Life off the Farm

Christmas '11

2012-01-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

This was a different Christmas for us, being our first in Maryland! Usually, the kids and I head to CA around Dec. 15th to avoid crazy airfare costs. Eric comes right before we celebrate 3 Christmas' with all the separate sets of parents and pack in seeing friends whenever we can. My trip usually lasts 3 weeks with Eric's lasting 2 weeks. Although, we really missed seeing our California family and friends it was nice to just be home and start some new traditions.

We started our Christmas celebration Dec. 22nd. Eric got off half day to go to the anatomy ultrasound with me while Cedulie watched Audrey and Elliott. Thanks to my great mother-in-law for the help!

We got the great news that we are having another baby girl!

Audrey was SUPER excited! She had been praying for a baby sister since we told her that we were pregnant. Even before we were pregnant, she offered during our summer family vacation to trade Elliott for the baby girl my sister was expecting. I guess we don't have to trade in her brother after all. Eric and I were just excited to have a healthy baby in there.

On Friday, December 23rd we went to Luis and Cedulie's house (Eric's Mom and Step Dad) for our Christmas celebration. Cedulie made an amazing prime rib dinner.

The next morning, Audrey started to feel sick, threw up and

had a little fever.... but hung in there for some Christmas fun.

Elliott was excited about the Christmas tree...

Audrey still excited about her new baby sister to come.

George, Stef and family joined us for a Christmas brunch

Happy grandparents with their grandkids

After a delicious brunch we got to open presents

Elliott in his train sweater got some trains and tracks

The girls got princess pop up houses and dressed up like princesses

They princesses tried to include Elliott, but he wasn't interested in being a prince.

The Lapointe family

We spent Christmas Eve at our house, ready to spend our first Christmas morning at home.

We filled the tree with presents ready for the kids to wake up.

A belly shot in Audrey's Christmas mirror. She really wanted a full length mirror in her room (yes, she is only 4 years old!) Eric and I gave in with the hopes that she would stop sneaking into our room to admire herself during rest time.

We started the morning with breakfast. Audrey was really not feeling good.

She even passed up her waffle breakfast.

She decided to sit in front of the tree with the presents while we finished breakfast. Moments later, she puked all over her new Pillow Pet from the Hopkins family.

That didn't stop her from being excited about her presents...

She helped Elliott open his presents despite our assurances that he could manage on his own

Both admiring the contents of this bag (I forgot what it even was though)

Audrey with a new baby doll

Elliott with a beloved trash truck

Audrey losing it again

We watched the Nativity Story and cuddled

We ended up canceling our dinner plans and having a mellow pajama day

It was a complete opposite Christmas from what we were used to, but given the circumstance of Audrey being sick, it was perfect to be at home without much to do. Audrey ended up with 5 days of the stomach flu. We (mostly Eric due to my nausea) have never cleaned up so much throw up (mostly in the middle of the night of course). Poor Audrey's ribs were showing by the end of this ordeal. Luckily, Eric had the week off to help out with the extra work of a sick kiddo.

That was our Merry Christmas!

Pre-Christmas

2012-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a recap of our pre-Christmas fun

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we have made it a tradition to go cut down our Christmas tree

Audrey found her favorite

Elliott found one for him

But mommy found the winner

and there were lots of helpers cutting it down

and to cart it to the car

Audrey and I decorating the tree

Eric and the kids decorating their tree

Audrey was happy to be reunited with her beloved Little People Nativity Scene

The next weekend was Dollar Days in Baltimore, so we headed to the National Aquarium. It cost us $3 instead of the $70 it would have been.

The sea turtle missing a flipper

It is a tradition to see hundred of men dressed up as Santa that weekend. We found this group in the bar at noon. Luckily Audrey didn't ask too many questions.

The kids sang some Christmas songs for us during church. Audrey loved it and said, "I like being on stage!" Her father's daughter!

Decorating a gingerbread house with my little elves.

We went to our friend Virginia's annual Christmas party which always has the most gourmet food. We snapped our Christmas picture with a tripod and timer as we were going out the door. It was a Christmas miracle!

We walked on 34th street in Hampden to see the lights before the party

Audrey and her friend Amelia enjoying some hot chocolate

We had a church outreach one Sunday and gave out

65 bags of holiday food to families in need.

We also had a "free store" and Audrey wasn't sure about

some of her toys being donated.

I taught preschool the Tuesday before Christmas- "C is for Christmas"

We put on a mini Christmas pageant

This is my favorite picture of Audrey (the Angel)

telling Amelia (Mary) of the news to come.

Great shock factor!

We also did a little Happy Birthday Jesus party after lunch

Kate also made my house look so pretty at Christmastime

Kate's Visit

2012-01-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Kate came to visit Dec. 12th-17th. She is my best friend from high school and I am proud to have known her for over 13 years! This was her first visit to Baltimore and we had a blast. She fit nicely into our life routine and was extremely helpful. Thanks Kate for making the trip. Kate is an amazing photographer, she documented our time together beautifully and I am thrilled to have so many great pictures of my kids and city.

Doing life together:

Walking

Shopping

Baking

Bedtime

She did our hair in French braids- something that she did for me numerous times in highschool.

Elliott with his self-created hat

Watching the daily video and pulling hair

Lots of tea, chocolate and Trader Joe's cookies were consumed

during the kids rest-time and our work-time

Kate works at Trader Joe's- one of my favorite places!

I had to take her to ours which resides under a cross street.

I am not sure I could live in a place without TJs!

She was fascinated by the pillars holding up the store

I had to take her to all (at least most of) my favorite places in B'more! Here are some pictures of the places- outside and inside...

Baltimore Art Museum

Paper Moon Cafe

Sweet Sin Cupcakes- my friend's Gluten Free Bakery

Chocolatea- great tea and hot chocolate house

Red Canoe- bookstore and cafe

Baltimore Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

We did some driving tours to show her...

The best of Baltimore...

And the worst...

Some great nature pictures, Kate made winter look beautiful.

I am trying to convince her to come back in the Spring.

This one shows you what a warm November and December we had

My favorite photos of my loved ones (minus Eric)

Some other cool pics

I was SO blessed by Kate's visit and am praying she (and her camera) come(s) again!

Fall Recap

2012-01-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

Fall came and went! Between life, working, and being constantly nauseous, I had no time to blog. Here is the run down of what we were up to this fall...

Well, it started right after Hurricane Irene... the awful week without power... Elliott got bit by Avery (our parrot of seven years). His finger was partially amputated. We rushed off to the local community hospital...

Were transferred by ambulance at my request after they said, "We will sew it back on and see what happens."

Spent the night in the hospital awaiting surgery by the pediatric hand surgeon, glad I was transferred.

He spent two weeks in a full hard cast, making my life lots of fun, especially since he decided to start feeding himself during that time. We were sad to miss our annual trip to the beach at my Uncle's house. Our fall hick-off was not the best.

Two week after his injury, we saw a double line!

Elliott's cast was off just days before I left for California (by myself!). I went to SoCal for a long weekend for my sister, Rahime's baby shower. It was such a blessing to be there!

Back at home, life trekked along...

Audrey enjoyed being part of a preschool co-opt. Every Tuesday the moms took turns teaching (every 6 weeks). When it wasn't my turn, I usually would run earns with Elliott, who was very sad missing his sister. He would sit there a say, "Audi, Audi?"

The preschool group went on outings on Thursdays. Here are some pictures from the zoo and pumpkin patch:

Eric's dad spent three weeks with us while he remodeled George and Stefanie's kitchen.

On October 30th, my niece, Eleanor Lin-Huei Ting was born and my heart grew a little bigger.

We celebrated Halloween twice, first at our church and then with Eric's family.

Elliott as a kangaroo. Audrey did point out that he went as a girl/mommy kangaroo.

Audrey was a ladybug

Eric as a lumbar jack and I as a (knocked-up) Little Bo Peep

Cedulie (as Dora) with the girls and their pumpkins

Elliott learned to climb and dance on the table

Audrey had lots more creative outfits

Elliott got his first hair cut

And learned the joys to walking in the rain

We enjoyed a newly discovered trail

Audrey was quite the climber

I got to go to NorCal for 6 days to meet my new nephew and niece

While I was gone, Eric hung out with some other daddies and their kids and introduced a new concept, "football dinner" to the kids.

Leaves were raked

I had my first work fundraiser, so fun!

We went on lots of walks and enjoyed the colors

We even made a leaf wreath

Thanksgiving was spent at George and Stefanie's house

No shopping on Black Friday, but lots of canning of apple butter and lemon curd. Yummy!

That wraps up our eventful fall! It was great, but super busy!

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-15T08:17:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2011 has come and gone! Welcome to the 2011 Lapointe Family Wrap-up. We are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas at home and while we will miss seeing all our family and friends in California, we are excited about beginning some of our own family traditions. Looking back over the year, I think the theme would have to be growth. We have seen our community grow, taken on new leadership roles, expanded our roster of visitors and are eagerly anticipating the growth of our family! Needless to say, it was a very full year.

We'll start with the kids, isn't that what parents always do! Audrey Grace turned a very precocious 4 years old in 2011. We have been very blessed to see Audrey's sensitive heart this year witnessed through her compassion for fallen trees, and fallen animal friends.
Elliott Ryan turned 1 (though he was sick for his birthday party) and while we are still learning about his personality, seems to be a ham like his Daddy.
The big news of 2011 definitely has to be the addition of baby #3 due May 15, 2012. We are really excited to see our family grow but recognize that moving from man-to-man to zone defense will probably be quite interesting. We also welcomed our beautiful niece Eleanor to the world. Ashley got to go to California for the baby shower and to meet Eleanor two weeks after she was born and we are blessed to have had that opportunity.

We have also seen growth in our community. We are so blessed to be a part of a church teeming with young families to share life with. Audrey attends a home school co-op (or drop-off school as she calls it) with other 3 and 4 year olds from our church. The Moms take turns teaching and coordinating field trips 2 days a week. Audrey loves it and the creativity present in our community is astounding. We have also started camping with some of our friends. We both have fond memories of camping as kids and it is really exciting to have a group interested in making that happen. We're not going to lie, its kind of crazy with 9-12 kids under 5 but the best kind of crazy.
In the midst of all this, we have taken on new leadership roles as well. Ashley took on a position as Program Manager at Beads of Courage. She works about 15 hours a week while the kids are "resting" and while it has been challenging, she enjoys contributing to the organization that she saw make the most challenging life circumstances a little easier for families dealing with pediatric chronic illnesses.
Eric continues to work at U.S. Dream Academy and as he has gotten more comfortable with his responsibilities, has taken on some leadership roles at church. He currently serves as "money guy" managing church finances with another guy from church and is serving on the Transitional Advisory Board as we get ready to set up formal elders. As with any small church, we also both help out with hospitality (OK Ashley takes care of that) and volunteer in the nursery. We have seen God move in some pretty amazing ways and feel blessed to be part of such an amazing ministry.

Finally, we welcomed a litany of visitors this year. This is especially exciting to us because we were worried that when we moved back east, we wouldn't see any of our friends and family from Cali. Not in any particular order, we hosted Gogo and Grandpa Larry (Ashley's Mom and Step Dad), Poppy (Eric's Dad), Auntie Lauren, Grandma and Grandpa (Ashley's Dad and Step Mom), Auntie Lidia (twice), Todd Simonsen, Dave, Jenn and Eleanor Costillo, Bob Harriman, and Kate Farah. The basement has been busy!

All-in-all it was a very good year. We are continually challenged to stay in the moment and enjoy this (often crazy) season of life. Especially this year, we feel incredibly blessed to have everything we have been given. We continue to pray that God blesses our family with health, prosperity, and relationship and that we use all of those gifts to bless those around us.

Merry Christmas!

The Lapointes

Irene

2011-10-02T17:43:00.000-07:00

We got home from Hilton Head after a 14 1/2 hour drive on Friday, August 26th. We went inland a little to avoid Hurricane Irene evacuation traffic, so it took as a little longer. We also stopped in Harrisonburg to stock up on ice and water. We slept well in our own beds and started prepping first thing the next morning. We didn't quite finish before the rain started, but at least the wind wasn't blowing yet.

Audrey helped fill up the bath tub with water, just in case.

Having trouble going to bed with all the storm noise

The rain and wind pressed on all night, but the morning was clear and calm- but dark in our house since the power with out in the middle of the night. Other than that, the only evidence of Irene for us was lots of leaves down.

A tree in our alley fell, taking out someone's garage and everyone power.

Our neighborhood lost about six big trees

Damaged several smaller trees

Lots of power lines down

Lots of sticks and leaves came down, many of which

would be later collected by Audrey.

We were pleased that Irene didn't cause too much damage, she had weakened to tropical storm status for us. We suffered without power for 4 days which was not too bad all things considered.

Hilton Head

2011-10-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Two days after Lidia left, we headed to Hilton Head for some vacation time with my family. We drove to Hilton Head, South Carolina and were treated to a week of fun by my mom and Larry. Joining the fun was Rahime, 'Chung, Lauren, Larry's son and daughter-in-law, two of his granddaughters and his great-grandson. We had a great week, mostly in the water- the beach and pool were great so we made sure to get water 2-3 times a day as evidenced by all of our pictures.

Baby Bunny braving the road

This was the view from a wonderful restaurant, Salty Dog.

Pool time

'Chung, Eric and Michael (Larry's son) playing in the fountain

Liz, Larry's granddaughter and her son, Joshua

Ready for the beach.... Eric even braved the beach solo a few times so that I could go shopping with the girls. Evidently Hilton Head is famous for it's great consignment stores and thrift store- we tried to hit up all but only got to a couple dozen.

At the beach

Audrey and Gogo

My beautiful pregnant sister

We also celebrated my mom's (Gogo) 60th birthday.

Here is the beautiful cake that Rahime (my sister) made and decorated.

When the kids weren't in the water, they were in the cupboards.

I guess that was the only picture I took that was non-water related.

It was a great week, but we had to head back a day early to prepare for Irene.

Lidia Visit- Summer '11

2011-10-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Lidia came to visit for a week in early August. The kids and I picked her up from the airport and treated ourselves to dinner at Chiptole and had ice cream at this place in Baltimore that specializes in veggie ice cream. They have flavors like sweet corn, butternut squash, beet, and spinach. They actually taste much better than they sound. Sugar and cream go a long way!

We went Peach and raspberry picking at our favorite place, Larriland farms.

Elliott was not too sure about the peach fuzz

But, he came around and ate about 3 peaches

Gorgeous peaches

I had a hard time with all the peaches on the ground

Audrey enjoyed climbing for her peaches

My peaches

Lidia and I had 20 pounds of peaches to use... we had bourbon peach cobbler, peach tea, peaches and cream frasiche, and a lot of just plain peaches to eat.

We headed to the raspberry fields. Elliott was excited to get out of the stroller for a bit.

Elliott was a fan of raspberries

and was even willing to share!

Lidia and I got to spend the day together that Saturday of her visit and went to DC. We got to go shopping, see two movies, visit a museum to see the amazing painting below, visited Georgetown and had dinner at Le Pain Quotidien. It was a great day together, free of kids.

We went to Sherwood Gardens to have a picnic one afternoon. It was a cupcake picnic- we picked up some yummy gluten free cupcakes from my friend's bakery and enjoyed them in the gardens.

Elliott trying on Audrey's headband

Audrey posing in a tree

The kids got to climb the favorite climbing tree.

Elliott even joined in with some assistance

He preferred playing in the dirt and got pretty messy.

We had a great time with Lidia, even got to run in the rain (not on purpose and then again on purpose), watch the fireflies, and bake lots of yummy things. My new favorite cake- the chocolate whiskey bunt cake. Thanks Lidia for giving us a special week together!

E Ry's Walking!!!

2011-10-01T12:23:00.000-07:00

Elliott took his first steps in mid-July. He was a little late, but once he discovered this new talent- he has been off. Now he is very stable on his feet and hard to catch.

Saving the tree

2011-10-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

In early August we had a descent storm (not Irene) that brought down a few trees in our neighborhood. It took out part of a huge tree that crushed three cars. On our way home from having lunch with Eric and his co-workers in the Inner Harbor the day after the storm, we saw it and had to turn around since it was blocking the road. Audrey was distraught and could not understand why that happened. She asked if we could take a walk and go visit it. I really just wanted to get them to rest and start working (working from home is so much fun with two kids) but I saw the importance to her, so I caved. I got the stroller out for Elliott and we started to walk up the street. Audrey said, "Wait! I need my doctor kit." It didn't make any sense to me but I didn't want to start a fight, so let her go back to the house to get her doctor kit. She wore the stethoscope around her neck and marched up the street to go save the tree.

She gave it a shot (pain killers I hope).

Took it's blood pressure

Throughly assessed it

And gave it some hugs and kisses

I also took a video of her lecturing God not to do that again.

She felt good about her work and we headed back home.

When we got back home, she paid her respects to the bird and bugs.

What a sad world we live in! What a great big heart she has!

Here are some pictures of one of the cars after the tree was cleared:

The next day, we drove to Target and saw about six trees down.. she wanted to stop to save all the trees... we just opted for praying for them instead.

A week later, we were on another walk and saw the tree cutters taking down what was left of the tree. Audrey was so sad! She even talked to them and asked them why they were cutting it down. I guess they didn't realize that she saved it already!

Bird and Big Funeral

2011-10-01T11:43:00.001-07:00

On one of our walks in the neighborhood this summer, we encountered a dead bird and two dead bugs. Audrey told Eric, "we had a really sad walk today," later that evening. She was struck with the concept that the bird would never sing again and the bugs would never fly again. We had some great conversations about life and death. To ease her sadness, we held a funeral and burial for them. We made a cross with sticks tied together with reeds. She visited the site in our yard frequently afterwards to check on them.

Dress Up

2011-09-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Audrey dresses up everything...

Her Bunnies:

Her pandas:

Her brother

Her self:

Our broom and vacuum:

Even Elliott's Little People Farm Animals:

Audrey's 4th Birthday!

2011-09-03T19:38:00.001-07:00

Audrey had her Golden Birthday this year.

We started the day with a traditional breakfast in bed.

She was so excited.

She walked downstair to find her new bike complete with a seat for Bunnia.

Family pics before the party

Audrey's Birthday Wreath (I am really into making wreaths these days)

Garland of Audrey

Red Velvet Cupcakes

The Birthday Girl

Luis worked the grill

Lots of people and kids

Princess cake per Audrey's request

Elliott's favorite place

Audrey got to open the rest of her presents before bed. She certainly is Fancy.

A yawn sneaking out

Thanks Auntie Lauren for coming and working so

hard to make Audrey's birthday special!!!

We once again did not make it to see the fireworks. She "got to" watch a youtube video of fireworks and somehow that worked just fine.

Barnes Foundation

2011-09-03T19:37:00.001-07:00

My little sister, Lauren came for the 4th of July weekend. She was amazing help to get ready for Audrey's party. We also got to play a bit in between party prep. On Saturday the 2nd, we went up to Pennsylvania. I had two tickets to see the Barnes collection in Merion, PA. We went on the second to the last day before they closed the Merion gallery. The gallery will be permanently moved to downtown Philadelphia. Check out the documentary Art of the Steal, if you are interested in the scandal that ensued. We throughly enjoined Dr. Barnes' collection, but could not take any pictures. However, we took lots of pictures in the gardens...

The fernery (love that word)

Cool hallowed stump

Our new favorite tree- a Stewartia

Another cool tree- the Monkey Puzzel tree

Eric went with us to Philly for the day and took the kids to the Philly Zoo.

We can home with an excited pink kitty.

Audrey's outfits

2011-08-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Some of Audrey's outfits since early Spring...

Blueberry Picking

2011-08-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

In July, we went berry picking with some good friends of ours.

It was a hot and humid morning, but we cooled off by eating lots of berries.

Elliott raided my berry bucket pretty hardcore,

I could not keep up with him.

Amelia and Audrey liked the playground best

Elliott and his berry belly fast asleep

Caroline fell out with string cheese in hand, so cute!

Father's Day '11

2011-08-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to have John, Eric's dad in town for Father's Day weekend.

We took him to Annapolis where Audrey

was excited to be treated to ice cream.

Unfortunately, not one good picture was taken of Eric and the kids that day.

We had the family over for dinner

Elliott was worn out and Eric got to feel some daddy love!

Camping with Friends

2011-08-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

We went camping with some friends from church in early June. It was a blast with 9 adults and 9 kids-who wouldn't have fun!

We celebrated sweet Israel's birthday while we were there.

Family Camping '11

2011-08-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted last! Sorry, work has absorbed all of my "free" time. Anyway, I thought I would catch you up on our summer that is flying by!

Memorial Day Weekend, we went camping with Eric's family, actually I should say Audrey and Sofia went camping with their grandparents and the rest of us came up for the day. We had a great time and appreciated sleeping in our own beds. I guess the girls slept from 11:30pm-6:00am and came home tired with some exhausted grandparents. Here are some pictures of our time.

Sharing

2011-05-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my two precious kids. It started by waking up at 6:45am to Audrey whisper yelling, "Daddy, it's Mother's Day! We need to make breakfast in bed for Mommy!" I got to pretend I was sleeping for the next 20 minutes while my breakfast tray was being prepared. I got eggs, toast, strawberries and tea with a vase of flowers. Audrey climbed up on the bed and said, "Happy Mother's Day, you can give me bites." She is so thoughtful and sweet. We went to George and Stef's church with Luis and Cedulie and then went to Hampton Mansion for the afternoon. We walked around the grounds and had a picnic. It is definitely on the "come back to" list.

We took some great pictures of me and the kids.

Here are some others of our time there.

My Dad's Visit

2011-05-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with my Dad and Arlene.

Here are some pictures of our time together.

Loving his Grandson

Audrey and the Azaleas

Audrey recently decided that she wants long hair without curls.

She has been brushing out her hair to make it longer.

I am trying to be patient but having a hard time with it...I just love her curls so much.

Audrey helped my Dad put in a new garbage disposal

Elliott wanted to help too

Elliott got to play his great grand-daddy Deans' banjo.

This boy loves music and I hope to cultivate that love.

They had lots of fun putting Audrey to bed and

reading her the new books they brought her. They got all Caldecott medal winners, amazing books that were popular when we were young. They are so good and it is hard to find them these days.

Sherwood Gardens

2011-05-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

I am sure most of you have heard me mention Sherwood Gardens, it is a splendid local garden with 80,000 tulips. The kids and I have visited numerous times and taken our recent visitors (Mom, Larry, Dad, Arlene, and Cami). Here are some pictures of our visit last weekend with my Dad and Arlene.

Elliott Ryan is 1!!!

2011-05-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some happier pictures of Elliott. Elliott is very busy, not walking yet, but cruising and crawling very fast! His words consist of momma, dadda, Audrey, Avery, more, nana (banana and food in general), bye bye, nite nite, and I am sure there are a few more. He can sign more, hungry, and please. His favorite foods are lasagna, asparagus and chili. He has eight teeth, four of which he got in a three day time period. He loves climbing stairs and taking baths with his sister. He also loves Avery and even likes to move her cage around the house. Taking walks is the highlight of the day. He is such a joy and we are so thankful for this precious boy.

Elliott's 1st

2011-05-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, was Elliott' s 1st Birthday, wow how time flies!!!

We had a farm theme (surprise, surprise), mostly because

I have so much farm stuff already to use.

Here is some of the party decor....

I was excited to use my red peacock tablecloth

I did a banner of pictures of Elliott from birth to 12 M

Pinwheel party favors

This was a Happy Birthday banner using French

Vintage Alphabet cards, thanks risten

The kid snacks

Our house was full with lots of kids

Balloon Wreath, thanks Lidia for the great idea!

The grown-ups snuck outside for some peace and quiet.

We were blessed to have my Dad and Arlene join us for this special day.

Our garden was beautiful that day,

the azaleas were at peak for his party

Audrey had more fun at Elliott's party than he did

Sweet Audrey admiring the sweets

Cow, pig, chick and lamb cupcakes-

Thanks Arlene for laboring with me!

Shiloh turned 1 two weeks before

You might be wondering where the pictures of the birthday boy.

Well, he was a birthday boy grump... later we learned that he wasn't feeling well.

He had fevers the following three days and then broke out in a rash on Thursday, I guess he ended up having roseola.

This was the best picture we got that day.

I love this birthday boy!

This was what he looked like most of the evening

He wasn't really sure about his cupcake,

but had more fun playing with it than eating it

At presents time, he was a mess!

Audrey was excited to help out opening presents.

He gave up all interest and we

postponed the rest of present opening.

The next day he (with Audrey's help, of course) opened up the rest! He was only slightly more interested in them. Later, we he was feeling better, he got to really enjoy his presents.

Here is his rash that showed up Thursday

Easter '11

2011-05-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

This Easter we were blessed to have my mom and Larry visit us. Saturday, we went to a community Easter Egg Hunt.

She made this fabulous Easter bonnet there

We went to church with my Mom and Larry and had an

Easter lunch at church after the service.

Here are some pictures of our church,

it is a beautiful old building

Next, we went to Eric's mom's house

(our home for 8 months when we first moved).

We had Easter dinner, more egg hunts and lots of fun.

The girls admiring their Easter treasures

Grandpa Larry entertaining Elliott

Hunting

Ben and Didi (Eric's former co-worker's but current friends' kids) joined us for the day.

Didi looked gorgeous in her Easter best

Elliott not liking the hug from his sister

But loving some Easter egg treats, he got O's and raisins!

My handsome boys

We had a fabulous day! I hope your Easter was great as well!

Cherry Blossoms 2011

2011-05-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

Although life has been busy, we did get to sneak a quick trip to DC to see the Cherry Blossoms. We missed the peak and most of the blooms were starting to fall and the branches starting to leaf, but it was still very beautiful. Here are our pictures...

Hello Spring!

2011-05-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

We have been loving Spring over here in Baltimore. I have been busy working from home and have lots of blogs to catch up with... so stay tuned. Here are some pictures of what we have been enjoying this Spring season.

Audrey's Picks

2011-03-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Audrey is still dressing herself... some outfits are within

my comfort zone and some are not. She does get lots of looks

of shock and admiration as we are out and about.

I love her style and commitment to being an individual!

Goodbye Winter!

2011-03-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Winter is coming to an end... we are having some nice brisk days and are welcoming sunshine and buds! I thought I should post some of our winter pictures before Spring Equinox. We had much less snow than last year, but still several storms with decent amounts of snow to enjoy.

We had one "big" snow. It was so sticky

we had to shake off our trees to prevent limb breakage.

I love our snowy house!

Audrey always wears her shades for that snow glare

Audrey's "Snowman-Girl"was the cutest

and most styling in the neighborhood!

There were lots of snow angels made this winter

Elliott was usually too inhibited by his snow

suit to enjoy much of the snow.

And lots of P.J. Days

I love this picture with three season represented

Stay-tuned for lots of Spring pictures!

10 months!

2011-03-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

Elliott is 10 months today!!! I haven't posted on him in several months, so yes he turned 8 months, 9 months and now 10 months! Here is an update of our little guy:

Since I wrote last, Elliott has been really busy and keeping us really busy. He has mastered sitting up on his own, crawling, and cruising. Army crawling is preferred on the hard-wood floors, but he can crawl on the carpet which leaves him on his belly a lot.

Elliott loves to eat finger foods over purees. His favorite foods are mini raviolis and sweet potatoes. He is now interested in what is on our plates, so he has enjoyed meatloaf, split pea soup and pancakes lately.

Despite two ear infections, the stomach flu and teething (he has been working on his top teeth for a month and a half), he has been smiling and talking more and more. He says, "Ma Ma Ma Ma" and "Da da da da" and understands whom those sounds go with.

He loves his sister- he looks anxiously for her every morning and is fussy if she sleeps over at her Grand-Maman's house. He LOVES bath time and giggles when he hears the water start. His favorite thing in life is when his two loves unite- bath with his sister!

Audrey is a great big sister! She makes him laugh when he is fussy. She gives him lots of hugs and kisses. We are so blessed by these two adorable kids, who brighten our days everyday!

My 30th Birthday!

2011-02-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

Well, even though it was two weeks ago... I wanted to share with you what a fun birthday I had. It started the weekend before my actual birthday when we adopted a birthday kitty. ("New Cat"went missing around Christmas and we all agreed the house wasn't the same without a kitty around.) Her name is Sinclair although she also goes by "Princess Sinclair" (I vetoed Tinkerbell). She is great with the kids and a perfect addition to the family.

Lidia flew out for a long weekend to celebrate my birthday weekend. Friday the 4th was the big day. We had Eric's family over for a fondue and raclette dinner (Cedulie brought all the food!) It was a fun family-style team-effort meal.

Lidia made me a Raspberry Lemon Cake.

Saturday, we headed up to Pennsylvania for a day of fun.

We stopped by the Dansko outlet to buy Lidia some new shoes

for work and to let Audrey ride the Dansko sheep.

Next, we went to Longwood Gardens

It was a cold rainy day and all of the outside gardens

were closed due to "icy conditions",

so we spent our time inside the conservatory.

It was weird to enter into an immediate spring as we walked inside

Eric got some quality time with Elliott

The kids got to enjoy playing with the fountains.

Audrey and Elliott got some special time with Lidia

Some featured plants that we saw

It was orchid extravaganza that weekend and we love orchids!

Monday night, we had some ladies from the church over for a dessert night. Lidia made my favorite cake, the Black Pearl. We also made creme brulee. Thanks Dad and Arlene for my creme brulee set. It was so much fun and so yummy! Sorry, no pictures of the evening, we were too busy enjoying desserts and great company.

It was a great birthday weekend!

Audrey's Picks

2011-01-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

Audrey is still dressing herself these days.

These are some of my favorite's over the last few months.

Audrey adopted my "new" pink dinosaur shirt that I bought for $1 while in CA. We were in the middle of wrapping Christmas presents when she got dressed, so she accessorized with a Christmas ribbon (her favorite) for a belt.

Her Christmas morning ensemble featuring

presents from Auntie Mei-Mei

Here's Audrey at the playground (yes, we can do that in Dec. in CA) with her poncho as a skirt and Hello Kitty backpack.

Here are some from when we got back to MD...

Audrey was not ready to give up her shorts and crocs,

but we were back to the cold,

Her footie pjs, leotard, tutu, boa, and tiara- perfect outfit!

Daddy's hat and four layers of tights,

baby legs and socks.

Audi-Cam

2011-01-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

Audrey got a hold of our camera while we were in San Fran at my sister's house.

She took some cool pictures.

Family Photo at Paddison Farm

2011-01-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

While we were in California our dear friend and former neighbor Sarah blessed us with taking family pictures of us. It was special to take another set of family pictures back at our first home.

5 Christmases

2011-01-19T17:41:00.000-08:00

Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas!!!

Audrey thinks everyday is Christmas and this is why...

We had our 1st Christmas celebration in Maryland

We had a small gift exchange with the cousins.

Here's sweet little Shiloh.

We had Eric's mom (Cedulie) and Luis over for the 1st real Christmas.

Audrey and the poor star

The kids' new picnic table filled the living room.

We headed to California for three weeks (only two for Eric) for the holidays.

I was blessed on the flight to sit by this sweet grandma that has been a pre-school teacher for 17 years. She quizzed Audrey on her letters, combed pony's hair and held Elliott when I needed to go to the bathroom. Later, I thought I might have sat by an angel.

We were excited to escape the cold and soak up some SoCal sun. However, we arrived and had seven straight days of rain. We spent a lot more time at my mom's house and were blessed to have some friends visit us there. Here is Cami, our beloved former babysitter with the kids.

Audrey got to visit Santa and was just thrilled. She said she would leave out

"milk, cookies and curtains" for him. What a doll!

My mom tried to get as many hugs and kisses as she could

and paid the price by getting our nice head cold.

Audrey in her CalKing bed.

Eric joined us Dec. 22 and we celebrated Christmas Day at my dad's for Christmas #2. My sister Rahime, her husband 'Chung and her two Great Danes came down from San Francisco.

My dad and Arlene with the kids

The grand babies

Brembo and Puffin want to be lap dogs.

Elliott got his first truck and loved it!

Christmas #3 was on the 26th at my mom and Larry's house.

The grand babies again

Elloitt loving his and new elephant and his Aunite Lauren

Audrey got a dress up chest full of new headpieces

and leggings- some hot new outfits to come.

Thanks Auntie MeiMei!

She dressed us all up

My boys

My tea

Some delightful eyes!

Our annual family pic

We spent a few days with Eric's dad and step-mom

and celebrated Christmas #4.

They also came down to my mom's for Christmas Eve.

Elliott practiced his gymnastics

and Audrey dressed up

We put on a mini pageant for Audrey,

thanks to Mary Ann's creative skills.

The fun Christmas spirit dimmed for me when I learned of my best friend's dad's death from a sudden heart attack. I don't know where to ever place this in my post or my heart, because it just doesn't fit anywhere. To lose someone two days after Christmas and bury them on New Year's Eve doesn't seem right. I was SO blessed to be in town to attend the funeral and be there for my dearest friend.

On that note, the trip didn't end for us but I guess much of the pictures did. How can you capture "happy times" when such "sad times" still linger?

We drove straight up to San Fran (as planned) after the funeral, but without Lidia (as not planned) to celebrate New Year's and my sister Rahime's birthday. We also got to see Eric's step-sister, Susan, the baby bump and Tom again.

They got to practice feeding. Tom asks, "when will Elliott start solids?"

Oh, Tom you have a lot to learn, this mush IS "solids!

After San Fran, we got to see a few friends-

Thanks to all that made the effort to see us!

The Grant and Lapointe families- 5 kids in 3.5 years!

I got together with some girls (and lots of kids) from our nursing class.

Pictures in another post to come, because this one has far too many already.

We visited our beloved first home, Paddison Farm

and had some family pictures taken (stay-tuned).

We were ready to return home to the cold and a little more routine and structure for the kids after an enjoyable but long three weeks. We arrived home to two huge boxes of presents for the kids from my Aunt Karen and Uncle Eugene and had Christmas #5 the following morning.

My kids are blessed with so many people that love them...

so don't judge Eric and I for not buying any presents for our kids.

They get plenty spoiled from everyone else!

Christmas Letter 2010

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for taking the time to read the 2010 Lapointe family year in review. It has been an eventful year and as we pause to reflect during this holiday season, we cannot help but be grateful for all of the blessings we have received. I must begin by giving credit to Jaime whose blog Christmas letter format I outright stole.

Eric entered into his second year working for the U.S. Dream Academy. Although his job continues to be ensuring that the mentor program is thriving, this year he tried his hand at grant writing and grant management. It turns out he's pretty good at it having won three foundation grants for $100,000 each and a federal grant for $2.5 million over three years! In his words, its pretty good job security.

Ashley continues to love being a stay-at-home mom. The transition from being the mom of one to a mom of two was easier than expected in some ways, and harder than expected in others. The daily routine really hasn't changed much having two kids and Elliott is a very easy but Audrey did experience an adjustment period. Ashley is also volunteering for a non-profit organization called Beads of Courage. Ashley ran the program, which is designed to support and strengthen children with serious illness, at City of Hope and continues to be recognized as a vital asset to the organization.

Audrey really began to display her development and individuality this year. We heard "I'll do it myself" quite a bit. She's now going potty by herself, able to turn on and off lights, putting herself in rest, dressing herself, helping Mommy with dishes & laundry, and being an outstanding big sister to her new little brother. It has been so fascinating, and to be totally honest a little challenging at times, to see areas where she does things differently than we would like. Its not likely to change any time soon so we're adjusting too.

Elliott was born! We can't believe our little guy is already 7 months old. He's just at the age where we are starting to learn about his personality. He's a pretty mellow little guy who takes everything in. He's very tactile (he is a boy after all) whose favorite place to hang out is his exercauser. For as independent as his big sister is, Elliott needs his Mommy cuddle time. Eric usually comes home to Elliott strapped onto Mommy's back in the Ergo. He's creeping across the floor but not sitting up or crawling yet.

As a family, the biggest change this year (other than Elliott obviously) has been our attendance at The Village church in Baltimore. Its a great little church plant about 2 years old. There are a ton of young families who are all looking to grow spiritually as well as relationally (one Sunday we counted 26 adults and 22 children under the age of 4.) Audrey is attending Sunday School instead of hanging out in the nursery (reluctantly sometimes) and Eric and Ashley are in a couples small group where the men meet Wednesday evenings and the women meet Thursday mornings. It has been really great to have your social network also be your spiritual network. Several of the mom's also stay at home so the kids have really been enjoying play dates as well.

Other notable events from 2010 include:

Snowmageddon in February (which actually lead us to The Village)

Visits by Ronnie, John and Mary Ann, Suzie, Rahime, Lidia, Dave, Kevin and the Felicianos.

Attended three amazing weddings: Joni and Matthew, Suzie and Larry & Anna Luisa and Arthur.

Vacations in the Outer Banks, with Uncle Scott and Aunt Laura in Hampton VA, and California (for Ashley and the kids at least)!

Like we said, it has been a blessed year. We are so thankful to you, our family and friends for the outpouring of support, best wishes, and love this year. We wish you and your families a holiday season full of meaningful relationship, celebration, and love.

Merry Christmas

Love Eric, Ashley, Audrey and Elliott

P.S. If you are still reading, here's a few of the Christmas pic outtakes.

Audrey's Picks

2010-12-11T08:31:00.001-08:00

Dollar Days '10

2010-12-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

Our dear friends the Felicianos joined us this year for Dollar Days at the National Aquarium.

We stood in line for only 20 minutes

Our family pics

My boys

Jelly Fish- still my favorite

Elliott slept on and off in the Ergo

Audrey clung to her daddy and freaked

out when she couldn't see him

Great picture of Eric

Some of the aquatic life:

During Dollar Days the aquarium does not do dolphin shows, but they do open up the

amphitheater so people can see the dolphins play and train. Eric LOVES dolphins, so we watched them while eating lunch and waited for the promised training session.

We finally got our dolphin fix and went back home to hang out in our pjs.

Best Buds

2010-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

An extension of the last post... just some cute pictures of Audrey and Elliott together.

Playing together

2010-12-08T10:54:00.001-08:00

When I was pregnant with Elliott, someone told me that one of the greatest joys in life is watching your kids play together. Now that Elliott is a little older, I'm starting to understand what this person meant. Audrey loves to play with her younger brother and as you can see from some of these pictures taken over the last few months, Elliott is VERY patient.