Christmas

And the long overdue updates continue...

Christmas Day began with a bang. Literally. Rob and Poppa drove to Lori and Granny's street to fire off the annual shotgun at 5am. This tradition has gone on for around 60 years, to signify the start to Christmas.

The view out the window Christmas morning

Presents!

We went over to Traci and Bruce's house to celebrate with everyone. I just realized this photo has all but one (Brett) of the cousins! Of course no one is looking, but there is Ann, Charlie, Wesley, Winston, Liam and Abby!

Lala and Liam

Christmas Day is also our niece Ann's birthday. Her party was the day after - the boys LOVED the cupcakes! The boys will always associate Aunt Traci with cupcakes!

Granny, our newest nephew Brett and Uncle Raymond

Charlie, Winston and Wes

Christmas Eve

I am quite behind in posting photos and memories of the holidays, but I'm going to start with Christmas Eve and try to catch up over the next few days. We drove to Virginia (thanks again to Uncle Raymond for helping us drive!) to spend Christmas with Rob's family.

It was a wonderful trip, filled with lasting memories: the boys first real Christmas Eve at Granny's (more on that below), Poppa's trains, playing with cousins, feeding/chasing the seagulls at the Lion's Bridge (the sign only specified to not feed the ducks), driving through the Celebration of Lights, visiting the Virginia Living Museum with Nanna & Poppa, massages for Rob & Ginger, first visit to Chick-fil-A (boys' & Ginger's!) and most of all, visiting with family!

Christmas Eve was a blessing. It was such a joy to see the boys take part in the tradition has taken place for the last 50 years. The played with family they hadn't seen in 2 years, listened to the Christmas story (Luke) read by Granny, played Granny's piano, and ate the traditional meal (no, they weren't brave enough to try collards).

Playing Granny's piano (Charlie, Wesley, Winston)

Winston liked to "sing" along with the piano

And Wesley would clap at the end. It was a hysterical sight (and sound)!

While we were singing carols, Win and Wes discovered that Kaci and Phyllis would give them sips of Diet Coke. After which, they would twirl around in the middle of the room and fall to the ground (and then go beg for more).

Winston loving his first sips of soda!

They then helped Granny hand out jingle bells, and the moment Granny got up from the piano bench, Charlie stole her seat and started playing!

Charlie made his move for the empty seat

After singing, Winston giggled hysterically as he played with Kaci. She would hide under the table and jump out - and he LOVED it!


Playing with Uncle Raymond - the same home that he and Poppa grew up in!

Christmas came early

We wanted to let the boys experience Christmas morning in their own house (and we had a number of gifts that will be too big to bring to Virginia), so we had our own mini-Christmas morning today. You will notice that only the top half of the Christmas tree has ornaments. The tree started out fully decorated...that lasted about an hour...
The boys waiting on the stairs

Opening their stockings before breakfast

Charlie kept holding the wrapped gifts and saying "PRESENTS!!", but didn't want to open them. He quickly got the hang of it.

Win in the foreground, Wesley in the back, checking to see if there was anything more in his stocking.

Their big gift was a new kitchen. We got to experience the joys of parenthood on Christmas Eve - we were up past midnight assembling the kitchen and searching for batteries!



The morning ended with haircuts at our local barbershop (you can see from the photos how much the boys needed it) and a very special treat of McDonalds Happy Meals for lunch.

Finished Basement!

The basement is done! Well, sort of. We failed the final inspection, not to the fault of the contractor, but a grumpy building inspector, so we have a few outstanding issues (if make-up air is needed and the need to extend the hearth). But we have started to move the boys into their "new playroom" (as they call it) - and they LOVE it! It is a huge space for them to run, jump, flop, tackle, crash, etc.

From this:

To this:

The best part of the new playroom is the opening under the stairs. Rob kept the boys laughing by chasing them around the stairs for a good 20 minutes!

New storage in the laundry room

Mud room area (boiler room to the left, laundry room to the right). We opted to not finish the floor here because this will be how the boys go to and from the backyard to play. We're also hoping to use this space for messy arts and crafts.

Our first (real) snowfall

Winter is officially here! We had our first substantial snowfall last weekend, so we bundled up the boys and played in the snow. We realized that this was their first time really playing in the snow, so we built a snowman and threw snowballs. And they discovered that they enjoy the taste of snow!

A night out!

Last week, the company Rob works for had their holiday party at the Boston Seaport Hotel. Grammy & Poppy offered to take care of the boys overnight, so we were able to stay in Boston for the night! It was such fun to get dressed up and have a date. I don't know the last time I wore a dress!

The Basement: A work in progress

We hired contractors to finish our basement into a playroom for the boys. Previously, it was basically unorganized storage. After we moved everything out, the contractor started working at the end of October. The space was divided in half, though the old wall was just some flimsy plywood. The walls were just the cement foundation, painted this lovely shade of dark gray (always a good choice for a basement).

The fake wall was torn down and a new one was built, and all walls were framed and insulated. The windows and windows were replaced.

This was the backside of the room. We have divided this space into a laundry room (on the left side of the photo), a large mudroom (in the middle), and a boiler room (the right side of the photo).

This photo is the mudroom. So the boiler room is to the left and new laundry storage room is to the right.

The blueboard, plaster and paint are now complete (though I don't have any new photos). The recessed lights are in (the boys would destroy any lamps), a new heating zone is nearly complete, the shelves will be built on Monday and the carpet will be the last step. So it should be complete next week - after 6 weeks! We can't wait to show the boys their new space!

A great Thanksgiving

We spent two days at my parent's house. It was so much fun for the boys and truly felt like a vacation for us! (Grammy & Poppy let us sleep in on Friday and even served us breakfast in bed! What a treat!) Thanksgiving morning was spent playing outside...
Charlie

Wesley

Charlie and the coupe cars - all lined up and ready to go!

The boys helped Poppy load the kindling

All lined up in their holiday sweaters. (The only way I could take a photo of all of them in one place was to put on Dora...)

Wesley showing off his truck

Charlie playing with his trucks. (This photo speaks volumes about Charlie! Notice how every car is perfectly lined up the exact same way.)

Win and Poppy. Somehow Grammy escaped all photos. It's probably because she doesn't sit still, just like the boys! :)

The happy couple

Sick day

The week I was sick, I searched for low-energy (for me) activities to do with the boys. One morning, I pulled out the paint and paint brushes. Then, to help wash off the paint, I pulled out toy cups which they like to use to practice pouring and drinking water. The kitchen and boys were a mess so I ended up having to bathe all 3 boys (at the same time) by myself all before nap time.
Winston (painted a lovely shade of orange) smacking his puddles

Charlie carefully pouring water (You can't see it but there is yellow paint all over his face and green paint up and down his arms.)

Win and Wes, enjoying themselves

Wesley offering me water. Such a lovely shade of orange and green...

3 minutes

It took the boys 3 whole minutes to turn their playroom into a scene out of Hoarders. A step could not be taken without stepping on a toy. They now refer to the couch as their trampoline and they have learned to strategically throw all of the pillows on the floor as jumping targets. This is the same couch we used to sit on to feed them their 30ml bottles. Oh how things have changed!