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!

Hartford Half

 I did it, I ran my first 1/2 marathon post Baby Vivi.  It was hard, I had a lot more weight than normal on my body and I was out of practice.  I wanted to prove to myself that I could do hard things after having a baby and I did.  I finished the race without stopping to walk once, that was the goal.  Mission completed.  

I was able to run with my friend Kim, it was her first race and she was awesome!  

This year the race was rainy and wet THE ENTIRE RACE.  The town of Hartford came out and cheered even with the rain, I cannot help but love this town and this race.  With the rain and low temps I was FROZEN by mile 10 and just wanted to finish.  I was so happy when I saw my family and bawled like a baby when I finished the race.  This was my seventh half marathon, but in some ways in felt like my first.  The hardest races are always the most emotional I suppose.

 I'm so thankful for my family support who cheered me on the terrible weather!  

 We were lucky to stay with our friends the Hammonds who live just outside Hartford.  Berke loved playing with Gabe's lizard and I'm sure was the highlight of his trip.  

Vermont Fall Wedding

We were so lucky to spend our anniversary weekend in Vermont with our family celebrating the wedding of our friends Jeremy and Jeff.  

We took Friday off to drive up and enjoy the beautiful colors; on our way we stopped at Sugarbush Farm where we were able to feed goats, taste test cheese and enjoy the scenic views.  The kids loved the farm and Berkeley loved feeding the goats and tasting the cheese.

We arrived at Lareau Farm for the pre-wedding festivities of carving pumpkins (that were used to decorate for the wedding the next day) and a flat bread pizza dinner and smores by the fire.

The venue was so idyllic and probably the most adorable I have seen, not to fancy but so beautiful.

Our friends Travis and Lauren were at the event as well so we got to party all weekend with them.  They are such  great friends and wonderful to our children.  We are so excited for them to have little baby boy Owen this December!

Saturday before the wedding we took a wet trip to tour the Ben and Jerry's Factory.  It was fun and the ice cream was AMAZE BALLS!  What a cool story Ben and Jerry have.  

Then on to the wedding which was just perfect in every way!  The grooms looked fabulous, the ceremony was beautiful and the food and reception were great.  It was a smaller wedding of about 80 people and it really was the perfect size.  Both their families were so kind and sweet and we loved getting to meet them.  We loved that there were children there and that they got to have such a fun time as well.

Sunday morning we stopped by a Cider Mill to see how apple cider was made and tested some (obvi).  We also tasted some yummy cider donuts.  We then visited Cabot cheese and Lake Champlain Chocolates, testing more cheese and chocolate.  

Then we drove to the Von Trapp Famiy Lodge for some great views and for lunch before we headed home.

We did our rendition of the Vermont Hills were alive with the sound of music.

Such a wonderful weekend getaway.  Happy 12 years to my amazing husband!  

Congrats to Jeff and Jeremy.