Happy Belated Birthday Christopher!

Christopher Michael St. Lawrence

on December 24, 2002

On Christmas Eve, our Christopher turned 5! He was really looking forward to turning five because he was the only 4 year old left in Kindergaten and he desperately wanted to be 5 like everyone else! It is hard for Shaun and I to imagine that our baby boy is "5"! The time has definately flown. It feels like yesterday that he was just our little tiny 6 pound little fella dependant on us for all his needs. Now he's FIVE--which is almost grown up if you didn't know! He is very mature for his age and continues to become more independant as the days go by. We are so very proud of him and the little man he has become! :)

One of my favorite current pics of my big guy Christopher Michael!

Crazy Christmas!

Our Christmas this year was a little hectic to say the least! (sorry if the post is a little long winded!)

CHRISTMAS EVE
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We ventured up to New Hampshire for our Annual Laverdiere Family Christmas Eve party at Grande Memere Laverdiere’s home in Portsmouth, NH. We headed up a little earlier than usual on the 23rd and stayed with Shaun’s mom—thanks for letting us stay at your new place! Christmas Eve, also Christopher’s birthday, was busy but fun! We visited at Shaun’s mom’s apartment with her friend Jim in the morning and then we headed over and visited at Shaun’s dad’s friend Nancy’s home. The kids had fun—thanks Nancy and Grandpa for the gifts! Then we headed off to Grande Memere’s home for the family party. It was fun for the kids because they got to see their cousins Alexander, Elizabeth and Bryce and of course their Aunt Amanda, Uncle Miles, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Jeff and Grande Memere too! J The kids were overwhelmed with all the presents under the tree! It was fun watching all the kids opening presents, playing, and laughing. They are all so cute!!!! We then trekked home and arrived home at 2:30am just before Santa arrived!

CHRISTMAS DAY
We were all a little tired and didn’t wake up until 8:30 or 9am. The kids were excited with all the gifts under the tree. “There’s got to be about 150 or more presents” said Christopher, “Maybe more!” Anneli was tired and wasn’t too sure until Christopher handed her a present with her name on it! They dug right in and had a blast. Anneli got the cat she wanted and Christopher got a bunch of LEGOS---wait let me rephrase that—Christopher and Shaun got a bunch of LEGOS! Anneli thanked Santa with every gift she opened. It was fun! Santa even left gifts for Shaun and I. We both got new I Pod’s, a GPS unit and an external hard drive for our family photo collection. Fun, fun, fun!
After we showered and ate breakfast we loaded the car with our suit cases and more gifts and we headed for South Carolina! Yesiree—we left at about 2:30pm and got to Nick and Jessica’s house in South Carolina at about 4:30am. It was a long ride but the kids loved watching their new duel DVD players in the car so we didn’t hear much from them! Good thinking Shaun! J
We had a great time hanging out with EVERYONE in South Carolina: Aunt Jessica, Uncle Nick, Cole, Carter, Meme, Pepe and Aunt Valerie. It was fun! We exchanged Christmas Gifts, went to the Zoo, we went shopping, played with Cole & Carter's toys, ate out, went to Monkey Joes, made Fudge, played games, and just had fun hanging with our family!

We left South Carolina on Saturday morning at about 9:00am and we got home at about 2am or so I think. We had a lot of fun, but it was a relief for all of us to be home and play with all our new presents!!

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Today is a big day in Letendre Family History!!

It's Pepe (my dad), Aunt Donna and my cousin Laurie's Birthday!

They were all born today, December 23rd!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Unfortunately we have to wait until tomorrow for Christopher's Birthday!

He's very excited--because he'll FINALLY be "5"!!

Our trip to Bradley International Airport!

I guess we had a busy day yesterday (Saturday, December 22nd). We ventured out to the Airport in Windsor Locks and met Aunty Donna there at 9:15pm with two sleepy kids in PJ's. Aunty Donna was there to pick up Aunt Di and Uncle Kenny who were flying in from Nashville, where they live now! They had no idea we were going to be there! It was great to see them because we are going to be running all week and won't be able to make it up to New York to see them! We miss you all! :)

Fox Family Christmas Party!

Yesterday, Saturday, December 22nd, we had out annual Fox Family Christmas Reunion in Gardner, Massachusetts. There were over 80 of us there! It was a fun time for all!

http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/red_fox.html

OOPPS! That's not the right picture! Be sure to look back for the actual pictures of the Fox Family Christmas Party! I'll be posting them all in a slide show soon!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Merry Christmas

from our Family to Yours!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 1:6)

Love,

Shaun, Crystal, Christoher & Anneli

(Thanks Sonia for sharing this awesome photo with us!)

Our friend Sonia from Shaun's work transfered to the Maryland/DC area a while ago.

Last week she went to the Washington, DC temple with a friend to see the pretty lights and sent us this great picture!

Just call me Martha....

Martha Stewart that is! (Just kidding!) What a crazy week this has been! I feel like I've just been going and going and going. Christopher was having his Holiday/Birthday Snack party at school on Wednesday--that I was coordinating. We made and decorated 14 Christmas Tree Cookies and made 2 dozen little finger sandwiches for it. Then Shaun came home and watched Anneli for an hour so I could go and set up and pass out the food. It was fun! Thanks again Shaun!! :) Then I came home from the party and finished baking some cookies for Mom's school cookie swap. She needed 7 dozen cookies and of course I picked cookies that needed to be cooked, cooled, then glazed and sprinkles added!!! I NEVER baked that many cookies in my life! I did it though! Hopefully she brings home some yummy cookies for us to try! :)

Are you a Grinch?

I took this test online and well....

You Are the Furthest Thing From Grinch

You love and live for the holidays. You even love the Grinch! You're in the holiday spirit year round... because you're all about celebrating and giving.

Imagine that!

Are You a Grinch?

Festival of Silver Lights at Hubbard Park

Every year we enjoy driving through Hubbard Park in Meriden to see their Christmas Light Display. The park is decorated with horses, camels, deer, snowflakes, frogs, bears, dolphins, a fox, penguins, donkey, flowers, squirrels, moose, a world globe and many other holiday figures illuminated by over 350,000 lights! The kids love the festive lights and like the fact they get out of their car seats to see them! This Saturday, Shaun’s Birthday, we drove through the park with Meme and Pepe. It is always fun to see the lights all decorated with **SNOW** on the ground! It is certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! WE LOVE YOU!!!

SNOW DAY!

Today is a beautiful calm day here in Plainville, Connecticut with a foot of snow on the ground and the sun shining bright. Yesterday was a different story!
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Yesterday, Thursday, December 13th, we woke up to the fact that school was canceled for the day. When Christopher woke up he couldn't understand why there was no school!? He thought it looked like "an okay winter day". No snow, no rain, no ice.... We watched the news and he found out that we were expecting a major winter storm, Winter Storm Alexander. By midnight we could have 8-10 inches of snow.

Meme came over early at about 9am and we made some beautiful Christmas Glass Bulb Christmas Ornaments. The kids had fun with filling the glass balls with paint and shaking them up! We were sitting on the kitchen floor and we could see the snow start falling outside. It must have been about 10:30am when Meme left and the roads had a light coating of fresh fallen snow. It was beautiful---I love the snow!!

Christopher's blue ornament drying upside down. Anneli's red glittery ornament drying upside down.
I called Shaun, who of course was in Norwich (an hour away, on a good day, from home), and told him the snow had started here and he should start thinking about getting home. The highways get crazy when Snow is forcasted around here! He is the best, he stopped at the grocery store to buy dish detergent and a few other thingson his trek home! He left at about Noon and he got home around 3pm or so. My dad only works about a half hour away on the other side of Hartford and he left at 1:00pm and didn't get home until about 6pm. 84 was like a parking lot!

We were outside playing when Shaun got home. The kids were having a BLAST playing in the snow as it continued to fall. Anneli was eating the snow. I asked her what she was doing and she'd say, "I'm eating snow. It tastes soooooo good!" Shaun and I joke all the time that she would eat anything! We'll get to that in another post!



We came inside, ate and then we made Gingerbread Houses out of graham crackers. It has always been a family tradition to do them with Meme & Pepe! We missed you guys! But it was fun and kept us busy during a snowy evening at home. They came out awesome. Christopher and Anneli had a blast. Anneli put so much candy on the roof of her and Shaun's house that it started to collapse! Luckily Shaun was able to save it! She then had to decorate the grass--and oh how she decorated the grass! I helped Christopher and it was one of the nicest houses I built! It's actually still standing this morning! Surprise, surprise!!!

After all was said and done I think we have a good foot of snow on the ground. I love the white pure snow blanketing the ground as the sun shines, but what I really love is that there IS SCHOOL TODAY! :)

Photo Shoot.....

Every year I try to take my own pictures of the kids and it takes forever to just get one good one! UGH! Here are slide shows of some of the pics. Enjoy!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Delicious Christmas Recipes.

5th Bowling Birthday Party!

Christopher had a super fun 5th Birthday Party today at Laurel Lanes Bowling Alley here in Plainville. He had 12 new friends attend from Kindergarten and from Church. The kids had a blast bowling and we had fun mingling with the parents that stayed and helped! Everyone had a great time! I also heard that it was an early night to bed for most of the Partiers that night!

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Santa at the Fire Station

On Thursday we had our traditional encounter with Santa Claus at the Plainville Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Fire Station. As always it was a great time! Santa arrives full of Christmas Cheer high up on the Ladder Truck, sirens wailing, waving to everyone through the center of town until he reaches the anticipating crowd at the Fire Station. We then stand there at the edge of the road and watch Santa climb down the ladder truck with help from our wonderful volunteer Firemen! We then race inside and get in line so we can have a visit and picture with Santa. Santa is awesome! Thanks Santa for trying to make Anneli smile--even though we all knew it wasn't going to happen. I will admit though, it was better than last year! Maybe next year she won't cry at all! :)

All Aboard the Nativity Train...

Today I was on the phone with my mom and I heard Anneli in the dining room say, "Hold on Jesus. Have fun. Bye Baby Jesus!" I was wondering what was going on so I went into the dining room and that's when I saw that she had put her plastic Precious Moments Nativity Set in the Thomas the Train we have going around the Christmas Tree. She was having a grand old time giving Jesus and the animals a ride as the Three Kings and Mary and Joseph waited for them at the side of the tracks.

Wacky Hat Day!

Today was "Wacky Hat Day" at Christopher's school. He donated a $1.00 to the Ronald McDonald House Lights of Love and was able to wear his favorite hat all day! He was very excited! Here is a picture of the "Wacky Hat" he wore! Everyone at school LOVED his idea---a Santa hat & Reindeer antlers! He is creative!

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer---A Classic

The other night Shaun, Christopher, Anneli and I had the opportunity to sit down together and watch one of my favorite Christmas Classics--Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer! It's one of my all time holiday favorites!! I love all the songs and I so love Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman--especially when he sings "Silver and Gold" or "Holly Jolly Christmas" too.

Well Anneli wasn't as interested. She liked watching the Reindeer but when the Abominable Snowman (or Bumble, as Yukon Cornelius calls him!) she says, "I'm not watching the Snow Ghost movie." and she goes and sits in the dark kitchen. Shaun and I thought it was funny that she'd rather sit in the dark instead of watching Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer with us. After a few minutes I scooped her up and we went and finished the show. She sat with her little hands over her eyes peeking through the entire time. It was cute! Shaun, Christopher & I enjoyed the movie but we enjoyed watching Anneli watch the movie even more!

An Icey day in Connecticut

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad (aka Meme & Pepe)!

My Mom & Dad were married 31 years ago today!

Happy Anniversary! :)

We love you guys!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree....

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

Your branches green delight us.

They're green when summer days are bright:

They're green when winter snow is white.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

Your branches green delight us.

Our beautiful Christmas Tree is finally adorned with decorations and multi-colored lights! YIPPEE! The kids had fun digging through allthe holiday boxes searching for the ornaments and putting them on the tree themselves--with a little help from Shaun and I. It was cute watching Anneli really concentrating as she carefully put each ornament on a branch of the tree. Even though she was so focused she managed to break three ornaments! Thank goodness none of them were very sentimental. Christopher was a big help as always helping his sister and trying to get the ornaments up as high as he could so Anneli could put them on the lower branches! What a good big brother he is!!! :)