Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We're having a lot of fun with Josiah on his first Christmas. We didn't know what to expect from a ten month old, but he was thrilled to find a 'trike' under the tree when he woke up this morning, and has already figured out how to 'ride' it and ring the bell!! it's supposed to be for 18+ month olds! he's a smarty. we had a fun christmas eve party in new hampshire with my dad's family and today we're heading over to mom and dad's for christmas dinner and more presents. josiah is wound up with excitement over all of his new toys. :)
we hope you're having a merry christmas! love you!!

The Biggest Loser Finale

My brother Matthew came very close to winning $50,000.00 this Wednesday. Of course, he is a winner in so many ways.....but the money would have been nice. :) I just wanted to post his before and after pics for you. He lost 176 lbs!!! Only two other contestants have lost more than him in the history of the show. He was a class-act on the show, graciously acknowledging all of his co-competitors and congratulating Poppi from New Jersey when she won the prize. As you can see, he looks fabulous.

Monday Monday

the 'biggest loser' finale is this week, so be sure to watch the first part (wednesday 8 p.m. on nbc) to see if matthew wins his prize! you'll be amazed by his weightloss. :)

i know i just told you that i broke my camera in my last post, but here are some pictures from last week, prior to the tragedy. our first snow didn't amount to much, but i did manage to get a picture of that. it only snowed for a couple of hours and then melted away the same day.

this picture is a cute one of josiah, showing his usual tongue stance. for the past week, he has been spitting up and a little fussy, so we may see a tooth soon. he's nearly ten months old (on the 22nd), and not a one yet.

his latest achievements: he gabbers incessantly, mostly saying da da and ba ba, reserving ma ma for when he's crying. he's always breathing loudly and snuffling and drooling. he never learned to sit; just went straight to crawling. now he has been surfing furniture for about a month. i have never seen him sit still. he waves and claps and reaches out for all the things he wants. he loves to unplug things (if the answering machine doesn't pick up when you call, blame it on josiah), flip switches, turn knobs, splash in the dog bowl, eat dirt from our ficus (sp?) tree, and open and shut doors. he bangs on the piano, tugs on heidi's tail, and pulls books off of the bookcase. he is a very busy little boy. the only quiet time when he is around is when he is being fed; he won't tolerate being spoonfed for long, so i litter his tray with little morsels and he entertains himself with it. he makes my life very interesting. :)

logan and i haven't done any shopping yet for christmas. it's beginning to dawn on me that christmas is only two weeks away!!! wow.

Sad news...

I broke my digital camera!!! I'm hoping "Santa" delivers a new one to me this Christmas. hint hint. :)

I was carrying Josiah and the camera across pavement = disaster!!!

Yesterday we had three inches of snow, and I was so bummed I couldn't take pictures to post. Our yard is absolutely glorious! We're surrounded by snow-covered trees. I am truly feeling the spirit of Christmas now. :)

Spreading Chrismas Cheer

The new ladies group at my church brought our kids caroling to a few assisted living facilities this Tuesday. The children passed out ornaments and sang a few numbers by themselves, and we all sang traditional carols together. Josiah spent the time climbing up walkers and wheel chairs, making the residents smile. I have to say: I think Josiah may be the cutest child ever to be born on earth. I'm not biased or anything. :) We also took pictures of the four cousins in matching pajamas. What a fiasco!!! It was a miracle to get one shot where one of the babies wasn't sobbing. We finally gave them lollipops, which made them happy.

Gag gift

You may have noticed that in the last few posts, I have been very careful to capitalize properly. I was inspired to curb my typing flaws by a gag gift from my brother-in-law Barry while we were in NC. A clever man! We'll see how long I can keep this up. You may need to click on the picture to read his note that accompanied the shift key.

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

We spent a week in North Carolina with Logan's family for Thanksgiving/Christmas, from Nov. 18th to the 25th. Josiah travelled very well, which was a pleasant surprise, and we had a wonderful time with friends and family. We came home with suitcases loaded down with new toys, clothes, ham, and peanuts.

Fun with Papa Perry

While we were in North Carolina for Thanksgiving, Papa Perry introduced Josiah to the essentials of farm life. He experienced cows and puppies up close and personal for the first time, started up his first John Deere tractor, and inspected his grandpa's oil truck. An educational day for little Master Perry!

Home Sweet Home II

Home Sweet Home

Here are the long awaited pictures of our home, plus some pictures of Logan hard at work transplanting trees and tearing down our eye-sore of a shed. I think there must be a limit to the number of pictures per post, so there are two posts.

climbing to new heights

while josiah has not mustered up the courage to let go and walk yet, he has mastered his absolute favorite activity: climbing! can you imagine how frightening this must be to his parents?!? this morning he was climbing into the refridgerator, and this afternoon he was out of my sight for literally twenty seconds before i found him climbing up the pull-down stairs to the attic! he was on the third step already!!! aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

here's a couple cute pictures of josiah watching his daddy through the window. logan is working hard to cut down trees around our yard before he goes to a tree farm on saturday to transplant firs. we need more coverage between our neighbors. josiah was slapping the windows trying to get logan's attention. :)

fall ramblings

i've been waiting to post until i could get some pictures of josiah in his halloween costume, but my brother is taking his dear sweet time getting them to me. my camera battery died, or else i would have blogged that night to show off my little cutie! so they will come as soon as i get them.

other mentionable days since my last blog are larissa's wedding shower last weekend and my church's ladies retreat this past weekend.

the 'shower' was really a day at a finnish sauna, which was a real adventure!!! :) if there hadn't been naked fins running out to jump in the freezing pond, i don't think it would have had the same impressiveness. i couldn't work up my own nerve to get in the frigid water, but i did thoroughly enjoy the 200 degree heat and walked away with every muscle in my body completely relaxed. leave it to larissa to have a unique shower! of course, we all kept our swimsuits on. :)

i only went up saturday for the ladies retreat since i had to tote along my little babe and i didn't feel like attempting a night away with him. he's doing much better with his sleeping routine, which has improved my quality of life substantially. anyway, the day away was so nice and it was great to get to know some of the other women in my church better. when i got home, logan had a pot roast in the oven for us and red roses. i guess he missed me!! :)

i'll post again as soon as i have some pictures from halloween. until then, be well.

joy and sorrow

it's been a busy week already! monday night my whole family met in portland and were treated to a feast by my brother danny. he is the top salesman for his business out on the west coast, and was visiting from nevada for a conference. after dinner, he took matthew's kids to toys'r'us and bought them all kinds of toys. danny is so generous and such a good person. i'm so proud of him.

yesterday i had a meeting in the morning for a new women's ministry starting at my church. it is exciting to talk about the vision of the group and what sorts of service projects we'll be doing. then i babysat caleb and noah for a couple hours. it is going to be a lot of fun watching noah and josiah grow up together and go to school together, etc. their personalities are pretty different from each other, but they play very well together.

besides trying to keep up with laundry, etc., i've been trying desperately to balance our checkbook. i haven't done it since july, so i have a lot of making up to do. i'm just about there! into october at last. i've been working at the coffeeshop when i can, and will be there 10-3 today. mom's going to take josiah home with her.

and finally, some tragic news. i got a call this morning from my mom. her little muffy got hit by a car last night. we both broke down crying over the phone. muffy was a two year old, two pound, black long-haired dachshound. she was fearless and adventurous, and a bit ditsy. i'm sure she was enjoying her little jail break out of the house. muffy was my dad's favorite of the dogs, so he's heartbroken as well. i wish i had a digital picture of her to share with you. she was too cute. i'm worried about her sister molly and 'momma' frankie. i'm sure they're a little traumatized. it's so hard to lose a pet.

squirrel island

it seems like we are always too busy to do fun things on holidays this year, but columbus day proved to be a delightful change of pace for us! we still got up at 6 a.m. as usual and logan went off to work on squirrel island. then at 10:30 a.m. josiah and i caught the ferry to join logan for lunch and explore his new job site. josiah was fascinated by the wake made by the ferry, which took 20 minutes, and was excited to see his daddy waiting for us on the dock. i was stunned by the beauty of this small island when we arrived. it is 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide, with 105 buildings on it, all built in the late 1800's and early 1900's. the winding paths are lined with wild flowers and there are monarch butterflies everywhere! the island is so quiet and peaceful. i'm sure the sea air and cold will be exhausting for logan, but the beauty should provide some stamina. as we waited for the ferry to return, josiah giggled incessantly at all the dogs who were waiting with their owners. he loves dogs so much! he really enjoyed this little adventure. here are some pics from our day.

did i mention my brother was a contestant on 'the biggest loser' this season???? matthew mcnutt, representing maine. he was sent home, but you can still track his weightloss progress on nbc's website. his progress is astounding! the show is airing several months after the fact, but i'm not allowed to show current pictures or give stats or details. he still has until the finale in november to continue losing. he looks amazing!!!

www.nbc.com/The_Biggest_Loser/36_at_home/me_matthew/bio/index.shtml

modern conveniences

with josiah's new 'surfing' skills, i thought it was time to purchase the leapfrog table. with saved 'babysRus' cards, it was a steal!!! and hopefully it will provide the little maineiac with hours of entertainment (so mommy can get something done!!!).