In late February Aaron and I spent a weekend in New York to a) celebrate Aaron’s Birthday, b) to visit with Bonney and c) so that Sarah could attend Bonney’s east coast (that’s right there was a west coast one too) baby shower. We had a great weekend with lots of city walks and lots of good eating. Bonney introduced us to The Highline – a public park that has been built on an elevated rail structure (carried a freight train from the 1930s – the 1980s) in Manhattan’s West Side. We ate at Shun Lee Palace, City Bakery, Katz’s Deli and Artisanal – not too bad for just a weekend. And Sarah joined Bonney’s family and friends at a celebration for the baby we now know as Rowan.

We had a family party at Peter and Maria’s house to celebrate James, Peter and Aaron’s birthdays. Amy convinced Justin to put on the “Look who’s 45″ shirt that Peter made and wore to my 30th birthday party. I’ve been holding onto it since then. You see, back when I turned 30, Peter thought it was sooooo old, so he made the joke….but now that he’s 30, apparently things have changed. Hmmmm…..

Anyway, we had a fun afternoon joking, hanging out, passing around Brian, playing with Justin – all happy to be together. Check out the album of photos.

After months of planning, Maria and Chrissy threw Peter and James a surprise 30th birthday party. Friends and family gathered at a Harrington’s Pub in Wakefield, while Peter and James were lured there under the guise of meeting a friend for some drinks. I can’t believe my little brothers are 30 !

My beloved grandmother turned 90 last December and to celebrate her grandchildren wanted to throw her a party. Including significant others, we are a group of 17. After considerable planning, lots of compromises and a fair amount of convincing my grandmother it was a good idea – we threw her lovely dinner party in her home back in late January. Grandchildren were more than happy to travel from both near and far to celebrate and honor a woman we all love so very much. At the party we presented her with a book that included photos from across the years and written notes from each of us. I am happy to report the party was a great success and although Nonnie initially put up a fight (she didn’t want anyone to go to any trouble) – I’d dare to say it was a pretty special evening for her. It was wonderful for all of us to be together for the weekend and to celebrate our Nonnie.

I am borrowing the above photo from Jay – thanks Jay for the group shot! It’s a little dark due to our mood lighting, but great to have record of all of us being there. Click on the photo to see my album of images from the party.

Here’s to the last post for 2009! Aaron and I celebrated New Year’s Eve with Amy, Joe and family. We wore party hats and glow-stick jewelry and had quite a feast – cheese, chips and dip, crab claws (overnighted to us from Rita), twice baked potatoes, yummy baked chicken (for those of us not interested in crab) and for dessert – chocolate fondue. I still can’t believe (and yes, I know we are 5 months into it now) that it’s 2010.

With the family expanding, times are a changing and we decided to do the holidays a little differently this past winter – we celebrated Christmas day at Amy and Joe’s house. The whole family was there, all 12 of us, and there were presents galore (as usual). We had a low key day of opening gifts, lots of eating and general relaxing. We even watched that old Jim Henson movie, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. It was nice just to have the time with us all together. Make sure to check out the album of photos…

Back in early December, Aaron and I joined, Amy and Joe (and their boys) and Mom on their Christmas tree hunt at a tree farm in Boxford. It was a blue sky, sunny day and there was just a little snow on the ground – so everything looked very festive.

I stopped by Amy and Joe’s house after they finished trick or treating for a visit and to see the boys’ costumes. Justin was a fireman and Brian was a chili pepper (some of you may recognize the chili pepper costume from Justin’s first Halloween :) – What I did not expect was that Amy and Joe also got into the spirit of Halloween… Joe dressed up as a construction worker and Amy had on a sweet wig and some 80s style shutter shades, she said she was just being funny – but my guess is that she was an aerobics instructor! Mom went along for the trick or treating as well. From the looks of Justin’s candy bowl at the end of the night, it was a successful trick or treat.

October is potentially my favorite month of the year – I love fall, the weather, the leaves changing, and no fall would be complete without a visit to the Topsfield fair. Mom graciously agreed to watch Brian – as there probably isn’t too much of interest to a 1 month old at a town agricultural fair – and Aaron and I, along with Amy, Joe and Justin – spent an evening walking the fairgrounds, people watching and eating delicious fair food. Justin went on a few rides with his parents, although he’s still not sold on them entirely, and of course we played some games, visited the livestock barns and toured the agricultural halls. It was a fun night. I did have one misstep in the form of a fried twinkie – but I don’t really want to talk about it… :)

At the end of September, most of the family got together to celebrate Joe’s birthday at Amy and Joe’s house. It was a low key celebration and a good opportunity to catch up and spend time with Justin and Brian. Unfortunately, most of the photos from the little party are a bit dark as we turned the flash off to take some pictures of Brian (so not to disturb his sleep) and then neglected to turn the flash back on – but I am posting them just the same.