my little baby boy

ok, so i'm not talking about weston, i'm talking about my other little baby boy, henry:o) he's been at bird dog training school for over a month now, and we have all really missed him! i was actually surprised at how hard it has been for me! i didn't even realized i was that attached to him, but i honestly couldn't even go in his room for the first 2 weeks. we are only allowed to see him twice during this whole process, so it's been tough for all of us. a couple sundays ago we got our first visit with him. despite the fact that his strong poop smell made my eyes water, it was so great to see him! he is doing well, and we loved seeing how excited he got to show us his bird pointing skills. he held point for over a minute! anyway, i know that he was born to do this and loves it, so i will suffer through the next couple months until he comes home again. we miss you, henry!!

january

what did we do during january?? well, during our snow days we...

1) played beauty parlor (i'm told this look was for a date night with daddy.)

2) roasted weenies in the fireplace...
and s'mores!
ella likes hers barely toasty while i like to burn mine til they are flaming!
3) i made gingerbread men and women for weston's christmas party that got cancelled before winter break due to snow.
they were a big hit!
4) and chad made deer sausage with the new grinder and sausage stuffer attachments he got for my kitchenaid mixer.

it was quite a busy month! hahahaha!

OUR CHRISTMAS VACATION TO NEWPORT, RI/BOSTON, MA

*sorry it's so confusing! the pictures are in order from the bottom up, but the headings of every day tell you what we did. i will never figure this blog thing out!:o)

DAY 5 HEADING HOME

thursday morning, weston woke me up early crying with severe ear pain. chad went to the pharmacy to get some meds while i packed up. after a dose of tylenol and some homeopathic earache chewables, he was back to his old self again! we at breakfast at franklin spa and said "goodbye" to newport and "hello" to an 11 hour drive home (mostly due to 4 hours of traffic in new york and new jersey).

just in case you wanted to dress like a british male...
breakfast at franklin spa

weston greeting me at the crack of dawn with his earache. he was not a happy camper!

DAY 4 IN BOSTON, MA

we had train tickets to go to boston on monday (the day of the blizzard) so we cancelled our tickets and waited for the weather to subside. by wednesday we were ready to go and decided to drive into the city instead, so we could stop off at the american girl doll store for ella. after that we ate lunch in boston at charlie's sandwich shoppe, this little local dive that had the best food! it doesn't have a bathroom, only takes cash, and is pretty dirty, but the food was some of the best we had all week! after lunch we drove to the museum of science to let the kids explore. this was not a well thought out plan on my part, seeing as how all of the kids were on christmas break and had been trapped in the house the past couple of days because of the snow. it was really crowded! it was still a cool museum and the kids had fun, so all was not lost. we got back to the hotel pretty late, but had an awesome day out!

the sunset in boston...

the tyrannosaurus rex was decorated for christmas:o)
the museum had a live reptile exhibit while we were there, so we got to see a lizard (pictured below), a snake, and baby crocodile up close and personal.

chad liked doing the intellectual experiments while...
weston liked doing the physical experiments.
ella loved this thing! you had to run really fast and try and beat the lights that would light up on the wall. in this picture it is in front of her, but i am pretty sure she beat it at least once! that girl is fast! i think she takes after her mama;o)
i took this picture inside to show the police in case they got lost. it was incredibly crowded for the first couple of hours!
gotta love boston traffic!
we parked on the top level of the parking deck which turned out to be an amazing view of the city! you can see the museum of science building in the background.
the cityscape from a bridge...it was such a beautiful day!
heading in the city...

AFTER

ella's babies got their hair done at the american girl doll store since they desperately needed it! baby sissy also got glasses and new jammies and baby bubby got some new jammies too.

AFTER

BEFORE

BEFORE

poor baby sissy has a lazy eye that is very prominent in this picture. she has been "loved" a little too much!
i took this picture in the bathroom stall where they had hooks to hang your dolls. i thought it was so cute! baby bubby lost his shoe, but thankfully we found it in the car after we left the store!

ella posed for a picture in front of the american girl doll store in boston with baby bubby and baby sissy.

DAY 3 IN RI

our 3rd in newport was spent solely (hahaha, get it?) on foot. that is one thing that i loved most about being there. we walked to shops, to lunch, back to the hotel for a nap, and then walked back out for dinner. it was so nice to be able to be close to everything! this is a just a picture of part of newport where we were shopping.
this wave was down by the waterfront, but also very close to the ice skating rink. i thought that was kind of funny:o)

the kids eating "vacation cereal" a.k.a. the little boxes of sugared cereal that i never allow them to eat unless we are on vacation:o)

DAY 2 IN RI

that night we ended our long snowy day with a dip in the hotel pool. thank goodness for the sauna! the kids were like little ice cubes crossing the parking lot to our condo!

as you can tell from the picture, we risked our lives in the freezing cold wind to stand in front of plymouth rock where the pilgrims first landed in american and carved the 1620 into the rock! ok, i'm not sure if that part is actually true, but it better be for how cold we had to be to see it!
plymouth rock!
where the rock is...
after our drive around the coast we decided to drive to plymouth rock, massachusetts. let's just say that it wasn't quite what i thought it would be:o)
literally getting blown away! look at my hair!
this is a close up shot of our hotel from the other side of the island. our building is the one to the right of the white plastic building.
we drove around the island and over to fort adams, which was closed for the season, so we braved the wind for a couple pictures and almost got blown away trying to get back in the car!

it's hard to really tell from this picture, but the wind was blowing so hard that the waves were crashing and breaking way out in the water and up on the rocks. i also thought it was really neat to see a beach covered in snow. you don't get to see that in the south!
just some of the huge beautiful houses along ocean drive!

DAY 1 IN RI

well, the snow started our first day in RI. we ventured out to see the newport mansions because that is something i definitely wanted to do in case the blizzard lasted our whole trip and snowed us in. we took audio tours of the breakers and the elms and it was so awesome! these houses were insane, but you couldn't take pictures inside, so i bought a book to remember the insides. afterward, we ate lunch at la forge casino restaurant next to the tennis hall of fame. i had my very first lobster roll and some good ole new england clam chowder! yum:P
at la forge...
the elms...
the elms
this is a picture of a really old and really cool church that was close to our hotel. i loved all of the architecture in new england and especially in newport. i could take pictures of all of the buildings (especially the old churches) and make a book! i just really love the history there.
the breakers... (go to: http://www.newportmansions.org/ for more info on the mansions)
another view...
heading out for the day
the newport bridge from our balcony. at one point during the blizzard, it was so bad that you could no longer see the bridge or any of the boats in the water!

the view from our balcony with the newport bridge in the background.

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE CAR

after opening presents at home and at chad's grandma's, we packed up the kids and the car and headed to newport, ri! the drive only took us 7 1/2 hours and there were so many cool cities to look at! so much different then driving south! we crossed through: washington, d.c., maryland, new jersey, delaware, new york, connecticut, and into rhode island. i don't think i forgot any! anyway, it was a pleasant drive up there and weston's new ds and ella's new leapster game came in very handy, as did toy story 3 (thanks to the grandparents).

CHRISTMAS MORNING

chad's favorite christmas present came in handy on our long trip. we filled it with coffee everyday and took it with us for our caffeine fix:o) because we take a vacation during christmas break, our presents for the kids and each other are not that expensive (although chad did get me a droid x this year:o)
weston loves his new underwear!
ella loves her new baby carrier!
this was what they looked like when they saw the scooter and bb gun that santa left for them!

CHRISTMAS EVE

we always spend christmas eve going to the candlelight service at our church and then opening presents at chad's parents' house. the kids have such a great time and are always really hyped up and have a hard time falling asleep.
baby bubby got some new clothes! thanks, aunt bethy!
emory got a new baby doll that she carried around the rest of the night.