Happy New Year!

Well, we made it through our vacation back east. We had an uneventful week just prior to our trip which was nice. We were a bit worried about the weather because we got some rain/snow which turned to ice but luckily our flight went out on time.

We made it to Boston and met up with mom and John. Mom let us borrow her car which was awesome! We drove from Logan up to Kennebunk to Hillary and Dale's home. I don't remember much about that afternoon other than the time went by fast and before we knew it we were in bed and asleep. Zach slept until about 6 and everyone else woke up about 30-45 minutes later but he was happy in his chair eating fruit and drinking milk.

It was Christmas morning so of course once the kids realized this all chaos broke loose and we started opening presents. Everyone enjoyed themselves and by the time we were done it was near noon. Brandon, the kids and I took off for a while to explore Kennebunk and the coastline. We hadn't been to Maine in over 10 years and the kids have only seen the beach in the summer. We got a few quick photos and then headed back to the house for dinner. The food was delicious and Dale's mom and stepdad were there too which was nice. When Zach took his afternoon nap I took the opportunity to crash along with him. When we woke up it was night and everyone was hanging out around the house. It was a nice quiet Christmas night but it was great to be around family.

The next morning we had to take off for Boston. We headed to see poppy and visited with him for a while before heading to our friend Laura's. We visited with her for a bit and then back in the car to head to Alan and Karen's home. We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening visiting and watching Jeffrey tackle Avi and Zach with his karate moves. Brandon's dad and stepmom were there too and it was great to visit with them and I'm sure they enjoyed watching all of their grandchildren playing together.

Last stop for the night was mom and John's so we drove right past Palmer which was strange and kept going to Agawam. Luke had come to MA with my mom and John and was waiting to play with Avi when we got there. They played for a bit and we ate some dinner and put the kids to bed. The next morning we woke up and got ready to head to CT for Megan and Adam's wedding. It was a bit hectic getting ready in the morning but we managed to leave on time and arrived early enough to say hello to Megan and visit with family.

The ceremony was short and sweet since it was a vow renewal. After the ceremony everyone walked across the street to the reception. It was in the old Meriden library. The buffet was open right away so we found our table and got plates for the kids before the party started. Zach ate like an animal and Avi did a good job concentrating enough to eat enough. Once the wedding party was announced the party started - we pretty much didn't see Avi the rest of the night as she was out on the dance floor dancing with anyone and everyone. She was in full bloom for her party personality and couldn't help herself posing for any camera aimed in her vicinity. Zach took a nap part-way through which was nice to keep him happy.

After the party we headed back to Shirley and Jim's. We got there first and it was where the girls had started getting ready so as my aunt Shirley best described it - "it was a curler explosion". We tidied up a bit and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. We hung out and visited with everyone until about 8 then needed to head back to Agawam.

Monday was Luke's birthday so we ate breakfast and once Michelle arrived we opened presents and had dinner and cake. Hillary and Dale still had to drive back to Maine so they left around 3 or 4. Michelle stayed to visit and went in the hot tub with Avi for a while. Later that night mom and John took Avi and Zach to see Bright Nights at Forest Park - it's a drive through lights display. While they were out Brandon and I went to dinner. We came across Lattitude in W Springfield. It was amazing and I would highly recommend it to anyone who lives in W. Mass. It's right across the street from the Big E fairgrounds. We had fried brussel sprouts to start and knew we were in for wonderful food because of how good they were. We weren't disappointed either!

The rest of the week we hung out at mom's. Mom and John took Avi to Friendly's for a cone head sundae which she thoroughly enjoyed. Mom and I took the kids to the Westfield Children's Museum which was nice and then stopped to visit my aunt Pam. She was so surprised to see us and had so much fun watching their antics. On Thursday we headed back to Boston to spend some more time with poppy. We went out to eat at Kelly's and then visited with our friend Christie. We were back to poppy's by 8 and put the kids to bed and then us shortly thereafter.

We were up at 6:30 to head to the airport to meet mom and John to give mom her car back and get on our flight. Our flight left on time and we were back in CO by 1pm New Year's Day. It was a fantastic visit - we did a lot, saw a lot of people, and the kids had a blast too - but it's good to be home.

The kids woke up at 6am today - not horrible considering the time change. We took down the rest of Christmas and then went to Costco and King Soopers. Avi spent most of the afternoon at Emma's house and came home to eat dinner basically. They are both in bed and that's where I'm headed once I finish this post. I have to work tomorrow - ugh!

So what's the latest with Avi and Zach:
Zach - since he's now 1 we've weaned him off formula - hurray! it was painless actually, he's also off the bottle and solely on a sippy cup now - hurray!, he had some words/sounds that make sense in context - when he sees a santa doll or figure he says "dan-dah" and when Cabo came home yesterday he was so excited and said "da-bo", his favorite book right now is an animal book that has colorful paper in some of the animal cutouts - he'll actually go into the other room and come back carrying it, he's using his signs more accurately too - mostly milk, eat, more and all done, he's taking bites off a banana but isn't yet able to hold it on his own without squishing it, he starts dancing and bouncing up/down when he hears music and it's just the cutest thing ever

Avi - she's really starting to recognize her letters and wants to try to spell out any words that she finds - she was quite pleased with herself for spelling STOP on the sign today - she also spelled COSTCO and NORDSTROM - she needs help usually with 1 or 2 letters but gets the rest, she loves her curriculum workbooks too (like trace the numbers/letters, circle the opposites, etc), she'll sit quietly and read through a book on her own but loves to be read to too, she's still very much into pretend play and lately she's usually a dinosaur or a horse, she's been going to day care 4 days a week for about a month and I don't think that's the reason she's doing so well but I also know it's not hurting :)

Avi's signed up for swim lessons through March and Zach starts tumbling next week which goes through May. We've got our white board color coded for each of their "events".

Happy New Year to all!