Happy Mother's Day

Until I became a mother, I never realized what a difficult but rewarding job it can be.  My mom made it look easy when she was working and raising my brother and I.  I am so thankful for the warm, loving home that we were raised in.  Thank you Mom for all that you have done and continue to do for me and our family.  You are still a role model for me.  I love you Mom and have been blessed to have you for my mom.

Old Books

Much to Jay's dismay, I have a collection of books. New books, old books, textbooks, I just love books. I have passed on that gene to Arabella too. She loves books and loves to read! Jay keeps some books, but usually when he is finished with one, he gets rid of it. I on the other hand can fill shelves with books without a problem. I am especially fond of old books and when I was on my solo trip to Connecticut a few weeks ago, I was given a family heirloom. My great aunt Moona asked me if I had any need for a dictionary. Truth be told, I have no use for one as I already have one and more often than not when I need to look something up, I go to the internet. But when she pulled it out and told me that I could not get rid of it, I was sold. It is a Webster's from 1930. She told me that she remembers when her father, my great grandfather, brought it home - she remembers being in grade school. It is an amazing book and I am so honored to have it in our family. Arabella was excited to look through it, she was so gentle with the pages. I need to find a good stand so that I can display it. Thank you so much for sharing this with our family Aunt Moona.

Beantown

Last week was Arabella's Spring Break from school. So after I recovered for a day from my LA jet lag, she and I packed up the car and headed to Beantown to help Uncle Mike & Uncle Jeff move. We had great weather on the drive down and we decided to take the ferry from NY to VT again. Arabella loved it and it is a nice little break in the 6 hour drive. The waves on Lake Champlain were pretty big as it was windy, but it made the ride fun! Arabella also loved snacking on fresh berries!


We made it to Boston before rush hour which was great! Arabella was so excited to see the dogs and her uncles! We decided to go out to dinner at Wahlburgers in the Hingham Shipyard. I was hoping for a Donnie or Mark Wahlberg sighting, but no such luck...Mike thought he saw someone who might have been one of the Wahlberg brothers...needless to say the burgers were yummy (and that is a lot coming from me since I am not a meat eater!!) It was a fun place and reasonably priced too! I would go back again.



After dinner, we let Arabella run around a bit and she had a ball! Then it was back home for some more playtime and stories with Uncle Mike!



Arabella had a great time and we were lucky the weather was so warm! It was nice enough to play outside and she had a blast coloring with chalk and playing on the swing set!





She also had fun blowing bubbles with Macy!

On Saturday, we took a drive to Connecticut to meet Grampie and to spend the afternoon with him. We met him at Buckland Hills and had lunch. Arabella was so excited to see him - she ran right to him and yelled "Grampie" when she saw him! Then Arabella had fun riding the carousel with all of us. We each had to go for a ride with her and then sometimes even twice! She loved it!




We had a fun afternoon with Grampie and wish we were able to spend more time with him. Before we knew it, we were on our way back to Boston. We helped Uncle Mike and Uncle Jeff pack up for their move to Virginia. We packed boxes and loaded them on the moving truck before we hit the road back to Montreal. Arabella had a fun time helping!

Once again, our trip went way to fast, but that was probably because we had so much fun! We will miss Uncle Mike and Uncle Jeff being so close...now we won't be able to make quick weekend car trips anymore. But that is OK, we will just have to plan them a little more in advance! Thanks for a fun time, we love you guys!

Surprise From Auntie

This week, Arabella received a surprise in the mail from Auntie Lori. Canada Post tried to deliver the box but we were not home when they came and for some random reason they won't leave the box on our porch. So we had to wait until the next day and then go pick it up. Arabella was so excited to get the box and was so excited to see what was inside! It was full of Valentine's Day fun - stickers, some chocolate, animal crackers, an adorable purse and a Hello Kitty change purse. And to top it all off, it was in a gift bag with an owl on it...Arabella's favorite!!



She loved everything and has been carrying her purse around with her! Thank you so much Auntie Lori...we are so lucky to have you!

Lego's

Over the weekend, I purchased Arabella her first Lego set. She picked out a very small set from what appears to be a new line just for girls call "Friends". I love how they are now marketing to both boys and girls...good for them, bad for us parents. Arabella has enough toys to last her a lifetime, but she had a really good week and I figured it was something we could do together. She was so excited and it reminded me of the bins of Lego's my brother used to have. He would play for hours with them and when I told him that Arabella now has a little, tiny set, he was all excited that he gets to play with them again! She had a little trouble putting them together, but then again I did too. Those pieces sure are small! But once it was finished it was adorable and she has been playing with it since we put it together. It is a little swimming pool, lounge chair and a blender/drink (kind of looks like a margarita glass to me!) and a figurine.

Bedtime Stories

A few weeks ago, Arabella started talking with Grammie on the phone at bedtime. The calls then progressed into singing bedtime lullabies and Grammie telling her stories. Arabella has even asked to call Grammie when we are getting into bed and as soon as my Mom answers the phone, Arabella says, "Don't you want to read to me, Grammie?" It is the sweetest thing, no wonder my Mom can't say no! So when this started to become a regular part of our routine, Grammie pulled out a few books that she has kept that were mine and Mike's growing up. Arabella loved listening and would ask for more and more. So when Arabella asked to go to the library this week, I had an idea. We could pick out a few books and then Grammie could go to her library and check out the same ones so we could follow along when she was reading. Genius idea! We checked out Purplicous, a few Fancy Nancy and Curious George books and even some in French...which Grammie couldn't get at her library...but that's OK, Jay has been reading those to her...and then Grammie checked out the same books from her library in Florida. For the past few nights, Grammie has been having bedtime story duty and Arabella loves to follow along in the books. Thanks Grammie for starting a new cherished bedtime tradition, it sure is special.

Bedtime Stories With Grammie

For the past 2 nights, Arabella has read stories with Grammie at bedtime. One of the books that she loves to read is "Birds In My Drawer" - a fun rhyming ABC book - that was mine when I was little. She knows all the rhymes that correspond with each letter and when she reads them at the end of each rhyme, she says "That's silly Grammie" and laughs! I am amazed that she knows almost every word to each rhyme. Way to go, Little Bean. I loved listening to her and Grammie talking, reading and singing to each other tonight - good thing we have speakerphone - Arabella was even teaching Grammie words in French tonight!

Christmas In Montreal

When we arrived home on Wednesday night, Arabella made a bee line for the Christmas tree, and to her surprise, Santa came here too! (I had put the presents under the tree while she and Jay loaded the taxi for our trip to the airport.)

She was so surprised and excited that there were more presents to open! Once we lugged in the suitcases, we spent time opening presents from family and then some that we didn't bring to Ohio from Santa. She was a happy little girl and enjoyed all of her gifts! She even received a special Curious George ornament and she loved it.

Time Flies

Before we knew it, our time in Ohio was over and it was back to snowy Montreal! We did have a few snow showers while we were in Ohio, but the ground was too warm for it to amount to anything...

Arabella played with Blix before we left. They had fun painting together!

Our luggage filled the foyer as we waited for the taxi to take us to the airport.

We had a fun time in Ohio and enjoyed spending Christmas there. The old saying that time flies when you are having fun in true...our time went by so fast. I think we all enjoyed every minute of our time there, now if only we could figure out how to slow time down!

Merry Christmas

Arabella woke up Christmas morning more excited than I can remember in a long time. She was sure that Santa came to visit at Gramdpa Dennis' and she was right. After a little bit of confusion, she found her stocking and presents that he left for her and her cousins. She was the only one awake...her cousins made their way downstairs after she had opened all her gifts and she was already playing with them. She loved each one and had fun opening her stocking too! I loved seeing the look on her face when she opened something that she had asked Santa for...it was priceless!




Santa and family were very good to her...she is one lucky little girl! After opening Santa's gifts, she opened a few more from family and was very excited to get more owl pj's and a special ornament.


The rest of the day was pretty low key. We had another delicious meal and spent time enjoying the day and our family.



It was hard for me to be away from my side of the family. It makes me realize just how much I love and appreciate the traditions we have and the time we spend together. Family is so very important to me and I miss them when I am not with them on the holidays. We are blessed to be so close and I am thankful for them every day. I hope that this Christmas brought everyone what they desired most. Merry Christmas.