We're Baaaaack!

Oh. My. Goodness.

I can't believe it's been 3 MONTHS since I last wrote on this.  Whoa.  I guess the holidays got the best of us, and then as time went on the thought of having to catch up on everything was too overwhelming for me to deal with.  So, now it's almost March and I'm finally ready to tackle this.  Kelsey just took Stella and Colby swimming at the Y and Max is taking a nap.  I'm sitting here with a cup of chai tea, ready to write. 

Here we go. 

So, here are the Top 5 Things you have missed since reading this last:

1.  Thanksgiving and Christmas

The holidays were spent with lots of family this year.  For Thanksgiving, we headed up to Maine to spend the long weekend at Bupa's house.  Jeff and Hesty were there and so were Christie and her boys, Max and Sam.  I have always loved big giant dinners with tons of family gathered around the table, and this Thanksgiving ranked very high in my book!  I love our growing family!

Colby and Stella getting ready to dive into their delicious dinner!



The kiddos made place cards for everyone to have at Thanksgiving dinner from alphabet noodles and acorns found in our yard.  They were super cute.




Max loved his dinner!



Max and Max!

Bupa and Oma

  We had a really fun December getting ready for Christmas.  Christmas is SO magical with the kids.  With Santa and the lights and the decorations and the foods, we had a blast.  I made a countdown to Christmas with an activity to do each day in December.  Each morning, the kids could open a little piece of paper with the date on it to see what we would be doing that day.  The activities ranged from reading a special Christmas book, watching a holiday movie, going to see the lights, to making a gingerbread house. 

Colby got SO busted eating the sprinkles for the gingerbread house!

The Gilmores and Morgans joined us for Christmas here in Connecticut.  Dave, Barbara, and Erin flew from England the week before and Andrea, David, and Josh (and Bean!) arrived on the 23rd.  It was great having everyone together here in our house. 



The kiddos in brand new jammies from Uncle Tim and Aunt Sheila!

Christmas Day was a very nice, relaxing time.  Of course, the kids were very busy all day with their new gifts from Santa and their family.  We had a big dinner of Skyline Chili, which is becoming a tradtion here now.  And, it wouldn't be Christmas without a few viewings of "White Christmas!"

Stella got some Squinkies from Santa and a gumball dispenser to put them in.  She also got a Lite Bright just like her Mommy did many years ago!

Santa brought Colby a race track and some tools that are just like Daddy's.

Max got a singing Elmo and a tow truck from Santa.  He wasn't too sure about the busyness of Christmas, so he mostly played downstairs by himself.  He opened all of his presents later on in the day. 

 2.  Colby turned 4!!!

How is that possible??  My babies are getting too big. 

On his birthday, we had a little family party at night.  He chose his favorite dinner.... cheese fondue.  Colby would eat this every night for dinner if he could! 

(sorry about these pictures, my camera was on its last leg...) 

Colby got a new bike from Mommy and Daddy.  He was so excited and jumped on it immediately to start riding it around the garage.  Those training wheels are not going to need to stay on there long....

Colby requested cupcakes for his birthday treat.  Vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.  We added a few blue sprinkles to make them a little more exciting!

The following weekend, we had Colby's birthday party at our house.  He invited a few friends from his preschool class to come over.   Of course, we had a big snowstorm the night before the party (there was a big snowstorm the night before Stella's birthday party too!), so we had to postpone the party a day, but luckily all of his friends could still make it. 

It was a Spider man themed party, and so I just had to make a Spider man pinata.  The kids weren't quite sure what to make of that.  Colby knew how to whack it with a baseball bat, but his friends just tapped it lightly.  When it finally broke open and all of the candy and goodies spilled out, Stella was the only one that dove in to collect her share!  They finally figured it out, and everyone made out with a lollipop or two. 

We also played limbo, made superhero masks, and colored Spider man pictures to hang on a web.  I think everyone had a good time.

Colby with his best friend, Diana.

Happy Birthday, Colby!

 3. The Daddy-Daughter Sweetheart Dance

The Friday after Valentine's Day, the Girl Scouts of our town hosted their annual Sweetheart Dance.  Stella got all dressed up and couldn't wait to spend the evening with her daddy and her friends.  Roughly 300 people attend this dance making it quite the event!

They had a really fun time, although Stella spent the majority of her time there pigging out on cupcakes and running around with her friends.  At least Kelsey got to meet a few new dads. 

Colby had to get in on the photo taking!



And, there had to be at least one funny picture!



4.  Our newest family member arrived!!

Savannah Rose Gustafson was born on February 10th to her very proud parents, Jeff and Hesty.  She was 3 weeks early, but all is well now.  She is such a little peanut!  She was 5 lbs. 4 oz. at birth, making her roughly half the size that Max was when he was born!  We went up to New Hampshire the day after she was born to meet our new little niece and cousin.

Daddy Jeff getting ready to change his very first diaper..... Stella and Colby were there for support.

Max was very curious about the "bay-bee."  He found a stool in the room and pulled it over to her bassinet to get a closer look.  It was very sweet....

Cousins!

I got to go up to see Savannah yesterday all by myself.  Jeff and Hesty are amazing parents and make it look so easy!  Savannah is growing and growing.  I had so much fun holding her and watching her check out her surroundings.  She's too cute!

 

5.  Warrior Dash!!!!

Kelsey and I are about to embark on quite a challenge.  We have signed up to do the Warrior Dash on June 9th here in Connecticut.  It is a 5k race with lots of obstacles.  I'll let this video show you what it truly is all about: 

Are we crazy, or what???  A few of our friends have also signed up, and they got a whole bunch of their friends to do it too.  My step-brother-to-be, Max, is coming down to do the Warrior Dash too.  It's going to be such a blast!  I'm working on training now and hoping I don't get too injured (since it's only 5 days before Dad's wedding!). 

So there you have it.  That is the quick version of the past 3 months.  Hopefully now I can write on this a little more regularly.... fingers crossed!