Ho Ho Ho... Rudolph with your nose so bright

Did you recognize the song? The boys know that one inside and out...more on that in a minute. I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2011. This year has zipped by! Since our last post, we've had lots of Christmas fun. We went to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo when it was super warm earlier this month, did a tremendous amount of baking (2 kinds of truffles, caramels, peppermint patties, chocolate covered caramels, cake balls, almond butter blossoms and more I'm sure), wrapped presents and sang A LOT of songs! (for reference, 4 and 2 year old boys can sing for hours---even singing the same song again and again and again)

We celebrated Christmas several times this week, and sang songs and shared goodies with our neighbors. Yep, we took the kids around on Christmas Eve to leave bags of goodies on many door steps and singing a song for anyone who was home. I think we brightened the days of many on our street! (their favorites were Jingle Bells with the new bell from Uncle Mike & Aunt Andrea, Rudolph, Frosty, & The Little Pinetree)

With Gramie & Granpy Huber here for 12 days, we had lots of fun playing etc. We went back to the Festival of Lights. We also went to the trains at the Children's Museum (twice) and also to the Krohn Conservatory train display. Luckily, most of our shopping was done before December started so we were able to do all of this family stuff and not have to worry about shopping. :) It was truly magical to see the spirit of Christmas from the eyes of our boys this year!

On a non-Holiday related noted, we just got some reassuring news from Nathan's allergist. He still has a peanut allergy but his numbers are significantly down from last year. We're hopeful that he will outgrow this allergy in a few years and in the meantime, keep plugging away at educating ourselves and others to keep him safe!

From our family to yours, we hope you had a blessed holiday and a wonderful 2012!

Love, The Huber Family

Fall Fun

I don't know where the time has gone...I haven't posted anything to our blog since our trip to Greece. We've been busy, I guess. :) Here's some of the pictures we've taken this fall. It's been a lot of fun: going to the Pumpkin Patch with our neighbors, carving pumpkins, raking leaves, attending the Pumpkin Walk, going to a Leaf Party, visiting the zoo for HallZOOween, and of course Trick or Treating! The boys had a blast these past few weeks and we think the fun is really just beginning...we have lots more fun activities planned!

Amazing Trip to Greece

Michael and Ijust got back from a trip to Greece with the College of Mount St Joseph. We were gone for 10 blissful days, many thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Rust for keeping Noah & Nathan!!!!! We enjoyed seeing some truly spectacular sights, eating lots of good food, finding new gelato places every day (a couple of times we ate gelato twice a day...found out it's 60 calories per scoop that made me feel better!), taking a bunch of pictures and videos and getting to explore a new place.

We stayed in Athens at the beginning and end of the trip and stayed on the island of Paros in the middle (from there we visited 4 other islands). These islands are a part of the Cycladic Islands south of Athens.

Here are a few of the pictures from our trip....if you've seen some of these on FB already, sorry! I have a blog e-mail list and I just sent it to all of you.

Here's what you're looking at from the top: the Parthenon & the Greek Agora in Athens (Parthenon is on the hill behind us), Michael on his scuba trip, the cheese wheels on the island of Despotiko (we bought one and ate it for several nights with a bottle of wine...don't worry, we shared it with 6 other people), the island of Mykonos on a day trip there, a orthodox church on the island of Paros (this is the one with the blue dome), the shoreline of Paros, finally, us standing in front of the Parthenon in Athens.

Happy 4th Birthday, Noah!

It's so hard to believe Noah is 4 already! He celebrated his birthday A LOT this year. In Florida with his cousins (to celebrate all of the b-days), with Grandma & Grandpa Huber in Atlanta on the way back from Florida, dinner on his birthday here and his party with a few friends last weekend. (I'm just worried he's going to think this is how we celebrate every year...)

Here are a few pictures of our celebrations. It was a Toy Story Party in case you didn't notice...and many thanks to Carrie Ossege for making the awesome & beautiful cake!! Happy Birthday, Noah!

Week of Magic at Disney

We had a wonderful, magical vacation in Orlando. We were gone for a full 10 days including 4 days of driving. Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Huber living in Atlanta, we had a half-way point on both sides of driving. It was a lot of time in the car and we were thrilled to get home but wow, what a trip! The boys were excellent with only a few meltdowns. Our 3 days at the park were long ones---12 hours each. We got to enjoy time with the Florida Hubers' and the Florida Kappes' while we were there too. Good times!

Noah was able to ride most things and loved Test Track, both Buzz Lightyear rides, Dumbo, the Safari, and many many more. He talks nonstop about the things we saw and did. Nathan was definitely not too young for Disney! He loved the parades, blowing kisses to the characters and checking everything out. He finally fell asleep in his stroller on the 3rd (and final) day at the parks and on the other 2, only took a 10 min nap each. Somehow, they both stayed up late and didn't complain much at all. As soon as I can get spring figured out for next year, we'll be booking our next trip to what really seemed to be the most magical place on earth!!!

First Haircut!!

Nathan got his first haircut last evening. What a difference! We think he looks like such a sweet little boy now and not the little baby of before. It was a bit sad but isn't it always when they look more like a toddler and less like a little baby!

We're getting ready to do a mini re-do of our kitchen. We're finalizing our counters & sink. It'll be so nice to have a functioning kitchen!!!

The Huber Family

A few pics of the kids

We've been busy just living life, playing with the boys and enjoying the snow storms of our snowy winter. There's not much to write about but these were some cute pics that I thought you'd enjoy seeing. Nathan came to me yesterday and said the word "boots" very clearly when holding Noah's snow boots in his hands. We had no idea he knew that word and he was thrilled to wear them around the house. So today when I was out shopping, I found these adorable boots for him and he's proudly showing them off! The second one is of the boys playing with what's left of the snow on our deck. The third is an adorable photo of Nathan sporting some shades (and clearly loving it!) and the last one is of Noah at his very first friend's b-day party last month and his first time bowling. It was hilarious to see! Hope you are all staying warm!

Quick update from our family

We hope everyone is staying warm! Last time I checked, 49 states had snow on the ground. Our big snow from December melted long ago and we just got a few more inches the other day. Noah is out on the deck right now playing in it because I didn't want to go out with him...too cold! He's having a blast and keeps coming to the door to tell me what he's doing!

Probably the biggest piece of news from us right now is that Nathan was diagnosed with a peanut allergy a week ago. When he had his first bite of peanut butter, he got red blotches around his mouth. I'm very glad I called the doc's office because they ordered a simple blood test which came back positive for peanuts. We've since gone to the allergy doctor to get it confirmed with a skin test (and found out that's the only thing he's allergic to!) and we now have an epi-pen & benadryl with us at all times! We're learning how our new "normal" will be. Most of the food in our house is fine and we haven't had a problem with restaurants, just need to ask lots of questions wherever we go and check lots of labels!

We were blessed to have a visit from our dear friend, Clair in between her seasons in Antarctica. She's holding Nathan in the picture. We had a blast and enjoyed our dinner with her. The boys love to wear their scarves & hats as you can see in this picture. Here's a card Noah and I made for his first birthday party. So cute! And the last picture is both boys in Nathan's crib. Noah can climb in and talk to Nathan first thing in the morning and I thought it was too cute!

Michael is in Toledo today for his grandma Mim's Memorial Mass (she donated her body to science so there wasn't a funeral). After lots of thought & discussion, I decided to stay back with the boys. They wouldn't get anything out of it and it would be a lot of driving for that. Nathan's allergy & the snow that was expected there sealed my thoughts. We miss her and know she's in heaven looking down on all of us and saying Nostrovia!