Christmas 2011

Kurt is on vacation this week and we are all recovering from a very exciting Christmas season.  Christmas Eve was spent at Mimi & Buppy's house.  The twins were all dressed up, holding hands, smiling and, OF COURSE, not looking at me.  Oh well, can't have it all!

Lots of fun opening gifts with their cousins...

A little before 8pm Aidan decided he'd had enough excitement.  He went upstairs and put on his coat, shoes & backpack and told us he wanted to go home.  While it caused a bit of a hub bub as we scrambled to get everyone ready to go - we were certainly proud of him for realizing he'd hit his maximum capacity for stimulation.  Such a smart little guy :-)

Aidan had a tough time getting to sleep, but we reminded him that Santa couldn't come if he didn't.  Santa left quite the delivery for us...

Grandma & Peepa joined us for gift opening.  Here's Maddie with her 'fur real pig'...

And Aidan with his Lego City...

The kids were very lucky this year.  Both in toys and because they are able to spend the holidays with all of their family members!  Mom & Dad had ALOT of organizing to do since we are now in the phase of toys with a million little pieces.  Happy New Year to all!

Gymnastics Show Extraordinaire

Mimi & I had the pleasure last week of attending Maddie's Holiday Gymnastics show.  It was an adorable little "show" her group put on during the last 20 minutes of her class.  Maddie was definitely the best at playing to the camera.  She knew I was taping her and would look at the camera after each move.  AND she was the only girl to remember to do her Ta-Da pose at the end.  Very cute :-)

Jumping from the trampoline into this foam pit is by far one of her favorite activities. 

If she can conquer her fear of the high bar, she just might have a career here...

Willner Bake-a-thon

Last weekend was our second annual Willner Christmas cookie bake-a-thon.  We have to have something to leave for Santa after all!  This year was a significant improvement over last with the kids actively participating (and enjoying) the process.  AND Aidan left us some dough this time rather than eat it all.  They REALLY got into it and ended up pretty messy.  But messy doesn't matter as long as we all had fun - and we did!

Maddie was a bit heavy handed when putting sugar on the cookies:

But it all worked out in the end.  The finished product:

And, of course, the aftermath!  Thanks Daddy for cleaning it all up :)

 

Happy Holidays to all!!!!

Ward's Berry Farm

Last weekend we took our 2nd annual trip to the Ward's Berry Farm pumpkin patch.  Only difference this year was that it was EIGHTY-FIVE degrees out.  By the time we left, our jeans were sticking to us. 

We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and were a bit disappointed to find that all of the large pumpkins were rotted (apparently it is a bad year for pumkins).  But we rallied and picked out a few little ones.  Then we climbed the haystacks and took advantage of the playground.  Another fabulous fall family outing!!!



4th Birthdaypalooza

In honnor of Maddie & Aidan's 4th birthday, we celebrated four times!!  On the day of their birthday, we spent some quality time together just the 4 of us swimming at the indoor pool and eating cupcakes. 

The day after the official birthday, we had their playgroup friends over for a pirate lunch/party.  Maddie & I spent the morning decorating while Aidan was at school.  And we picked Aidan up to find that his class had decorated a tshirt & crown for him.  The tshirt says "It's Thumbody's birthday" and all of his classmates/teachers put their fingerprint in paint.  Very cute!  You can also see Maddie decked out in her pink pirate hat ready to greet her guests...

 We took a short break that week from birthday celebrations.  Then this past weekend we held celebration #3 on Saturday.  We had all of the Willners over for a pizza party for the kids and a sit down dinner for the adults.  Maddie & Aidan really enjoyed the time with their cousins and we had a family photo shoot too!

We got some sleep and woke up bright and early for celebration #4 - which was a trip to Davis Farmland with the Maas/Lance side of the family.  Nothing beats seeing all of your cousins in one weekend!  Maddie wasn't too keene on the pony ride, but did enjoy relaxing with Peepa.  And we ended the day at Auntie Deb's house for even more cupcakes before Morgan had to head out for rehearsal for the Nutcracker.  And of course Vivie modeled her Kung Fu outfit for us too :)

Such a fabulous birthday for such wonderful children!  We're so grateful to all of our friends and family for celebrating with us and for all of the fabulous gifts we received.  I do have to say that next year there WILL NOT be 5 parties.  PHEW, we're exhausted...

First Days...

Maddie & Aidan both started preschool this past week.  They are attending the same school, but on different days.  This way I can have one-on-one time with each kiddo!

Aidan started first and looked like such a handsome little man.  He got right back into the swing of things and was so glad to see Miss Laurie and Miss Ashley.  His class is all new students this year and he couldn't understand what happened to TJ and Dillon.  He decided they must be at the dentist :)

While Aidan was at school, Maddie has her first gymnastics class.  I was so proud of her for trying everything and listening so well to the teacher.  She wasn't in love with the high bar, but can't get enough of sommersaults and 'walking on the wall'.  

Their school runs a 'car line' which means the teachers come right to the car and take the kids out.  This makes it important that the child attending school that day be on the curbside of the car.  Maddie was a bit perturbed to find out Aidan had to sit in her car seat!

Here is the photo of Maddie's first day.  She said she 'loved it' at school, though the bathroom is far too loud.  And Aidan & I ran some errands and then visited with Peepa. 

So excited to go, she ran to the car!

So far so good with the school thing; let's hope this keeps up!!!

August Staycation

Kurt just finished up a glorious week off from work.  The weather was great (not counting Tropical Storm Irene on our final day) and we had lots of fabulous adventures together.  

Here we are at WWI Park in North Attleboro.  Not only is it a playground, but they have the largest FREE petting zoo I've ever come across.  This photo would have been great if Maddie wasn't petrified she was going to fall off!

Aidan pretending he's Humpty Dumpty:

Mimi's friend, Mrs. Rogalski, has horses and was kind enough to let M&A take a ride.  I don't think I've ever seen Aidan as happy as he was when the horse trotted and the ride got exciting.

No summer would be complete w/out a trip to Davis Farmland in Sterling with cousins Morgan & Vivie.  Here's Maddie milking a plastic cow.  It got a little gross when Aidan tried to drink from the "udders"...

Here's Aidan ensuring we had a very uncrowded hayride:

This photo makes me wonder who the real twins are in our family :)

Davis Farmland has this great splash park and their new addition this year was a "bubble blast" area.  Here's Aidan covered from head to toe in bubbles.  He LOVED this!  (Until the bubbles became taller than he and began to smother him)...

Our sweet little girl...

This was a great vacation that included trips to the beach, the wading pool and so much more.  Such a great way to end the summer!  Of course we are sad that Daddy is now back to work (no one more so than Daddy); but have the excitement of school starting on the horizon!!!!!  Besides, Fall really is my favorite time of year. 

Chatham 2011

Just back from a lovely few days vacationing in Chatham on the Cape. Thanks to Mimi & Buppy for letting us crash their vacation. Ridgevale Beach was the absolute perfect beach for a couple of very curious 3 year olds!

Here the kids are enjoying some bonding time with cousins Meg & Jake:

Crab hunting with Jake:

And lots of quality time with Mimi & Buppy - blowing bubbles and...

boogie boarding...

What's more fun than burying your twin in the sand?

We took a small break from the beach to use up some energy at the local trampoline place:

And just all around enjoyed what the cape cod beaches have to offer. YUMMM...

seaweed!

This was "Maddie Island" which was created during an evening visit to the beach as the tide was coming in...

Needless to say they were WIPED OUT on the way home :-)

We're looking forward to many more beach vacations in our future!!!