Christmas with Tristan and William

Santa was very generous at our house...



Tristan called Grandma to say "Merry Christmas!"


Mom and Dad soon realized that Tristan would be happy with just this one gift...


William loved his new Exersaucer


Mommy shows Tristan his new "Jack'c Big Music Show" video.


Tristan enjoyed his new camera (every one and a half year old needs his own digital camera, no?)

The Tale of the Technicolored Raindeer....

A couple of days before Christmas, Tristan's Aunt Tara came over to visit. She had an art project that required Tristan's participation. It involved a small wooden raindeer...and lots of paint.



On Christmas Day, the raindeer was presented to a very curious Aunt Debbie. Apparently, this was all a plot to distract Aunt Debbie from constant razing of her sister about the technicolor sheep she created as a child.



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On Christmas Eve, Tara had another art project for Tristan...but we forgot to tell her that Tristan is alergic to ginger.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Let it snow

This is what the house looked like during the first snow of the 2007 season. This is back when we thought snow was cute.



Now that we have lived through the second snow, the "honeymoon" phase has passed. Tom is very thankful for the early Christmas present his mother provided...an electric shovel. Unfortunately, it was only used to clear half of the circular drive this time...and now the other half is a 1" deep sheet of ice covered in hard snow. Winter cement.

Add to that the fact that the town people that clear our new sidewalks think that our driveway is a convenient dumping area for accumulated snow (after Tom has cleared a path for the car). Now there are two pillars of snow to navigate through in order to get to the street. And the quaint hump that leads from the street to the house is now a treatorous ice slide...fun for both driving over and walking to the mail and trash.

But is does make for a lovely picture.

A Visit with Saint Nick

Santa Claus welcomed Tristan and William to the North Pole earlier this month. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we have sent out a commemorative card to all of our friends and family.

Getting to Know you...Christmas Edition

Welcome to the "Christmas Edition" of getting to know your friends.

Jennifer's Answers:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper unless the item is too big… then a bow

2. Tree--Real or Artificial?
real… fake trees sort of depress me.. I like the falling pine needles and the pine smell

3. When do you put Christmas tree up?
about a week or two before Christmas

4. When do you take the tree down?
On or close to January 6

5. Like egg nog?
Yes, but only if it’s made from the extremely fattening recipe that Liam gave to me one year.. and it has to have a lot of rum!

Bloto?

No, Tristan and William are not blitzed. This is just an example of what can happen with a poorly timed snapshot.



Here is another shot...much cuter:

Just being cute...

These days, all of the girls at the gym think William is just the cutest little guy ever. From these pictures, you can see why:





Tristan, however, is going for a more sophisticated look...

Bounce Training

Tristan shows William how to bounce...

Breakfast togetherness

Full House

The house was full of kids today when Tom's friends and co-workers Tim and Mark brought their families over for a visit.



Tim and Nancy brought Julia and Thomas while Mark and Vivian brought Melissa and Jenna. It took a while for Tristan to "thaw" from his nap, but once he woke up, everyone seemed to have a ball.

The hit of the party was the box from the newly installed oven. Tristan's "boys only" refuge was quickly redecorated with the help of Julia's magic markers. What started out as a couple of drawn-on shutters quickly turned in a random work of modern art.



Eventually, the kids realized the box was just a ploy to let the adults watch the football game in peace.



And I don't know about you...but if you know Tim, Thomas is an almost erry duplicate.

Tristan's First Fort

Tristan discovered the wonders of the appliance-box hide out after mom and dad got a new oven.

Happy Halloween!

Tristan and William celebrated Halloween in their new neighborhood along with their new friends Abby and Tigh. At first, Tristan didn't quite understand what was going on, but after about 10 houses or so, he started to get the idea (as can be seen here)



Halloween was also an opportunity for Jennifer to show off her creative side with some Jack-O-Lantern carving:



William was in costume, but there weren't any good pictures. You can see him in his HotDog outfit in last week's Ragamuffin Parade.

William's Baptism

Thank you to everyone who helped to celebrate William Michael's Baptism...whether they could make it in person or not. William had over 100 well wishers welcome him to the Catholic community. Jen, Tom and Tristan are truly blessed to have such friends and family to share with William.



Msgr Thomas Gilleese performed the ceremony in Jen and Tom's new parish church, St. John and St. Mary. This capped of a "small world" experience which turned up several months ago when Jen and Tom found out that Msgr Gilleese was to be their new pastor. You see, he is the same priest who baptised Tristan last year at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Proud Godparent's Danielle and Bobby came by the house before the cermony to make certain that their soon-to-be godson was ready.



And big brother Tristan was there as well to make sure all went right.



I don't know if you can tell...but preparing a party for 100 people and getting two babies out of the house on time can cause even the most stylish of parents to look a bit harried.



And then when the ceremony was over, it seems the guest of honor was left to slumber in the party hall's kitchen



but if you spun around from the spot where that picture was taken, you can see that he was hardly alone.



And here are more of the 100 odd well wishers...

The boys...just hangin'

William enjoys his first fire

Ragamuffin Parade

Chappaqua's annual Ragamuffin Parade had two new stars this year: Tristan and William (Mom was looking kinda hot, too.)

Tristan's friend (and neighbor) Abby was in the parade, too.