Happy 5th Birthday Carter!

 FIVE YEARS OLD

Please, everybody, look at me!

Today I'm five years old, you see!

And after this, I won't be four,

Not ever, ever any more!

I Won't be three- or two-or one.

For that was when I'd first begun.

Now  I'll be five a while, and then

I'll soon be something else again!

--Mary Louise Allen

 Harry, Carter, and Daniella

 Ryan and Carter

 Isaac, Carter, Hailey, Olivia, and Taylor

Carter and Isaac

This year was such a fun birthday for Carter.  We didn't really have a big party, but instead had a couple of play dates with some a Carter's best buddies.

He received several packages from family back in the mid-west.  He loved hearing the door ring to announce  another package being dropped off in his honor.  He saved them all for his birthday morning and they were all open by 7:45am.  He spent the next several hours playing with his new toys.  Carter had lots of phone calls/Facetime from family and friends.  He had a great day!

In the evening we took his out to the Cheesecake Factory where in the middle of the meal he announced, "I am so exhausted from my birthday."

Random

 After our dear friends left, we had the rest of the weekend to recover as a family and prepare for the Christmas season.  I did not take any of our Christmas stuff from back home, so this year we had to decorate with crafts, candy, and ornaments from Target's dollar section.

The kids did a spectacular job!

I

 Carter and Taylor have been participating in their first basketball camp at the local YMCA.

Carter is super excited and takes it very seriously.  Taylor does very well, but is embarrassed because she is the only girl in the class.

 It is hilarious to watch a bunch of 4-6 year old dribble....there are balls everywhere!

 The kids have been working on completing a bed time chart for several months now.  The kids had been having some big issues:  coming down after we say good-night, talking too much at bedtime, and coming into our bed during the night.  So in effort to use positive reinforcement, we started a chart.  

Taylor and Hailey completed theirs last week and chose to each get a bean bag from a local place called "Yoggibo"  and poor Carter has a ways to go because he continues to sneak in our bed sometime in the early morning hours.

Syrjamaki Visit!

Our Newton Ave friends visit Newton, MA.

Josh, Jodi, Olivia, and Isaac arrived late Sunday to spend Thanksgiving week with us!

 Taylor, Olivia, and Hailey before the feast

 Thumbs up for turkey!

 Marginal Way.....Ogunquit, ME

 A break at the pool

 The giant Christmas tree in Quincy Market

 The Public Garden

 Make way for the ducklings....................

Rhode Island Adventure

 Our most latest adventure was to our south to the tiny state of Rhode Island.  Providence, RI is just a short 50 mile drive from our home in Newton.  We contacted cousin Heidi for her advice, since she is now a seasoned Rhode Islander, as to what is the "must see" in Rhode Island.

We were blessed by unseasonably warm weather in the mid to upper 60s and bright sunshine.

Our first stop was in Providence at their Children's Museum.  The kids (and Mike) loved exploring and were kept busy for hours inside and outside the museum.  I'm pretty sure you can never go wrong with a children's museum for the kids.

Carter loved the pirate ship and underground tunnels.  The girls loved the old prairie farm house and giant light bright wall.  

 The next morning we headed east over the magnificant Claiborne Bridge to Newport.  We drove downtown Newport where there are hundreds of shops and bakeries.  We drove down Ocean Ave and marveled at the mansions built along the coastal cliff.

 We then took a little hike on the "Cliff Walk" which is a beautiful mile of a paved path between the cliff to the ocean  and the mansions of Newport.

 This mansion was one of my favorites and below is the view from the mansion out to the Atlantic.

Carter capture a catapiller on the hike

Compton Girls' Visit!

 My dear friend Lisa and her girls, Eliana and Rebecca, came for a long weekend to take in Boston in the fall......"have you ever seen Boston in the fall?"

The weather held for the visit and hurricane Sandy even left some of the beautiful colors on the trees to enhance the visit for the girls.  We enjoyed weather in the 50's while exploring the Freedom Trail.

 All the girls enjoyed a fun day at the New England Aquarium and also took in a IMAX movie called "Under the Sea".

 Above is a picture of the girls aboard the USS Constitution which is the actual ship that sits in Navy Yard adjacent to Bunker Hill.  The ship is so fascinating and a "must see" if you are taking in the US history while you are here.

We had to have our famous picture of our visitors on the steps in Newton! (Never mind the sea animals the girls are holding from the aquarium).

 Before we left for Boston, the Comptons' gave us the book, "Make Way for the Ducklings" which takes place in the Public Garden of Boston, MA.  The statues int he garden are a popular attraction for all the kids.

And there just so happen to be a balloon artist in the garden and guess where he was from????
Bloomington, MN.  How crazy!