We have a new wooden sign in the kitchen that says- I Scream, You Scream and it has a big ice cream cone on it. My Little Bird likes to point at it and say “I scream, you ice scream”, makes me smile…
The other day, Jamie was working from home and Jay had been especially good during the day so we had an early supper, packed up the car and treated Jay to his first ice cream cone! If you know anything about us, you know that we (maybe mostly me, but it’s rubbing off on Jay too) have a thing for ice cream. If you take a look in our freezer at any given time you can find at least 4-5 different flavors- it’s our own personal Baskin Robins ;) So a trip to get an ice cream as a family was a very fitting treat.
At the end of it all Jay was a super sticky mess- a head-to-toe mess of melted ice cream. But I am pretty sure he loved every single bite of his super huge “banilla” cone (btw- we ordered him a small cone, I would hate to see what the medium or large looks like). And as for this Mamma, the ice cream was yummy but spending a quiet evening just the four of us was more of a treat than I could ever ask for. Lately, the days and evenings have been kind of crazy, with Jamie’s insane work hours and everything that comes along with having two boys under 2.5 years old, so these moments have been rare but oh so sweet when they happen… Can’t wait to do it again ;)
The holidays this year were filled with many different things… Time to relax and enjoy playing with the boys, time to start “new” traditions and to introduce the boys to old ones. Time to cherish with family that we don’t get to see very often and time to hang out with friends that live far away. Honestly we got to spend a whole bunch of time appreciating what is really important and spending time surrounded by people that we love; to say that we are blessed would be an understatement.
goofing around with momjamie relaxingfestive playtime with duplo- and no I did not make him wear the Christmas tree headband. he would frequently put them on and wear them around the house :)
Jay Bird at the sing a long playing frosty the snowman with Mary Bethdecorating cookies for the neighbors
quality controlchristmas eve photo"santa" setting up Jay's duplo table
the boys' stockings after santa came :)holiday jammiesbed head and new toyshelping charlie with his booksjeepie!
jay getting michael to draw for him
mary beth and charlie
crashed!mom, ed and the boysgroup shot of my familysnuggling with auntie franniefrosty!
I will admit this isn’t a stellar photo of myself. I am sporting a nice case of bed head and am still in my jammies but I think that the two adorable boys and the husband foot (it makes me laugh that he didn’t move it for the photo) all but make up for my short comings… I love that all of my boys are in this photo, that my big boy posses for them with an adorable “cheese” face and that my squishy is well, squishy.
Yesterday Jamie, the boys and I headed out to pick up our Christmas tree. This is pretty much one of my favorite days of the year- I LOVE getting our tree! It’s outside waiting to be brought in after it falls a little- can’t wait until it’s in the house and strung with lights :)
helping Daddy to carry the tree
what Charlie did during the tree huntingfamily of four- CRAZY isn't it??
Here’s a few more from Canada… After our zoo trip we headed out to my Auntie Trish’s house for supper. Everyone met out there, even those who didn’t go to the zoo, and we all had dinner and played bingo. It was a great night and really fun to just relax with everyone. At some point after (maybe before- I can’t remember) my Uncle Keith pulled out some remote controlled cars that my cousins had when they were little. Jay was in hog heaven watching them and playing with them!
another group shot of everyonemy cousin Riley before he left for hockey practicemy car loving kiddosuch a little ham!
I usually stray away from spliting up posts into multiple days, it’s not my style or preference; however, we have quite a few photos from our trip to Canada so bear with me for the next few days while I update you on our travels…
At the beginning of this month Jamie, Jay and I made the 8+ hour trek to visit my family in Canada and to celebrate my Grandma’s 85th birthday. I can’t lie and say that the long flight, early departure time and 19 month old didn’t make me completely and utterly nervous- it did, BUT I think I handled it as best as I could (or as best as Jamie could have hoped for). I prepared like crazy, brought a ton of entertainment for Jay- new toys, new books, pipe cleaners, bags of blocks, bags of cars, new and special snacks, an iPad stocked with childrens’ movies, and we left with a hope and lots of prayers. He did surprisingly well for his age; this is not to say that we didn’t get a few dirty looks from fellow travelers and have a few difficulties but we made it and really enjoyed our trip.
Most of the trip was spent hanging out with my extended family, we didn’t plan any elaborate trips to the mountains or want to see anything in particular while we were there and that is exactly what happened. It was perfect and just what we hoped for.
I don’t have any photos from when we were actually on the plane that weren’t taken on my phone (I had no desire to haul our mega camera down from the overhead bin to capture any of it). So enjoy the phone photos and then a few from our first couple days hanging out at my Grandma’s house.
Our first flight left so early that we just grabbed Jay out of the crib, changed his diaper and took him to the airport in his jammies. He was wide awake from the moment that we got him up until his short nap on the plane. He loved looking at the airplanes and even more so the trucks from the terminal.
iPhone photo from the first two flights- watching a movie on the iPad.
Jay loved playing with an old Barn that my Grandma had, he used it like a parking garage for all of his cars. He also loved the wind-up toys that she had. Especially the zebra that he called a Z-B :)
While my Auntie Deb was grilling we played outside on the back porch (where I had spent tons of time during the summer as a kid) with some bubbles. It was so much fun to see Jay run and play in the yard.
a new favorite of my two guys
part of the garden that my Aunt and Grandma have... I can't count the number of things I have eaten out of there over the years
the return plane trip via iPhone…
crashing after watching part of the Cars moviepoor Jamie sat like this for the hour plus that Jay slept- both of us worried that if he moved an inch Jay would wake up...fun with cars and painter's tape roadsJay fell asleep on the very last flight as we were landing. He stayed that way while everyone deplaned, as Jamie moved him to be able to pick up a bag and all of the way through the airport until we got to baggage claim. We can only think of one other time he has crashed this hard- I guess the trip really wore him out!
one last photo of Jay sleeping on Jamie in the airport- taken with the big camera
It’s no secret around here that our little Jay Bird loves a good book. He will crawl up into almost anyone’s lap, book in hand and sign “please” practically begging you to read to him. I challenge you to try and say no to his sweet little face; I simply don’t think it’s possible.
A little more than a month ago I ordered a very special book for Jay to share with all of our friends and family. Little by little, he crawled into each of their laps and had them read to him. Why is this book, “Things I Love…” so special you ask? Well, the end of this book marks a very exciting beginning for our family…
It reads…
But while I have loved being the number one son,
I know being a BIG BROTHER will be much more fun!!
Baby #2 due Thanksgiving 2011!!!!!!
Jamie , Jay and I are so very excited to share that this Thanksgiving we will have one more thing to be grateful for- a brand new baby, a fourth member of our family!!
And while we weren’t able to tell everyone in person I did have my camera out when we did and here are some of their reactions. They weren’t as shocked as the ones we had when we told them about Jay but they were fun to get on camera just the same!
the perreault family 