Christmas and the New Year

3 more hours left of 2008! Lars, Carter and I just returned from First Night Celebration in Burlington (Anne was watching Isaac - thanks!).  We saw Circus Smirkus - Carter did great for about 30 minutes, unfortunately the show was 60 minutes.... He started saying, loudly, "I just want to LEAVE!" So we finally did.  We were going to go to the big dragon parade and watch the fireworks, but based on his attitude and the fact is was about 10 degrees outside, we bailed. Instead we went to our friend Jeff's house and tried out his new Wii. Again, fun for the adults, not so much for little boys....

We had a nice mellow Christmas with Grandma Anne.  Carter laid on top of all his boxes and just waited for Grandma to show up so he could open them.  He received some great presents, but his favorite was a pair of spiderman socks, he wore them for 4 days straight. 

 Then Grandma watched Isaac and we all went outside - sledding and making a snowman. Carter had a fabulous time, as did we!
         

                 

 Here is Carter skiing outside on his new skis.  
The only thing you can't see in the picture is Carter yelling "my skis!! They're covered!! Get the snow off!!"  Hopefully he'll learn to love powder some day....

Just realized I haven't taken many photos of Isaac lately and he was the reason I started this blog.  Could be because the only photo I have of him from Christmas is this one.  Looks like he hit the eggnog a little too hard...

NYC!

Carter and I enjoyed a fantastic trip to NYC this past weekend.  Papa and Isaac stayed home and bonded over bottles and movies.  We got to visit Tia Tina, almost Uncle Andy and Oma.  Aunt Lorissa and 4 year old cousin Paul flew in for the fun as well.  Seems I am getting real good at planning things at the worst times.  Carter and I left Friday morning in the middle of a winter storm.  We drove through sleet, freezing rain and driving snow.  After 4 hours, we finally arrived in Albany, NY where we planned to take a 3 hour train ride into the city.  Yet Albany was blanketed in an inch of ice with trees down all over the place.  We walked into the train station with Carter saying "Yea! Yea! Yea! Yea!" with every step just to find out all trains to NYC had been canceled.  So we got back in the car to drive another 60 miles to Poughkeepsie to catch a commuter rail.  Carter was great.  When I told him the trains in Albany weren't working and we needed to go to another train station, he just looked at me and said "where's the new train station, mama?"  

We had a fantastic time once we got on the train and got to the city.  Carter was definitly a little Vermont boy in the big city.  I literally had to drag him down the street as he just stared wide eyed at everything.  We went to the Museum of Natural History, saw the big tree at Rockfeller Center, and topped that all off with a trip to FAO Schwartz.  Carter was in heaven.....

on the subway

the tree at Rockefellar Square
chasing birds at the Museum - who needs to go inside?
checking out the displays
Smiling Isaac in his red sox jammies
Carter's first pair of skis - thanks Opa and Oma!
HINT: if you want to see any photo larger, just click on it!

Carter's THREE!

So we had our hands full celebrating Carter's third birthday this weekend.  I've learned a lot about kids birthday celebrations.  First - I learned about the rule 'take your kids age and add one' - that's how many kids you should invite.  Not the 12 kids (plus all the adults!) I invited...  Second - don't plan your party in the middle of a winter storm warning.  (Unless you don't want the aforementioned 12 kids to actually show up).  We have had no snow for quite awhile and an hour before the party - it started dumping.  We had 6 brave kids show up - which turned out to be perfect.  Carter would not share his pinata hitting with anyone (except Malcolm, who didn't want to do it, and mama and papa).  Otherwise he did well and we had a good time.  All the websites also mention a 90 minute cap to the party.  They really do seem to know what they are talking about.  It was right about 91 minutes that Carter started to have his break down.  But everyone was soon gone and we were able to have an uneventful rest of the evening.  Carter also got his first pair of skis from Oma and Opa and has enjoyed walking around the living room in them.  Unfortunately we couldn't go outside and enjoy the new snow because it was 2 degrees the next morning.  In fact, it didn't get above 20 the next two days, so we've had a little cabin fever.  Then it swung the other way and now there is NO snow because it was 45 and raining this morning!

Isaac and I are enjoying a little quiet time this morning at the local bakery while Carter plays with his friends at Playcare.

 

Here we are with our 'babies' in our slings (Carter is carrying baby pooh in his).  He told me we weren't allowed to smile for the picture, hence the straight faces.... and yes, I am on my knees - Carter isn't that big yet!