Ribs!

We took Colton to Hingham Beer Works before hockey practice on Friday night. First thing on the kids menus was the BBQ Ribs...Colton didn't need to hear any other words. I had a few blueberry beers and I think I was a little buzzed going to Colton's practice...might have to do this every Friday night!

Christmas 2010

Another wonderful Christmas with my family. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful life and such great friends and family to share it with.

This year Colton got it, Santa was coming and Colton had been a good boy so he was getting presents. On his list were: Star Wars, Legos, Imaginext and clothes. He woke up early Christmas morning and was surprised to find everything on his list had somehow made it under that tree. The big gift from Santa was this enormous Star Wars Millennium Falcon set that came with Chewbacca and Hans Solo. It always cracks me up though when kids get most excited about the little things they get in their stocking.

That day the entire family came over and we did our annual Yankee Swap where yes, things do get ugly but I think everyone ended up happy with their "crap" they went home with. Wally made Uncle Paul's Christmas when he told him he could have his Superman Snuggie which he instantly put on to model for us. It was a great day, super relaxing and fun. Oh here are some videos from the day, Nick's parents sent us one of those flip video recorders so watch out people, I am addicted. Others got all the photos of the day but I have the video clips...I know they are long but they were my first videos and it is fun!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. XOXO

Brayden is out of the terrible 2s...

...or is he?

Brayden our little Christmas baby turn 3 on the 23rd. We had a family Geotrax party at Cape Cod Cafe where we took over the restaurant with planes, trains and automobiles. He got everything and anything Geotrax...no joke who knew there were that many Geotrax things out there. Good luck storing all that stuff Heidi! On his actual birthday he got a new shovel and sled (with the amount of snow this year these will definitely take a beating).

Colton also had his very first official sleepover (without me around) at Auntie Heidi's house on Brayden's birthday. He was very excited to spend the night over there and left with his pjs on and ready to party...or not...Heidi told him that they could all sleep in her bed and fall asleep watching movies. Colton told her "oh no Auntie Heidi, I don't like the tv on, no tv for me, I am tired and need to go straight to bed". Sort of a lame sleepover kid. He told me the next morning that breakfast was his favorite part.

Preschool Gingerbread House Making Event

Colton's class had a special party for the parents and kids right before Christmas break. They started the party off with a few songs for us when we walked in. As soon as I walked into the room Colton stood up and started to yell and wave "Hey Mom...hey everyone that's my mom....I love you mommy"...yeah it was cute. Then every kids wanted to say "Oh yeah well that's my mom...hi mom" and you get the scene...it was almost chaotic but the teachers got them all back in the circle for their Christmas sing along which we/they had been practicing for weeks. We then had to build gingerbread houses with endless amounts of candy and frosting. Colton ate most of the candy at our table but I couldn't blame him...what 4 year old could really resist that temptation (um what 34 year old could resist a few bites of Reece pieces either?!?!). Colton has a real creative spark when it comes to craft time, it was his idea to build a hot tub out of marshmallows and graham crackers and to have a licorice skating rink with a skier on it. A few of the parents at our table said they wanted to come to our house after the hot tub addition...lol. It was a super fun afternoon and I think our gingerbread house came out pretty good, even with a few missing gumdrops. :-)

Great Grandma

Such a sad day. Great Grandmas passed away a few weeks before Christmas. This was a difficult one to take because we had seen her so recently and although she had seen better days she was so "with it" and on the mend. It amazes me how quickly our bodies can fail us when our time has come. I think Grandma had said her farewells to the family at Thanksgiving, gave her babies one last kiss and she was just ready. Her services were down in New Jersey so we went down for a few days and got to see the rest of Nick's family which was nice. Here are some pictures from the weekend. This was Colton's first wake and funeral. He handled it very well, I had no idea what to expect. When I told him Great Grandma went to heaven he said "its ok mom, she was old and I have another Grandma"...kids. Then he overheard another 3 year old at the service say "look grandma is sleeping"....Colton very quickly told him "oh no grandma isn't sleeping she is dead, don't worry though the angels will be here real soon to come and get her". His most famous line of the weekend though was when we were walking into the restaurant after the mass and I told him he needed to be good and he responded "mom I will be good because first I be good, then I be bad, then I be good, then I be bad, get the pattern? Cause I was bad now I be good!" Hysterical...Great Grandma must have been laughing up there with that line. :-)

RIP Grandma XOXOXO

That would be dog poop on Colton's foot.
Yes, he stepped in Rocco's (Aunt Denise's dog) poop barefoot one morning. So typical.

Gingerbreads

Colton and I painted a ceramic gingerbread house the other day. Very artsy, sorta reminded me of Whoville.

Holiday Hockey Party

Colton started Weymouth Youth Hockey a few weeks ago and this Sunday they had a Skate with Santa Holiday Party. Hockey starts at age 4 here in Weymouth and he literally is the youngest on the team by a year or two so some of these kids look totally pro next to him. He still loves it though and is getting better every week. The program is super organized, the coaches are really patient, and he loves it so much that I am a little closer to calling myself a hockey mom. There is still hope that he will fall in love with a less contact involved sport and something with a little warmer weather but that would be too easy right?!?!

So at this party, Santa had skates that looked like boots and actually skated with the kids. They also had pizza, gatorade (Colton's dream come true) and Santa had little presents for the kids. Somehow Colton has managed to make friends with all the "big kids" who help the coaches out every week. He ignores the kids his age and basically follows the older guys around the ice. If they did a group photo, he was in it, if they went into the penalty box or sat on the benches, he went with them, if they were goofing around with each other, he was right there with them. Now mind you these kids are at least 10 years older than him. Sometimes he really is just Mr. Social and I just sit back and laugh. Other times, I pretend I don't know him...lol...just kidding of course! He is a ham and I love him!!!

One of coaches took pictures of the event and here are a few I found in the bunch with Colton in them.

There he is to the right of Santa (look at Santa's elbow).

To the right again...

You can't really see him but if you see the guy with the green shirt (Coach Steve) he has his arm around Colton telling him he can take a picture with the big kids...lol.

Where's Waldo?
No more clues!

Pancake Breakfast...

Usually after mass on Sundays our church has coffee and donuts which I won't lie is the primary motivation to get the kids there (it works). We always take Riley and I actually recently signed him up for CCD at our parish...so it is his parish now too...and sometimes Brayden comes but he doesn't care about juice and donuts quite as much as the other two. So this week there was a special pancake breakfast with Santa after mass. It was just $10/family and the cafeteria was filled with hot breakfast served by the local boy scouts and then tables with kids crafts and bake sales. We had a lot of fun and the kids thought they had gone to heaven (haha pun is intended).

Skate with Santa

Saturday the Wells family came down to Weymouth for a Skate with Santa. We skated, skated and skated some more and of course they loved hanging out in the penalty box as usual. Angela even got out on the ice with a pair of hockey skates from Brayden (who only let me skate him one lap around the ice for a picture with Santa). Santa sat on a little bench on the ice and you had to skate over to him to get a picture and sit on his lap. We went back to our house for pizza and more playing and then the boys watched the movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs down at Nana's house (boy was it quiet for that time period)...that gave us adults some time to have a few drinks and catch up. It was a super fun day and I forgot to mention that even Regina came down for a play-date with Buddy...so fun!

Feet in your face

When you have to share a bed with Colton this is what happens. I forgot about these pictures from when we were away in Maine. I woke up, saw this, and immediately turned on the light to capture the moment...sorry mom too funny not to share!



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Polar Express 2010

We headed back up to Portland & Freeport Maine this year for the Polar Express train ride and some serious outlet shopping. This year there were 20 of us total! Heidi/fam with Phil's sister Siobhan/fam, my Mom/JuJu/Nicole, Colton/Me, Wally/fam and Alicia's parents/Amy, and Corey/Kerri...wowsers! It was so much fun, we hit the hotel pool/hot tub and late night bar for the adults (yes we tired the kids out so that bedtime came and they were sleeping). This year the first class tickets were sold out so we went coach. It wasn't quite the same experience but the amaretto we spiked our hot chocolate with helped ease the pain. Already can't wait till next year! I just have to say how much I love my family...all 20 of em and those that couldn't make it too!
PS - I was not the photographer this weekend but these goofy shots are what people took with my moms camera...pretty funny.

Tis the season

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Sometimes the boys have to be dragged out with Heidi and I so we can do a little Christmas shopping. Shopping always entails a free lunch for them so they don't complain too much. They boys want these BC Eagle hats which they are modeling off at BJs, hopefully Santa pulls through with this order. We ended our shopping spree with dinner at our "date place" followed by dessert at Pinkberry's (yeah if you haven't been it is our new obsession...I should buy stock).