Saying goodbye...

This is a hard and emotional post to make but we had to say a final goodbye to my father and my children's Grandfather on the 12th of February. He passed away after fighting a long and hard battle with cancer. He was a great man who touched many lives and dedicated his life to his family and community. He has always been a great source of pride to me and I will write more on his life and legacy in the near future. I have set up a page for family and friends to visit and contribute at http://robertbrinton.legacy.com
I want to thank all my friends and family for all your support and prayers!

Welcoming Samuel John

Congratulations Joanne and Eric and big brother Owen on the birth of your new son and little brother Samuel John. He was born on the morning of Feb. 10th and weighed 7lbs 6oz. We are so happy that he is here and healthy. Gavin and Lukas will be looking forward to their new playmate (cousin) as he grows. I will be posting a picture of him in the near future.

Zoe Singing

I have added short clips of two songs that Zoe sang the other day (oops! just noticed that I put 2007 instead of 2008). She also did two piano numbers, that I will try to add to the blog soon. She has had a lot of singing practice recently because she got the role of Molly in the play Annie at her school. We have been hearing a lot of "It's a hard knock life" and "Your never fully dressed without a smile"

He can't walk yet but he can dance!

Violet and Zoe sang this song in the choir at church for Christmas. Both the adult and childrens choir performed this song together and they even got a standing ovation at one of the masses (although I just realized the kids parts are not in this clip). It is a beautiful song and everyone did a great job. They had been practicing it often and even Gavin had gotten into it after hearing it so much. Here he is trying to show his moves while he can't stop laughing.

Christmas and New Years

The holidays were such a blur and although we enjoyed the season, I breathed a sigh of relief when the holiday decorations went back to the attic and the tree went out back, to the forest of Christmas trees past. We went to church Christmas Eve and then headed to Ciocia Irene and Wojek Stasiu's house, were there was an appearance made by Santa Claus himself. We had fun visiting with everyone and the kids had fun playing with their cousins(nephews). The kids slept in on Christmas morning and not a creature was stirring (except maybe the cats)until almost 8am. We spend some time finding out what Santa brought before heading out to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Kim and Will announced the gender of their baby that is due in May. It looks like there will be another granddaughter. Gavin and Harrison watch out! After visiting with family we went to a friends home to finish the Christmas festivities. It was an enjoyable holiday but a little too much rushing around and trying to get everyone ready and supplies packed, so next year we may have a Christmas open house here and just stay home on the 25th.
New Years Eve was pretty laid back. We had friends over and their kids, which are of similar in age to ours so everyone had someone to play with. We made it to midnight but unfortunately I missed the ball drop because I had just stepped out of the room to open the champagne. After watching the celebration in New York, I was glad to be home and in a warm house with a bathroom. I guess I must getting old! I will know for sure when I stop listening to new music and just start listening to oldies from the 80's and 90's.

True Christmas Spirit

I know for all you fellow kids out there that we all love to get Christmas presents. Santa comes and we all go to bed early! But don't forget what Christmas is really about. It's about sharing joy with your family and being able to give gifts to others and see how their faces light up with joy. Sometimes I even get caught up in the holiday greediness. But never forget what true Chritsmas spirit is! Becuase that is what Christmas is really all about! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New 2008 Year everyone! Have a safe and joyful last few weeks of 2007!

Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our family wants to wish you and your family a healthy, happy and fun filled holiday season and 2008!

Snow Day

First snow day of the year. No School Yeah!

Party Time!

Violet had her family birthday party and then the holiday parties started in full force. It seems like people are having holiday parties earlier and earlier each year. We went to several family parties but were able to get out to an adult party too, thanks to Ciocia Irene watching the kids. Thank you Irene! It is not an easy task watching all four of them but was thourouly appreciated! The kids are really enjoying the holiday season and are counting down the days until Christmas. I just have a few presents left to wrap and then I can relax and enjoy the weekend. DJ is taking off a few day, so I am looking forward to spending some time together with the family. ... maybe even working on some projects but don't tell DJ!

Tis the Season

It was a season packed weekend for us. Saturday morning started with a local village Choir rehearsal for Violet and Zoe and then Violet's birthday party. I under estimated the time it would take to blow up 21 beach balls with our electric pump. Luckily for us, a couple of my close friends showed up first and helped out. Violet had a pool party at a local hotel. The kids had a great time but we forgot to get any pictures of the swim time. Later in the afternoon the two older girls went to a church choir rehearsal and then performed before the church had a play the 3 stories of Christmas. Sunday morning was busy too, we had to split up to get everything done. DJ, Violet and Marina went to church and Heather, Zoe and Gavin headed to the mall (long story). We met back mid day to pick out the Christmas tree. We usually pick a blue spruce but it was slim pickings this year so we settled on a less then perfect tree. It still looks beautiful though and is ready for Santa to come decorate it with his presents. We then went down to the village for the annual Christmas carols. Violet and Zoe were both in the village choir this year. Everyone had a great time and got to meet Santa before we all made the march with the local fife and drum down to the tree lighting. By this time it had stopped snowing and started sleeting. The kids felt really bad for Santa because they saw him walking home on foot with a bag full of "something" in the freezing sleet. I tried to assure them that he was well equipped for this weather working in the North Pole and all. Everything was covered in ice! We made it home safely and put the finishing touches on our holiday decorations.

Time is flying by...

There has been too much to do and too little time to do it. I have not been able to stay on top of the blog and post as much as I would like. At least my Christmas shopping is just about done and now I can concentrate on other projects. The kids have started to get busy with after school activities so we are always running somewhere. Gavin had his 9 month appointment today and he sure has grown in the last 3 months. He went from being in the 25% for both height and weight to 50% for height and 15% for weight. I had noticed that he has lost the croissant thighs. He is up and cruising around all over the place now and doesn't like to sit still for long including meals. We had a great thanksgiving. We had a thanksgiving breakfast with my side of the family and dinner with DJ's side.
Gavin met Santa for the first time at his godmothers church Christmas fair.

I got DJ a new toy... a leaf blower. The kids helped with the rakes and Zoe cracked the whip. Unfortunately the leaves have continued to fall and we have to do it all over again.





DJ brought Zoe and Marina to see the turkeys while they were on their top secret mission to find mom a Christmas present. Don't worry DJ, even though I saw a suspicious bag in your truck, I did not peek. I Promise!

We elfed our kids!

click here to see them

and the kids elfed the cats!
click here to see the cats.

Weekend in Boston

We had a great time in Boston this weekend visiting friends, swimming at the hotel and visiting the Boston Childrens Museum. Saturday, Gavin and I went to meet some other moms and babies from our online pregnancy expecting club. DJ dropped us off and heading to chucky-E-Cheese for some lunch and fun. We visited, ate and chatted while the babies played for several hours before heading to the hotel for dinner and a night swim. We had a great time and are looking forward to the next play date.

We spent most of the day Sunday at the Museum. It had changed a little since our last visit but was great because there was something for everyone to do.

My little goblins

This year both DJ and I went out trick or treating with the kids and Uncle Will joined us too. Next year Uncle Willy, will have his own goblin to dress up! We stayed out for almost 2 hours and they had a great time going house to house. Marina kept getting sidetracked looking at decorations so it took us extra time this year but it was lot's of fun to see her really get into this year.

As the season moves on...

Gavin is starting to pull himself up and is crawling all over the place. We got to have our first fire of the season because it has really cooled off at night. Before we know it, Christmas will be upon us. I hope to have my shopping done by the end of November. I have about a quarter of it done so far!

Getting ready for Halloween

The kids have had fun preparing for halloween. They went to school dance parties, a church party, carved jack-o-lanterns and made a fake pumpkin lollipop holder to give out candy while we go trick or treating.

THE RED SOX WON!

This look says it all!

Local Letterboxing

We took advantage of the nice weather this past weekend and went letter boxing. The kids had a great time searching for the boxes and stamping their pass books. We were a little disappointed when we could not locate the second box and it was not for lack of trying. DJ just did not want to give up and must have spent an extra 15 minutes looking while we all tried to convince him to let it go and move on to the next box. Marina hiked the whole trail all by herself! I was thrilled about that because if she had needed to be put in the backpack then I would have had to carry Gavin in the front carrier and he is getting heavier everyday!
We are in the planning process of our letter box hiking trail. We have chosen an interesting trail near our house and will be placing four boxes (one for each child) but we still have to come up with a name for the hike and for each box along with finding 4 unique stamps. The kids are excited to get it set up so we can see who finds it.

Pumpkin picking.

We started this chilly day off with Violet's soccer game. Several of her team members were absent so they asked Zoe to step in and help with defense. She had fun and made sure she took it easy on the little kids. The coach also gave her an official team shirt to keep.


After warming up with Starbucks we headed over to the orchard in search of the "Perfect Pumpkin" and play in the hay maze. The girls each picked out a pumpkin and we helped Gavin pick out a baby size one. It turned out that Zoe had the largest and then Violet the second largest etc... Marina still does not get the pumpkin concept. At first she thought that they came out of the sky and then she was thinking that we needed to put candy in them. (haha) I think she will really enjoy this Halloween once she understands how it all works.















We stopped at a local nursery on the way home in my search of the perfect snuffalufagus (sp) tree. No luck this time the only one they had was already sold but the kids had fun with the hay man and the lawn ornaments.