Happy Birthday, Grammie!

To celebrate Grammie Baptiste's recent birthday, Grammie and Grampie came up to Salem for a day of fun with Alice and Mommy.  First, we were off to the Peabody Essex Museum in Downtown Salem to check out the exhibits.  Then, we ate a yummy lunch at the Tavern on the Green in the Hawthorne Hotel.  Then we headed back to the house to enjoy the cake that Alice and Mommy made for Grammie:

(Sometimes you can't help but sneak an M&M or two while lighting the birthday candles!):

Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday, Dear Grammie!  Happy Birthday to you!:

The cake was yummy, the company was the best and it was a fun day, overall!

Happy Birthday, Grammie!

Here are the rest of the photos from the birthday celebrations.  Enjoy!

Baby Mae is Here!

Early in the morning on January 24, we were very excited to be able to wake Alice up with the news that her new baby cousin had arrived... and she is a girl!

Mae Lisbeth Baptiste arrived on January 23rd and is perfect!  Here is Alice, checking out Mae's first photos on Daddy's phone:

... and already giving Mae kisses... we are all in love!

Mommy and Daddy ran over to the hospital right after work to be able to check out this kiddo in person:

Auntie Chris had a long labor and worked very hard but was doing great when we arrived! :)

Uncle Dan is the Diaper King we always knew he would be:

Cutie Pie!!!

Here are the rest of Baby Mae's first photos.  We are so excited to have this new love in our lives.  We can't wait for all of the new adventures ahead with our expanded family!

Goodbye Sweet Ella

After a lengthy illness and approximately 11 wonderful years together, we had to say goodbye to our sweet kittycat, Ella today.

This was an extraordinarily emotional day for us.  Ella was Mommy's cat before she met Daddy.  Ella has been with us throughout Mommy and Daddy's relationship, marriage and throughout Alice's entire life.  Ella was so smart and sweet and the type of cat that would give up anything for a snuggle.  We will miss those snuggles so much.  We will love you, forever, Ella - you take a bit of our hearts with you.

The Last Fire of Christmas - A Salem Tradition

Two weeks after Christmas, along with most of our fellow Salem residents, we made our way over to Dead Horse Beach in Salem.  Our garbage collectors had done a great job of collecting all the discarded Christmas trees from around town and dropped them in a giant pile here at the beach.  We were then treated to a celebratory bonfire!

Once lit, the pile of trees made the beach move from very dark...

to bright enough to see everyone else in town around the bonfire!

(and quite hot too!)

A local church sold hot chocolate and we enjoyed some of that on the way out.  Yum! 

This was a fun conclusion to our very busy holiday season, and a great start to a new year to which we are very much looking forward!  Here is a link to the rest of the photos from the festivities!

Christmas Break 2011

Once all the Christmas festivities had come to a close, it was time to relax, enjoy some special time with Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ, and reflect on all the fun we had enjoyed over the previous week... and, of course, play with all of our fun new toys! :)

Here, Alice is snuggling with her great new teddy bear from our wonderful neighbors, Deb and Ed:

Alice was super excited to receive a fun computer in the mail from Grandma and Papa, and here she is showing it off to her new toy puppy, Cookie, from her Bisavo (Great-Grandmother):

Auntie Bethany and Uncle CJ enjoyed relaxing under our many Snuggies throughout the week!  We can't wait for the chance to see them again.  Miss you guys!

Alice is so excited to welcome her new baby cousin.  Here she is, giving the new baby (and Auntie Chris, too, of course!) a hug! :)

Snuggling and relaxing with Daddy:

Alice is blessed to be surrounded by so many very talented people.  Here she is admiring the amazing painting by her Papa Pete that he sent out for Christmas to adorn her new "Big Girl" bedroom:

Daddy would agree that a week of relaxing is not really relaxing unless it includes some video games and Alice was happy to use her new computer from Grandma and Papa to play some new ones with Daddy this week:

We hope everyone had a wonderful week after Christmas and whether you were working or not were able to spend some great time with your loved ones.  Here is to a happy and healthy New Year for all!


Here are some additional photos from our Christmas Break week.  Enjoy!