St. Nicholas Day

The Plante Christmas party was on St. Nicholas Day this year. Memere got to meet Anna for the first time. Anna was perfectly content sitting in her lap for quite some time. Later, St. Nicholas left some presents for the kids. They all got books and the next picture shows Eliana cracking up about something in her nativity book. She's hysterical; she actually laughs like that! What a fun kiddo.

Beautiful Girls

I decided I needed to practice using Matthew's camera more and there was some nice light coming in through our slider. Anna was just laying on her mat in the living room and Eliana came to check out what was going on. (And, yes, I know Eliana needs a haircut...)

Halloween

Here are the kiddos before heading out to trick-or-treat in Londonderry. I'd say these photos show the kids' personalities pretty well. Thomas is a very serious Jedi (he takes his Star Wars very seriously). Eliana just laughs and smiles all the time; she's also a goofy monkey. Cecilia is very dramatic and insisted on striking this pose. Their personalities are all very distinct. I'm eager to see how Anna will fit into the mix (although I'm enjoying the cuddly baby phase right now--her big smiles are just melting me).

The weather was unseasonably warm for NH--70 degrees! It was great. Anna was a skeleton, but I don't think we got a picture of her. She didn't actually go out with us on this day.

Babies on the Brain

We've all had babies on our mind around here lately... hmmm, I wonder why. Even Eliana has been obsessed with babies. I wonder if she actually understands; it almost seems as though she does. She loves seeing other babies, pointing to my belly and exclaiming "baby!" and showing me where the new baby will do "nonny". Cecilia and Thomas are both so excited. Today we looked through their old baby pictures to post for the blog. First is Cecilia, then Thomas, then Eliana. I wonder what this new little one will look like! Anyone want to make some guesses?

Kiddos on the Couch

Here's a cute pictures of the kiddos on the couch. They were watching a Baby Einstein video. I realized a little while ago that I had not shown Eliana any videos and the older kids always loved the Baby Einstein videos and their music. We put one on and it was a hit (although Eliana still doesn't have a very long attention span). Thomas was lounging. I absolutely love watching the kids interact together. In this picture, I love that Eliana and Cecilia werelooking at each other during some part of the video they were excited about. They are all so loving towards each other; it's beautiful.

The Weekend

The weekend in Belmont was so much fun for so many reasons. The kids all had a blast and played really well together. They were able to run around the house playing games, play wiffle ball, swim in the lake, and enjoy s'mores by the fire. Fr. Hugh Vincent brought a big bag of meat and we went to the local farm stand a couple times. We ate very well all weekend :) Then, after the kids went to bed, the grown-ups got to visit and catch up (and watch the 80's radio channel on the tv). It was really one of the most relaxing, wonderful vacations I've ever had! Here are some pics.

First Day of School

Here are the photos from our first day of school. I also included the pile of books we used on the first day (not the complete pile). Cecilia is now doing 1st grade school work, Thomas is doing some preschool work, and Eliana didn't want to be left out either. She was working on her scribbling :) We have officially finished our first week (4 day week) and all is going very well so far. Let's hope it continues this way! Both the big kids are very proud of the work they're doing, which is fun to see.

Concord Market Days

We took the kids to Concord Market Days. They had fun, although we got caught in a rain storm pretty far away from our car. Thomas had a dragonfly painted on his arm and Cecilia got two butterflies on her cheeks. The highlight was the balloon man, though... until Thomas's sword popped. Very tragic.

Cicerone Party

Here are some fun pictures from the Cicerone party last weekend. Eliana just adores her brother and sister (and they adore her in return); I love the picture of her and Thomas eating cake. I really love the outdoor pictures too--especially Eliana's big grin while she's hanging from the tree.

I was noticing recently that Cecilia hasn't been in a lot of pictures when we're out at social events. She was painfully shy from ages 2-4 and now she has hit the other extreme. If there are any children at any event we go to, we won't see her unless she needs something or the party's over. (She's also a goofball.) At least she's having fun!

Look at that Face

We had a really long day on Sunday. We went to a family party over an hour and a half away. On the way home, we stopped at a restaurant. Eliana has a habit of running her hands over her hair and her face. I think she came up with a rather stunning look--check out those eyebrows! :)

Waiting

Here's a cute shot of Thomas and Eliana waiting on a bench while I was checking out at Old Navy.

More Houston

We went to a pool party at the Rossens on our last night in Houston. The Koennings were there too and all our kids had a blast playing together (9 in total). They had a great pool out back. I got to see Amanda and Dawn, whom I haven't seen since our last trip to Houston 3 years ago. We all worked at Texas Right to Life at the same time and enjoyed regular trips to Lupe Tortillas :) (not sure why they put the big pregnant girl in the middle...)

Weekend in Austin

We left Houston for Memorial Day weekend to visit with Mark & family in Austin. The cousins especially liked splashing around the water fountains.

Houston Trip, Day 3

More Amy's ice cream :) Eliana quickly caught onto using a straw so she could enjoy her first milk shake. That night, we headed to the Hills' for dinner. We had a little belated birthday party for the girls and each of the kids got their own individual cake! Lots of pictures of Eliana... look at those eyes, she's just so photogenic. Plus, the older kids had new friends to be off and playing with; we didn't see them much.