Portrait of Us

 I printed an 8x10 of this photo out and have it framed in the hallway, I love it.  Everytime I walk by it it makes me smile and think of warm summer sunsets and hugs.  :)

New Us!

New facebook picture, might as well post it here too!  I have to say that no matter what, I really just love Bobo's hair when it is shaggy and in his face.  He looks SO adorable with longer hair, I can't help it!

Then and Now... Sunsets

Here's a picture of my dad with the second cutest little muchkin ever... yup it's me!  I think I was two here.  And below, twentysomething years later is me with the cutest munchkin ever... my Bobo, who is almost three here!  I could adjust the colors to look the same, but you get the idea.  Full circle.

Joolie's Birthday Celebration

Here are a few pictures from Julie's birthday this year.  We celebrated with some delicious takeout from Filho's Cucina, mmm so tasty! Julie had requested an 'animal-shaped' cake... so umm, out of ideas we went with a teddy bear.  Mom proceeded to decorate the teddy bear when I wasn't looking... and I think made him into a homeless grifter/serial killer looking bear.  He tasted good at least!

 

This bear had a scruffy chin strap which my mom took off after my expression of horror... and then it looked like he had an even sketchier five o'clock shadow. And check out those huge googly eyes - decorating is how we get rid of old candy.  :)

  

Bobo may or may not have had only cheese-puffs for dinner.  Which he ate with a fork.

 

 

 

And here's Julie wearing a Venetian mask... hey why not, it's her birthday!

Happy 26th Birthday Joolie!!

January Rolling On...

I haven't been posting lately I noticed.  I had a bunch of things to take pictures of during the holidays... but now they're over and we haven't been doing anything exciting!  It's the beginning of that long stretch of winter where nothing happens and there is no where to go... until spring time.  Boring!  Not to mention it's ridiculously cold out and who wants to do anything in weather like that?

Anyway, Bobo was home with me for the long weekend and I was trying to take a 'professional' picture for my Linkedin resume... let's just say it wasn't as successful as I hoped.  But, I got some cute ones of me and Bobo!  I wonder if that would impress hiring managers?  I think you're not supposed to let them know you have young kids, so I should probably change my facebook profile picture (because they show up on google, and companies like to search interviewees.)  Though, that's probably not as bad as the old photo links you can find attached to me all over the place!  Oh well... most of them are overseas so it doesn't count right?!  :)  I created a new email for my resume, which is good because the old one brings up a whole bunch of old pictures and stuff that are kind of embarrassing.  No I'm not telling you my email (shoot, it's probably on the side isn't it?).  Don't do it!

Bobo is loving spending a few hours a week with Miss Robin and his new friends at 'school', he talks about how they play with trucks and watch Thomas and the best part is that she has a PUPPY... it's a cute little dog and so sweet.  It's great, it's like he gets to have a pet but we don't have to clean up after it.  I'm just keeping up with the job search and trying to learn as much about Java as I can before my classes start in another week... it's not a full course load but I'm taking a lot of programming stuff which I find difficult.  I'm hoping to be in a full-time position before the end of February, and to graduate (again) this summer, so cross your fingers for me!

Summary of Christmas

This basically sums up our Christmas morning! Lots of fun, family, and TOYS. We had a wonderful day, hope you all did too!

Christmas Tree Shopping

We got our tree a little late this year... but not as bad as other years when it seems we were out a few days before Christmas. We took it easy this time and just headed to the local town courts where the Lions Club was selling trees. It was *freezing* and we were the only ones there, so the two guys were jumping through hoops to sell us a tree. Which was even more funny because the first tree they showed us we liked, and then ended up getting after seeing them all... at least we all got some exercise I guess!

Of course they knew to ply the kids immediately with candy... though Arin was so smart and wouldn't take candy from strangers, I had to take it and give it to him. Safety first, hahah!

Speaking of safety... the way they secured our tree was almost certainly a safety violation. They had this extremely thin rope, like dental floss thin (okay it was kite string), and just wrapped it around the top and bottom of the tree.


Mom is here being like... there's no WAY that is going to stay, it's going to fall off. But the guys assured us the tree would make it 'to the rotary, or your money back'. The rotary is directly outside the lot, btw. After we pointed that out, they said fine, if something happened they would give us another tree for free... on December 26th. Nice.


So the six minute drive home took more like 20 because I was driving like an old grandma... and STILL the tree slipped halfway off the car! As you can see below, by the time we got home it was sticking way off to the side of Arin's window. But, we made it!!

La Carreta apres la Christmas Tree

After we got our Christmas Tree last night we had to go out and celebrate, so we headed up to my favorite place - La Carreta! I love this restaurant, we've been going there since I was in high school and it has hosted countless celebrations, dates, girls nights, etc... It's SO tasty and the decor just keeps getting more fun every year, not to mention its a fantastic deal.

Library Tree Lighting, Part 2

Here's the second part of the Tree Lighting... starting with once we FINALLY got inside. It was cold out, and Arin was heavy! Thank goodness we convinced my Dad to come, he took over Bobo-lugging duty.


Julie showed up and her and Mom snuck in to the Santa room... without waiting in line.

And here is THE Santa picture... not that great because Julie took it, and just one! The only other one shows ... well let's just say I don't think Santa was wearing any undergarments and it is very apparent in the other shot. So here is the shot of Bobo not looking with red eye and none of the pretty background... but at least Santa's not flashing us!


After the kids get their turn on Santa's lap, they have little candy canes and bags of 'reindeer food' which is oatmeal mixed with glitter that you're supposed to throw out on your lawn. Yeah, sounds like a great idea... we just opted for the candy canes.



And on the way out we had to stop at the pretty tree, all lit up! And a mini Santa was running around too.


Merry Christmas!

Library Tree Lighting Ceremony, Part 1

Last Friday night was the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at our local library. This was Arin's THIRD year going... I can't believe it! I am going to try to find pics from when he was a baby and we went so I can make a comparison of all three times. The only bad part was that this year the fire truck that Santa arrives in LEFT before Arin had a chance to get on and play... that was pretty disappointing. Last year it stayed the whole time and the kids could get up in it and explore right until the end.


Here's the tree before Santa arrived to light it up! Arin keeps talking about how Santa 'lights up' trees now... he thought he would have to come into our living room and light up our tree for the first time too!


And there's the fire truck and Santa... the kids mobbed it immediately! When I was little Santa would throw out candy from the truck, but I guess now he just lights up the tree and goes inside for pictures. Arin was really excited to see Santa, he kept saying his name when he got out of the truck.


The line to wait to see Santa was loooooong and somehow we ended up in the back even though we were right near the door when the line started. We should have just seen the fire truck first instead of waiting! Next year.



After getting back from the hairdresser, Momo joined us! Julie showed up later on too.


Maybe she was trying to distract the crowd so we could get ahead ...


The Dance of the Christmas Lights.

Little Thanksgiving

Here are a few shots from Thanksgiving. We had a full house, Noni and Uncle Eddie came up for a visit, Lauren flew in from England, Dan came in from Boston, Todd came home from school, etc! We always have a cozy little dinner all smooshed into the kitchen. The one downside was that Arin did.not.want. to be a part of Thanksgiving at all. He was a little overwhelmed from all the visitors and starting daycare that week... so he basically just ate a roll and then ran around for the rest of the time. Oh well!

Willard Brook and the Gorgeous Day

Yesterday was absolutely perfect... the temperature was in the high sixties and for December... that's gorgeous! Arin had daycare during the day, and Dad wanted to take a trip out to enjoy the weather, so we got in the big van, picked up Bobo and headed out to the Ashby state forest. Of course, by the time we got there the sun had already set (since it gets dark at 4 now!) and it was getting cold and dark out. But we stayed for a while, until it was *pitch black* and we nearly fell off the bridge trying to get back to the van. It was really pretty though, the perfect end-of-autumn kind of day.

Here are some of my artistic interpretations of the scene (aka no light cheap cam photography)






Most of the shots were just too blurry since I was lazy, but here are some people ones:





Now that I have declared autumn can officially be over... Christmas season is on in full-swing!