Ft Pulaski

Finally, we are able to start enjoying living in SE Coastal Georgia. Sunday was sunny and 70...not too bad for the end of January. Since we are paused on the house (that's a whole nother post) we decided to just go be outside.

Ft Pulaski is only about 30 miles from the house and offers a great view of the ocean and river. They have a wonderfully preserved fort and some great hiking trails. We may take the bikes next time and do even more exploring.

The boys probably walked about 3.5-4 miles through out the visit. As a result, Anthony fell asleep at 8. He didn't even stay up for ice cream.

Another 4

William now has 4 teeth and another trying to break through. No wonder he has been really grumpy.

Gabe is 4

Wow! How did that happen? In his four years, he has had four different addresses and has traversed the entire US from Alaska, to Washington, to Kansas and now to Georgia. While I am always thrilled to see Anthony gain another year, I feel sad as Gabe grows. Sometimes I feel that I have missed his young childhood. Most of the time he is aged up with Anthony. He skipped a lot of the baby toys, most of his naps were in the car so we could go do things, he didn't get the one on one snuggles so much.

But then...

On a day like today where he is home, Anthony is at school, and William is sleeping. We get to play together. I love his imagination. I love how he is trying to read a book right now to his animals (he actually describes some of the words like cat and hat).

So, for his party...it was Star Wars of course. Yes, I made the cake. Martha Stewart Simple Chocolate Cake (Don't let the name fool you) and Chocolate Buttercream. MMMMMM!!!!! We had over some of his friends from school and gave them all light sabers. All and all, it was a tremendous unscheduled success.

Updating is a long process

Hi all. I am updating the blog this week. Hoping to get pictures back to the beginning of November. We have been really busy, so there is a lot for me to update. In the last six weeks, we have welcomed home Rob, redone our kitchen, torn the downstairs apart, driven to and from NJ, celebrated Christmas and tried to sleep just a bit. As I write, Rob is back at his first day of work. Tomorrow the boys start back to school and I regain a bit of free time.

Christmas Eve with Friends

Often I get asked, "How do you stand not being with your family at the holidays?" In all honesty, it never occurred to me that I was without family. For as long as I can remember we have spent holidays with our military family. I love it. The atmosphere is so different than with real family...plus, you can actually pick this family :-).

This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Walthall family. Anthony and Thomas were at St Paul in Leavenworth together. I love how the Army does that for us. And yes, it is another family with all male offspring. We drank gluhwein and many other beverages. Ate some roast. And just generally enjoyed each others company.

Children's Museum

We do not have a Children's Museum in Savannah. I had to go all the way to NJ to find one. We went to the Paramus Children's Museum and had a blast. They had a ton of role playing events.



Dinosaur Dig: Anthony used his art skills to draw a dienonychus (they have a terrible claw on their feet). Yeah, I didn't know that either. Gabe chose to be a paleontologist.



Fire Truck: Gabe is using his imaginary hose to put out the fire, and the face he is making is for the sound effects of the water. Of course Anthony got to drive the fire truck.




Construction:


Knights/Princesses: They were off to fight the bad knights, but I thought Gabe sorta looked like the bad knight in all black.



Chef: The boys made us all dinner. Anthony insisted on something healthy before the cookies could be served. The best was seeing the McDonald's play stuff and having the boys say that it wasn't healthy food.


Astronauts:


Arts and Crafts:



There were a ton of other options, but to be honest, I was worn out after all of that.

Christmas Part Deux

The Rossi Family Christmas Story...


So we leave on the 15th for New Jersey. We drove through North Carolina and got to see some friends (Ed, Christi, and Maggie). That was the true highlight of the drive. I miss having Christi around. We were pregnant together, I with my 3rd and her with her 1st. It helped me remember the excitement of being pregnant. Anyways, we had a great steak dinner then headed on to Fredricksburg VA. We made great time and the drive was easy. And then...

We woke up to snow. Beautiful. The kids were excited beyond belief. We should have just stayed put...but we didn't. Instead we thought, "We'll just drive to NJ...it won't be that bad." Nevermind that it is constant city the whole way fraught with individuals who have no clue how to drive in the snow. Oh and a windshield wiper that flew off the car. Oh and we had a baby that screamed if we were under 30 mph, which was the entire time. Oh the joy! Such a merry way to start the holidays. Eight hours later and only 150 miles of the 280 under our belt, we stopped for lunch.

Finally, we get to NJ. After sleeping and resting for a couple of days, we began Christmas Part 2 with the Rossi side of the family.

Of course the boys got a ton of stuff. Rob and I also received nice things. Here are a few pics of the boys and their stuff.

Singing Angels

My parents were lucky enough to be here for the boys' Christmas Pageant at school. They had so much fun singing and then eating cookies. The videos are not uploading, so I will work on those later.

Christmas with the Johnson Family

My parents came to visit to help with the house and celebrate Christmas with the boys. I think mostly they wanted to celebrate Christmas and spoil the boys...but who can blame them.

My mom and I took the boys to see Santa. We went to the Bass Pro Shop and it was great. Can't wait to go next year when we are not swamped with projects. William was not impressed with Santa. Anthony wanted 2 rifles (one for him and one for Gabe). Gabe asked for 'The Battle of Endore' LEGOS set.



Then later we opened gifts with my folks and brother. The best of all was that my mom found a bunch of costumes for the boys. They love imaginary role playing. The gift was a huge hit.

Hometown Parade

We went to the Richmond Hill Christmas Parade. It was not quite as small town as the Leavenworth St Patrick's Day Parade last year...but it was pretty small town. The consensus among the adults is the gluhwein would have made the event much better. Next year I know to bring Bailey's for the free hot chocolate.

This is our town hall...quite picturesque.


Before the parade, the boys were just too cute in the back of the car.


Waiting for the parade to start


This was my favorite 'float' and yes, that is a train going through the middle of the parade.