We're home again and we had such a terrific trip! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is looking forward to an amazing 2010! We drove to CT on the night of Sunday, December 20th and the girls did an terrific job in the car. While it was tough on Brian driving through the night, the girls slept the entire drive, which made it well worth the effort. We were so excited to see Grammy when we arrived and she was amazed at how big the girls have gotten and how much they have changed in the two months since she'd seen them!
We had a wonderful Christmas week and Brian and I were spoiled by getting to sleep in while Grammy and Grandpa Chuck got up with the girls every morning. The girls were hugely spoiled on Christmas with toys, clothes, and other goodies...it was incredible how many things they received (we couldn't fit everything in the car on the way home!). Christmas Eve was my favorite night of the trip and we got the girls dressed in their Christmas dresses and headed out for our Christmas Eve parties (I've been going to these since I was the girls' age). We showed them off and passed them around and it's safe to say that Macy was the hit of the party. She talked to everyone, smiled at everyone and truly thrived in the party environment. Sadie, while a bit more cautious, also did great being passed from friend to friend! It was a great night and the girls looked ADORABLE!
Christmas Day was a frenzy of gift opening at Grammy's house and then at Grandad's house and the we all definitely scored big time in wonderful gifts! On the 26th, the girls got to meet Uncle Jeff (Chuck's son) and his girlfriend Rae for the first time. Aunt Kate (Chuck's daughter) also spent the day with us, while did even more unwrapping of gifts!
After Christmas, Brian and I were thrilled to get our first opportunity to take a small trip without the girls and remember what it was like to spend time with our adult friends, while staying up late and sleeping in! After many tears on the way out from Mommy (the girls didn't shed a tear), we left for Boston, while the girls stayed with Grammy and Grandpa Chuck. While in Boston, we stayed with our good friends Paul and Rachel. Rachel and I have known each other since elementary school and all four of us used to hang out together many years ago on Nantucket. We had a great few days of non-stop dining out, shopping and relaxing. We met up with a friend of Brian's from high school and also spent time with Aunt Sarah. We loved seeing her apartment and where she worked and miss her so much! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL two days, but we couldn't wait to get home to see the girls.
Poor Grammy and G.C. (Grandpa Chuck) spent two sleepless nights with sick babies (now they can understand what I go through!) and I think they were relieved to have us back! The girls still have colds, but they are on the mend! After spending New Year's Eve with my friend from high school, Laura, we headed home on the evening of New Year's Day. It was sad to leave CT and I miss everyone terribly, but we were so lucky to spend such a great two weeks there! Grammy misses the girls terribly and cries everytime she sees something that reminds her of them (which is quite reminiscent of when I left for college!), but we can't wait for her to visit us in February! The drive home took us 14 hours instead of the normal 9.5 hours due to a horrible snow storm, but we made home safely, yet exhausted...
Since, poor Bogey doesn't get much "air time" on the blog, I thought I'd fill you in... While we were in Boston, Bogey had a bit of a frizbee accident with G.C. After a visit to the emergency vet, we discovered that poor Bogey had an injured spine/neck. He's on lots of meds and needs to rest for 6 weeks, but we fully aniticipate that he'll be good as new in a few months! Here he is resting amongst toys on Christmas Day!
And now, on to the pictures! I have great news to share...my Christmas gift this year from Brian was a new camera! I'm now the proud owner of a Nikon D3000! While it will require some lessons on my part, I plan to improve my picture quality greatly, now that I have my new gift and will continue to share them all with you!!
This picture was taken as a practice shot, right after receiving my AWESOME new toy!
Christmas Eve, Sadie dressed in her Christmas best!
Macy, looking adorable! She lost her shoes by the end of the night, because of all of her partying!
My cuties, getting ready for the their first Christmas Eve!
Macy, wasn't so fond of her bow, so here's where it ended up...."Who turned off the lights??"
Our family on Christmas Eve!
The girls playing with the kids at Annie's house. You may recognize them as the flower girl and ring bearers from our wedding!!
Grammy and G.C. at the Shea's party on Christmas Eve! Notice Macy's missing shoes...party animal!
Grammy read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to me every Christmas Eve when I was little, so to pass on the tradition, here I am reading it to the girls before bed. It was a very special time for me and one I can't wait to do again next year!
The girls on Christmas morning, opening their stockings. Grammy got them wonderful stockings with their names embroidered on the them!
G.C. with Macy on Chrismas!
Grammy and Sadie
Round two of gift opening at Grandad's house. Wrapping paper and ribbon were our favorite toys!
Sadie, enjoying her paper!
Mommy and Sadie on Christmas!
Macy showing Grandad her new trick, giving "open mouth" kisses on the lips!
Just for fun, here's a picture of Sadie eating in her high chair. She is so funny recently and gets REALLY excited for food, so she opens her mouth very wide and breathes heavily, when the food is in sight.... "Give me that food!"
"Ahhh, that was yummy!"
So, that's our trip in a nutshell! We're back and busy with moving! The new furnace and A/C are going in this week and then we will begin slowly moving our things into the new house. We can't wait to have people over and have friends come to visit!!! Oh, and just so it's noted...I swear that Sadie said "Mama" this morning. It was totally by accident, but I'm going on record here saying that it was her first word!!!
Can we eat this sign?
Macy wants to show you that she is eight months old today!
Here's a picture of the great room from the upstairs walkway. Please excuse the fact that we have none of our living room furniture yet, but for now, the girls are loving playing in all of the open space. They think it's hilarious when we lean over the balcony and talk to them!
Not only are the girls holding their own bottles, but they do so well with their sippies of water too. It continues to amaze me each and every day how fast they are growing up. I'm going to miss this time so much, as they are just such a blast and learning new things EVERY day!
Somehow our girls managed to get the most beautiful blue eyes! They are truly gorgeous, especially in the sunlight, when you can see the many shades of blue in each eye! Macy's dark, long eye lashes make her eyes pop even more and I'm so jealous. Sadie, like me, seems to have light colored eye lashes, that match her strawberry hair. I think she'll have a lifetime of wearing mascara to make her eyelashes noticeable! 
