Happy 2009!

Hi, all! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Christmas this year was very relaxed and joyous. Sebastian has loved all the festivities of the holiday season and "wooowwwww'ed" his way home from daycare every evening leading up to the big day as he admired all of the Christmas lights and lawn ornamentation. He loves turning on our Christmas tree lights with an excited, "Voila!!!"

Christmas morning was delightful as he helped us open the presents and then happily handed them over to the rightful owner. I honestly had no idea how he would react to all of the gifts, so we were pleasantly surprised by how well he took it all in stride. We rounded out the evening with a lovely and delicious dinner with our friends Kevin and Kristin at their home in Arlington.

New Year's was very mellow and Edward and I were just impressed that we actually stayed up until midnight! Go figure! :> Tonight we're going for a marathon Wii tennis tournament...this is now possible because my amazing husband bought me a Wii for Christmas!! YAHOOOO!!!

Sending much love to all!! We'll let you know when Baby Number Two arrives!!

The kitchen make-over is done!

While we've always loved the blue/yellow/white color scheme of the kitchen, we've been longing for some much-needed extra counter space and a flooring upgrade (the time had come to replace the torn white linoleum). So, we decided to stick with the color scheme, but added a little more than three feet of counter space without losing much in terms of storage and decided to go a little fancy with tile flooring -- a mix of ceramic tiles and small blue glass tiles for accents. We got rid of the crazy mini-cabinet that used to be next to the back door and now have a fabulous FULL sized cabinet in its place. We have a new sink and faucet which have been heaven to use (those low-rise sinks rock), and are enjoying a place for all of our cookbooks.

Here are some before and after photos. I wish I had taken some more of the "before" photos, but you get the idea. The best part is that the contractor finished just in time for us to host our friends Steve and Ruth for Thanksgiving!! :> Perfect. What's difficult to see in the photos is the fancy new Silestone countertop - all blue. It replaces the old, beige-ish laminate countertops, and especially since there is more of it to use, it's great.

Some recent photos.

For his second birthday, Edward and I bought Sebastian a ride-on toy, and his favorite thing to do is ride around on it with his stuffed doggie. He also puts one of his other doggies on it and pushes it around the house. It's awfully cute.

Today, he was helping Papa clear out all the leaves from our back garden. He actually helped out the ENTIRE time...unbelievable.

Happy Halloween!!

Sebastian seemed to really enjoy Halloween, again, this year. Last year, he and Maddie Mailloux got to hang out together, and they had a fine time! This year, we walked over to Sebastian's friend Ellie's house, but the two of them were so super mobile we couldn't get a single photo of them together! I guess that's what happens when you have two active toddlers running around. We'll have to learn to snap the photos more quickly in the future. Hoping everyone had a fun and festive Halloween!!!

Playing in the park!

Some photos from a day in the park/playground up the street...

SBB and Maya in DC

These photos are courtesy of our friends Chris and Beverly. They're from an afternoon visit and picnic downtown at the end of the summer. It was a perfect day.

Apple picking with the Morrisons

The Blisses, Morrisons, and about a million other families decided to spend the day apple picking! :> Given how few apples were left on the trees, I have a feeling this may be the last weekend possible, so I'm glad we squeezed in the trip.

We went to the same orchard we visited two years ago with the Maillouxes, so I thought it would be fun to throw in a photo or two from our prior visit. It's unbelievable to think about how much has changed in the past few years. Not only did baby number one arrive about a month and a half after that visit, but now we've got baby number two on the way!!

Sending much love to everyone,

Jeanne, Edward and Sebastian

Here are some of the photos from 2006... :>