Fun, Busy Weekend!

Saturday night, we had a great visit with the Stango family. We finally got to meet adorable little Andrew and see their GORGEOUS house! As you'll see from the following sequence of photos, Andrew gave Kyle one of his goldfish. Kyle had never had goldfish before but apparently really liked it because he snuck another when Andrew wasn't looking! Then they just hung out, snacking on goldfish and drinking some beers :) Andrew was so good at sharing (and he's only 19 months!). In addition to the goldfish, he also shared all his toys and kept bringing Kyle cars to play with, even "flower power"! Very cute and sweet little fellow, that Andrew.


Then Sunday, after spending most of the day finishing my various Shutterfly projects, we got our Christmas tree. We went to the same farm as last year and continue to be very impressed with their operation, as well as their tree selection. We took a tractor ride up to the highest field (gorgeous view of the sunset up there!) and had lots of great trees to choose from. And it was perfect timing..right after we (Jared) cut the tree down, the tractor circled back and brought us and our tree down the "mountain", where they put the tree on a mechanical "shaker" to get rid of any dead needles/leaves and then put it in netting. Kyle seemed to enjoy the whole experience, especially the tractor ride!

But then it was a very tense 20 minute ride home. I drove while Jared nervously watched our tree through the moonroof the entire time, afraid that he hadn't tied it well and worried it would blow off (like it did on the I-84 overpass a few years ago!). But his knots held and we put it up after Kyle went to bed, and decorated it when Jared got home from work today. Kyle likes looking at it but so far hasn't tried to grab the branches/ornaments...hopefully that continues (for both Kyle and Benson)!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Grammy put on a wonderful spread for us and Nonnie, complete with a delicious turkey from the Jordan Farm! Kyle enjoyed visiting with his grandmothers but wasn't overly interested in the turkey dinner (kind of like his mommy!). He was a very good little boy as usual though, and even took a nap during the meal so we were able to eat (and check out the progress on our new house) uninterrupted.

Then before heading home, we stopped at Jared's cousin's house in Sudbury, so that Kyle could meet some of the extended Berube family. Despite the crowd of new faces, Kyle just happily went about his business, with no signs of "stranger anxiety" (although he did crawl over to Mommy for frequent, but very brief, reassuring hugs).

As usual, Kyle fussed/cried/whined for most of the car rides, although we discovered that if Jared says "Woof Woof" in a loud, deep voice, Kyle totally snaps out of his funk and thinks it's absolutely hysterical! But that only buys us a few seconds of peace, and listening to Jared's "woof woof" isn't much better than listening to Kyle's fussing!

Being parents just gives a whole new meaning to Thanksgiving...we are just so incredibly thankful for our happy, healthy little boy, as well as our wonderful family, friends and life in general. We are truly blessed and are reminded of that every day (not just on Thanksgiving!).

14 Months!

Okay, I've been staring at the screen for a few minutes now and don't have anything exciting to report on the Kyle front, other than that he's the easiest, happiest, BEST little guy in the world and we love him so incredibly much. I think I'll leave it at that and get back to watching the Pats game...

Surprise!

Jared and I had a GREAT day yesterday, all made possible because of a phone call I received while Jared was outside doing yardwork on Saturday. His softball buddy (a season ticket holder) called to offer us two tickets! At first, I told him I'd call him right back, after I went outside to check with Jared. Then the wheels started turning and I thought it would be a great surprise for Jared. First, I called Grammy (who was hiking Mount Wachusett at the time) and confirmed her availability to watch Kyle. Then, I arranged to pick up the tickets, while I was out running errands Saturday night. And finally, I planned out my various "lies" to make it all work!

Jared thought we were heading up to MA to pick out bathroom fixtures for our new house. We dropped Kyle off at Grammy's house and headed out. I had put the tickets in an envelope and wedged it into the map on the passenger side door pocket (I was driving). About 20 minutes into the drive, I asked Jared to look at the map and see how far down our exit was on 495. He pulled out the map and saw the envelope, which had his name spelled wrong (Jarrod) in disguised handwriting so he wouldn't suspect anything. When he opened it, his reaction of confusion/disbelief/excitement was priceless! Totally made my day!! Surprises are so fun when they work, for both the surprisee and especially for the surpriser!!

And of course the game was awesome! It was a great win and AMAZING weather...felt like we were in Miami, not Foxboro!!

Halloween Fun on Lowell Ave!

We had a fun Halloween in Holden yesterday with Nonnie, Grammy, the Carpenters, the Pelletiers, Nance, and Marti! Our first stop of the day was Ottoson Way, to show Nonnie our lot (and now foundation!)...things are really moving along! After a yummy meal at Grammy's, Kyle proudly became the 3rd generation Lowell Ave purple dragon costume trick-or-treater (thanks Evan!). It was a very fitting costume for Kyle, as he's been practicing his scary dragon sounds since he was about 3 months old! The weather was perfect (except for the 10 second sprinkle), and Kyle enjoyed having Nonnie pull him around in the wagon...a dragon in a wagon! We were so happy that Nonnie was able to share in the fun (and chaos) of the day! And amazingly, Kyle slept the entire car ride home...first time that's happened since he was an infant!!