Re: questionaire‏ jonathan milott 10/05/11 To: chiara alberetti

In 2011, I sent Jon an email asking these questions:

if there was one word to describe our family, what would it be?
what is the most surprising thing about being a father?
what is your most humbling parenting moment?
proudest moment (you can't say when they were born)? favorite thing to do as family?

and these were his answers:

1. LOVE
2. how fast time goes - they are not babies anymore
3. realizing that they are who they are and I can only be there and support them, rather than shape them. 4. The love the boys have toward me. The look on Cade's face when I get home from work expressing pure joy in seeing me. The genuine hugs Jackson give me.
5. Read. Draw. Rough house. Discover.

I'm stuck on #3. I love you Jon and miss you so much.

party in massachusetts - ooooo!

This past weekend we celebrated some big birthdays in Massachusetts. We had an awesome time with friends and family from all over. The picture above might be one of my all-time favorite family pics - on account of Jackson throwing gang signs and smirking like he just ate the canary.

The highlight of the night was Jackson and Sammy's performance of Justin Beiber's Baby, Baby, Baby - changed to Bebe, Bebe, Bebe, oooo, Papi, Papi, Papi, oooooo, Happy Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!!!!!  (Excuse my crazy stage-mom instructions. And awful singing/yelling).

Happy Birthday, Bebe and Papi!

thanksgiving 2012

I often do this: think to myself, "this time I'm going to post these photos right away and be done with it!" This is what happens: I wait a week to upload the 1000 pictures from the camera, I'm not happy with most of them, I want to color correct some of them, I want to write a well-written, heartfelt post that explains in detail everything we did, ate, said....and why there is a creepy monkey in the pictures.....

And here it is OVER ONE MONTH after Thanksgiving, and I'm posting our family pictures..I tell you. I don't know.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! hahaahaha!

Jackson's, Cade's and Mama's first - camping

Last weekend, we went upstate to Uncle David and Kim's in Millerton and spent our first night (except Jon) ever under the stars.

Also: bocce playing, swimming, Kayaking (Jackson by himself!), rainbow-cake-eating, blueberry-picking, fire-pit lounging, s'more-making, and tire-swinging.

It's really beautiful there, and we had a fantastic time. And surprisingly few mosquito bites!

papi came to brooklyn!

 

Papi came to visit for the weekend, and we had a great time with him. Jackson and Cade didn't want him to go. We had bagels from La Bagel Delight, visited the Intrepid and Green-Wood Cemetery, had dinner at Blue Ribbon, frozen yogurt from Culture, and finally brunch at Stone Park Cafe. All the while, the boys played with their awesome new jet planes non-stop. Phew!

More pictures to come, but in the meantime, one silly one and one sweet one - two of my favorites.

Jamestown Part 1- the house and around town

Sorry for the lack of posts! We're been enjoying our annual summer trip to the beach! Be back soon!

water balloon fight!!!

We also had an awesome little water balloon fight when we were at Uncle Michael and Auntie Gwyneths. :). 

a walk in the woods

Last weekend we road-tripped to Uncle Michael and Auntie Gwyneth's house. One of the highlights of the weekend was a walk in their woods on Sunday morning (after an awesome breakfast of grilled sausage, onions, peppers and scrambled eggs in a grilled tortilla - yummmmm). We ate some berries, whacked at trees with sticks, walked in the dry creek bed, found some spiders and other things....

It was so nice to get out of the hot city and get back to nature. More pictures of the ladybug Jackson and Cade found soon too. 

picnic in the park

What a nice day we had in the park with Mimi and Nonno (who were here to babysit while we celebrated Kate's baby-on-the-way). We stopped at Grab and got bread and cheese, threw down some sheets, opened some real ginger ale, and played baseball and blew bubbles. Oh, and a Salty and Sweet Brownie from Baked finished it off.

Thank you Mimi & Nonno for coming down. Cade went to sleep asking, "Mimi? Nonno?"

And thank you Dad for painting the front door!

party like it's 1999

Not quite sure exactly what is going on in these pictures, but when we were in Massachusetts, Sammy, Jackson and Cade had some kind of party in the playroom. Well, actually looks like Sammy and Jackson were jamming out, while Cade sat studiously at the desk in the corner. I think he was working on his taxes. I don't know. I wasn't there.

Sammy's headband seriously takes the cake. Pretty awesome.

weekend at Sammy's

We had an awesome time in Massachusetts this past weekend, celebrating Auntie Nikki's birthday. Jackson and Cade were in HEAVEN playing with Sammy non-stop. In fact, Jackson was so pysched he stayed up til midnight on Saturday night, and Cade woke up at 4 for good on Sunday morning. Awesome!

Nikki told me that after school when she got home Sammy said, "Is Cade and Jackson here?" She said "No they had to go home," and he said "Did they say good bye?" She said yes and that they could come visit. He said, "OK this Wednesday!"

remiss

We had the most wonderful weekend in Massachusetts over the 4th of July. A small town parade (with lollipops), a 5 mile race run by Papi and Jon, fantastic meals on the grill by Bebe, sprinkler and bubble fun (isn't that picture a Kodak moment?), strawberry shortcake for Jon's birthday (with biscuits by Uncle Darin!) and lots and lots of playing with cousin Sammy.

I'm remiss in my posting of pictures but hopefully will be able to get to it this weekend!

oh, we tried

The family portrait.

babies in gardens

Jackson (2009):




Uncle Michael (1981):


Mama (1975):