January Update

Phew...January has been a busy month!  I wish it was as exciting as it was hectic, but we did have some highlights. Gogo and Gumma came down to visit a few weekends ago and yesterday we went to visit Cousin Janet in Boston!  It was an easy trip up and back and Alice and Dana loved exploring all of Janet's toys.  Janet was incredibly good at sharing her things (even if she was too shy to talk to us for the first hour or so!).

 Everyone enjoyed a field trip down to the local ice cream shop post lunch.  I actually think I was the most excited.  Although looking at Dana's face in this picture, I'd say it was a pretty close call between the two of us!

 Purdy little Janet and her Mama.  Janet put on a special dress and wore her princess hair just for our visit.  Talk about making an effort!

 Janet was a close second to Dana and myself in the ice cream excitement department! We had a great visit.  We don't get to see this little one enough!

 We went to the local kid snip its this morning.  I have been telling the girls they needed a haircut and at last we were all home long enough to cross this item off the to-do list.  Alice badly needed a touch-up from my latest attempt at cutting her hair (it's impossible). And little Dana has never had a hair cut!  Alice went first, to assure Dana that it was a totally harmless process but I wouldn't say the beginning of Alice's cut set Dana at ease.  The hairdresser had to get a special brush to get through Alice's bed head! She didn't love it!

 But she was quite pleased with the ribbon in her hair at the end!

 Can you say nervous?

 

 Still a little skeptical...

 
Definitely not a fan on the blow drying.

And a funny face for the finale. She did this on both picture attempts.  Strange girl...

They both enjoyed the finger puppet toys they got at the end of the cut.  All in all, it was a very successful trip!

 In other big news, we are attempting to put Alice and Dana in the same room.  This is a huge change for Dana as it's not only a new bed, but a new room.  We have no idea how well this will work - the crib still has sheets and blankets on it if we have to abort mission, but we are hopeful we can make this work.  The girls were ecstatic at the idea of this and enjoyed setting up Dana's bed.  We will keep you posted...

 Just hanging in Dana's new bed!

 Comfy and cozy (now we just have to see if any sleep actually happens here)!

Big sis is thrilled for a roommate!

Christmas and New Years!

We had a very special Christmas in Maine!  It started off a little rocky as we had to adjust our travel plans due to the ice forecasted for Brunswick.  We decided to leave a day earlier, which ended up being a great plan as the ice was pretty brutal through Monday.  We had lots of fun indoor time, building forts and finding art projects to do! Despite the crummy weather we had lots of fun catching up with everyone and preparing for the big day!

Before we left for the holidays we baked several batches of Gumma's famous cranberry bread. Alice was a big help this year!

 

Dana didn't like the sound of the food processor!

My little helper!

 

Stirring everything up - ready to bake!

We spent Christmas Eve at Nick and Katie's house.  It was a perfect place to let the kids get out some last minute Christmas excitement.  The girls had a great time playing with their cousins.

 

Yum yum...who doesn't love brownies!

Back at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Chris' house, Alice was adamant that we needed to hang the stockings!

 

Alice wanted to choose the order of the stockings so she wrote post-its with everyone's name on it and directed her father as to where to stick them!

Wise guys....pretending to eat the reindeer's carrots!

 

The final touches on hanging the stockings and we are ready to head to bed!

 One last hug for Terra!

 

Merry Christmas! Can you tell this little one is excited?

 

Another happy munchkin!

 

Dana's face really says it all here.  She LOVED unwrapping gifts.  I think between opening her own, helping me, her father, and her grandparents, she probably opened 2/3rds of the gifts this year!

 

Alice woke up at 5am and joined us in bed.  At 6am she became a total chatter box so we spent about an hour downstairs waiting for everyone else to wake up.  By the time we opened stockings, she was more than excited!

 

Dana opening her "grocery store baby" as she referred to it.  This was the big ticket item that she had requested from Santa.

She loved it!  Can hardly wait for her father to get it out of the box!

 

So happy...

 

Kisses for baby.

 

And Alice's big ticket item from Santa was more magnatiles.  She went right to work, constructing her very familiar fairy house.

 

New hat - thankfully one she actually enjoys wearing. Love this face.

 

Alice and Dana were overjoyed when they realized the big present under the tree was for them!

Dana doing the bulk of the unwrapping here...

 

And with a little help from Grandma Sue - new sleds!

 

...or surf boards!

 

One happy little girl.

 

Cousins!  They loved this hysterical little pig that Ryan got for Christmas.  I would say this was hands down, the most popular (and unique!) gift of the day!

 

Beautiful little Keira just trying to stay out of the madness.  Just wait until next year!

Trying out the new sleds! Dana didn't actually get down the hill here.  She has yet to actually go down a hill but we'll get there.

 

Lauren was excited to pull people in the sleds.  Keira was first...

 

...Reeves and Alice were next, and much more difficult.

 

So happy to be outside at last!

 

Dana just checking up on baby. 

The day after Christmas we headed straight up to Sugarloaf.  We enjoyed about 4inches of fresh snow (even if it fell while we were en route!). Alice tried skiing for the first time and we got a nice family snowshoe/sled adventure in.  That is until Dana decided she didn't want to be pulled, yet couldn't quite clear the layers of snow on the ground to walk herself.  We had a...hmmm...memorable return trip to the house.  The next day we packed up and took the 6 hour drive to VT! Gotta love the holidays!

 

I'm hoping that at this point, you all say to yourselves, "wow...great clarity with that picture. Is she using a new camera?" The answer is yes...Santa gave me my big ticket item this year, too!

 

After some practice on the driveway at Sugarloaf, Alice was ready for the real thing.  Here she is getting some last minute advice from Gogo.

Still a little unsure...

 

First trip up the magic carpet!

 

And down she comes!  Love the focus in her eyes!

 

Here comes the focus...

 

And there it is... her official game face.

 

So proud!

We spent one of our cold days in VT visiting with our favorite grandmothers! Wish we could have gotten a good pic of all three together but the cooperation wasn't quite there.

We had a nice visit at Grandma Ali's.  We briefly overlapped with Ron, Nikki and Em which was a treat!

 

Dana's game face only appears when opening gifts, apparently.

 

Big hugs for Uncle Ron!

Early morning cuddle with Gogo. 

Reeves was a big hit with the kids when they realized they were getting cupcakes to celebrate this birthday.  I don't think he's ever been so popular among the younger generation.  Alice and Dana wanted it to be Daddy's birthday for several days afterwards.

We couldn't leave VT without seeing Momere!

And that's a wrap.  A great holiday indeed. Thank you to everyone for helping to make it so special.

And here's to 2014!  Let the chaos begin!