Christmas Day 2012

We had a fabulous Christmas this year.  The boys were so excited and I think that just amplifies the fun of the holiday season.  We wrote letter to Santa and of course, they got everything on their lists...

Here are a few pictures from our Christmases...

 Zachary getting the golf clubs he asked Santa for:

Nicolas opening up "Rip Clutchgoneski" a car he has been asking Santa to bring him for 2 years now:

Zachary, Nicolas and Charlie opening their Leap Pad computers from Mom-I and Pop-I:

Nicolas and all his World Grand Prix racers from Cars 2:

My boys all playing on the computers... yes, Charlie is too!

Back to blogging...

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog, but I maxed out my google account and could no longer add pictures.  So, here I am with a new account in order to be able to post again with pictures and videos...

Here are just a few pictures from our life since I last posted, with the exception of Christmas...

The boys pouting...

A fun morning of painting:

Charlie needed a bath after all that painting:

My boys!

Christmas with Nana, Papa and Aunt Kiki

The boys got to spend Christmas with Nana, Papa and Aunt Kiki today.  It was a great day and something they have been looking forward to since we started with the advent calendar.  They were obviously very spoiled and got lots of cool gifts including lots of fun games...

Here are a few pictures of our day.  I didn't take many since we were all a little too busy having fun with the boys...

 In our new Christmas jammies...

Getting in touch with our inner artists..

The boys and I decided to do a little painting this morning.  I pulled out the finger paints for Charlie.  Zachary and Nicolas wanted to uses brushes.  It was a huge hit and it was so much fun!  Charlie desperately needed a bath when we were done and I'm not sure which he had more fun doing...

Tree Decorating...

We went out to Quinn Farm again this year to pick out our Christmas tree.  We decided not to go out into the field to pick it since it was quite cold and the boys were not overly keen.  We had quite a few trees to pick from and settled on one that ended up being much bigger than we thought.  It is quite beautiful and was so fun to decorate...

Getting in the hoiday spirit...

Just a few fun pictures I took of the boys in hopes of getting them out in a Christmas card....

Jumping in...

Zachary and Nicolas' swimming are coming to an end next week.  They have improved so much and are truly enjoying them.  They are always excited to go and are generally happy when they get home.

Zachary has been good with jumping (as long as someone was there to catch him) since this summer. Now, he is willing to jump in, without a bubble and without being caught!  Nicolas was barely able to get up the nerve to jump in with someone right there to catch him.  Now, he can jump in almost completely unassisted (still with his bubble on).  They have come a long way!

Zachary can swim the width of the pool unassisted without a bubble.  Nicolas can go 3/4 of the width without his bubble nd unassisted.  I am sure given a few more tries, Nicolas will also swim wall to wall.

I am so proud of them!  I cannot wait to see how much better they become after the next session in the winter.

I dare you not to laugh...

I apologize for the very long delay since my last post, but things have been very busy around here.  I thought I would start back with a hilarious video of Charlie's contagious laugh...  I think everyone could use with a good laugh from time to time...

Swimming Progress

Zachary and Nicolas started swimming lessons a few months ago at our local indoor pool.  They were lucky enough to have an amazing teacher Dan with whom thy hit it off right away.  I was so happy about that.  Throughout the last few weeks Zachary has been making amazing progress.  He is really getting the hang of swimming without his bubble and as even swam the width of the pool unassisted.  He is now jumping into the pool without any help (with his bubble on) and with minor help without the bubble.  I am so proud of his hard work.  It's really paying off....

(Zachary's video to come...)

Nicolas on the other hand had been regressing since his lessons this summer.  He was no longer willing to swim without his bubble.  It has been so frustrating!  I know he can do so much better than he has been but he was unwilling to even try.  I had a long chat with him on Monday after his lesson and I was hoping that things would improve.  I ended up taking only Nicolas to their lessons this morning since Zachary ran a fever yesterday and was throwing up.  (Zachary was much better this morning and has been back to himself today).  So, I left Zachary and Charlie with Mom-I and headed to the pool alone with Nicolas.  I don't know if being alone with him was a factor as to why things turned around today, but they did!  He managed to swim almost half way across the pool unassisted and without a bubble!  Here is part of his second swim...

Trick or Treating 2012!

We had an amazing day!  The boys had a private swimming lesson this morning since they were the only ones who showed up!

We carved our pumpkins during Charlie's nap time.  The concept for the pumpkin came from the boys.  They both drew the shapes they wanted on their pumpkins.  Zachary wanted me to "better" his shapes while Nicolas asked me to keep his the way he drew it.  Here is the outcome...

 Then it was time to hit the road and go trick or treating.  We came back with so many candies and didn't even have to go to many houses to get it.  Charlie was so excited and very much an active participant.  A huge difference compared to last year!  All in all a very successful day!

 

The last one is a picture of Mom-I and Pop-I's pumpking.  They chose a wrinkly old one and dressed it up as a "senior delinquent".  They thought it was appropriate and representative!

Visit with the girls

Auntie Carolyn, Lauryn, Katie and Sabrina came over for a visit and some lunch today.  The boys play so well with them and have a blast!  After a little lunch they decided to do some coloring...

Fall time fun in the leaves

Our whole family had a wonderful afternoon of playing around in the leaves.  We raked them, jumped in them, threw them around and then we bagged them.  The weather was perfect and it was just an all around great day.  It's days like these that make being a family fun.  We decided it was time to take advantage of the good weather before the rain from hurricane Sandy arrives tomorrow...