A Very Merry Christmas...

Well, my folks left as scheduled and I'm happy to report that the kids and I survived our first full day alone. The following week was spent just the 5 of us and we had a ball playing tons of card and board games and getting ready for Christmas. Here are some pictures from that week:

 

 

 

 

While most advent calendars count down to Santa/Christmas, ours was more of a countdown to Nonni, Nonno and Zia's arrival!! December 24th began with the big trip to the airpot to pick Sue up. As some of you may recall, the last time Sue flew to town, Ethan set off the airport alarm when he excitedly ran through the security gate before Sue had a chance to come through it. Not to be outdone, Josh trumped his brother's mishap this time around when curiosity got the better of him and he pressed the emergency stop button on the baggage carousel (under Sue's watch I might add... heh heh). The worst part is they were unable to restart the belt until security cleared it and an electrician came, so bags were stuck in an inaccessible area and passengers had to line up to file baggage claims. Needless to say, Pete and I slunk away and pretended not to know the mischievous monkey while Sue sheepishly took her spot at the back of the line. Surprisingly, people handled the delay quite well... phew!

Things got considerably better from there. Nonni and Nonno arrived mid-afternoon and finally got to meet their grand-daughter:





We had the traditional Christmas Eve fondue for dinner which Pete and I hosted for the first time (complete with oil, cheese AND chocolate!), which was followed by Nonno's reading of "The Night Before Christmas" and the boys putting out milk and cookies for Santa.

The following were taken after we got dressed up for Christmas dinner (graciously put on by Nonni). Try to ignore Josh's "bobo" on his nose - Ethan built a bridge from the couch to the coffee table which Josh sadly thought would hold him... sigh):




The next few days were spent playing with new toys, tobogganing and playing hockey. We celebrated Sue's birthday on the 27th and then said our farewells the morning of the 28th. It was a wonderful Christmas visit! Here are a couple of pictures from Sue's celebration (Ethan and I made "castle cakes" using my new cake pan which I got as a Christmas present from Sue):




The weather has finally warmed up a bit and we're able to spend more time outside. Leah is growing like a weed and we estimate she's around 8.5 pounds now. She is smiling consistently as of this morning so we'll do our best to capture it and post her gorgeous grin on here in a couple of days.