Patriots vs. Texans, AFC Division Championship

Todd and I scored some tickets to the AFC Division Championship between the Patriots and the Houston Texans in Foxborough.  So we went down to Plymouth for the weekend and my awesome inlaws and niece Madison watched the kids so we could go to the game, and enjoy some tailgating too!  Here's Todd and Rob at the tailgate!

 What is that Rob?  Is that what I think it is?  Why yes!  Yes that is a jar of moonshine!

And of course, before we left for the game, we always have to shotgun a beer.  I think it's for luck.  

Well it's a good thing we DID shotgun beer.  Because the Patriots beat the Texans, 41-28.  It was an awesome game.  We stood the whole time, but at least we were on the 100 level and not the 300 level. It was actually a really warm day (temps got up to near 50!) so even the game wasn't too bad.  I nearly lost my eyesight... twice due to unruly high fives during good plays, but it's all good!  GO PATS!

New Year's Eve

We woke Natalie up at about 11:45 to watch the ball drop with us.  I'm frankly very surprised that we even made it to New Year's.  We gave Natalie some "green chips" and a Lindt chocolate ball, along with another very rare treat- a small cup of juice!  She thought there must be food at a New Year's Eve party!

Here's our self portrait of us in our jammies, on the couch with our drinks and our Natalie-made conical hats on!  Happy New Year!

New Year's Sledding

Todd took the kids sledding on New Year's Eve (while I worked) and on New Year's Day (while I stayed home battling a sinus infection). 

Fearless Natalie taking on the "slopes" at the park.

Grant, as usual, was not very interested in sledding.  He went down the hill once on New Year's Eve with Todd and Natalie, but for the most part, he found these trucks and had fun playing in the snow.

Here she comes!

On New Year's Day, Grant apparently walked up and down the hill with the sled, but didn't want to get on it!  Silly boy!

2012 Santa Photo

Introducing the 2012 official Santa photo!  It is hilarious- Grant is so funny!  And Natalie looks SO beautiful!  Below it, all of the previous Santa photos in chronological order.  Merry Christmas!

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

Christmas 2012

The holiday weekend started off with some baking in the kitchen with Natalie.  We made some chocolate fudge (as you are seeing her stir here, below), some chocolate mint cookies, and a sour cream coffee cake.  I used to make peanut butter fudge, but since the little guy is allergic, chocolate is where it's at.

 Two days before Christmas, Todd and Natalie decided they wanted to put up some Christmas lights on the outside steps and just as they were finishing up, Natalie fell down the steps and flat on her face, scraping up here nose real bad.  There was a LOT of blood, but at least it wasn't broken.  You'll see more of that in some of the pictures below.

After Christmas Eve mass, we always toss reindeer dust on the ground so that it will sparkle in the moonlight and the reindeer will find our house!  Then we ate Chinese food!

And of course, after bath time, daddy read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas!

You can definitely see her nose in this picture.  Ironically, it made her look like Rudolph so at least it was timely.  She drew a picture for Santa, and we left carrots for the Reindeer and a cookie for Santa.

 Grant is eyeballing the cookie.  Hmmm, I wonder if they'll notice if I eat that cookie!?!

 This is what it all looked like after Santa had been to our house.  Too many presents!

 In the morning, both kids really tore into their gifts.  For the next several days, Grant kept saying, "Can we open more presents?"  Santa brought him a lot of trucks, but apparently it was not enough! 

  More presents, it's starting to get messy in here!  After we opened presents, we went down to Plymouth for the night.

Here's Todd taking a family dinner self portrait.  With his mouth full.

Both kids got Dream Lites this year- Natalie got hers from Santa, and Grant got his from Grammi and Bean!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving Trip to Florida - Part III

 And we conclude our three-part series with the last few days of our Thanksgiving Trip to Florida.  

We are making it a tradition to go out in the boat and go to Frenchy's for lunch.  The kids did well this year- remember last year, Grant didn't go because he refused to put on his life vest?  Well, he put it on this year.  He whined a bit on the boat when Pop Pop went fast, but he did pretty good other than that.

Natalie loved every minute of it and sat up front with Daddy for the trip.

Grant was very excited to drive the boat with Pop Pop, even though he couldn't see over the steering wheel!!!

Silly faces with the turtle at Frenchy's!  It was so nice to sit in the open air restaurant - we certainly couldn't do this (comfortably!) in Massachusetts!

Nana and Pop Pop so graciously watched the kids for a night while Todd and I got a sweet deal at the new Hyatt on Clearwater Beach.  It was really, really nice!  They even gave us a cup of champagne when we got there!  

We went to the pool for a bit, had another beverage, and then read a little bit.  Then we came back to watch the sunset from our balcony!

After a beautiful sunset, Todd and I went out to dinner at Island Way Grill before going to Frenchy's on the beach and playing a little pool.  It was Monday night, so we were the only people in there!  

It was a great trip, and as usual, over too soon.  Hopefully we'll be able to get to Florida at some point over the summer, because this was our last year going there for Thanksgiving.  We had to take Natalie out of school for too many days in order for us to be able to afford the airfare.  So we'll have to start a new summer tradition!

Thanksgiving Trip to Florida - Part II

You know I always love to do these as a three-part series!

We took a bunch of pictures on the dock, but took most of the good ones with my dad's camera.  Here was a pretty decent one of the four of us.  Another beautiful Florida day!

With another beautiful Florida sunset to go with it!  I love my hometown!

And of course, a trip to Florida wouldn't be complete without a trip to the beach.  Please notice I have a sweatshirt on.  

 And please note that we are the only people on the beach.  You may also notice that Natalie is playing in the water!  Water temps were in the 60s, but that didn't stop her!

 We collected shells, played in the sand, and little girl and daddy got in the water.  There were lots of waves on this particular day. 

And of course, dribble castles are a must!  At this point, Grant had put his jacket on.  Mommy and Grant are always cold, and Daddy and Natalie are always warm!  

Pop Pop and Natalie also did a little fishing off the dock.  Natalie actually caught her first fish ever!  A pin fish! Mommy caught her first fish (also a pin fish) in this very spot on the dock!

 Natalie, Pop Pop and her prize fish!

Thanksgiving Trip to Florida, Part I

Part I of the series begins with the 2012 Turkey Trot.  I, Colleen Bailey, being of sound mind and body... or not... decided this year to run my first ever 10K!

 I finished in 1:02:44.  And that was good for me.  About a 10 minute mile.  I'm okay with that.  I finished, and I only had a few water break stops.  I felt like I was crushing it.  Meanwhile, Brie finished with a 5 minute PR in 53 minutes.  And Uncle Rob finished in 48 minutes!  What?  A girl can dream.

Meanwhile, CoCo pushed Grant in the stroller for the Gobbler 1 miler.  Todd and Natalie walked, although by the end of the mile, Natalie was on Todd's shoulder.  1 mile ain't no joke.  

Now that we've got that out of the way, it's time to hit up the 36th annual Thanksgiving dinner table.  What, what?!?!  And no... it's not paleo.  And that's okay.  There's corn.  And turkey.  And some noodles. 

Natalie, of course, enjoyed the rolls the most.  But I really took this picture to capture the essence of Nana's pretty Thanksgiving dinner table.  

 The day after Thanksgiving, Todd, Cory, Brie and I took the kids to Lowery Park Zoo.  My kids rarely take cute pictures together, but this one was pretty awesome.  CoCo Brie got Grant this little truck and he wouldn't leave it at home- he loved it!

All 4 of us went on the carousel and had a cute family photo.  And no Cory, my sunglasses aren't on crooked.

Next up was the train, which Grant was so excited to ride.  You can see Todd rode with Grant and Brie rode with Natalie.  When the conductor came by, he was giving high fives and he looked at Todd and Brie and said something to the effect of, "Hey mom and dad!"  which for some reason, I got the BIGGEST kick out of.  

And of course, you can't go to Lowery Park Zoo without going on the Tiger roller coaster, as Grant calls it! Above, you can see Todd holding on to Grant on the roller coaster.  This was his first roller coaster ride ever!  I like that Grant has his fingers in his ears, as if that was going to make it less scary.  And I particularly like CoCo-Nat in this one too.   Look ma, no hands!

BOO!   My best Gene Simmons impersonation.

They shared a moment in the middle of Gulf Boulevard once.  Now, it was a special moment with the rhinos.

At the end of the day, as we were about to leave, we stopped by the log flume ride.  Cory, Nat and I decided to take it for a whirl, and boy did we get drenched!  We took our best, "We are fierce and unafraid" picture afterward!   Natalie loved this ride... I think if she were just a *wee bit* taller, we'd totally be going to Busch Gardens!  She just loves crazy rides!

And of course, it's not a true LPZ experience without a closing bag of cotton candy!  It's so cute that she has like a partial cotton candy mustache going on here... but even funnier that I apparently have some on my face and I didn't even know it!