My favorite Christmas presents

The boys made Phil and I gifts for Christmas. They were so excited to put them under the tree for us. We feel so lucky to have such thoughtful gifts under the tree.

Jake turns 7!

Jake turned 7 yesterday! He is growing up way to fast. He is a fun little boy. We enjoy his sense of humor, enthusiasm for life and all experiences that come his way, his love of cats and dogs, generosity as a big brother, his sensitive side and his ability to organize and care for his things. We celebrated Jake's birthday in Maine this year. When we are at home, the kitchen is decorated for your birthday when you wake up in the morning. On the road, we didn't have all the usual hoopla. Phil and I used paper plates and my niece Emily's (officially know as the best niece in the world)nail polish to make a birthday banner. Jake had a birthday lunch at Rosette's and had birthday cake and opened presents. Then we hit the road or the looooong ride home. Jake did get to pick the restaurant for our dinner on the road as well. We thought he would go for Olive G@rden but Mc D's won out in the end.

Christmas at the North Pole

The day after Christmas we headed to the North Pole to celebrate Christmas with Phi's side of the family. Memere and Pepere live in Northern Maine but the kids think it is aho, skip and a jump form the north pole. It is a long ride so I can see why they think that:) It is always so fun for the whole family to get together. As the family has grown we have needed to rent a house for the time we are all together. The house this year was just a little down the road from Phil's parents. From our windows we watched the sunset over the mountains in Canada. Simply beautiful.


There was no tv or internet at the house we stayed in. Here Emily, Lauren and Jake are watching the Backy@rdigans on the laptop.


Phil, Matt and Kevin playing Kerpl0nk. Big cups and a game of getting a ping pong ball into a cup. Hmmm. I have seen this before.

Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

Matt taking it all in.


Santa left nutcrackers for the boys.

Lauren and her Christmas apple. She didn't care if she opened any gifts...she was just happy to eat an apple.


Jake got what he asked Santa for. Lego star wars!


The boys helping Lauren open her gifts.

Josh finding the Number 1 present on his list. He sent no less than 5 letters to Santa this year to makes he knew that the ip0d touch was what he REALLY wanted.

T'was the Night Before Christmas...

We had a very fun Christmas Eve. We hosted my side of the family for dinner.
The boys tracked Santa and his stops on the computer/

Pregame snacks.

The merriment begins.

The swapping of the gifts.

Phil's birthday is on Christmas Eve. The kiddo's helped him blow out the candles on his cake.

Opening a present that Matt made for him. It was wrapped 5 times. All that hard work paid off with special coupons made by Matt. Anytime Phil wants to play cribbage or catch he can use his handy coupons.

We are a BIG Christmas birthday family. We call it Festivis (from Seinfeld). We kick off with my Mom and brother's birthday on the 23rd, Phil on the 24th, Jake on the 29th, Pepere on the 31st, ny Nana on Jan 1st(she is turning 95 this year), my uncle on the 2nd and then Lauren on the 5th. I am tired just typing that.

2 year Photo Shoot

Lauren had her 2 year pictures taken. I know that I am biased, but she is so beautiful. Her eyes are simply stunning.