Hansel and Gretel have nothing on this house....

Paul and I decorated our first gingerbread house together today. It was a lot of fun! Paul may have sampled a few of the candies, and maybe a bit of the frosting, but I can't be sure. That may explain the smile on his face when we were done. : ) We are in the middle of our first true Nor-easter of the season, and it is snowing to beat the band right now. We are supposed to get at least ten inches of snow, ending with a possible mix. Yuck. I hope they are wrong about that. Lastly, GO PATS!!!! They play the Jets today, and we New England fans are quite excited about the game. John (my brother) and I think that the score may be a bit lower than it would have been if we weren't be pounded by a snowstorm.

Baby's first haircut

Well, I figured that it was about time that I cut Henry's hair for the first time. It was getting pretty long (even his pediatrician said something). And, we want him to look nice for Christmas, so.....I decided to cut it yesterday. He was a very good boy! I sat him in highchair, and put on Baby Noah on the tv (thank you Uncle Ben and Aunt Katie...they still LOVE that DVD a year later...). He sat there like a perfect little angel and didn't bat an eyelash even when the clippers were roaring loud, right near his head. Then again, he doesn't cry when he gets his shots either. So, I guess that stint in the NICU made him quite the tough boy. Anyway, things are looking like Christmas around here, with several different snowfalls so far, with more predicted tonight, and a classic Nor-easter coming Sunday. Yippee! Better go get bread and milk tomorrow (with the rest of Lewiston/Auburn)!!

Move over "Red" Auerbach...

Paul and Henry were playing around the other day with the pegs that are supposed to go into a board (then be hammered in, like most kids do with them). But since Henry is teething like a madman, he is putting everything into his mouth. And thus these pictures are born.....Brian came up with the title for this post, and we hope you enjoy the silly pictures. There will be more traditional Christmas pictures to come, since we decorated our tree yesterday. We went to Farmer Whiting's on Saturday afternoon and purchased the tree. Paul and Henry both love the tree, and the family had a wonderful time yesterday morning decorating it all together....very Normal Rockwell. Love it!!

the first snow day

Happy December everyone! I hope that you all are enjoying the holiday season. I love this time of year. Friends and family, snow days and hot chocolate, snuggling by the fire (or television!!). You get the picture. So, we had our first snow day today, and the boys, Brian and I, with Hoosier too, all went outside and played for a while. Paul and Brian played a little longer than Henry and I did, but fun was had by all. It was a beautiful snowfall, and we got about 8 to 10 inches, with some more predicted for tonight. Not quite the 12-18 that they had forecasted. Oh, well. It is only the beginning of winter here in Maine. I did see that Dallas had record highs in the 80s today. I can't even imagine that weather right now. It is a LONG ways away for us Mainers, but I do love the snow and white Christmas lights at night. What a beautiful sight to see!

Tickling the ivories

A little quality time for Daddy and Henry. Here the boys are playing the piano at Ni-ni's house on Thanksgiving day. Henry loves the piano and truly enjoyed sitting on Daddy's lap and making all of that music together. Too cute!! The other picture is of Paul playing with a new toy at Ni-ni's on the living room floor. Paul is very serious when it comes to figuring out something new. He'll make a great poker player!

I love pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope everyone had a safe and yummy turkey day. We all have a lot to be thankful for. I am most thankful for my family, near and far. Love you all! Here is a picture of Paul enjoying his first piece of pumpkin pie (Jane Dimitri's pie recipe, and Mom's crust recipe). So,I wish you happy shopping today, on this Black Friday, and hope to see you all soon in the upcoming holiday season!

Hoosier Mama's Slammin' BBQ Sauce

"And the winning name is ......." I apologize for not telling you all what I named my BBQ sauce after I asked for suggestions, but the winning name is listed above. I sold more than half of the jars that I made for the Poland, Maine PTA craft fair last weekend, and everyone that tasted it thought that it was delicious and different. "A sweet, tangy beginning with a nice heat at the end." "...should be sold in stores.", and lots of other wonderful comments. Who knows what will become of this sauce??!! Maybe it will turn into a money-making venture. That would be cool! Can anyone say "college fund"? I haven't figured out shipping prices, but if anyone is interested in BBQ sauce for their family holiday parties/gifts, let me know. I am taking orders at lizadimitri@aol.com. Thanks!! Here is the label that I made for the sauce. I have also been making a "Hoosier Mama's Spice Rub" that I use on pork to make pulled pork sandwiches, along with the BBQ sauce. You can order the rub too. The sauce is $4.50 for 16 ounces, and the rub is a $1.00 a packet.

Here are your next American Idols....

Paul, Henry and I just got back from eating dinner and playing at my friend Karen's house. Shelly and Hannah Mogul were there too. We had a great time, and plan to make a monthly event while rotating from house to house! Karen has a four year old girl, Ella, pictured here with Paul. They had a lot of fun playing with this keyboard/microphone. We had tacos/grilled cheese for dinner, and the FIVE kids ranged in age from 1 to 4, were great!
P.S. I hope that everyone has a nice and safe Thanksgiving!

my little tree hugger

Happy Friday, folks. Thought that I would put in an older photo from this summer, but a good one. This is of Paul at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. He was giving the tree a hug. He knows his mommy was a SPEA major, I guess. : ) That park was so beautiful, and the Maine Dimitris plan on visiting again sometime in the future. We only had time to spend one day there, but it was worth it to see Old Faithful do her stuff. "WOW" is all I can say. A must see in your lifetime if you can do it.

Go, Paulie, Go!

Paul received this puzzle from (great) Uncle Pete Marczak for his 3rd birthday. Here Paul displays his life size Diego puzzle, by lying on the floor next to it. Paul loves to put this puzzle together, and occasionally has some some help from Henry. Henry likes to hand Paul the pieces, and then pat them down after they are in place. They are quite the duo!

Magic 101

It's been a few days since I last posted, so here goes. Henry received a rabbit puppet from Grandma Jane and Papa, and he loves it. Here he is trying to do a little trick for the "audience". Good job, Henry! Here is another one of Henry in pj's from god-mommy Lisa Dimitri. Looking forward to the 3 day weekend here, and enjoying some quality family time. Next post will be about P-diddy......stay tuned.

First time at Friday's!

Henry and I met my friends, Shelly and Karen, with their children, Hannah and Ethan, at TGI Friday's today for lunch. The three children were born a year ago only TEN days apart from each other. So, the ladies and I decided that we needed to do a little birthday celebration, that will hopefully turn into an annual event for the six of us.

A great time was had by all, and the kids ate grilled cheese with french fries. They were very well behaved, considering we were there for almost 90 minutes. There was barely a peep out of any of them. I'd say it was a success! Here is a picture of the three of them, Hannah, Ethan and my (not-so) little Henry. Happy 1st Birthday kids!

(The picture below is of the 6 of us right before Christmas. Karen with Ethan, Shelly with Hannah, and me with Henry. The kids were about 6 or 7 weeks old. How time flies.....)

Happy Friday!

Hello there, glad it's Friday. I have to give a "shout out" to my husband, Brian, who stayed up with our son, Henry, last night. What a man!! (Brian, that is.) Henry had been cranky the past 10 nights or so, and waking up a lot. So, Brian took one for the team, and gave me a break last night. Love him! Here is a new one of Henry...good thing he is cute!!

"Speed....I AM speed!"

I realize that I probably won't be able to keep up this "posting every day" rate that I am at right now, but we will see how it goes. We survived Halloween. We had about 90 trick or treaters come to the door, within only about an hour's time. The boys didn't dress up, because Paul said that he wanted to stay home and hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He had a great time, and Henry checked it all out too. Here is a picture of the boys this morning after breakfast, playing in their "twinsies" pj's from the movie Cars. Paul loves this movie and it is one of two that he has seen. The other movie he has seen is "Finding Nemo". Happy November!

"I love that Dirty Water......"

Thanks Mom for the photo.....Go Red Sox! This is Jonathan Papelbon on the duck boat during the rolling rally in Boston, yesterday. Two World Series within four years. Gotta love it! And the Patriots are doing amazingly well too. Fun time to be a New Englander. Let's go Red Sox!!

Life is good...

I completely enjoy staying at home with the boys, although I have trying days sometimes. Today we went to my friend Lori Marquis Boutin's house for lunch. Henry had his first grilled cheese sandwich, and ate quite a bit of it. He really liked it! Henry had cow's milk for the first time today too. He loved that as well. Tonight, Paul was more excited about eating leftovers from Henry's birthday cake. I attempt to take pictures of Paul and Henry every few days or at least once a week. Here are a couple of my favorites. Paul's picture is taken in the space shuttle mock-up at the Maine Children's Museum.

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to the Maine Dimitri blog. I suppose it is about time that I do one of these, since I stay at home, and have nothing else to do, with 2 young sons, right? ; ) But I thought that this would be a great way for the rest of our family to read about the boys and our goings-on and see the most recent pictures of everyone too. So, I hope that you enjoy the blog and post any comments to let me know how I am doing. Thanks!

let's try some photos.....

I am going to attempt to attach some photos this time......here goes?!

Henry and Paul Dimitri opening Henry's 1st birthday presents, on October 26th, 2007.