Gymnastics Fun

The kids are still going strong in gymnastics.  Natalie does so well in her independent class, and Grant is in the Tiny Tumblers (mommy and me) class.  He has really come a long way.  Very recently he finally learned how to jump with two feet on the trampoline, and I'm fairly certain he's dead last in his class to do so, even though there are kids much younger than him in his class!  He still doesn't like Mr. Gary, although he will go up to him at the end of class for his hand and foot stamps.  He hasn't done that in the past, so that is progress.  Below you can see him with mommy and Mr. Gary.  He was protesting this, even though you can't really tell from the picture.

Below is Natalie in circle time at the beginning of class.  She looks like a ballarina!

Below, she is doing an assisted back flip over the bar!  Pretty cool, I think she might be ready for crossfit, ha ha!

January artwork fun

In January, we had a little artwork fun.  This picture is so cute of Grant, and the chaos on the table is just perfect.  Trucks, jacks, crayons, clay... so fun!  I literally only took about 5 pictures the entire month of January, so this is all you get!

Supergirl Natalie

It was a tough battle, but Supergirl saved the day against the evil Puff Daddy!

She actually made this costume all by herself.  We helped her with the ideas (or, um... Todd did), but she did all of the coloring and work.  Oh and I cut the red "S" out of construction paper and the eyes out of her mask.  But the rest was all her!  She has a really creative mind for a 4 year old!

Curious Grant getting stuck

I had to snap some pictures of Grant getting stuck under the entertainment center.  It was so darn funny... never mind that he was whining and wanted out when he was under there.

Happy boy.



Wegman's trip

They recently opened up a new Wegman's in Northborough, which is a pretty good drive for just going to a grocery store, but Wegman's is so wonderful that we had to make the trip.  They even sell beer, liquor, unique fruits and vegetables, and grassfed beef!  My favorite that we bought was some rambutan.  I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this one off the internet...

We also bought a cherimoya, which wasn't as tasty as the rambutan.

Natalie wouldn't make a serious face when we were driving them around in the "car" cart.  Looks more like a UPS truck to me, but anyway...  she kept making this face and it was cracking me up!  Please don't ask why my kids are indoors and still wearing coats and hats!  At least Grant is representing with that hat!

Natalie's pre-game Super Bowl interview

In light of a VERY funny set of interviews that the Boston Globe did with kindergarteners regarding the upcoming Patriots-Giants Super Bowl in Indianapolis this Sunday, I decided to conduct an interview of my own with Natalie.  Interestingly, it wasn't nearly as funny as the kindergarteners interview, but only because she actually KNOWS football!  That's my girl....

http://www.boston.com/community/moms/specials/Super_Bowl_through_a_kindergartners_eyes/?p1=Well_Community_bottom_links

There's a video and a slide show... the kid who's thirsty is the best!

Here's how my interview with Natalie went:

Do you know who Tom Brady is?  Yes.
Do you know what he does?  Yes.
Can you tell me what he does?  Um...  He does this:  "GAGA!"
How old is Tom Brady?  100!
Do you know what the Super Bowl is?  It's where you play the Giants!
Do you know where it's being played?  At the Super Bowl!
Who's your favorite Patriots Player?  Tom Brady.
What's his position, do you know? Is he a pitcher, a quarterback, or a point guard?  Quarterback!
Do you know what a touchdown is?  It's when they score!
Do you like the Red Sox better or the Patriots?  The Patriots!
What do football players wear?  Blue and white!

The Amazing Natalie's score prediction:  Tom Brady: 9; Eli Manning 8.  We aren't sure whether that is the score of the game, or just what Tom and Eli will score... stay tuned!

Natalie's January artwork

I think I'm going to start a new feature on this blog called "Natalie's artwork."  Natalie just loves art and doing crafts and projects.  She's actually pretty creative. I think she gets that from daddy, who is actually a pretty good artist, especially when compared to mommy's stick figure art.

This guy above is a pine cone on skis.  See, he has popsicle stick legs, poles made of straws, and you can see all of the shiny snow on the plate.  Isn't this great?

One of my favorite things she does at school is work on her letters, and then draw pictures of things that start with that particular letter.  Great umbrella (she is going through a rainbow phase right now), not so sure what is going on with the unicorn or the good ole' US of A though!  Too cute!

Santa Photo 2011

Merry Christmas from Grant, Santa, and Natalie!

Christmas vacation to Plymouth

OK, it wasn't a huge vacation, just one extra day, but always so much fun!

The kids opened gifts from KK and Grammi and Bean on Christmas night.  As if they didn't get enough!

Grammi and Bean got Natalie a Zhu Zhu pet, which was a big hit.  AND she got a super cool personalized Dora book, which tells of great adventures of Dora and her friends Natalie, Grant, Gaby and Julia!  (Gaby and Julia are her friends from school!)

The day after Christmas, the Fitch's joined us for the big holiday dinner.  Look at GoGo, such a good sport sitting at the kids table!  GoGo left not long after Christmas for his semester at sea with Mass Maritime Academy.  You can follow his voyage here!  http://www.maritime.edu/seaterm/  As of the end of January, they have already been to Costa Rica, Ecuador, and through the Panama Canal! 

If there is music playing, little buddy is dancing.  He always gets the gold star at Maureen's when Sheila comes for singing and dancing time.  He is the FUNNIEST and CUTEST dancer!  Here he is in Grammi and Bean's kitchen, dancing with daddy!

Christmas 2011

It's Christmas!  It's Christmas!  Both kids were not as into it as I thought they would be... but it was still way fun.  I really should say NATALIE wasn't as into it as I thought she would be.  I thought for sure at 4 and a half, she would be psyched.  But it was pretty typical for her- it took her 10 minutes to get through the stocking, and then after about 2 gifts, she was ready to be done and just wanted to play with the two things she had already opened! 

Natalie painted Van Gogh's Starry Night for us at school and gave it to us for Christmas!  It was my favorite gift, by far.

And that's saying something because I got a sweet pair of red, white, and blue inov8s.  These shoes are the bomb, FLite 195s.  I actually prefer the 230s but you can't get those in these awesome colors!

We are really dorks.  If you think CrossFit won't change your life, think again.  Inov8 shoes and this big thing! Todd was thrilled with this fermentation pot that he got from my parents!  I think that was his favorite gift.  He's already got a big batch of sauerkraut in there!  I was hoping that by getting a fermentation pot, that meant I would be getting some ... ahem... fermented beverages!  Alas, I was sorely mistaken.

Little buddy got a Hess truck that has a little speed racer on top of it from Nana and Pop Pop.  He was so happy, it's still one of his favorite presents.  You can see here, he had little interest in much else.  He loves laying on the ground and racing his cars around (look like someone else you know Cory Swales???)

Speaking of Uncle Coco and Aunt Brie, they got him this Big Book of Things that Go.  I mean, you would have thought they gave him a ... well, a book of things that go!  He couldn't get enough of this.  We have to read this on a daily basis.  Please note the chaos that is our living room.

Time to stop and have a Christmas morning breakfast break!  Keeping it real with eggs and bacon.

Grant had to immediately get back to his reading.  He couldn't put this classic down!

Natalie finally came back to opening presents, and had a great Christmas!  We asked her what her favorite gift was (right after everything was opened) and she said it was the Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe set she got from Nana and Pop Pop.  They did better than Santa did this year!  Above, she's opening their gift.

Yep.  He's STILL reading the book.  Check this out guys, it's a digger!  (Or as he says, a 'deeeger!') Merry Christmas everyone!