Dinner with the Gang

Here are some pictures from our monthly dinner with Noah's friends and their families.

And, little C.J. is the most smiley baby I've ever seen!

For some better pictures, check out Sienna's blog.

The Fire Station Open House

This morning, we met some of Noah's friends from daycare at our local volunteer fire department because they were having a fire station open house. Noah loved climbing on and in all of the firetrucks and the ambulance. As we were leaving he was saying from the back seat "I go back."

From left to right: Micah, Isaiah, Noah and Gabriel

All Noah's Grandparents

Noah had a wonderful weekend spending time with all his grandparents at once. Grandma Jean (Darren's mother) and her best friend, Eva, have been with us for the last week and a half. They go back to England on Thursday. Grandmoo and Papa (my parents) are here for a short visit because they just sold their house in Connecticut and spent the weekend house hunting. They've found a house they love about an hour from here in a 55+ community that they've been eyeing for years now. We're now just waiting until they finish the negotiations with the seller, so fingers crossed. We are so excited that Noah will have at least one set of grandparents close by as he grows up.

The Caterpillar

Today, Noah found a tiny, green caterpillar climbing into our garage. He was totally fascinated by the way it moved.

Picking Pumpkins

Noah's Grandma Jean and and her best friend, Eva (a surrogate Grandma to Noah) are visiting us for the next two weeks. Today we all went out to the farm to pick a pumpkin and play with the animals. Sadly, it was a bit cold and rainy, but we had a nice time anyway.

Here they are on the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Grandma Jean is the one hidden behind Noah in this picture. Eva is in the pink.

Lovely Lilly

Noah and I had some very special visitors today. My friend Maxine and her husband, Fontaine and daughter, Lilly were visiting Fontaine's family in Virginia Beach for the last couple weeks and on their way to the airport to head back home to London they stopped by for lunch with me and some fun on the playground with Noah. I first met Maxine in 1996 when I was abroad in Australia. We became very close friends. A few years later, when I moved to London, Maxine put me up in her apartment for a few weeks before the LSE dorms opened up. But, the last time I saw her was nearly 9 years ago at Darren's and my wedding. Since then, Maxine has been traveling round the world, so whenever we've been in England, she has been elsewhere. She's been back in London for the last year or so, while her husband goes back and forth between London and Nigeria where he works. And, in a couple weeks, they're moving to Bali... Yup, little Lilly has been to 4 continents in less than 1 year of life. Noah has never been on a plane... but that's another story. But regardless, he took to her immediately, and it was great to see Maxine and meet Fontaine and lovely Lilly.

The Garbage Truck

I'm not sure why, but Noah really likes garbage trucks. He is fascinated with the garbage truck when it comes to collect our garbage. He also loves the play garbage truck at school. So, I gave in and bought him one for home. This video isn't the best, but I did like that he sang his ABCs in it. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to shoot a video of him because whenever he sees you with the camera out he starts crying and trying to grab the camera because he wants to either see the pictures or view the video on the camera screen.