Christmas and New Year!

Our Holiday Season was jam packed with fun and excitement. On Thursday the 18th, Bekah and Scott along with the Reagster showed up before the Nor Easter could hit. The next day on the 19th my dad and step mom Rita flew in. We were lucky that their flight out of S.L.C was in the morning, because by the time they got here we already had 4 inches of snow with another 10 on its way. We all made it home safe and sound, where it was warm and cozy. It is also where we stayed until Monday the 22nd.


After digging ourselves out of all the snow and packing up the car Monday morning, we headed up to Vermont to go skiing at Jay Peak. It was so beautiful and the snow was amazing! It was also extremely cold!! We had to keep all of our skin covered so it wouldn't freeze and fall off. We rented this great condo. I was surprised at how nice it was. We all got settled in while Rita made her famous potato and cheese soup for dinner, along with grilled cheese sandwhiches, it was very yummy. We started to get ready for bed and realized that it was getting really cold in the house, come to find out the pilot light had been blown out by the high winds, we got the pilot light going again and we were toasty warm the rest of the night.

The next morning we got up nice and early so we could be first in line for the lift and to put the boys in ski school. Bekah and Scott came along for the fun, but Dad, Rita and the Reagster stayed behind in the warmth of the condo. Reagan had been sick earlier in the week and we all had gotten or were getting a touch of what he had. It would have been a great site to see my dad on skis. None the less this was Bekah's first time on skies and we had fun remembering what it was like for us our first time down the mountain. Bekah did great after a bit of coaching from Scott and in time she will be a pro. Isaac and Owen had fun in ski school, Isaac more than Owen I am afraid. Isaac was plowing down the mountain and beating me on his second time down. He loves to ski. Owen didn't like ski school so much because I wasn't there with him, but as soon as I started taking him down the "Bunny Hill" he was in heaven. It scared me a bit to see how much he loves the speed. He didn't want me to stop him, so I had to explain to him that if I didn't stop him, then he was going to crash into every ones skies at the bottom of the hill. I think he understood after that because he didn't get so upset when I jumped in front of him to stop. Jonathan and I had fun making our way down the mountain while the boys were in ski school. He was so sweet to go slower for me, because anyone that knows J knows that he LOVES to ski. We had some good laughs at a couple of my falls that I wasn't so graceful on. It was fun to just hang out for a couple of hours with out the boys. I could kick myself though because I forgot my camera at the condo. It was Owen's first time skiing as well as Bekah's!! Bekah forgot her camera too, so I guess I can't feel too bad. But I would love to have some photos of the day. After we had exhausted all of our energies and Scott's skies got stolen we called it a day and started our journey home. It seemed like it took forever. I was so sick from whatever Reagan had had. We stopped and I got some NyQuil to knock me out. I never fell a sleep, but it did help with the nausea.


Christmas Eve was pretty low key. We made "Ginger Bread Houses". They all turned out pretty cute. It was a fun lesson in team work. Maybe next year everyone will get their own. Later in the afternoon, we made a nice dinner and I got to use my new dishes to set the table. The menu was Ham, smashed potatoes, cranberry and almond stuffing, gravy, sweet corn, spinach salad and Strawberry-Kiwi punch with hot fudge brownie sundaes for desert. It was a good meal. Before the boys headed off to bed to dream of Santa and his reindeer, we read Luke Chapter 2. I love this tradition that we have, it helps to keep the true meaning of Christmas in place and not to get caught up in all of the commercial crap that is out there.



Christmas morning was fun. The boys woke up and climbed in our bed. We snuggled a bit and then we were off to take the traditional picture on the stairs. The boys were good and sat still for a couple of snaps, but that was about it, they were too excited to see what Santa had brought them. We spent the next hour or so opening gifts and giving hugs and kisses to say thank you. The rest of the day was awesome. I spent the whole day in my Pajamas watching movies and talking with family. It was a good day.

Our next event was the Boston Pops. The boys got to stay home with a babysitter and the adults got to have a night out. I love the Symphony and I love Christmas music so this event is one of my favorites of the year. It was also fun to go into the city and see all of the twinkle lights that were up. Keith Lockhart conducted and one of our friends was in the choir the music was fantastic and it was fun to be with family.

For one of the boys Christmas gifts we gave them a trip to Build-A-Bear workshop. The week after Christmas we drove to the Burlington Mall and spent the afternoon at Build-A-Bear. Isaac choose an Alaskan Husky later to be known as "Icy" and Owen chose a Turtle later to be known as "Fibby". Over the next hour and a half we stuffed, gave a heart, sewed up, fluffed (bathed), dressed and named the new best friends. Reagan got a puppy dog that he dressed in dental scrubs. It was so much fun to be able to watch them have so much fun. I love giving the boys experiences as appose to just gifts. They mean more to them and they remember the experience of being with us and having a fun day. We ended our trip at the food court so that we could regain our strength after such a long time in surgery. It is hard work creating a new best friend!! :)

For New Year's we had another HUGE snow storm, we got about 10 inches. Luckily Bekah and I made it to Costco for the celebration must haves before the sky opened up and dumped its contents on us and we had to stay in side off the roads. Don't let the fact that we were confined to our home make you think that we didn't have a great time. I will let the pictures speak for them selves. Yah, we are working on Jonathan's addition to sparkling cider. It has been a long road, but he seems to only fall off the wagon on New Year's Eve. We are grateful for all of your prayers on his behalf. I'll have to keep you posted on his recovery.

We were so sad to see all of our guests leave. We had a great time and it was fun to get to know Rita better. I think that it is safe to say that; "We love you Rita and are happy that you are apart of our family". We wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend. We started out at Jonathan's sisters house with fried turkey (Louisiana style), smashed potatoes, warm gravy, candied yams, green bean casserole, corn bread stuffing, tossed green salad, warm rolls from the oven, jell-0 salad, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, peach pie and apple pie. The food was delish and the company was fun.

Later that evening we left on our adventure to explore down town Boston with the boys. Jonathan booked us two nights at the Sheraton. We arrived in our room and it wasn't 30 seconds before the Tasmanian devils appeared. Clothes went flying all over and yells for swimming trunks came from my two little cyclones. Five minutes later they were out the door and on their way to the pool with daddy. I myself stayed behind for a little R&R since I did a lot of the baking for our Thanksgiving dinner. The next morning we headed out for some nutritious breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then we hopped on the train to take the boys to the 3D version of BOLT. I wasn't too sure what I was going to think of it, but it turned out to be such a cute movie and the boys really enjoyed it. After the movie we decided to take a stab at ice skating on Frog Pond. Isaac was in heaven, it took him a few minutes to become stable, but once he did, he was flying all around we even had a race. Owen on the other hand preferred to have daddy hold onto him and drag him around in circles. He was a trooper. Maybe next year he will be more interested. For Jonathan it brought back all of his childhood memories of playing peewee hockey. As for me, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't fall and break anything. Once everyone had had their fill of the ice we headed back to the hotel to get warm in the hot tub, which is Owen's favorite place to be. I think I got him into the pool a total of 12 minutes. He is a lot like me that way. I love hot tubs and hot showers, even though they are bad for your skin. On the other hand Isaac had a great time swimming and jumping in the pool. I snapped this great picture of him in mid air. For dinner we headed out to the Cheese Cake Factory so that Jonathan could indulge in his favorite "Strawberry Cheese Cake". We tired the boys out so much that Owen fell asleep in my lap while eating his pizza. What a kid. The next morning we once again headed to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Can you tell that the boys were in charge of picking what they wanted. The joy of vacation!! When we were finished we decided that we couldn't leave with out getting a stuffed Lobster and Lobster shaped lollies for each of the boys. We took the train and bus home. It was great to have no worries or cares and just have fun with the boys.

When we arrived home we weren't finished yet. We jumped into the car and headed out to go "Christmas Tree Shopping". We drove over to Lexington to Four Season's. They always have really good trees for not a ton of $$$$. It took us 10 minutes to pick out the tree. It was amazing, we walked in and down one row. I turned and saw it leaning up against a line of trees. I walked over, stood it up and that was that. We put it on our cart and began the ceremonial journey to the cashier, chain saw, twine bin, and finally the top of our car. It was a glorious journey. And a wonderful family weekend.

Crimson Kids Halloween Party!

I think that I am the only person in the Blogging World that has not yet posted about Halloween, so here goes. We started off our Halloween celebrations by going to "The Crimson Kids Halloween Party" at HBS. It couldn't have been more fun for the boys. Most of you know that I am helping my sister-in-law out with her kids during the week, so I packed up an IRON MAN, an Incredible Hulk, a Clone Wars Storm Trooper, a Fuzzy Tree Frog and a Peapod. Lets just say I had my hands full with some very excited boys. When we arrived, we had pizza, fruit and veggies for dinner. Then it was off to painting pumpkins, fishing for prizes, playing super hero's out in the court yard, getting our pictures taken and visiting Daddy's/Uncle Johnny's office to see if he needed any protecting from the evil education wizard. It was quite the SUGAR High, but lots of fun.

On Halloween we headed up to Beacon Hill to do our Trick-or-treating. The boys were very excited because they got to ride on the T. We met Jonathan there, while we waited for him, I took a couple of pictures of the boys which I think turned out pretty funny. After we met up with Jonathan we decided to have dinner at Upper Crust for some most delicious pizza. We ran into the same couple that was dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible last year. I couldn't miss the opportunity to take a group picture again. Owen decided that he was going to be shy and not be in the picture. After a quick "Hey, How's it going", we made a date to meet again next year. It will be fun to see if we actually do run into them again. I am not sure that I would recognize them with out their masks on. Any how, we ended up at the Upper Crust and had some very delicious pizza, then we were on our way to meet up with the hoards of people that were out enjoying the ghoulish night air. The decorations were fun to see and we even ran into Sen. Kerry. He tends to only show up on election years. The other three years he had his assistant sit out on the steps and hand out the candy. No, he didn't have big candy bars like some people think he should, this year the spread was the little square packets of skittles. I have had quite a few people say: "You would think that the man could spring for some substantial sized candy with the amount of $$$ he has." I personally don't care one way or the other what size candy he chooses to give out, but I tend not to be too surprised by this actions seeings how during his race for the Senate he bagged on his components for the lack of charitable contributions they gave and when his financials were run he hadn't given one cent to any charity. What a guy!! But I digress, after our journey through the streets of Beacon Hill the boys' bags began to drag and Owen began his melt down, so we headed back to the warmth and comfort of our home.

Happy Birthday Babe!

What type of birthday party does every man in their 30ies want? A Lego Party of course!! Yes, I threw Jonathan a Surprise Lego Birthday Party, and I kept it a surprise, he had no idea. That was an accomplishment in and of itself for me. I don't think that I have ever kept anything from Jonathan for so long. It almost killed me to keep quiet about it.

I invited a few of his friends over to put together the Lego Mindstorm Robot. Isaac and Owen helped out a bit too until they realized that I had a huge pile of Lego's that they could make whatever they wanted. Lunch consisted of a 2 foot long sandwich that I whipped up, chips, and non other than fruit punch. My favorite was the cake. I thought that they turned out really cute. I know all of you manly men are thinking "cute" why would any man want a cute cake?? Well, that is a good question that I don't have an answer too, except that I don't think most men really care what the cake looks like, but more how it tastes. This one tasted pretty darn good. Homemade chocolate cake from scratch with homemade cream cheese frosting. Yummy, yummy good.

After the robot was mostly put together, we invited over the rest of the families for cake, good conversation and a test run demo of the Mindstorm. It was pretty cool watching the robot follow the commands. The best part was watching the kids react to the robot. I thought Isaac was going to jump out of his skin he was so excited. I wish I had a video of him trying to "YELL" the commands to the robot. At first he thought that he could just tell the robot what to do, but we had to explain to him that we had to program the robot with my computer. Children's minds are an amazing trip. The day turned out to be a success. Jonathan was surprised and everyone had a good time hanging out and enjoying each others company.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Clam Bake at Crane Beach

We had our Annual Church Clam Bake at Crane Beach this year. The past 10 years we have had it at Lake Cochituate, but this year we decided to go back to our roots and hold it at Crane Beach. I am so glad that we did. The beach was beautiful and so much fun. Isaac and Owen had a great time running around in the water and digging in the sand to make their Super Hero hideouts. Jonathan had a good time re-living his glory days by playing flag football with a bunch of the guys that showed up. I have to say it wasn't so much "Flag" as it was "Conquer and Tackle" I am just glad that we didn't have any broken bones this time!! I always love watching Jonathan play sports. He has so much talent, I wish that he had more time to play because he really enjoys the exercise and team work that sports bring. As for me I had a good time just catching up with a few of my girl friends. I feel like I am always on the go with an agenda, so when I get to just sit and shoot the breeze it is coveted time for me. I also had fun chasing the boys around by the water and throwing them in. They didn't think that it was very much fun when they hit the cold New England Atlantic Water, but once the shock wore off they would run out and try to get me wet. Isaac solidified his brotherhood with Owen by writing their names in the sand. It is official I have it documented on film for when they get older and want to dis own each other. The food was good, I just wish that I could have had some Lobster. If it weren't for the whole dieing thing I would have gotten one just for me. Oh well, I guess I will have to live vicariously through everyone else. It was such an amazing day spent relaxing with family and friends.

Rainy Day Chocolate Chip Cookies!

There is nothing better on a Rainy Day than curling up in a warm quilt with freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies. Which is precisely what the boys and I did today. It has been raining like cats and dogs and isn't scheduled to let up until Sunday so we warmed up our home and our hearts with my favorite C.C.C. recipe. If I wasn't so comfortable I would get you the recipe so that you could enjoy the warm goodness too, maybe later. Here's to the warmth and comfort of C.C.C. on a cold rainy day. Yummy, Yummy.

Liven' the Good Life at HBS!

Summer is officially over on the campus of HBS and School is in full swing. We had the "Fall Fling" which use to be the BIG FALL PARTY when Kim was around! The boys got their faces painted in very exciting characters, they both got balloon snakes made for them, which were so cute, they even had a tongue sticking out. Both Isaac and Owen stuffed their faces with heavily decorated sugar cookies (I seriously have never seen so much frosting on one cookie before in my life). Jonathan was in heaven when Isaac brought one over for him to eat. We ate our fair share of chicken fingers, pizza, veggies and dip and juice boxes. I got to see some of my friends from last year and catch up a bit in between "mommy I need this, or mommy I need that". We had a fun time. It is great to be back!!

Owen and I went to the Crimson Kids Fall Parade. It is so much fun. Last year both Isaac and Owen were able to go, but since Isaac is now an official full dayer at school. It was a mommy and Owen outing. We got to see old friends from last year and meet new ones. Owen helped me decorate his "Shrek" scooter with green and white streamers and a big green balloon. When we were finished decorating we headed over to the playground and had a good time on the swings, airplane seesaw, slides and everything else that was there. After a while on the playground we heard the melodious sound of the ice cream truck. Owen was so excited he started yelling "Mommy, we get ice cream, we get ice cream!!" at the top of his lungs. Needless to say he alerted all the other children and they ran over to the truck to commandeer there treats. Owen of course chose "Spider Man". I thought it a bit freaky with the white eye balls sicking out which were really gum balls, but he really enjoyed eating it as well as getting it all over his shirt and pants. When the treats were successfully consumed and safely tucked away in the toddler tummies, we paraded our magnificently decorated bikes and scooters all around campus for everyone to see. Owen and I broke rank and headed over to Jonathan's office to see how is day was going and to show him Owen's decorating job. I had a great time hangn' out with my little buddy.

First Day of School

I can't believe that school has once again begun. My babies are off cultivating their minds with letters, numbers and a plethora of significant knowledge that they will need later in their lives.

Isaac is having a great time in first grade his teacher is Mrs. Blanchard. She is very kind and loves her job. We have lucked out with teachers for Isaac, everyone of them has added to his curiosity for learning and have enriched his life. I am grateful to them for loving what they do and giving my little man the encouragement that he needs.

Owen on the other hand is just beginning his educational adventure and is loving it. One of my dear friends runs a little pre-k school on Fridays to teach letters and numbers to children that are getting ready to go to kindergarten. Even though Owen has two years before kindergarten she was nice enough to let him join this year. Ever since I picked him up on Friday afternoon he has been asking me when he gets to go back to Miss Mary's house.

I feel so blessed to have two amazing little boys that love to learn and invent new things. I am truly excited to see what they choose to become. I'll have to keep you posted . . . . Can you tell that we are TRUE Red Sox fans?????

North and South!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge sucker for a sappy love story, which is why Hannah suggested that I watch North and South. (Thank you Hannah) They also know that I LOVE Pride and Prejudice! Mr. Darcy is such a lovable character with his "faults that can't be laughed at" and he will always have a special place in my heart. But Mr. Thornton has captured another part of my heart. He shows his hard exterior, but his vulnerability is almost enough to make me cry. I just want to jump into the screen and tell him everything is going to be ok and that he will get Margaret in the end. I know, I know I need help. The great thing about love stories at least for me is that I fall in love with Jonathan all over again because I compare these characters to him and I always find the attributes in him that made me fall in love with him in the first place. The tenderness, patience, integrity, honesty, humor, soft kisses and passionate ones. I have so much to be thankful for in my husband. So I send out a thank you to Miss Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell for their talents of insights into the males psyche. I highly recommend watching this movie. Just make sure that you have your warm blanket or someone to snuggle with. Yep, it's that good. You can watch it on youtube if you don't want to wait to purchase it.

Blueberry and Peach Picking!

On Friday Jonathan took the day off so we headed out to the country with the boys to pick Blueberries and Peaches. We know that Fall is on its way when we get to start harvesting our favorite fruits. There is nothing like picking a handful of blueberries off the bush and popping them in your mouth. Isaac was an amazing picker as usual and Owen was a huge eater as usual. You will notice from the pictures that Isaac's bucket is almost full while Owen's is empty. I made a deal with the boys that if they picked 5 blueberries then they could eat the 6th one. Isaac did well with the deal, but Owen was 5 for me and the 6th for me. After a while the boys got tired so Jonathan took them over to the playground that is next to the farm house. I stayed behind in the trenches and ended up picking 10 pounds of blueberries. GO ME!!! After we refreshed ourselves with our vanilla ice cream cones w/ rainbow jimmies and blueberry donuts we headed out to the peach trees to pick our bushel. The boys had a better time picking the peaches due to the fact that they are 500 times larger than the blueberries and much easier to get at. The whole ordeal lasted about 20 minutes, which was perfect for the boys attention span. We had fabulous weather, very tasty fruit and an awesome family day.

The Tanner Sybling Reunion!

Jonathan and I headed out with the boys on Monday morning of the 4th, and after arriving at the air port and being told that our flight was canceled due to the fact that our pilot didn't show up for work, any guesses why?, then being booked on a new flight for later that afternoon and re arriving at the air port then being told that our flight was delayed for about 3 hours because of a part that needed to be flown in from NYC that could have been done the day before because that is when they found out it needed to be replaced, then being booked on another flight, we finally arrived in Las Vegas 23 hours from the time we started our trip. To reward the boys for being such AMAZING troopers we booked a night at the Excalibur. The boys thought that it was pretty cool that we got to sleep in a castle. The room was pretty nice and we had a rockn' buffet breakfast the next morning. Any of you who know Jonathan know that he has a passion for the "Buffet". After breakfast we took the boys out to the small water park that they had at the hotel. Isaac had a great time on the water slide and Owen loved the "Hot Pool". I took Owen up to the water slide kicking and screaming and made him come down with me. When we made it to the bottom he was yelling "I did it mommy, I did it. Let's go again". He is such a crack up. After we had our fill of water sports we packed up the car and headed up to St. George to the condo. We had two days to ourselves before everyone started heading in for the reunion. I'll give you one guess as to what Jonathan did, yup he golfed and we took the boys to the driving range. I bought them golfing gloves. They were so cute I could have gobbled them up. We also spent a good amount of time in the pool. It was so relaxing! A much needed break for both of us. I fear that I was a bit more relaxed because Jonathan was still fine tuning his notes for his paper that he had to present in CA. So, on Wednesday everyone started rolling in. . . .

Ok, so our reunion ROCKED! We didn't camp like everyone else did because it would have been quite the interesting task to get all of our camping gear on the air plane, so we opted for the "pansy" out which was sleep at the posh family condo with AC, kitchen, soft beds, electricity, hot water and pool. We did have some company after a night or two, so I guess we weren't too pansy. It was great we went hiking, swimming, had some good laughs, more swimming, good food, more laughs, more swimming and then there was the Talent Show. Hannah and Eve thought that it would be good to have everyone tell a little bit about what we have all been doing over the years to get reacquainted since we haven't seen each other in so long. It was fun, we learned about new talents that we have acquired over the years, but the best was when Mike, Scott and Jonathan got a jiggn'. Here is a link to my sisters blog http://www.theshakespearskinny.blogspot.com/ once you watch this video you will never be the same again. On Friday Jonathan left to go to California for the Academy of Management Conference where he presented his paper on "Organizational Scope and the Returns to Focused Experience: Evidence of Complementarity from the Hospital Industry". Yah, long title and long paper. I was told that he did a good job, I just wish that I could have been there to watch him. But I was in St. George with the boys having a blast and living it up in the pool and relaxing. The boys and I flew home without a hitch. it was a great vacation.

July!

I know, I know, I have been a bad blogger this last little while. Shame on me. July was a crazy month, it was one of those months that so much went on that it feels like a year and a half ago that it all happened.

The month started out wild and crazy. The 4th of July weekend was jam packed with tons and I mean tons of events for us. In addition to the trip down to the Charles's River, with some of our good friends from HBS, for the famous "Boston Pops" music and fire works celebration and our annual drive down to Pawtucket, RI for our "Paw Sox" game and fire works, we had Jonathan's family and Rebekah's (J's sister-in-law) family in town for little Rachel's baby blessing. which was a lot of fun to see everyone. In addition to all of that family I also had a long lost Aunt which I must refer to as "My FAVORITE" Aunt or she will cut me out of her will, drive up from CT with two of my cousins and their family that I haven't seen in 15 years or never met before. Like I said it was a whirl wind of a weekend.

Later in the month Jonathan and I took the boys up to Tangle Wood to watch the John Williams concert. I had been wanting to go to this for the last 3 years so I was happy that we got to go this year. It was great to hear all of the music from our childhood movies like E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jaws etc. etc. The big focus was on Indiana Jones because of the movie that came out this year, which I have yet to see. Steven Spielberg even showed up to do some readings and put his spin on things. The night was very entertaining and I hope that we get to do it again next year. Now on to August!