November 2010

November flew by - John and I had a great weekend getaway to Boston, we decorated our Christmas tree, and did our best to enjoy any not-too-freezing days outside.

And the highlight was John graduating from Harvard - whooohooo!!!

Enjoy our pictures.

Thanksgiving 2010

Although neither Emily nor Sam would try turkey, they had a lot of fun playing, feeding the geese, and snuggling with family on Thanksgiving. They were both a lot of help making our turkey cake. Well, Emily helped and Sam devoured toasted coconut.

Enjoy the pictures.

Murder Mystery Party

John and I joined some good friends for a night of excellent food, plenty of wine, and a little murder.

Enjoy the pictures!

October 2010

Show me your mad Halloween face!

We had a fantastic October - what a beautiful month! Halloween, Halloween parties, pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving, making scary gingerbread houses, playing in leaves, splashing in puddles, and even running around the beach. John and I joined the other Russells for the Falling for Science event at the Discovery Museum (mmmm, science of the martini), and much fun was had by all.

Enjoy the latest pictures.

September 2010

Back to school for Emily! She was so excited to be heading back to preschool and her friends- what a wonderful change from last year. We also squeezed in one last beach trip with Nana and a visit to the zoo.

Sam is picking up new words every day, though "Mommy" is still the one I hear most often! He and Emily are playing so well together suddenly. Nothing makes me happier than hearing them giggling together or watching Emily find ways to include Sam in her games. It helps that he is a wonderful tea party guest!

Enjoy the pictures.

Emily Turns 4!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Birthday presents, birthday playground trip, birthday dinner with Nanna and Pop, and of course birthday PARTY!

Em had a blast celebrating her 4th birthday, and we all had a lot of fun too - especially the adults who were brave enough to try the bounce house!

Enjoy the pictures.

August 2010

We had quite a month! Visit to the Discovery Museum, apple and flower picking with friends, and crazy face painting at Davis' Farmland. We enjoyed a great visit with lots of John's family - Aunt Ann, John, Jimmy, Mary, and their 4 kids. And of course we spent lots of time just playing around outside.

Oh, and John finished our fire pit - awesome!!!

Enjoy the latest pictures.

July 2010

Don't you love the sunglasses?! This month we took a trip to the Tower Hill Botanical Gardens with Nanna and Pop and had a great trip to Davis' Farmland. Sam really loves the animals there, and Emily even went into the Splash Park.

And yes, you will see pictures of Sam painting with colored vanilla pudding. What was I thinking?

Enjoy the pictures.

Tanglewood 2010

John and I had our first weekend away in 2 years! We went to the Berkshires, and had a wonderful and relaxing time wandering through the Botanical Gardens, exploring the sculpture garden/woods at Chesterwood (the home of Daniel Chester French who sculpted Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial), and finding a cool pottery studio.

The highlight though was picnicing under the stars at Tanglewood, listening to Mahler's 3rd symphony. By the way, this is the longest symphony EVER! We enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you very much Nana and Grandpa for watching Sam and Emily!

Here are our pictures.

Flip Flop Fiesta 2010

Emily had her big gymnastics end of the year show - the Flip Flop Fiesta - on June 14. She did a wonderful job on the bars, balance beam, trampoline, and floor exercises. Way to go Emily! And congratulations on your first big trophy!

I tried to get her centered in the pictures, but I will admit that some are more like "where's Waldo". Happy hunting!

Enjoy the pictures.

June 2010

Emily gets her nails painted, John and Pop install a kitchen pantry, we plant some flowers in the garden, and the kids have lots of fun in the pool. Oh yes, and Emily learns how to walk like an Egyptian. Great month!

Check out our pictures from June.

Emily sings supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at warp speed

What else need be said?

May 2010

What an awesome month! We had a visit from Andy, Meghan and new baby Mackenzie, went to CT to stay with friends and their girls for a night, explored the Boston Children's Museum, built a fire pit in the backyard, and had tons of fun playing outside.

Emily just finished her first year of preschool. She made a lot of friends and is already looking forward to a few weeks of summer camp at school. I can't get over how bright she is - not to brag but my girl is wicked smaht.

May was a huge month for Sam - 3 new teeth, eating with a spoon, learned how to say "kitty" and is WALKING. He took his first steps at 14 months 2 days. I'm glad to report that he's still a very happy, cuddly little guy.

Enjoy our pictures!

April 2010

Wow! What a month! Easter, visits to the Butterfly Place and Davis' Farmland (with friends), and lots of time outside enjoying the lovely weather. And yes, I was very brave at the Butterfly Place and faced my irrational fear of butterflies and moths. Fortunately, the Goliath Moth had not yet emerged from its cocoon - yuck! In other news, Sam cut his two top front teeth this month.

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy First Birthday Sam!

Sam turned the big ONE! He thoroughly enjoyed his cake and even put up with the silly hat I couldn't resist buying for him.

Enjoy our pictures from his party.

February and March 2010

The last few months have been busy! A trip to the Discovery Museum, a birthday party for friend Matty at the Aquarium, and plenty of playing outside now that the days are getting warmer.

Sam is cruising and even trying to stand up on his own. Emily is enjoying her new bike!

Enjoy our pictures.

January 2010

A new year has brought a lot of changes for Mr. Sam - he's now crawling and standing holding on to furniture and toys! At his 10-month checkup, he weighed 17lbs 12oz and was 28.75 inches. He is getting much more demanding, and his favorite game involves chasing and then tackling the cats. The cats are not amused.

It feels like we've all been sick all month, but we did manage to find some time for fun in between sneezes. One of the best parts was a visit from our friends, Reza and Teresa, with their son Julian and their iPhones.

Here are our pictures.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas, spending Christmas Eve with the Russells and Christmas Day with the Matousek/Pilkanis clan. Emily and Sam had a blast opening all of their presents and were surprised with a Christmas Eve visit from Santa. Emily kept Great Grandma very busy with games of tag and showing her all of the toys in her room - what a great Great Grandma indeed!

Overall, Sam's first Christmas was a huge success, and it was incredibly fun watching Emily enjoying her family and gifts.

There are a lot of pictures here, but the kids were so cute I couldn't resist posting them all.

Enjoy our pictures!