Today we took the train into Boston with all the kids. I (daddy) took a day off from work to have a nice family day. Our trip started out at the Museum of Science, as it often does. We spent a few hours there despite it being packed with the vacation week crowds. After the museum we made our way over to Boston's "north end" for some authentic Itallian pizza and pastries. Now we're all on the train north taking us back to home. It's been fun and it was good to spend the day together.
This is (was) our first Christmas with baby James in the house. I guess he's not so much of a baby anymore, but he'll always be our baby boy now. I took this photo just after the tree went up around the middle of December. It was a great tree, which was amazing considering we took all of about 10 minutes to pick it out on a very cold day at the tree farm. James was amazed by the strange new object in the house, covered in colored lights and dangling decorations. Fortunately we never caught him trying to climb on it, though there was one day when the tree was found mysteriously leaning dangerously to one side. Anyway, I love this picture of James with Mom and wanted to get it posted before the new year arrives. Hope the holidays have been wondrous for all of you as well!
Just uploaded a new "monthly" album for November highlighting family and friends. Going to try to make this a habit every month, and maybe even go back through the previous months to see what I missed.
Every now and again I see photos like this one and I think about what a proud and imaginative builder Max is. He's always creating something out of something, whether he's building with his growing collection of Lego things or just taping together pieces of cardboard from the recycling bin. He hopes one day to be featured in the Lego Club magazine's "Cool Creations" column. (Though I'm a bit perturbed at Lego at the moment for wasting no time in sending us catalogs we but still haven't received his Club magazines.) He's made airplanes from milk cartons, droids from old buckets, and helicopters from pieces of scrap wood. Lauren too likes to build things like just like her big brother, and I'm sure in a few years she'll be putting together some pretty cool creations as well. Occasionally we see her going around wearing one of my big leather tool belts with every toy she can fit crammed into the various pouches. Needless to say they both love to help Daddy in the workshop, and I try not to discourage it too often. Sometimes we even build things things together just so they can learn how to use the different tools properly. Building with the Lego's is a bit less stressful for Daddy though, so it's nice when we end up sitting around Max's Lego table putting things together. As you can see in the photo here, he's very proud of his creations. And we're very proud of him.
It snowed this morning, which made most of the adults I know pretty grumpy. I have to admit that I was none to excited about it myself. But, the children were thrilled. Max flew through 
breakfast and got dressed faster than any day this school year so that he could go outside. Lauren's first words o
f the
morning were "It's snowing! I need to put on my snow pants!" and off she went to dress in clothing suitable for blizzard conditions. I figured it wasn't worth arguing about, so I helped the dress and they played outside for quite a while. It was really fun to watch.
Boy, over 2 months since we have posted. I will try to be better. For the time being, though, here are a couple of silly pictures of four out of five of our "kids" playing together (okay, I don't think Cisco was really playing. It was more like he was waiting for them to go someplace else). Lauren and Max have a definitely love/hate relationship these days. One moment, they are playing really nicely together, and the next, they are yelling, hitting, screaming, crying, etc. In fact, as I wrote this, they did that exact thing. Sigh. Obviously, I prefer them getting along. :) Max adores James and James adores Max. Lauren goes between being killing James wi
th kindness and just killing him. He might be scooting along on the floor and she will decide to "help" him sit up. Or, he might be sitting up, and she might shove him over. James usually looks at Lauren with suspicion. Who can blame him. However, Josh managed to capture a moment when all three were happy. Here are a couple of pictures.
We had a pretty good laugh the other day. Lauren, as many of you know, is pretty fearless when it comes to things like climbing, swimming, and all those things that often instill fear into the hearts of the young and inexperienced. While vacationing up at the lake house in Maine we were swimming with a group of kids at a birthday party at a neighbor's house. Most of the kids were much older than Lauren, so she seemed like a peanut compared to many of the children who were jumping from the dock and swimming the lake. We still keep Lauren in a life jacket while swimming there... mostly because she's not a strong swimmer yet and partly because we just don't know when she may decide it's time to launch herself into the water. Anyway, she spent a lot of her time in the water doing what the big kids were doing... climbing up onto the dock and then jumping back in, often onto some random "floatie" in the water. After one of the small breaks from swimming she asked me to put her life jacket back on. Once she was secured she ran off down the length of the deck, right past a group of the older kids, and threw herself back into the water. One of the kids, realizing that the flash that just passed by him and into the water was the three-year-old girl, called out to us in disbelief and asked "Is she afraid of anything?" Ha ha! No, no... I'm afraid she isn't.
How did it get to be summer? I can't believe we 
haven't posted since April (though I have beena bit better about Max's blog). We have been busy enjoying life. James is thriving and thrilling us daily. I can't believe how much I adore this little guy. He is full of smiles and giggles and just lights up the room when he sees us, or pretty much anyone else. Max and Lauren continue to enjoy him, especially Max. When Max is around, James only has eyes for him. He always looks at Lauren with a bit of nervousness, like he isn't sure if she is going to love him or hurt him (often it is a bit of both as she doesn't know her own strength). We keep a close eye on her around him. It has been a surprisingly easy transition, adding him to the family, I can't imagine life without him.
Max finished Kindergarten last week. (http://maxmaz.blogspot.com/2009/06/kindergarten-graduation.html) He and James and I took a train trip up to Maine after it was over. We enjoyed that. He is still very into Legos, and spents a lot of his time building with them, as well as taking trips to the Lego store with Josh, and driving us crazy asking for more Legos. He has gotten pretty creative with his building, though Josh would like him to try harder to keep the kits together better (and this is why I like the generic blocks rather than the kits that build a specific thing.)
Lauren's school wraps up this week. She has really enjoyed it. She will be going to Max's school next year three mornings a week. If she had her way, she would go every day. She loves school. She wrapped up her session at The Little Gym with what they called "The Big Show." I didn't expect much, but it was tons of fun to watch and she was so proud. She was really funny to watch on balance beam as she kept pushing the instructors hands away so that she could do it herself. Poor Mr. Dave.
We took a trip to Damariscotta to visit my father and stepmother a few weeks ago. Josh rented a kayak and took Max out for a bit, then they paddled to the dock at their house and the kids switched out. The weather was too cool for the beach, but plenty nice for outdoor activities.
We have had the opportunity to see Josh's parents a couple of times since their return from Florida. The kids love having Grandma and Grampa Mazgelis back. We have also had some nice visits from Josh's siblings.
We are looking forward to the summer. .JPG)
We don't have much specifically planned, but enjoy the freedom to visit Maine and go to the zoo and other fun activities. I will try to post more frequently, esp as James changes daily.
I sometimes don't give Josh enough credit for all he does with the kids, so I want to call him out for being such a wonderful father. He has been involved with his kids since Max was born, and they adore him. He takes so much of the burden off of me sometimes, doing stuff with them on the weekends, doing bathtime, and doing half or all of bedtime. They are thrilled when he comes home at the end of the day, wanting to play with him or sit on his lap, and even if he is exhausted, he will usually do stuff with them. I think this picture sums it up so well. He is wearing James, who snuggled in and went to sleep as soon as he put him on, and trying to eat dinner with a very happy Lauren on his lap, all while wearing a hat that Lauren picked out for him. Happy kids, and one very amused mom.
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