chipmunks

The kids chose to rent this a couple of weeks ago. I remember watching it when I was a kid and liking it so we thought it would be ok. Well, now Isaac is obsessed! He can't stop telling us how much he likes the "girl chipmunks" and how he likes the way they dance. One time he woke up in the morning saying that he was cuddling with the "chipettes". This cracks me up!! I never thought Isaac's first crush would be some cartoon girl chipmunks.

Can't pass this up!

I am a huge fan of electronic made photo books. I have several from companies Winkflash and Shutterfly. It is a new tradition for Darren to make one for me for Christmas with the highlights from the previous year. It is by far my favorite Christmas gift since I hate to scrapbook, but would still like our photos organized. Plus, since we have completely gone digital with photos it is much easier than printing, then organizing them. This is an amazing deal if you are interested in digital photobooks. http://www.winkflash.com/books/sale1.asp I have already made and ordered mine and am looking forward to receiving it in the mail with in a week or so. Notice, you can make up to 100 pages of pictures with this price!!!! I filled my book with pictures from a few years back and quickly filled up all 100 pages with over 200 pictures! Winkflash is not the easiest or best site for making these books, but for the price they are really nice hard covered and professional. We have decided that we like Shutterfly's program and variety much better, but the price is substantially more. This is a great deal for what you get. At regular price my book would of cost 60$ without the shipping price. With the coupon it was 25$ with shipping. Check it out! But hurry this offer ends Jan. 29th at midnight.

Great Books!

For anyone who knows me, I love to read and when I read a really good book I like to tell everyone about it. I just finished this book: "Three cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson that Darren's parents sent to us for Christmas (It was on my books to read list anyway.) I highly recommend it...it is very inspiring. It is a true story of the author Greg Mortenson and his quest to raise money and build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for girls. More info:http://www.threecupsoftea.com
I really want to get involved with this and am going see what I can do with the pennies for peace fund raiser.
I have started to read: Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert. This was an "Oprah book" and I usually stay away from her club books since they tend to be a tragic life story of a women that endures hardships-which are not usually my favorite genre. A friend of mine highly recommended this to me and so far it is interesting. The author has a fun way of writing about her travels to Italy, India and Indonesia searching for spiritual enlightenment. If any of you want to read it with me and would like to have a discussion about it later let me know. I love discussing books!

Our trip to NYC

My parents flew out to visit on Christmas day to stay with us for a week. On the 28th we decided to venture to NYC with them to see what Christmas would be like in New York and see Darren's brother Dalyn. It took us about 5 hours to drive there and we sublet an apartment from family of a friend of ours in Harlem. The apartment was really nice and we are grateful we got such a great deal to stay. We stryed until noon on the 31st and it gave us plenty of time to see most of the sights we wanted to see. The first night after we arrived we hopped on the subway and caught the Staten Island ferry just in time to see the Statue ofLiberty as the sun went down. It was gorgeous, the ferry ride was nice and the price couldn't be beat.
Afterwards, we caught the train and met Dalyn in China town to have dinner. Then we walked through little Italy and had Canoli for dessert. This is Isaac with a Canoli nose. It was a really nice night. I am glad I got to experience China town and if I ever go back would like to eat in Little Italy sometime.
Overall we had a great trip and were blessed not to lose Isaac in the subway (he was accidentally left at the station once, fortunately he was too busy watching the trains in a corner to notice or be noticed). We were healthy, safe, our car worked well and the weather was good. Thanks Mom and Dad for finally convincing us to make the trip!

We went to the American Girl store on 5th ave so Hadlie could pick out the doll she has been saving for. She picked out her favorite "Kit", because she looks just like her and she really likes the stories that go with her. We spent the day walking down 5th ave and visiting a few stores. Isaac also was able to make a dinosaur at the Build a Bear workshop.
















This is me in front of a christmas window at Saks Fifth Ave. We saw the window at Saks, Marcy's and Lord and Taylor's. They were all really cool and worth the lines we had to wait in to see them. This one rotated in a spiral.













Hadlie and Isaac in front of the skating rink in Rockefeller Center. We decided not to wait in line for 2 hrs to skate with a huge crowd of people. I was surprised to see how small the rink actually is.




















This is my parents, me, Hadlie and Isaac in front of the big Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. You can see my growing belly under the puffy coat.

This is Darren with a smile at Times square. I am surprised I got a picture of him smiling, he doesn't like crowds.
You can't tell from this picture, but it was way too busy and crowded to enjoy. It was a health hazard. I wouldn't recommend going just before new years.
Isaac was tired of looking at legs in the crowd all day.
We had a nice break in a park across from Macy's. The weather was great the entire time we were in NYC. It was like spring in NH. We had a lot of fun.
Macy's, and Sak's decorations were amazing! This picture doesn't do the decorations justice in Macy's.

We were excited to spend the day at the Natural History Museum. It was Darren's favorite part of the trip. We spent the whole day there and had dinner with Darren's brother Dalyn at "Ceasar's Palace Pizza" on Amsterdam. It was great pizza and really cheap.
This is the entry of the museum. The t-rex is dwarfed by the brontosaurus. It did look a lot like it did in the movie "Night at the Museum"





















The kids loved the blue whale. It was life size.













Do you remember the elephants in the movie?
Unfortunately the lighting wasn't very good for taking pictures and not many of ours turned out very well. I highly recommend seeing this museum, though.


Family favorite exhibits: Hadlie: "the huge whale." Isaac: "seeing the animals behind the glass." Darren: Water exhibit. Jeni: Imax Dinosaur movie.

We stopped at the Mall in Machester NH on our way home from NYC to have a break. The kids loved the carousel. I loved shopping at Motherhood.

Our annual nativity picture. Can you tell I am supposed to be the star? Darren's family started this tradition many years ago. It is so fun to look back at the funny creative costumes. So we also have the same tradition. It goes along with reading Luke 2 and opening pj's on Christmas eve.

















Hadlie and Isaac opening the book that Aunt Mert sends every year. We always read this on Christmas eve, after Jammies and everything else.
Hadlie is thrilled with all the loot she got this year.
Isaac loves these "carnivore" toys from Fisher price. This one goes with his latest fascination with sharks.

Garrett, Liam, Britta & Carter Davis













Isaac, Hadlie and Darren
















I like this one, look at Darren's Hat blow!


















Angela, Jacob, Brandon & Bradlee ( He is in front of Brandon, He was bundled really well!)

Christmas Eve Day, was great fun! We went sledding at our favorite hills at the Dartmouth golfcourse with The Davis family, The Kindreds family and The Smith family. We had lots of snow and warm weather, and yummy donuts.

Here pictured: Katie, Angela, Hadlie, Jacob, Britta, Liam and Ava.







Darren with Hadlie in tow.






















Britta and Liam






















Isaac and Jacob

We got together with our friends the Davis' and the Smith's at the Smith's house and acted out the Nativity. It was really fun and crazy seven kids ages 7-2months old.

Here is Mary (Hadlie), Joseph (Carter), and 2 of the 3 wise men (Jacob & Isaac) The 3rd wiseman wouldn't hold still long enough for a picture (Bradlee)









The shephards (Brandon and Garrett) are looking in awe at the angel (Liam).















Mary and Joseph
















Mary and Joseph and the donkey (Darren)