheduled to Friday and Saturday.  So, on Friday Zachary and I got to visit Lexi's classroom to help out with her Halloween craft party.  We were in charge of the hand print bats table, and while sitting there with me, Zach got to make several.

Lexi and Zach decorating their hand print bats.

The final product

The following day, Saturday, was a very strange day indeed.  We started our day by going to Turkey Hill Farm to tag our Christmas Tree.  This is something we typically do in early November - opening tag day - so that we can pick up our tree when it has been freshly chopped the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  This was a great year, and the kids had a blast running through the trees looking for the best one.  Finally we found him, and named him Harold Lippman Zachy (there was some compromising).  We wrapped a scarf around him to keep him warm, and then headed home for...trick o treating??  We were very confused about which holiday we were celebrating!

Daddy leads the hunt.

If you don't hurry, all the good trees are gone!

Officially tagged.

Mom, Zach and Lexi posing with Harold.

It was a cold night for trick o treat, but we were able to bundle the kids up enough that no one was cold.  Marcie and Vann came along with us, and we had a blast.  Zachy really enjoyed saying "TRICK OR TREAT!!"  at every house for about 30 minutes, when he declared that he was done, and would ride the wagon the rest of the night.  Ultimately we had a fantastic night that we finished off with pizza and Winnie the Pooh.

Queen Lexi and Buzz Vann

Arriving at Great Gram's in style.

Lexi with Great Gram

 

Miss Annie, Miss Julie and Perri all very excited to see the kids!

Our happy, but tired trick o treaters.

So, it's been a wacky couple of weeks, but ultimately Halloween is *finally* over, everyone we know has their power back, and we can now focus on the important November holidays...Zachary's and my birthdays.  :)