Easter | First on Cayuga Road

This year the family tradition took another turn as we hosted Easter for the first time. It all started the night before when Grandpa and Nany came over to help us with the preparations and witness Théo dying the eggs. On Easter morning, it was a lot of fun watching Théo search for the eggs in the backyard. Everything else followed very smoothly, and we had a successful first Easter at our place during which we also inaugurated our new dining room table!HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!

2012

The Holiday season is now over and so I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year for 2012!
For us, Christmas time started early in December when we went to our good old neighborhood in Summit to pick up the tree at the Magic Fountain, down the street from our old apartment!
Once we got a hold of Théo preventing him from running around everywhere, we finally found a Christmas tree we liked, and, tree on the roof of the car, we were riding back home very excited to set up everything for our first Christmas in our new home.

In between, came December 17th. Some would say: "What happened on the 17th?" This was the day Rachel turned 33! And lucky her this year it happened to be on a Saturday!
So one more time, I wish you a very happy birthday mon Amour, and Théo wants to give to his maman millions of kisses because you are just that great.

And after a quiet week, we were all set and ready to celebrate Christmas!
We actually started a little early, in the morning of Christmas Eve. We first went to Théo's last baby swim class. He is doing so great that he actually doesn't need our help to swim and so he can stay in the water on his own without assistance (well except that he is still wearing a belt of course!).
Then, when we got home we had him discover that Santa came by because we were unable to bring some of our presents to the grandparents, where we would go later in the day for the real Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve was as usual a nice and pleasant evening surrounded by family around a good meal. Then when the time came to open the presents on Christmas Day, it was just so great to watch Théo ripping off the paper and opening his gifts. He was really into it and, even though it wasn't technically his first Christmas, it was indeed the first one where he could really interact and we could see his reaction to each present he had.
Then we finished the day in our traditional way at Pat and Arlette's to spend the remainder of the day with the rest of the family.

And finally, to end up our relationship with 2011, we went to Barbara and Massimo's to celebrate the end of the year. The little munchkins stayed up a little later than usual, but of course as their tiny eyes were closed long before midnight, it was without them that the last second of 2011 passed and we cheered to a healthy and joyful 2012.

So here we are, well established in 2012 already. We are ready to put the Christmas tree out on the curb by the end of the week and we are already back into our everyday routine. But we know that this is going to be a good year, hopefully filled with lots of joy. So once again, Happy 2012 to all of you and we are very grateful to have you in our life.

Father's Day

This time, it's not another first for Théo but it's MY first father's day! Rachel planned a picnic for the occasion and so we celebrated with my own little family and also with my mom, Bev and Dave. We all met at Colonial Park, one of many great parks in our "Garden State". The nice feature of this one is that they have some bocci ball courts and so we were able to play the french version: La Pétanque!
A perfect day that just reminds me how lucky I am to have such an amazing little peanut to whom I send tons of kisses and to his mommy too who is just as amazing.
I can not forget as well to wish a very happy Father's Day to my own dad who I think a lot about and who I send also all my love despite all these miles (and water) between our homes. Bonne Fête Papa a.k.a Papylain

A Very Merry Christmas

For both Fabien's family as well as my own, Christmas is a very special time, filled with lots of traditions. It seems that no matter how many years go by, we never tire of listening to the same Christmas albums, drinking hot wassail on Christmas Eve and making sticky marshmallow rolls on Christmas morning. Christmas in Chilly Mazarin is filled with just as many dearly loved traditions that we shared this year for the first time with our little Théo.

Before our arrival, Jo spent many hours decorating the house to create the ambiance and magic of Christmas. From the lights outside to the beatiful manger to the ceiling-high tree, everything was perfect! On Christmas Eve, we all spent time preparing the special "Réveillon" meal - lots of different canapés and appetizers followed by foie gras, smoked salmon and the traditional dessert, a "bûche de Noel". Since we arrived so close to Christmas, Théo still had not adjusted to the time change. So, instead of trying to make him sleep, we brought him downstairs to join us in the Christmas Eve celebration. He simply didn't want to miss out on the fun and he was definitely in the mood to party!Before we went to bed, we all made sure to leave our slippers by the tree so that Papa Noel would know where to bring our presents....
Evidently, Théo had been a very good boy this year as he received quite a few presents on Christmas morning!
For brunch we had fun making our own crepes, and in the evening we enjoyed a cozy meal of raclette - melted cheese over potatoes and various cold cuts. Fabien and I were surprised at the end of the meal with a delicous cake to celebrate our birthdays. Overall it was a very relaxing day filled with good food and the warmth of being with family.

First Flight

After our flight was canceled on Saturday, we had a few extra days at home to get ready for our trip and to prepare Théo for his first plane ride. When the moment arrived, Théo was ready to go! He waited patiently in line to check our luggage, passed through security without a fuss and didn't say a word despite our flight leaving slightly behind schedule. During the flight, Théo was very comfortable in his bassinet where he slept for nearly five hours! What a good baby!Luckily, his ears cooperated too and we had a happy baby on our hands when the plane landed in Paris Thursday morning. What a relief! We made it just in time too - more snow was on its way...While waiting at the baggage claims, Théo was reunited with two very special people - Papylain and Tata Claire - who were waiting on the other side of the glass wall. We made it to Chilly with little traffic and enjoyed a nice, relaxing first day back at home in France.

In The Mood for Christmas

After Rachel's (successful) debut on the blog with the last post, I'm taking back the reins as we finish decorating the house for the Holiday season. Because we'll be in my hometown for the majority of the time, we thought we wouldn't have a tree this year...but that would have been sad for Théo's first Christmas! So we went down the street to get our Xmas tree at the Magic Fountain (our favorite ice-cream place...ever) that turns into a Christmas tree shop for the Holidays. And so we found the perfect one: not too big but not too small either as we weren't able to put it in the car. Rachel ended up driving back while I walked home, the tree on my shoulders. Anyway, nothing bad about a little walk in 40 degree weather - it's quite refreshing! I even got home before Rachel who got stuck in the parking lot by other shoppers' cars, ha ha!
Anyway, the tree is set up and lit in our cozy living room, and this year, the season takes on a whole new meaning with Théo. For the occasion, we couldn't resist buying him his first Christmas ornament! Happy Holidays to everyone.

Happy Early Birthdays/X-mas

Since Théo's birth, we were thinking about upgrading our camera. Our now "old" powershot was leaving us a little unsatisfied with some of the pictures it was capturing, especially in low light. And so, as both of our birthdays were coming soon and Christmas was around the corner, we thought that this could be our gift to each other for all these events and we are now the proud owners of a Canon Rebel XS.
The difference between our two cameras is huge and we are very pleased with our new companion. We now have to start playing with all the features and settings and improve our knowledge in photography, but we're at least ready to take (more) beautiful shots of our little man.
Here are our first attempts:

Halloween | 7 Years Later

Last weekend we celebrated Théo's first Halloween. I know it's been a lot of firsts for Théo so far and it's not over!
This time, not only was it Théo's first Halloween but it was also the anniversary of the day Rachel and I met, seven years ago. And therefore, like every year, this day is a little more special for us, when we go back in time and ask each other "do you remember when we met for the first time..."
Someday maybe Théo will want to hear about our story but last weekend, he simply enjoyed wearing his skeleton costume, looking at all the kids in the morning at Jenn and Rob's for a special Halloween breakfast. Later on we headed to Barbara and Massimo's where he and Emma had fun playing in their costumes.We also went out the day before to a park in Peapack for a walk to take advantage of the nice fall day we had on Saturday.