Christmas morning at our house...

We had a very exciting Christmas morning. We had high winds knock a tree down across our driveway and take our power out!! We had to get the generator running so we could light the tree up (and to get video of Ben coming down the stairs first thing. Power went out at 4:57am and Jay explored outside (the winds were WILD), then CMP fixed us up right before 9am. Pretty exciting Christmas morning! Benjamin loved his bike, and was mostly excited to see if Santa and the reindeer had eaten the snack he left. Ben also got excited about some new underpants and put them on right over his pants! He wouldn't take them off (or his helmet) for a couple of hours. :) He's had a wonderful day though!

Christmas morning at Nana & Pops'

What fun! The cousins had a lot of fun playing with each others' toys. There sure was a lot of energy among the 3 girls and Benjamin. Thanks for such a wonderful morning!

Harley Man

Here's the dog! Harley, for those who don't know, lives with Nana and Pops Dwyer now (he's been there since Ben was able to crawl). He just LOVES the snow, as you can see from Mom's pictures. He'd stay out there until you couldn't find him, if he were allowed to. Such a husky dog. He'll be 12 years old next month! That's hard to believe.

A Year Ago...

I thought it would be fun to look back a year... Look at this little guy!

It's hard to believe how quickly time goes by, and here we are faced with another winter. I have a feeling this Christmas will be a lot more fun than last year, and it's pretty neat to see Ben get so excited. He's been helping me wrap presents, helping me address Christmas card envelopes, and- best of all- helping me make cookies! Ben loves to turn the lights on the Christmas tree every morning and when he wakes up, he looks up at the ceiling and says: "Santa up there?". He frequently requests his 3 latest Christmas songs: Jingle Bells (pronounced "Jingle Balls"), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman. It is HILARIOUS to watch him sing Jingle Bells and I hope to figure out how to upload video so I can share it...

Photo shoot in front of the tree

It is really hard to take pictures of a 2-and-a-half-year old! :) He had a good time being really goofy, then wanted to take pictures himself. Benjamin loves the tree and turns the lights on each morning...

Cutting Our First Christmas Tree

We did it! We went to Wayne and cut down our first Christmas tree! (We do a live tree for our porch every year, which we'll do again this year, but wanted to have a cut tree inside as well.) It was cool, but a beautiful day for walking in the tree farm and picking out a tree. Ben wanted to carry the saw, and wanted to help cut the tree and carry it as well. Such a big help.

Ben is talking about Santa and loves the Christmas lights. He's been asking for a Christmas tree just about every day. When he's asked what he wants for Christmas, he says "tree". That's easy enough! He'll have two!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great day at Roni & Larry's yesterday (thanks!!!) and it was so nice to see everyone. I still can't believe I scored a touchdown!!! :) Happy Thanksgiving, all...

Bye Bye Crib...

Ben's crib came down on Monday and he's sleeping in his "big boy" bed (though he just calls it his "boy bed"). The very first night in it he woke up on the floor. He says he fell out, but I never heard a crash, so I think he slid out. ;-P I walked into his room at 4:30 that morning and almost stepped on him!!! He hasn't fallen out again, and has been sleeping there for more than a week.
He helped Daddy take the crib down and waved bye-bye as it was taken away. He hasn't looked back! How is it that he's growing up so fast?

In the woods

He just loves to be outside as much as possible...

Fall pics

Daddy and Benjamin on the four-wheeler, having lots of fun!

Pumpkins at Longfellow's

Trick-or-Treating

Ben with his cousins.
He really got into the trick-or-treating, saying "lots and lots of candy" and roaring like a zebra (yeah, not sure that zebras roar, but we went with it). He hasn't asked for any of the candy yet and maybe he's actually forgotten about it. He had a blast with Madelyn (he was calling her 'cousin' when re-telling the story of trick-or-treating later last night), Gracie, and Claire. He was saying that 'cousin' was a scary witch and she had her nose and eyes on. :) What fun!

Our Zebra

Thanks to the Fosters, we had a nice, warm zebra costume for Ben to wear trick-or-treating last night. He didn't like the idea of putting it on at first, but got into it (roaring and telling everyone he was a zebra).

My Boys

This was a cold day, but the sun felt wonderful! Ben is watching his Daddy on the new tractor in the first picture. He LOVES the tractor. Um, Ben, I mean... Well, so does Jay- not sure which of my boys loves it more, actually.

Our boy

Here is the outfit from today:

Quite a Main-ah with his fleece pants, flannel L.L. Bean shirt and boots! When he went out, he wore his red Sugarloaf fleece vest. :)
And here's the Halloween costume we borrowed from the Fosters. When Ben first saw it, he cried and wouldn't calm down until I put it outside... That was a few weeks ago. He finally agreed to try it on today, after several days of conditioning. It lasted only a minute or so, and he wouldn't keep the hood on...
The final picture is of Ben saying, "I all done" and unzipping the costume.
He must think we adults are weird...

Table Rock- Another Year

I'm so proud of Pops and myself to have made it another year up to Table Rock. It was harder for me this year than ever before (what, am I getting older or something???) so I've vowed to at least exercise a few times in the week prior to attempting the hike next year! Next year when we make our journey, I'll have just celebrated my (GASP!) 35th birthday! Excuse me, but when the heck did THAT happen? Last thing I knew I was 25...

A waterfall we could hear the whole way up-- across the road...

It was really nice to have no fog this year, even if the clouds did make an appearance. We had some really nice views and beautiful foliage. Quite a hike! Thanks Pops (the lunch at Sunday River Brew Pub was the best reward!)...

Silly Boy

Not sure what he's doing here, but he was making his dinosaur "ROOOOOOOAAAR" at the same time. He had a good nap after our morning at the Apple Festival, and was raring to go outside once he got up. He's still quite an outdoor boy- and it's starting to get cool! He kept his mittens on the whole hour-and-a-half we were outside. Our play time ended with a 4-wheeler ride through the woods (B's favorite because he likes to push the button that starts the machine). We went to Penny's house and looked at the goldfish and said hi to Wilson, then back on the 4-wheeler for home.

Manchester Apple Festival

Benjamin went on his first pony ride(s) today-- he loved it! His Grammie Simpson had the idea to let him try it out, and he didn't even look back for us. He let the woman running the show put a helmet on and lift him right up. He smiled the whole time and just LOVED it!

Grammie and Grampy Simpson with me and Benners. We went on a horse-pulled carriage ride through the apple orchard.

Ben's second ride! So confident. I asked him afterwards if he wanted his own pony, and he (of course) said yes... Hmmmm, Daddy and Grampy are getting a tractor, maybe Benny and Mummy can get a pony! ;-P