I need to catch up with my posts! Obviously we have lots of pictures from Christmas! The annual Leggett Christmas party at Rob and Joanne's kicked off our holiday season!
The kids in their adorable outerwear, compliments of Gumma! I'm just amazed that they agreed to wear it!
The fam outside
The fam inside!
Little Miss Pretty!
Aunt Kate and Dana
Cousin Jan-Jan!
The babes, minus Estelle who was sleeping soundly in her car seat!
Proud grandparents!
The four older kids. It's so fun to see them play so well together as they get older.
The family watching the annual Christmas DVD of the years best family photos. Great job Joanne and Sue!
A great birthday weekend for the big girl. We had a family party Friday night and gave Isabel her big present, a princess castle! While her initial reaction to the gift was a little mellow, she loves it and it's provided countless hours of entertainment for both her and Cooper! Saturday morning we had a little party with a couple of her friends and did some cookie decorating which was really fun. I learned from Cooper's last birthday that just a few kids were enough, and to keep it to a 2 hour party! It was perfect! We were so lucky to have Grammy spend the weekend with us. Mommy and Daddy even got to go out with their friends Saturday night while Grammy babysat! Thanks Grammy!! The big girl starts preschool in a couple weeks, so we'll keep you updated on that!
Emma is really cute right now. She's really into grabbing faces and trying to eat them. I just pretend she's giving me lots of kisses and love!!!
Snuggle/story time with Grammy!
The kiddie party. Cookie decorating was a hit!
The birthday girl!
The not-so-exciting video of Isabel getting her princess castle!!!
One of the reasons that I love Thanksgiving is that it marks the beginning of Christmas season!! And we LOVE Christmas!! We were very excited to get our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and by the end of the day it was decorated as was the house!
Mommy doing the lights with my little helper (who for some reason is constantly taking off her clothes...). This is always my job. I've inherited the role from my Mom, who always put up the lights in our house. While I'm getting better each year, Gumma is truly the expert at putting up the lights, keeping the cords hidden and not leaving one branch light-less!
Mommy's little elf.
The finished product!
The next weekend we attended the opening weekend of "A Very Merry Middlebury Christmas." It is the second annual (I think), town celebration headed by the Better Middlebury Partnership. Quite a few of our friends are part of that group and play essential roles in putting this and many other wonderful events together. They do an AMAZING job! So we started off the day watching Santa ride across the town bridge on top of a fire truck. Then we got hot chocolate from the "Hot Chocolate Hut" complete with whip cream and marshmellows! Followed by a visit with Santa himself!!
Cooper was great this year. He had his list all ready to spout of to Santa! Isabel wouldn't even look at him, let alone go near him or his lap! Santa happens to be a friend of ours and so when he called them by their names, I think it actually freaked her out a bit!
Emma was great, she sat right on his lap and began to pull on the beard! She grabs at anything she can these days!
There was quite a line to see Santa, and Gogo was doing his community duty and giving out the numbers to everyone waiting.
We finished off the morning with a horse drawn carriage ride around town! It was an awesome weekend, and we are so thankful to all that helped put it together!
We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with all the Perines, Ryans and Livesays. It was one of the few times that we've had everyone together for more than a day or two. I had totally prepared for a very chaotic Thanksgiving with lots of crying babies and sparring toddlers, but luckily all the kids and babies were so good! It was an amazingly relaxing and fun time. We have so much to be thankful for this year, especially the addition of the 4 baby girls, Emma, Janet, Dana and Estelle!
We did have some snow on the day before Thanksgiving so we took advantage and got in a little sledding on the driveway. The rest of the weekend turned out to be warmer and quite nice, so we got in more outdoor time.
The girls (Alice, Eva and Isabel), had a great time playing together. They got along very well and had lots of fun. So great to have everyone together!
Who knew playing in a pantry could be so fun?
Bathtime with all 4 older kids. Eva was the back scrubber!
Playground!
A nice stop at the Waybury pub for some beer and apps after a fun time at the playground
We had a photo shoot the morning after Thanksgiving. Cooper insisted on having a "boys picture". And since he's been a little overrun with girl cousins of late, we decided to indulge him!
Play time with Emma and Janet. Sorry Janet, Emma's going through a grabbing phase!
I think that's a smile from Janet under there!
Gumma wanted to do a photo shoot since the whole family was together. She assigned each family a color to dress in with khakis. With a little effort on everyone's part, we pulled it off!
I cannot get enough of this little munchkin. She's so lovable!
Baby Estelle, Eva's little sister. SO CUTE! And so quiet, I don't think I heard her cry once during their 4 day stay!
Cooper has taken up a sudden interest in planets and stars. This is Cooper and Gogo looking at a constellation book. One of my favorite childhood memories is looking at the constellations with Dad while he recited many of the myths behind them. It was really fun to see Cooper get so excited about this (I think Gogo enjoyed it just as much as well)!
And last, but certainly not least, a picture of Dana and her big sister! Yes, Dana's cheeks give Emma's a run for her money!
We were so happy to have Aunt Casey come and visit us this weekend! It's been such a crazy few weeks for us, and her visit was a great escape for us! We had a nice, low key weekend which was greatly needed. The kids had a blast with Casey, as did we!
Fun play
Emma is loving her standing toy. She is actually getting the hang of bouncy in it too.
Sweet Big Sister Isabel!
Sisters!
Emma and Mommy preparing for Emma's first meal of cereal!
Not quite sure about this. She really didn't take to it as well as Cooper and Isabel did. I think she was too distracted by her siblings to really even know what was going on.
Emma has this funny habit of covering her eyes when she takes a bottle or nurses. Very funny.
Emma was a happy girl with her Aunt Casey!
This was the second trial of cereal. Didn't get much more down that time. We're able to get some down at this point, but she doesn't really seem to enjoy it. We will probably move on to some squash soon and see how she does with that!
Emma absolutely LOVES her sister Isabel, and especially her brother Cooper. I swear, Cooper can make Emma smile at the drop of a hat. He is pretty wonderful with her too. Very sweet and gentle. Here are some adorable interactions between the two...
Emma is doing great overall. She's in very good health and the doctor's don't even feel the need to see her again. She's finally getting more comfortable at daycare. She had a rough transition (the hardest of the three by far), but she's also been the most attached to me as well. I can't say that doesn't excite me though. I'm totally coddling her (sorry Pat!) as she's very likely our last little baby!!!! Trying to soak in every moment!
