A reminder from Cole

I admit it, up until this year Brendan and I were not very proactive about recycling.  But we got a recycling bin from the town hall in the beginning of the year and it is just as easy to put the recycling in the bin as it is in the trash, so we have been much better about it.  Cole's school is also proactive about recycling and his teachers encourage him to recycle his yogurt cups after lunch. So when Cole and I had a conversation about recycling it went like this:

"Cole put your yogurt in the trash please."

"No Mommy, you got to "cycle" (recycle) the yogurt cup. It is very important to cycle Mommy. You wash it and it goes in the big truck. 'Kay Mommy?"

"OK, Cole, Thanks for reminding me!"

They say our children teach us lessons almost every day. I know mine does!

Christmas Day

We made our way (eventually) to Mimi and Grandpa's for the rest of Christmas day. (It's only 15 minutes away so it is not much of a hike really!) This part of the day will be named nostalgia day as my Dad put on a home video from Christmas 1983 and we listened to my Mom's old 45 records at the end of the day.  The video was so hilarious- I was six and Jay was four and it was just too, too funny to watch.  We had a blast with that and Brendan thought I was cute. : )  I loved listening to my Mum's old records- it brings back memories as I used to listen to them as a child too!  A little Monkees, a little "Shake it Baby", and a little "Let's Get Together".  Good times.   We all had a very nice day!

Cole, Mimi, and Jay wait for "Santa" to make the visit to Mimi and Grandpa's house.

Cole tells Grandpa how he heard the bells and the "Ho Ho" around the house!

One of our gifts to Jay-- a Chicago Bears mug (his fav football team)!

I LOVE this Tiger Woods hat!

Jay volunteered to put together the car track together. He loves doing that kind of stuff!

Cole got so excited the first time the track worked!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning 2008 will forever be known as a Wall-E Christmas in this household.  All Cole wanted for Christmas this year was the Wall-E movie.  He went to bed talking about Chutes and Ladders because one of his teachers had brought it into to school (and was excited when he opened it as one of his presents in the morning) but woke up once again asking if Santa had come and if he had brought Wall-E. We told him we'd have to go downstairs and see and then Brendan made us wait while he set up the camera. Poor Cole was so crazy with excitement. When he got downstairs he began tearing through his presents and quite honestly just tossing them aside as they weren't the Wall-E movie.  Brendan and I finally made the decision after 3 presents of Cole doing this to go open stocking presents saying that maybe Santa had put it in there.  It was the last present in his stocking and I don't think I've ever seen someone so excited in my entire life.  After that he went back to open his other presents under the tree and was happy about those too. Heaven help me if there comes a year when he wants something we cannot find!  I guess then we'll have a talk about Santa can't find everything or something. : ) In the past week Cole has come to love most of his presents but is still wary of his ice skates. We are hoping to take him out later this week. (He has previously stated he'll only go with Aunt Kerry- I guess he already realizes that she has the skills- not Mom and Dad!) Charlotte was happy just to be part of the excitement. She really likes her Sevi keyboard (which I just adore too)!  After watching Wall-E (Cole insisted) and a breakfast of homemade pancakes, we went off to my parents for the rest of the day.  Pictures to follow in a later post!  For now, enjoy these photos of the morning. I couldn't eliminate any of them from the blog- they all are so cute (in my opinion anyway!)

Charlotte loved the candy canes that Santa left in the stocking.

Cole loved his new Patriots baseball cap.  This was also the year of the hats as Cole also received a Londonderry hat and a Tiger Woods baseball hat from my parents as well!

Ah-yes, Wall-E. I don't think I need to say more.

This was the only photo I got of the two of them together on Christmas morning.

What did Santa bring in his bag? The next day Cole would ask me how Santa would get his bag back. I told him Mommy and Daddy mail it back to him each year. He was satisfied with this answer!

Brendan looks on as Cole opens one of his gifts (in Rudolph wrapping paper- Cole loves the movie)!

Charlotte (and actually Cole too) love music. It is the one thing that will always entertain her.

The  mess of Christmas morning.  The bee ride-on toy was a present to Charlotte. She LOVES pushing it around the house as she practices her walking. It's great because it turns every which way. She also loves getting rides!  Cole likes to use it when he goes around the house on a bear hunt. : 0 )

Cole and Brendan watching Wall-E (before we even had breakfast)!

Another common theme this Christmas....race cars!

Had to get one of Brendan assembling the soccer net- every Christmas he has to assemble something! : )

And the best present of all in 2008-- our Charlotte Elise!

Christmas Eve

As with last year and we hope for many years to come, we had both our parents as well as Jay and Kerry over our house for Christmas Eve.   I am so thankful that we were able to move up this way last year to be closer to family. Gatherings like these don't happen  often enough but when they do we have so much fun!   For the second year in a row we had Grammy and Paw Paw (Brendan's parents), Mimi and Grandpa (my parents) and Aunt Kerry and Uncle Jay over.  We didn't know if Paw-paw could make it because he caught the stomach bug that was going around the Sevin clan but thankfully he did make it and we are very glad he did!   We started off Christmas Eve going to our church. We've been going to the Londonderry Methodist church for a couple months now and really like it.  The service was great and my favorite part of that was when we sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and Cole sang the whole song loudly and proudly right next to me. (We've been singing it at bed time for the past month of so).    We then came back to the house and had lots of munchies and good conversation....some of it silly and teasing and lots of it wonderful.  Pawpaw and Cole spread out the reindeer food on the front steps so Santa would know where to stop.  Every so often we went onto the computer and tracked Santa via the NORAD website. Cole was so excited to see the little snipits of Santa and see what parts of the world he had been to.  Then, because our day had been a little crazy we had to forgo the making of fresh cookies and Cole agreed that the store bought cookies were good enough. He did point out that Santa wanted eggnog this year, not milk.  Before bed I red Cole the nativity story. Then while I was putting Charlotte  to bed he managed to wrangle Mimi and Grammy to read the story again two more times.  After the grandparents left, Jay and Kerry stayed to play Guitar Hero with Brendan while I wrapped presents.  It was just the kind of Christmas Eve I love!

Kerry was home from her first semester at Merrimack College. I think this low key party was a nice change from the wild crazy parties she attends at school. (Just kidding, Mom.)

Charlotte is so funny. Around the house or at school, she is full of energy, always smiling and laughing and playing.  (Allbeit, she always needs to be around me still.)  Away from home, she is clingy and stoic and likes to observe everyone until she is more comfortable with the situation.  Very different personality from Cole at this age, but just as wonderful of course!

Playing with Uncle Jay, tracking Santa on NORAD. and the presentation of the Christmas cookies and carrots.

Christmas with the Sevins

This past Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the Sevin clan. There are just too many cute pictures to narrow them down any further. The photos are just too great!  Cole and Cameron had a great time playing together as always and after opening gifts of cars and lots else, they had fun with races and other games boys make up.  Charlotte loved her stuffed lovies (as Cole calls them) and kept giving them kisses.  We are blessed to be part of such a loving wonderful crazy family!






Cole and Cameron waited patiently for their gifts.  Cole was so excited for all of his gifts. He loves the snowball make a little too much, choosing to use it as a noise maker around our house. We've since put it in the garage, waiting for just right the snow instead. : )  

Charlotte received a walker/stroller and was so proud of herself for pushing it around the living room.   

First big snowstorm

This past Friday we had our first big snowstorm of this winter.  It was beautiful that I think I was the most excited out of all of us to get outside and play!  Charlotte was not thrilled-- not liking to get bundled up and not being able to move at all! You can see from the last picture that I had to put her down (sitting at first!) to help Cole with his mitten. Well, in typical tantrum fashion she fell backwards and cried and cried. I had to laugh though because she did look so funny all bundled up just laying there. Don't worry though, I did pick her up after helping Cole!  Anyway, we didn't stay outside for too long- maybe 30 minutes because it was cold and windy but it was nice to be outside!  Cole and I made snow angels and he then proceeded to stomp all over my pretty creation.  Brendan and Cole played tackle football which each thoroughly enjoyed!  Charlotte was not pleased with the weather. I think next year she'll love it a bit more! (And oh yeah-- don't mind her mismatched mittens- we were rushing to get outside before it got too dark!)