The Historic Boston Winter of 2015

I haven't done an update lately as we really haven't been able to do much.  To be honest everyone in Boston was talking about how great winter was in December and January; the weather was nice and we had no snow.  So many people including myself said, "I'll take this winter."  We clearly all spoke too soon.  When we got our first snow around 6 inches the end of January we were all so excited.  Wahoo!  We finally got to use our snowman kit that Grandma and Grandpa Gentry sent us for Christmas!  Berke and I ran out and played with the neighbor girls up the street.  We had fun building a snowman, a snow fort and having a snowball fight.  Vivi was inside hanging out with Charlotte.  It was great!  Awesome, I thought, we had our winter, not bad.

We made cookies and celebrated and enjoyed our snow day.

Then, it began, the first 12-18 inch storm occurred.  We got hammered and we could barely open the door.  I enjoy shoveling, so I headed out, eager for the exercise.  The first big snow, it was crazy but magical, nothing we haven't had to handle before.  

 With all the snow it was hard to get out, but we managed to walk to a local indoor farmers market one Sunday and to the Brandies Alumni Day another Sunday before a big storm.  Cabin fever has been a REAL thing this winter and getting out is necessary.

Next we had huge storm number two with 12-18 inches and we were thinking, "Well this is just nuts!  We cannot possibly get anymore.  There really isn't anywhere to put this stuff.  As you can see in our little city, the yards are pretty small and there really isn't any extra space to put snow.  Most people have to park on the street and when it snows like this the city we lose half of our street parking spots.  

After this storm school was cancelled for an entire week due to the roofs needing to be cleared.  This happen to be the week before February break, so we had two full weeks of no school.  Berke went to the babysitter with Vivi a few days, to school with dad for a day and then to winter camp the last week.  It was CRAZY!

Then big storm #3 hit, another 12-18 inches!  This was a defeating storm for the entire city.  We had NO WHERE to put this snow.  It was better in the burbs, but for us city dwellers this was awful!  The worst!  TERRIBLE!  I started shoveling but there was just no where for this white stuff to go.  It wasn't heavy but in order to clear the car I had to heave the snow 7 feet high and then it would come tumbling back down.  

This wall of snow in my neighbors driveway is 7 feet high, it is a foot taller than Christian.  There is a garage behind that pile.

 Each storm I would shovel off Charlotte's back porch, each time this was how much snow needed to be removed.

 Vivi thought snow was pretty cool for the few moments she got to touch it. Berke loves eating it and wont listen about not eating the dirty snow.  He at least avoids the yellow snow, so I guess we can be happy about that.

This is the pile in our front yard, as you can see it is way above the fence line at this point and our little tree is completely buried!

Keep in mind, I just switched jobs, I'm doing home hospice now, which I love.  But remember how the city loses half it's parking spots when it snows so the plows have somewhere to put the snow?  Well in most cities, people also put furniture and other household items to mark the spot that they dug their car out of.  So as you can imagine my job has been super amazingly fun with trying to find places to park (insert sarcasm).  

After storm three my back was sore and on Thursday morning I put some milk away and my back was out!  Next to child birth, this is the most painful experience of my life.  I could not walk, I could not hold my baby I could not do anything!  After a few pain pills and muscle relaxors I was on the mend (a week later). 

As I type this we are currently 1.5 inches away from beating the record for the most snow in one winter ever.  Clearly we want that snow, because we didn't go through all this to come in second place.  We want bragging rights that we survived this crazy winter.  We did set a record for most snowfall in February, duh!  

In the month of February Berke had 7.5 days of school and he was sick for one of them.  It's been a strange, cold and terrible winter.  I have never seen anything like this in my life.  The streets are smaller than before and everyone in the city is grumpier than usual!  I appreciate the sweet winter packages that have been sent our way!  Honestly the sweetest and most thoughtful thing ever!!!

So there you have it!  Worst Winter EVA!

She's ONE!

 Our little winter solstice baby turned one!  It is so hard to believe that it has been a year already, it went by SO fast.  Berkeley was a very helpful big brother showing his little ginger just how to get her presents opened.  She was more than happy to have his help; anytime her brother is giving her special attention is a great gift in and of itself.

 Viv was spoiled from presents from grandparents out west in the morning.  That afternoon, a few neighbors, her aunties, and her babysitter showed up for a party.  We had a

Winter "One" derland party.  It turned out very cute, as cute as this mom can get anyhow.  The party was lovely, filled with people who adore this little sparrow as much as we do.  She is SO incredibly easy to love and just makes everyone want to smile when they see her.

 Vivienne was all dressed up for the occasion, Christian thought it was over the top, but it most definitely was not!  I mean look how adorable she is!?!

 I was proud of out cute winter food theme and was really proud of the cake I made with my first go around with fondant.  Cute right?

 Charlotte came over even though it was her birthday to!  Charlotte turned 80 and Vivi turned 1, they have a special connection!  

 Vivienne loved her cake and did not hold back on eating it.  She shoved every delicious sugar bite into her mouth as fast as she could; made mama proud!  

It was a great birthday!  We love our little Vivi so much and are happy that she has joined our family and brought us so much joy, happiness and sleepless nights!  Happy Birthday Baby girl!

Halloween

 Don't want to forget to post about Halloween!  Berkeley was an adorable Ninja and he enjoyed having a sword and nun chucks to "fight" with.

McDuff pulled off the pirate look like a pro.  

Vivienne was an adorable like a penguin.  She didn't love having the head piece on, but she left it on if the velcro was undone.  The kids got tons of candy just on our street, as the neighbors know and love them so they spoil them.  They also don't have a lot of other trick o treaters.

We watched Ghostbusters as a family that night snuggled on blankets with pillows, it was so fun.  Berkeley loved the movie!

Our little Slimer turns SIX!!

Six seems so old!  How do I have a baby six years old?

Each year on New Years Eve we celebrate my little boys birthday.  We invite our neighbors and Auntie G and Aunt Steffie over for a themed party.  Last year we did a Star Wars party and this year it was a Ghostbuster theme.  We had New York City Pizza, slimed chocolate ghost cupcakes, a veggie tray shaped like a 6 with green slimer dip. We also had a chocolate fountain with fruit including marshmallows for the Marshmallow Puff Man.

One year I filled up this kids room with balloons and now each year he expects to wake up with balloons all over his room.  It's kind of adorable!

His birthday was like second Christmas.  He was spoiled by his family and friends.  He got a Star Wars Angry Bird bed spread and sheets, sketch books and books on how to draw monsters and people, Lego people, more Lego's, new headphones, a book on the human body, and an awesome R2-D2 camping chair.

Berkeley's teacher Ms. Scrima also showed up to the party, she is such an awesome teacher.  She brought Berke the sweetest gift of a Willow Tree figure of a little boy holding a gold heart, it is called "golden heart." It was the sweetest thing and brought tears to my eyes.

On January 1st Berkeley took two friends, Julius and Charlotte, to Build a Bear where they all stuffed an animal.  Berkeley stuffed a Bulldog he named Max, which he loves.  We ate pizza at the food court and then went back to the house to play the Wii.  This kid was super happy and his little friends were so sweet and kind and it warms my heart to know that he has such amazing little people in his life.

Happy Sixth Birthday Berkeley!

It was anything but a white Christmas

It's crazy to think how tiny Little Ms. Viv was last Christmas and now look what a big girl she is! 

Last year we drove to the hospital (the first induction) in a blizzard thinking we might die, by Christmas day the earth was covered in fluffy and messy white stuff.  This Christmas there was not a sign of any white stuff on the ground.  I really hate snow, but somehow crave it for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure all those Christmas movies have me brain washed, but needless to say, it was a dead, cold, snowless Christmas this year.  

We had a great time celebrating the holidays without the snow!

We took a break from our Christmas Eve party last year due to getting home with our newborn the day before, but this year we ramped it up again.  We had a house full of people, way more that could comfortably fit in our home; with that being said, the kids all had a blast and nobody was left without a place to be on Christmas Eve!

The kids had a "fun" time acting out the story of Jesus' birth.  It was hectic and attention spans were minimal, but we pulled it off and everyone enjoys singing alone to the Christmas carols and hymns.  Berke was a king this year and Vivi was the bright star.  

We had a fun group this year.  I love this tradition but realize I REALLY need a bigger place!

Santa visited our house this year and brought the kids lots of goods.  

I bought the kids stockings from Pottery Barn Kids this year with their names on them; it was a bit expensive but I figure they can use them for years to come.  I love them so much! Berkeley asked for nerf guns, legos, a Boston Snow globe, stuffed animals and a king stick.  Santa pulled through on nearly everything except that king stick.  Berke was happy with the turn out!

Vivienne got a few new outfits and Santa decided to recycle most of her brothers baby toys to her, which was smart on his end because it saved his elfs a lot of time and money.  Good idea Ole St. Nick!

Berke was pretty spoiled this year between all the grandparents and Santa gifts.  This kid has it pretty good.  He got this awesome bike and was able to ride it around a bit already and is doing better than I expected.  The kids down the street encouraged and helped him, which was pretty adorable.

Santa did bring this urban reversible baby bonnet for baby Viv who is obviously going to need it all summer with that fair skin.  Pretty sure she looks ADORABLE in it!

It was another sucessful Christmas here at the Gentry home.  We enjoyed putting together legos, eating monkey bread and lounging around in our PJs Christmas Day.  

Vivienne at 11 months

 As you see, Vivienne's red hair is really growing, and everyone is commenting about this red hair, blue eyed baby we have.  People are fascinated by her beauty! Vivi is crawling around like a crazy lady and took 5 steps on her own two days before her birthday.

 Vivi has had zero interest in our Christmas tree and did not ever pull any ornaments off.  

 She was able to meet Santa and thought he was an interesting man, no tears this year!

 Vivi loves her big brother and always wants to be hanging out with him.  Generally he is pretty good about this until he needs some space.  

Vivienne loves going to her babysitters house; Mrs. Lorraine is her favorite person, while I'm sad that mom took 2nd place I 'm also happy so feels so comfortable with someone she spends so much time with.  We feel lucky to have found such an amazing woman/family to watch our little sparrow.

 While this little spunky girl is tough to put down to sleep, she makes up for it with her giggles, smiles and dance moves.  We fall more and more in love with her every day!