Another day in paradise

I had a bunch of pictures that I've tucked away that I just love because they are not from special occasions.  They are just every day little moments around the house. Now that I have my new favorite thing - my iPhone- I'm getting better at just snapping photos in the moment.  

I think this was a day after my birthday.  

Thank goodness for Randy

Noah is usually game for grocery shopping b/c of the free cookie at the deli &  driving the car-cart. 

 5 year well child visit (pre-immunizations)

The backyard in January

Schaff men

The four week birthday party

It seems that we celebrated Noah's fifth year on the planet for a month.  We began with Noah's birthday walk at Stillwater Montessori.  Here, he is creating his planet earth - he's got fire (candle) air (feather) water (seashell) and earth (pebble).  His good friend Ben is next to him & that's Gene in the back :)

Then, Noah walked around the sun with his earth 5 times - the number of times our planet has circled the sun since his birth.  He stops on January 17th and then blows the candle in the middle out.

We sing and then Noah passes out snack to share with his friends.  Today, it's some of his favorites - grapes, pineapple and Smartfood.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Noah had his "kid" birthday party at The Maine Jump.  It's sort of hard to tell from the photos, but it's a big place filled with huge inflatable things to jump on.  Noah and his friends (and half of Bangor - it was a day off for all schools) ran around like crazy and jumped until they were sweaty.  And then we fed them pizza and cupcakes.   

Eli and Papa

 And check out these cupcakes!  Not just ANY cupcakes, my friends.  These are genuine, Auntie Lisa handcrafted BATMAN cupcakes with fondont bat signals on top.

On Noah's actual birthday, he chose Governor's Restaurant for a friend shrimp dinner so we met Mark and Lisa there for a mid-week celebration.  My friend Robert Jackson was working, and he made such a big deal of Mr. Noah Wilfred Schaff and even made Batman balloon for the occasion!  Check out the desserts - Noah couldn't decide so Robert brought him coconut cake AND a peanutbutter milkshake.  And if the cake looks huge in the photo, it was.  Bigger than Noah's head, I think!  

Then Noah had his family party on the following weekend.  I spaced it and didn't take any photos but we had tons of fun and Noah got so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts from Grampie Schaff, Aunt Denise and Uncle Ernie, Nana and Grampa Salley, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mark (the golf set below+) Mimi and Howard, The Pomeroys, Colanninos and even a special visit from Jeanne, Joan and Miller.  

Oh.  And another handmade Aunt Lisa specialty - Noah's special request - coconut cake.  This one had a Bat Signal as well (of course) and was the most delicious cake you will ever eat.  This kid is crazy about coconuts! I've included some of the thank you photos that I took that show his cool gifts.  Plus, doesn't he look so cool in his golf shirt?  Amazing.  

Happy Birthday my beautiful five year old boy.  

Christmas 2011

I writing a few words about Christmas on February 10th.  It feels a little crazy, but here it goes.  Noah in front of the Christmas tree! If you didn't notice, all the ornaments start about 3 feet from the bottom of the tree.  Even WITH that precaution, we lost a few to Eli.  He's a little rough with ornaments.  

Our first Christmas season in Mark and Lisa's new kitchen!  Here, Eli is telling Mark all about life as a one-year old.

Noah opens Christmas pajamas!  I like this photo because it sort of shows how a 5 year old opens presents:  quick, dramatic and messy.  You will see these pajamas again..... (foreshadowing!)

Each Christmas, we get together with the Pomeroy family to exchange presents and eat pizza.

Noah tried his hand at a gingerbread house - he was such a careful decorator and placed each candy so that it matched the example on the box exactly.  I giggle at how my son is such a color-inside-the-lines kind of kid.  Maybe some day we will actually bake the gingerbread for a house, but in the meantime, this $9.00 kit from Sam's Club fit the bill.  Later on, it went to the garden to give some backyard critters the treat of their lives!

Auntie Denise made Christmas lobster stew!  Noah's FAVORITE.  Look at that lobster stew smile.

Christmas at Togus.  Autnie Denise, Uncle Ernie, Curtis and the four of us all went to Togus to do Christmas Eve with Grampie Gene.  We are hanging out in the Vending Room!  Gene is in the back frying up crab cakes and we listened to Christmas music from my iPhone.  Except for the hum of the vending machines, it was just like home.

Noah styling Auntie D's hair

Eli gets to business and opens some presents!

A Steelers uniform from Auntie Denise and Uncle Ernie

Christmas Eve after our annual get-together at the Salleys and the Burnham Light Show.  We put out some yummy cookies for Santa (thanks, Aunt Lisa) and this is what the boys woke up to:

And yes, it's still dark.  We wake up eeeaaarrrly in our house.  I think it was 5 am.

Later on, we went to Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mark's house for another Christmas and a yummy dinner.

And to all, a good night!